박씨전: 못생긴 신부

In the days of King Injo of Joseon, a high-ranking scholar-official called Yi Deuk-chun lived in Seoul. Lord Yi had a son called Si-baek, a young man who excelled at both his studies and the martial arts.

One day, an old man called Park Cheosa, who said he lived in the Diamond Mountains, came to visit Lord Yi. The two men played baduk and the bamboo flute together, and soon became close friends. A few days later, Park Cheosa said, "I have a daughter. What would you say to marrying her to your son?" Lord Yi, who could see that Park Cheosa was no ordinary man, agreed on the spot.

On the night of the wedding in the Diamond Mountains, Si-baek saw his bride's face for the first time. Her face was pockmarked and dark, and a foul smell even came from her body. Si-baek drew back in shock. From that day on, Si-baek never once set foot in his wife's room.

The family and even the servants all laughed at the ugly daughter-in-law and shunned her. Only her father-in-law, Lord Yi, cared for her, and he scolded his son. Lady Park asked her father-in-law to build her a small house in the back garden. She named the house Pihwadang, "the Hall for Escaping Disaster", and planted all kinds of trees around it.

One day, Lord Yi was worried because he had no court robe to wear to the palace the next morning. In a single night, Lady Park sewed a beautiful court robe and gave it to her father-in-law. When the king saw the robe, he said, "Whoever made this robe is very gifted, but seems to be living a lonely life."

Some time later, Lady Park asked her father-in-law to buy a scrawny foal for three hundred nyang. Everyone laughed, but the foal Lady Park raised with such care grew into a magnificent horse in three years. When they sold the horse to an envoy from Ming China, just as Lady Park had said, it fetched a full thirty thousand nyang. Lord Yi thought to himself, "My daughter-in-law is no ordinary person." But Si-baek still would not even look at his wife's face.