Dongmyeongseong, also called Chumong, was a Korean ruler who lived at the turn of the first century C.E. He was the founder of the Goguryeo Kingdom in 37 B.C.E. In Korean mythology, Dongmyeongseong was the son of Haemosu, the Sun deity, and of Yuhwa, the oldest daughter of the water deity, Habaek.
Haemosu impregnated Yuhwa, and she bore not a child but an egg from her left armpit. The king, understandably uneasy about this strangeness, tried to destroy the egg. But he could not. He eventually gave up and returned the egg to Yuhwa.
Out of the egg hatched the young Dongmyeongseong, who could speak after only a month. He asked his mother for a bow and arrows and became a marvellous archer. When he was nearly grown, he often went hunting with the king’s seven sons. When the princes caught just one deer, Dongmyeongseong would catch many. The eldest prince was envious and warned his father that this strange boy was dangerous.
Out into the World
The king tried to break Dongmyeongseong’s spirit by ordering him to work as a stable boy. But the boy refused. He told his mother that as the son of a god, this was no way for him to live. He would, instead, head south and found his own kingdom. His mother agreed, and found a good horse for him. Dongmyeongseong fled south, but the king’s troops followed him until he came to a great river that was impossible to cross.
Dongmyeongseong looked up to the heavens and cried that he was the son of Haemosu, the son-in-law of Habaek, and that the gods should have mercy on him and show him the way to cross. He struck the water with an arrow and all the turtles rose to the surface, forming a bridge. Dongmyeongseong quickly crossed the river. When he reached the other side, the turtles dove back down. All the men chasing him were drowned.
Once he was safely across the river, Dongmyeongseong had a chance to rest, so he took out his mother’s parting gift. She had given him many different seeds of grain, but now he realized that he had lost the barley seed. At just that moment, a pigeon flew by, and Dongmyeongseong knew his mother had just sent him another barley seed. Sure enough, when his arrow brought down the bird, he found a barley seed in its beak.
Dongmyeongseong put the pigeon into the water, and it was instantly returned to life and flew away. Dongmyeongseong knew that this was the place to found his nation, and so it came to be.
Defeat of Songyang
The land Dongmyeongseong chose already had a king, called Songyang. When the two met, Songyang challenged Dongmyeongseong to an archery contest.
Songyang ordered a servant to set a drawing of a deer a hundred paces away. Songyang took aim first, but his arrow missed the mark. Dongmyeongseong’s arrow hit the target.
Dongmyeongseong ordered his servant to place a jade ring at a hundred paces away. Again, Songyang took aim first and missed. Dongmyeongseong broke the ring with a single arrow. Songyang was defeated and Dongmyeongseong commanded the rain to fall. It poured down for seven days and washed away Songyang’s palace. Dongmyeongseong’s palace was erected in its place in another seven days. Thus he founded his kingdom.
Sources
- Chun Shin-Yong, ed. Folk Culture in Korea. Seoul, South Korea: International Cultural Foundation, 1974.
- Hwang Pae-Gang. Korean Myths and Folk Legends. Trans. Han Young-Hie and Se-Chung Kim. Fremont, CA: Jain, 2006.
- Jai Hyon Lee. Korean Lore. Pickerington, OH: Athena, 2003.
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SOURCE:
Storytelling: an encyclopedia of mythology and folklore – Edited by : Josepha Sherman – © 2008 by M.E. Sharpe, Inc.