Cat-kin and the Queen Mother

In old Korea, in the rich grain country of Nai-po, a farmer named Pak and his wife had a baby girl.On the very day she was born, Pak came home carrying a branch of pussy willow, its buds soft as a cat’s ear, so they named their daughter Cat-kin.Cat-kin grew up loving every fairy tale the old women of the village could tell.

More than anything, she dreamed of the Ever White Mountain and the Dragon Prince’s Pool far to the north.But she had also heard that fierce tigers walked those far mountains, so she never dared to go.Instead, Cat-kin spent her days reading beneath a great persimmon tree behind her house.

One warm afternoon, when she was eight years old, she struck the ground with her small hand.“Earth-spirit, earth-spirit,” she called, half in play, “come up and see me.”She never truly expected an answer.

But the air suddenly turned sweet, and a fine silver mist drifted down through the branches.A jade chariot with golden wheels rolled out of the mist, pulled by four horses as white as milk.Inside sat the Western Heavenly Queen Mother, and behind her stood a thousand attendants in robes of amber, silver, and gold.

Cat-kin stared, too amazed to be afraid.“Do not be afraid, child,” said the Queen Mother softly. “Come with me, and live in my palace among the clouds.”Cat-kin thought of every fairy tale she had ever loved, and without a moment’s doubt, she climbed into the jade chariot.

The mist rose around them, the chariot lifted from the ground, and in a breath, Cat-kin and the Queen Mother were gone.Even today, the grandmothers of Nai-po say that on the clearest nights, a small new star shines beside the moon — and that it is Cat-kin, still listening to fairy tales in the Queen Mother’s heavenly palace.