✦ A Korean Folktale ✦
The Gold Axe and the Silver Axe
금도끼 은도끼 · Geumdokki Eundokki
The mountain spirit's test
The original tale
The tale of The Gold Axe and the Silver Axe
One of the most-told Korean folktales for children. A short, clear story about the value of honesty.
A poor woodcutter drops his iron axe into a pond. A mountain spirit rises holding three axes — gold, silver, and iron — asking which is his. The woodcutter answers honestly: "Only the iron one." Moved by his honesty, the spirit gives him all three. When a greedy neighbor tries the same trick by lying, the spirit gives him nothing at all.
한국어로 읽기
한국에서 어린이들에게 가장 많이 들려주는 옛이야기 중 하나예요. 정직함의 가치를 가르치는 짧고 분명한 이야기예요.
어느 가난한 나무꾼이 도끼를 연못에 빠뜨렸어요. 산신령이 나타나 황금 도끼, 은도끼, 쇠도끼를 차례로 보여주며 '네 도끼냐'고 묻죠. 나무꾼은 정직하게 '쇠도끼만이 제 것입니다'라고 답해요. 감동한 산신령은 세 도끼 모두를 줬어요. 욕심 많은 이웃이 따라 했지만, 거짓말 때문에 도끼 하나도 받지 못했답니다.
Korean words you'll meet
Vocabulary from "The Gold Axe and the Silver Axe"
- 도끼dokki
DOH-kkee
An axe — a tool for chopping wood, with a long handle and heavy head.
- 금geum
GUM
Gold — the shining yellow metal of treasure.
- 은eun
UHN
Silver — a precious metal with a softer shine than gold.
- 산신령sansilryeong
SAHN-shin-LYUNG
The Mountain Spirit — often shown as a wise white-bearded grandfather in folktales.
- 연못yeonmot
YUHN-moht
A pond — a small still body of water in the mountain or a village.
Our version — We follow the original story closely, but on Chapter 2 you choose how the woodcutter answers the Mountain Spirit — straight and at once, or honestly confessing even the brief flicker of temptation in his heart. Either path is sincere, and both converge on the same canonical ending: the spirit gives him all three axes, and a greedy neighbor who copies the trick loses even his own iron axe and walks home empty-handed.
우리 버전 — 원작의 큰 줄기를 그대로 따르되, 2장에서 산신령 앞에서 어떻게 답할지 — 단숨에 또렷이 / 잠시 흔들렸던 마음까지 솔직히 — 직접 선택해요. 어느 길을 택해도 진심은 정직이라 같은 정통 결말로 모입니다 — 산신령이 세 도끼를 모두 주시고, 따라 한 욕심쟁이 나무꾼은 자기 쇠도끼마저 잃고 빈손으로 산을 내려가지요.
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