A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

More than ten years after General Kim Tok-saing’s death, a former companion dreams of him riding a white horse with bow and arrows. Kim says that a thief has entered his home. Returning, he displays a blood-marked arrow and announces that he has killed the intruder.

The companion investigates the next morning and learns that Kim’s widow had planned to remarry that night, but her intended husband died after a sudden agonizing pain. Yi Ryuk connects the dream and death without supplying an independently witnessed shooting. The ghost’s possessive violence is part of this historical narrative, not a judgment on a widow’s right to remarry.

Mounted dead soldier who attacks his widow’s new suitorTale-specific identity
01

Origins & earliest records

Korea; tale-specific historical narrative

02

Records & interpretation

Complete story and attribution read in the 1913 English witness; no independent confirmation of supernatural events.

In the literature

“blood marks on it”
Yi Ryuk · Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Fairies
Tale51, Strangely Stricken Dead, printed p.215 (Gutenberg marker227) · James S. Gale

The friend sees blood on the returning general’s arrow in a dream.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Fairies

    Yi Ryuk; translated by James S. Gale · 1913

    Tale 51, “Strangely Stricken Dead”, printed pp. 215–216 (Gutenberg page labels 227–228). English translation date, not the date of the narrated event.

  2. 02

    Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Fairies — Strangely Stricken Dead

    Yi Ryuk · 1913

    London:J.M.Dent/NewYork:E.P.Dutton1913, actual title page. Gale preface distinguishes Im Bang old manuscript, thirteen Yi Ryuk stories from1911 reprint, and three anonymous selections. Complete selected chapter/signature read; no Korean manuscript collation. Printed pagination checked in retained1913 PDF OCR; Gutenberg body markers are printed+12, physical PDFpages printed+16. No new page-pixel claim. Gale death1937 confirmed by UniversityToronto archival finding aid.

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

Direct primary record

Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Fairies

Yi Ryuk; James S. Gale translation, London Dent/New York Dutton, 1913. Tale 51, “Strangely Stricken Dead”, pp. 227–228

Complete story and author signature read from cached Gutenberg51002 HTML. Translator’s bracketed introductions and author notes distinguished from narrative. No illustration claimed.

Inspect the digitized plate · Source collection manifest

Located primary passages

Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.

Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Fairies

London:J.M.Dent/NewYork:E.P.Dutton1913, actual title page. Gale preface distinguishes Im Bang old manuscript, thirteen Yi Ryuk stories from1911 reprint, and three anonymous selections. Complete selected chapter/signature read; no Korean manuscript collation. Printed pagination checked in retained1913 PDF OCR; Gutenberg body markers are printed+12, physical PDFpages printed+16. No new page-pixel claim. Gale death1937 confirmed by UniversityToronto archival finding aid.

  1. A friend dreams twice of General Kim Tok-saing, dead for over ten years, on a white horse with weapons. Kim says he is shooting an intruder in his former home, then returns with blood on an arrow. Next morning the friend learns Kim’s widow had chosen to remarry but the new fiancé died in sudden pain that night.

    Tale51, Strangely Stricken Dead, printed pp.215–216, complete short account

The dream gives the alleged assailant’s claim; the living inquiry establishes only the tale’s report of the fiancé’s death, not independent causation. Intruder or thief is the ghost’s accusation, not an ethical endorsement of the widow’s coercion. Yi Ryuk signature retained.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Historical primary narrative translationTale 51, “Strangely Stricken Dead”, printed pp. 215–216 (Gutenberg page labels 227–228) — Yi Ryuk, Gale translationResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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