[Korean Culture & Language] Spring Water that Makes One Younger

Hello, this is Uptempo Marketers!

Even though many traditions have subsided or modernized, folklore remains profoundly rooted in Korean society, continuing to affect fields such as religion, storytelling, art, and rituals.

Korean folklore includes stories and rituals that date back several thousand years, and teach valuable life lessons. They do not only help kids to improve reading abilities but teach about various cultures and model great character values. Folktales usually attempt to offer a moral lesson about right and wrong, frequently with a battle between good and evil. 

Guess what kind of life lesson below story is trying to convey:

Once upon a time, an old man and his wife lived in a small town. They didn’t have any children. The old man went to the mountain to gather herbs one day. He heard a bird crying and discovered a bird trapped in a net. He helped it in its escape. A few days later, he was back on the mountain to gather herbs again. Then the bird that he had helped appeared. The bird asked him to follow it, and when he did, spring water appeared before his eyes. He drank the water, and said: "Oh, I feel so energized". Then he looked himself in the water. He saw a reflection of a young man. He turned into a younger version of himself after drinking the water! 

He hurried back home to his wife and told her all about the spring water that made him younger. A greedy old neighbor who was passing by heard this story and ran into the mountain to find the spring. He drank as much as he could. 

In the meanwhile, the old woman and her husband arrived at the spring. There they found a baby. The greedy neighbor turned into a baby because he drank too much spring water.

The elderly couple brought the baby home and raised him. They lived happily ever after.

The story of the greedy old man who drank too much spring water and turned into a baby teaches a lesson that "Greed may turn wonderful things into disaster".

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