Weekly Reader: Coin For A Dream: Stories from My Early Childhood; Mae Adams Presents The Lighter, Sweeter, More Fanciful Side of Korean Life

 

Weekly Reader: Coin For A Dream: Stories from My Early Childhood; Mae Adams Presents The Lighter, Sweeter, More Fanciful Side of Korean Life

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Mae Adams's previous book, Precious Silver Chopsticks: A True Story of a Korean Noble Family, is a beautiful and tragic book about the life of Adams's family including her childhood and youth, covering the years before, during, and after World War II and the Korean War. Adams wrote about many grim topics including her abuse at the hands of her mother, her father's early death, the suffering and poverty that her family endured during the two wars, her troubled second marriage, her eventual escape from her family to America, and her happy third marriage to Hewitt Dayne Adams. 

It is a wonderful, but heartbreaking book.

For her follow up, Coin For A Dream: Stories from My Early Childhood, Adams takes a lighter and more fantastic approach. It's different from her previous book, but just as good.

 Instead of one full chronological story, Adams selected twenty stories from her childhood and Korean legends that cover various incidents in her life. The stories are humorous, clever, sweet, and enjoyable to read. They remind Adams's Readers, that her life didn't just begin and end with child abuse and war. Sometimes, she had happy memories filled with odd situations, jokes, heartwarming moments, and laughter.

Some of her stories are integrated with Korean myths and legends. The legends are magical and beautiful, and they also sometimes serve as commentary for the incidents in Adams's life. For Readers who are familiar with Korean legends, this book will serve as a reminder of these tales. For those who aren't familiar with such stories, this book gives them an introduction to Korean mythology.

The stories are all good, but the best are:

"Monks' Minds Are Flapping"-Many people from different cultures and countries love to poke fun at authority figures, including religious figures. Many Korean legends and jokes tease Buddhist monks. Some of these jokes stem from stereotypes of monks being lecherous, pompous, and not following their religious calling.

Adams candidly revealed that many monks appeared at her herbalist grandfather's door to beg for food or donations. She became familiar with their daily habits, such as eating soybeans.

Soybeans are a basic diet staple for protein in Korea. Monks and lower class people eat them for health, but they produce some embarrassing, um, gassy side effects. Adams's description of a temple of monks in prayer making their discomforts known is hilarious and pokes a few holes in the image of Buddhist monks in silent repose. Thanks to their consumption of soybeans, their repose is anything but silent.

Adams also recounted a few short anecdotes about monks's fobiles. One story involves a lecherous monk impersonating Buddha to a beautiful, but naive young woman who prayed to marry a wealthy governor. The monk told the woman to hide in a box while he carried the box to his temple. On the way, he stopped and put down the box to hide the woman from an upcoming procession led by, of course, the governor. The governor led the woman out of the box and told his men to put a live tiger inside the box. The monk was unaware of the switch, so he took the box to his temple. He opened the box to an angry tiger who bit him.

Another anecdote is about a head-monk telling two young postulants a story about four monks who constantly argued and boasted about everything, including about the size of their temples. One claimed that his temple is so big that visitors had to ride a horse for a day before they can reach the end. The head-monk, who told the story, inquired whose temple was the biggest.

While pondering the answer, the two postulants saw the prayer flag flying outside their window. One said that the flag flapped in the wind, while the other insists that the wind flapped the flag. The head-monk's answer and the postulants's realization reveals that sometimes an answer is a matter of perspective and for people to not be so prideful and full of themselves that they can't listen. Otherwise, they are just blowing wind.

"Blood Red Serpent Flowers"-The South Korean countryside is filled with beautiful flowers. Adams and her grandmother loved to share stories about the flowers, particularly the Rose of Sharon and the crepe myrtle.

The Rose of Sharon is the national flower of South Korea. It is also known as the "everlasting flower" and "eternal flower." When Korea was under Japanese occupation, Adams's uncle, Little-Pa, taught her a song that he sang when he was a member of the Secret Korean Independence Movement Organization. The song included a lovely lyric: "Arise beautiful tenacious people/To witness the winter's passage/The rain has washed the dust away/The eternal flowers are now blooming/For the season of spring has come." The passionate lyrics reveal how much the Rose of Sharon means to the Korean people. It is a symbol of beauty, independence, and immortality.

Another important flower is the crepe myrtle. Like many flowers, a myth is connected to how the crepe myrtle came to be. Two lovers, Duk and Gaye were promised to be married. However, Gaye was chosen to be sacrificed to a three-headed serpent that attacked their village. Duk and a group of men intended to fight the serpent. Duk promised his fiancee that his ship would fly a white flag if he was successful and a red flag if he failed. They fought the serpent and won. Unfortunately, the flag was smeared with the serpent's blood. When Gaye saw what she believed to be the red flag, she killed herself. At the woman's graveside, a bush of red flowers grew for one hundred days. The crepe myrtles are known as the "hundred days flowers" and the "blood red serpent flowers." While the myth of Duk and Gaye is sad, Adams's grandmother reminded her that the story revealed the passionate love between two people and that Gaye's death resulted in a beautiful flower that returns every year as a testament of their love.

"Ginseng Boys"-Since Adams's grandfather was an herbalist, he taught her about the various herbs and how they treated ailments. Ginseng was used to heal many things and was also cooked in stew or ate fresh or dipped in honey. Because of ginseng's omnipresence, many stories and legends were told of the plant. The stories often are about creatures that are made of ginseng. These creatures are similar to fairies, elves, and other such creatures, because they are considered quite powerful and mysterious.

The Ginseng Boy Tales were told by Adams, her grandfather, and two friends. In one story, a young boy befriended a young boy with leaves on his head and hair on his legs. His greedy parents realized that their son played with a ginseng boy. They invited the ginseng boy to their house and attempted to trap him inside a cauldron. They intended to eat the ginseng leaves and become young again. While the parents argued, the boy let his friend out of the cauldron and they disappeared into the woods.

Another story concerned a couple who lived with their young son and their grandfather. Their grandfather fell ill. The couple dreamt that an old man with a long silver beard told them to cure their grandfather, they had to kill their son and make a soup out of him. Grief stricken, but longing to save their elderly relative, they did as they were told. While grieving the loss of their son, they heard a familiar voice behind them. They turned around and saw their son, alive and well. They lifted the cauldron and saw the remains of a ginseng boy. They served that in a soup to the grandfather.

Like many fairy tales and legends, the Ginseng Boy Tales give nature human elements and investigate the possibility that there might be creatures that exist beyond the realm of our understanding. These creatures protect nature and allow people to use it, provided they treat the natural world with respect.

"My Dragon Lady"-As mentioned in my review for Precious Silver Chopsticks, Adams's grandmother, Go Jaesoon was a positive influence on her young life. She raised Adams when her mother could not and treated her like a daughter. As the family fled the Japanese soldiers after WWII, Jaesoon distracted them and poisoned several soldiers before committing suicide. 

This chapter provides more information about the woman whom Adams referred to as "(her) dragon lady."

Jaesoon was a feisty strong willed woman who fled an unhappy marriage to a wealthy psychopath on their wedding night. She traveled to a far away village where she became a sea diver. She eventually left that occupation and contemplated becoming a Buddhist nun.

Meanwhile Adams's grandfather, Yum Hyung Kee, was a widower with three small children. He dreamt that a voice told him to go east to a Buddhist temple. When he arrived at the temple, he saw Jaesoon. He was shy about courting her (since all of his three marriages were arranged), so he told her about his dream. Jaesoon laughed at him.

Embarrassed Hyung Kee lost his footing and fell into a nearby pond. He wetted his cool face by dunking his head under water, but Jaesoon believed that he was drowning so she dove in and rescued him. Hyung Kee informed her that it was her destiny to go with him, so she agreed. Later, Jaesoon confessed to her granddaughter that she later learned that Hyung Kee was a champion swimmer. Despite the mistake and unintentional deception, the two later married and had a long happy marriage.

Jaesoon's early years showed her as a plain spoken strong willed independent woman who cared for her young daughter. She was a woman who her family knew would give her life to protect the people that she loved.

"Coin For A Dream"-Besides her grandmother, Adams had another role model, one from history: Queen Seondeok of the Silla Kingdom in Korea. Seondeok was the younger of two sisters, daughters of King Jinpeoyng. Even though they weren't sons, the people of the kingdom loved and respected them. 

Seondeok was known for her outdoor activities such as hunting, shooting bows and arrows, and chasing down thieves. She was also pretty clever. One example of her cleverness occurred after her sister suffered a bad dream. Seondeok offered to buy her dream for a single coin. Jinpeoyng was impressed by her courage, protectiveness of her sister, and was concerned that the meaning behind the dream interpreted that the older daughter would not make a good ruler. He appointed Seondeok as his successor.

Seondeok became a beloved queen. She sent officials to provide assistance to the poor and made Buddhism the official religion. She was fond of kite flying and encouraged people to celebrate the 

Lunar New Year by flying kites.

She had many legends about her such as a musician who constructed a flute in her honor. After he died, no one else could play the flute. 

She was also known for precognitive abilities. After she saw a band of white frogs croaking by the Jade Gate Pond, she then sent 2,000 soldiers to the Women's Root Valley. When asked about her accurate prediction, she revealed that the frogs symbolized soldiers, the color white symbolized the west, and the Jade Gate Pond represented female genitalia. 

She had many enemies, particularly those who didn't care for a female ruler. One, Kim Bidam took her illness as a means to revolt against her. Thanks largely to the efforts of General Kim Yushin, Seondeok's lover, Bidam's rebellion ended. After, Seondeok died, her successor had Bidam executed.

Seondeok's story was an inspiration for Adams with her cleverness, strength, and leadership ability. The influence of Jaesoon and Seondeok helped Adams grow into the woman that she would later become.