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Overview
A young sparrow whose injured leg has been treated by a kindly man reports to the king at Sparrow Capital. The king and his councillors choose treasures, provisions, animals and attendants from their storehouse and magically pack them into a seed carried back by the bird. The resulting gourd releases riches and living servants for the man and his wife. The narrative gives no technical explanation of the packing magic.
An envious neighbour deliberately injures another sparrow and nurses it in hope of a similar reward. When that bird reports the deception, the king supplies a different seed. Its gourds release people demanding payment, a threatening giant and finally intolerable smells; the household flees before wind and fire destroy its home. The couple survive through the good neighbour’s charity. Griffis’s derogatory list of supposed national curses includes religious practitioners, entertainers and disabled people; those social judgments are the reteller’s framing and are not treated here as supernatural identities or facts about Korea.
Allen’s 1889 Hyung Bo and Nahl Bo supplies an earlier, distinct English witness to the healed-bird and punitive-gourd plot. His messengers are swallows, and the title names a Swallow-King, whereas Griffis sets his account in Sparrow Land. Allen explicitly makes the human beneficiaries brothers: Hyung Bo receives four gourds, while Nahl Bo’s deliberately injured swallow brings a seed producing twelve. The first four rewards include declared medicinal gifts, furniture, instantaneous builders and a concubine; the punitive series culminates in a ransom-demanding giant and a foul, destructive final gourd. These differing bird labels, kinship and gift sequences remain attributed to their editions rather than being silently reconciled.
Origins & earliest records
Korean tale in an English literary retelling
Records & interpretation
Full relevant tale and collection preface directly read.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Korean Fairy Tales
The King of the Sparrows, pp. 195–202
- 02
Korean Tales
VI, Hyung Bo and Nahl Bo, pp. 89–115; complete earlier English comparison
Family & connections
A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.
Primary records and illustrations
William Elliot Griffis, Korean Fairy Tales (1922)
The King of the Sparrows. The King of the Sparrows, pp. 195–202
Complete chapter directly read; distinct speakers and actions retained. Literary personification and enacted magic distinguished from trickery and the reteller’s cultural generalizations. Original paraphrase of the public-domain-US historical witness. Complete Allen1889 VI pp.89–115 compared: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/55539/pg55539-images.html#ch5 . Swallow versus sparrow designation, brothers versus neighbours, and exact gourd sequences retained as edition-specific differences.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Historical English literary retellingGriffis, Korean Fairy Tales (1922), The King of the Sparrows, pp. 195–202Research access: 2026-10-05
- Historical English translation and narrative noticesAllen, Korean Tales (New York and London: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1889), VIResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
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