✦ A Korean Folktale ✦
Sun and Moon
해님 달님 · Haenim Dalnim
The siblings who climbed to the sky
The original tale
The tale of Sun and Moon
One of the oldest oral folktales in Korea, written down in the 1800s but told by grandmothers to grandchildren long before that.
Long ago, a mother and her two children lived deep in the mountains. On her way back from selling rice cakes, the mother met a fierce tiger. The tiger came to the house pretending to be Mother, but the clever siblings escaped and climbed a tall tree. When they prayed to heaven, a golden rope came down and lifted them into the sky. From then on, the brother became the Sun and the sister became the Moon.
한국어로 읽기
한국에서 가장 오래된 입에서 입으로 전해진 옛이야기 중 하나예요. 19세기에 글로 적혔지만 그 전부터 할머니들이 손주에게 들려주던 이야기랍니다.
옛날 어느 깊은 산속에 어머니와 오누이가 살았어요. 어머니가 떡을 팔고 돌아오는 길에 무서운 호랑이를 만났대요. 호랑이는 어머니인 척 집을 찾아왔지만, 오누이는 영리하게 도망쳐 큰 나무 위로 올라갔어요. 하늘에 기도하니 금빛 줄이 내려와 오누이를 하늘로 올려주었답니다. 그 뒤로 오빠는 해님, 동생은 달님이 되었어요.
Korean words you'll meet
Vocabulary from "Sun and Moon"
- 호랑이horangi
HOH-rahng-ee
Tiger — the fierce mountain animal that appears most often in Korean folktales.
- 떡tteok
DUHK
A chewy Korean rice cake, often eaten on special days and market days.
- 동아줄dong-a-jul
DONG-ah-jool
A thick, strong rope. In folktales, it often comes down from the sky as a golden rope.
- 초가집chogajip
CHOH-gah-jeep
A traditional Korean countryside house with a roof of dried straw.
- 산신령sansilryeong
SAHN-shin-LYUNG
The spirit who watches over a mountain — often shown as a white-bearded grandfather in traditional clothes.
Our version — We follow the original story closely, but on Chapter 2 you choose one of two tests — "show me your hand" or "sing a lullaby." Whichever branch you take, the story converges on the same canonical ending: the siblings climb the golden rope and become the Sun and Moon.
우리 버전 — 원작의 큰 줄기를 그대로 따르되, 2장에서 "손을 보여달라" / "자장가를 불러달라" 두 가지 시험 중 하나를 직접 선택해요. 어느 길로 가도 결말은 같은 정통 엔딩 — 동아줄을 잡고 오빠는 해님이, 동생은 달님이 되는 — 으로 모입니다.
Color your way through Sun and Moon
Free · bilingual · branching endings · no sign-up · printable PDF when you finish.
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