Tyll Eulenspiegel & Kim Seon–dal (Continued)
by Heinz Insu Fenkl
There are numerous human trickster–themed stories in Korean folklore and most of them have a similar structure. Some are also attributed to various pseudo–historical figures in the same way that Tyll Eulenspiegel is said to have been a real person who was born near Brunswick in 1300 and died in Mölln fifty years later. Kim Seon–dal, whose name is the surname "Kim" and the official title "Seon–dal," is often said to have been a real person who lived sometime during the Chosun Dynasty (1392–1910), though stories connected to him are often linked to other local and regional figures
In the story on the previous page, one could easily replace Kim with Tyll. They have the same humble origin, the same concern for their own material well–being, the same preoccupation with food, the same ability to con people by playing to their own self–interest (which is usually hypocritical). There is even a scatological allusion in the name of Kaettong's mother, in keeping with the popularity of scatological themes in the Eulenspiegel tales (and in both German and Korean folklore in general). One could make a good argument for how Korea's Kim might actually be derived from Tyll Eulenspiegel based on dates and the likelihood of transmission.
The first book of Tyll Eulenspiegel stories, An Entertaining Book About Till Eulenspiegel from the Land of Brunswick (attributed to Hermann Bote) was published in the early 1500s. The first Jesuit missionary, Father Gregorious de Cespedes, arrived in Korea in 1593 (and though his mission failed terribly, Catholicism did establish itself in Korea by the late 1700s). The Jesuits were very active in translating works both to and from Korean. They also did a great deal of comparative work in folklore and literature for the purpose of better understanding the local language and culture, and so it is not implausible to think that Eulenspiegel stories might have been told to Koreans by Jesuits and then taken on a life of their own, merging with local traditions.
I am compelled in this direction because of the names. Eulenspiegel — "Owl Mirror" with the hidden meaning of "Wipe Ass" under its surface – has striking parallels to the name Kim Seon–dal. Since "Seon–dal" is a title, the name has the same generic resonance as "Gentleman Jones," but when one looks at the potential meanings layered in the sound value of the three syllables in the name, some interesting features emerge.
KIM is one of the three most common Korean surnames (they say if you throw a stone into a Korean crowd, it will hit a Kim, Lee, or Park). The Chinese character for the surname can be read as either "Gold" or "Metal." The characters SEON and DAL together form a title, but taken separately, SEON can be read as "Enlightenment" (as in Zen) or "Goodness." DAL is a native Korean word for "Moon." In Asian cosmology, it is understood that the moon reflects the sun — it is a mirror.
Note how the "Enlightenment" reading of SEON parallels the "Owl" in Eulenspiegel and how the "Moon" reading of DAL parallels the "Mirror," both being reflective and circular. In some parts of Korea, SEON, with its short O sound, is pronounced in a way that sounds like Korean word for hand, which sounds like sone (hand) with a long O sound.
The symbolism in drawings of Tyll Eulenspiegel generally shows the mirror as a small hand mirror. Sometimes the owl is holding the mirror and looking at itself. In old Korea, hand mirrors of this type were made of metal — bronze or copper. Perhaps very wealthy persons might have afforded ones made of gold, but that might have made them the target of a Kim Seon–dal prank.
Like Tyll Eulenspiegel's, Kim's figurative mirror reflects something obvious we might otherwise not want to see — our individual and collective shortcomings in all their irony. Other cultures have similar figures with similarly charged names: Mullah Nasreddin found in medieval Islamic tales (also known as Nasruddin Hodja) and Hershele Ostropoler of 19th century Jewish lore. All of these trickster figures show the contradictions and the tensions between categories like rich and poor, high and low, virtuous and vile, educated and ignorant; they incorporate pathos and bathos in ways that not only reflect, but illuminate the human condition. If we study these trickster figures — if we understand and appreciate the layers of meaning in their stories — their antics become our education.
Further Reading:
For Tyll Eulenspiegel stories, I recommend Moritz A. Jagendorfs collection of 37 tales (with both full–page and spot illustrations beautifully rendered by Fritz Eichenberg).
Two scatological Tyll Eulenspiegel stories can be found on D.L. Ashliman's Folktexts website, "a library of folktales, folklore, fairy tales, and mythology."
Other Kim Seon–dal stories can be found in Ty Pak's A Korean Decameron: a collection of tales from the Yi Dynasty, available in the spring, 2007 from Bo–Leaf Books.