✦ A Korean Folktale ✦
The Fairy and the Woodcutter
선녀와 나무꾼 · Seonnyeo wa Namuggun
A small promise in the mountain
The original tale
The tale of The Fairy and the Woodcutter
A folktale told across Korea in many variations. Like Korea itself — full of mountains — it features mountain ponds and maidens from the sky.
A kind woodcutter hides a deer from a hunter. In thanks, the deer reveals the secret of a mountain pond. There he meets a maiden who has come down from the sky. They live together for a time, but in the end she returns to the heavens. A bittersweet tale of kindness, longing, and letting go.
한국어로 읽기
한국 전역에서 다양한 모습으로 전해지는 옛이야기예요. 산이 많은 한국답게 산속 연못과 하늘의 선녀가 자주 등장해요.
마음 따뜻한 나무꾼이 사냥꾼에게 쫓기는 사슴을 숨겨줘요. 고마운 사슴은 보답으로 산속 연못의 비밀을 알려주죠. 그곳에서 하늘에서 내려온 선녀를 만나고, 둘은 함께 살게 되지만 결국 선녀는 다시 하늘로 돌아가요. 슬프고도 아름다운 이야기랍니다.
Korean words you'll meet
Vocabulary from "The Fairy and the Woodcutter"
- 선녀seonnyeo
SUHN-nyaw
A beautiful woman who comes down from the sky — a Korean heavenly maiden.
- 나무꾼namuggun
NAH-moo-kkun
A person who gathers and sells wood from the mountain — a woodcutter.
- 사슴saseum
SAH-seum
The antlered animal of Korean mountains — a deer.
- 한복hanbok
HAHN-bohk
Korean traditional clothing — bright colors and flowing sleeves.
- 폭포pokpo
POHK-poh
Water falling from a cliff — there are many in Korean mountains.
Our version — We follow the original story closely, but you choose where the woodcutter takes the fairy — a quiet mountain hut or his mother's village home. Either path converges on the same canonical ending: she rises to heaven holding their two children, he follows by hidden bucket, and his longing for his earthly mother becomes the first dawn light on her window.
우리 버전 — 원작의 큰 줄기를 그대로 따르되, 선녀를 어디로 데려갈지 — 산속 오두막 / 마을 어머니 집 — 을 직접 선택해요. 어느 길로 가도 결국 자녀 둘만 안고 선녀가 하늘로 올라가고, 두레박을 타고 따라간 나무꾼의 그리움이 새벽빛이 되어 어머니의 창에 내려앉는 같은 정통 결말로 모입니다.
Color your way through The Fairy and the Woodcutter
Free · bilingual · branching endings · no sign-up · printable PDF when you finish.
🎨 Start coloring →
