KOREAN LEGENDS

About 5000 years ago, there were Hwanin, king of heaven, and Hwanwoong.
Hwanwoong liked human world rather than heaven. So father gave him 3,000 servants and gods who control winds, clouds, and rains and sent him to human world. Hwanwoong became king of the world and helped them.



There were a bear and a tiger where Hwanwoong came to. Bear and tiger begged Hwanwoong to make them human. So Hwanwoon gave them a handful of 'Artemis' and '20 garlics' and said "If you eat this and stay in the cave without coming for 100 days, then you will be human." Like Hwanwoong said bear stayed in the cave and became beautiful lady, but tiger couldn't stay and couldn't become human.



Bear who became a lady is named Woongnyu. But Woongnyu prayed for marrige and baby. So Hwanwoong became human for a moment and married her. So she gave a birth to a boy, who is the founder of Korean, Dangun. After Dangun became king, he named the country 'GoChoSun'. And he ruled the country well for 1,500 years.


Dangun is still respected as the founder of Korean.
For example, there is temple serves Hwanin, Hwanwoong, and Dangun's soul; there is religion which respect Dangun as a god.
In present time, Korean is celebrating Oct. 3rd as the national foundation day of Korea when Dangun first founded country.