Also, it explains the different forces at work in the world. The forces of the weather impact the lives of ordinary people with great significance. The people who told this first story wanted to find a reason for why weather was so powerful, thus the forces of the weather were the king's administrators, like administrators of a nation. The entire early society in this myth of origins is seen as a kind of kingdom, with officials administering the different elements that affect people's daily lives, like good and evil and sickness and death. People cannot control these forces but they can appeal to these benevolent ministers to help them.
Human beings are created through an act of great patience, namely the patience of the bear. The fierce tiger and the bear are given a great challenge, to live on a miserable substance in darkness, and...
Perhaps the bear was chosen because bears hibernate or look more human as they walk upon both of their two legs.
I was told this origin myth by my parents and also in school. It influenced me less, though, than other origin myths I heard in my culture, such as the Christian myth of Adam and Eve and the apple, which many people talked about with greater seriousness. Even as a child I knew people were not bears and that Korea was not the center of the universe!
Works Cited
Farrer, Claire R. (1996). Thunder Rides a Black Horse: Mescalero Apaches and the Mythic Present. Waveland Press.
Korean Creation Myth." 23 Feb 2007. http://www.natkd.com/korean_creation_myth.htm
