ancient heroes. The first is by Divine Incarnation as illustrated in the legend of the Tangun.
In primeval times, when Korea was a vast wilderness, a wonder was seen.
On the slopes of Pak Ton San, the hoary-headed, a bear and a tiger met and held a colloquy.
"Would that we might become men," they said.
Even as they spoke, they heard the voice of the Supreme Ruler, who said: "Here are twenty bunches of garlic for each of you. Eat them, and keep yourselves from the light of the sun for twenty days, and you shall become men."
They ate, and retired into the recesses of the cave to spend the allotted time in darkness; but the tiger, by reason of the fierceness of his nature, could not endure the long restraint and wandered forth too soon, whereby his nature was rendered fiercer than before.
The bear, with greater faith and patience, waited the allotted time and then stepped forth into the sunlight, a perfect woman.
Meanwhile, another wonder was seen in Heaven. The son of the Supreme Ruler, tiring of the delights of Heaven, asked his father to allow him to go to earth and become ruler of an earthly kingdom. Permission was given, and earthward he fared to seek an earthly form.
As the woman sat beside the stream under an ancient cedar, the only thought in her heart was that of maternity.
"Would that I had a son," she said.
At that moment there passed her on the wind, the spirit of the Supreme Ruler's son seeking earthly form. It beheld her there, lone—sitting by the stream. It circled round her, breathed upon her, won her, and her cry was answered. She cradled her babe in moss beneath that same ancient cedar, and when in after years the wild people found him sitting there in holy contemplation, they made him their king. He ruled two thousand years and then went back to his Father.
The second form of origin of ancient heroes is from the egg. This is by far the commonest and most characteristic mode, and is common to both the northern and southern branches of Korean lore.
This is well illustrated in the legend of the origin of the
