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Overview
After Ta-hong dies, Sim Heui-su says that she appears whenever a serious event is about to affect his household and warns him beforehand. Her final appearances come in dreams: first she tells him that his own departure is near and that she is preparing to receive him, and then she specifies the following day. Sim recounts the history to a junior secretary shortly before his death.
The earlier account of Ta-hong describes a human woman who protects their promised relationship by taking refuge as a servant in an elderly couple’s household. Her angelic beauty is a comparison, not evidence that she was a fairy. Before her death she predicts its approach and asks to be buried where she can eventually lie beside Sim. He fulfils this request despite the social restrictions on a secondary wife’s burial.
The tale concludes that Sim dies on the predicted day. It reports his dream conversations and the tears visible on waking, but does not describe a subsequent meeting in the other world. Gale’s introductory biography gives Sim’s age at death as seventy-four, while the main narrative places the final episode at about seventy; those figures are not silently reconciled. The domestic prophecy belongs to the reported spirit of this named woman, not an invented class of supernatural brides.
Origins & earliest records
Korean narrative in historical English translation
Records & interpretation
Complete chapter, relevant introduction and ending directly read; claims separated from editorial explanation.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Korean Imps, Ghosts and Fairies
Chapter 53, complete narrative and attached introductory notes. Gutenberg page labels are not relied on as printed pagination.
Family & connections
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Primary records and illustrations
Korean Imps, Ghosts and Fairies (1913), translated by J. S. Gale
Chapter 53. Chapter 53, complete narrative and attached introductory notes. Gutenberg page labels are not relied on as printed pagination.
Complete source section, attached editorial matter and ending directly read. The tale concludes that Sim dies on the predicted day. It reports his dream conversations and the tears visible on waking, but does not describe a subsequent meeting in the other world. Gale’s introductory biography gives Sim’s age at death as seventy-four, while the main narrative places the final episode at about seventy; those figures are not silently reconciled. The domestic prophecy belongs to the reported spirit of this named woman, not an invented class of supernatural brides.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Historical translated narrative collectionGale, Korean Imps, Ghosts and Fairies (1913), chapter 53Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
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