A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
Farmer Pak We discovers an enormous bullfrog after his fishing pond loses its water and fish. The speaking frog enters the couple’s house, entertains them and summons wealth through song. Griffis describes it as nearly elephant-sized with three-foot hind legs. It insists on marrying Miss Peach, the daughter of Poom, and a destructive storm prevents her father from punishing Pak for conveying the proposal.
In the bridal room the frog asks his wife to slit its tight skin. A richly dressed prince emerges and explains that his father, the King of the Stars, had sentenced him to earthly frog form until he drank a lake, ate its fish and won a human bride. With the tasks completed, the couple ascends in a shining chariot and appears as a new double star. No astronomical identification is supplied.
This is the particular English telling in Griffis’s collection, not a claim that every Korean frog-husband version shares the same names, measurements or heavenly parentage. Its generalizations about Koreans and wedding practices are not independently verified here, and the coercive marriage arrangement remains part of the narrative.
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
A Frog for a Husband, pp. 167–178
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)
Korean Fairy Tales. A Frog for a Husband, pp. 167–178
Complete relevant chapter plus preface/title metadata read. Griffis’s English literary collection supplies no named Korean narrator or original-language source for this tale. Printed copyright page says 1911 and 1922; the digitized1922 volume is the witness used. Broad cultural assertions in his narration are not accepted as independent ethnography. Original paraphrase of a historical text identified as public domain in the United States; no worldwide rights claim.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Historical tale collectionWilliam Elliot Griffis, Korean Fairy Tales, A Frog for a Husband, pp. 167–178Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.