Mt Chilbo in North Hamgyong Province of the DPRK is a celebrated mountain. Its name denotes it has seven rare treasures.
It unfolds spectacular scenery with mysteriously-shaped peaks and valleys, fantastic waterfalls, blue ponds, perennial hot springs, thick forests and seashore.
Each spot of the mountain has the legends telling the wisdom, talents and ennobling feelings of the Korean ancestors.
The legends of Mt Chilbo include “Mt Chilbo rises overnight,” “A teacher and his disciple train martial arts,” “A boy digs wild insam in Kumgang Valley,” “A boy rescues a girl” and “A boy of Mt Chilbo falls in love with a fairy.”
The story “A boy digs wild insam in Kumgang Valley” is as follows:
Once upon a time there lived a boy, named Won Sim, in Rojok Valley of Inner Chilbo. His was a poor family engaged in charcoal-making generation after generation in this valley. One day the oldest man in the village told him that wild insam might cure his sick mother.
So Won Sim, without hesitation, went into the deep mountain where he came across nine dragons before a large pond. The dragons were going to prey on the boy. He told them that he came there to find out wild insam to save his mother. Moved by his filial devotion, the dragons spread golden turf in front of him before flying into the sky.
Then a small boy in a red cap appeared before him and said to him that if he beat him in ssirum (Korean wrestling), he would help him find wild insam. The boy, though small in physique, was as tough as an oak tree. As soon as Won Sim threw him down, the small boy disappeared, revealing a plant of wild insam on the spot. After drinking the decoction of the plant Won Sim brought home, his mother soon got well and recovered her health.
As the legends associated with Mt Chilbo reflect the lives, aspirations and desires of the working people, they have been handed down generation after generation with the passage of time.
When anyone hears the legends of Mt Chilbo on the spot, they will have a better understanding of the kaleidoscopic scenery of the celebrated mountain, the time-honoured history and culture of the country and the beautiful and pure mind of its people.
The legends of Mt Chilbo were put on the national intangible cultural heritage list.
Yon Ok
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