The Tale of Old Min
This is the complete English version of MeKorean’s modern Korean retelling of the main scenes. It is not an official ITKC translation or a line-by-line scholarly translation. Consult the Classical Chinese original for its precise wording.
Old Min was from Namyang, and his given name was Yu-sin. As a young man he joined the army, distinguished himself, and received the military post of cheomsa. After returning home, however, he never held office again. Since childhood he had loved accounts of the extraordinary deeds of people in the past. At seven, he wrote on his wall about Hangtak, who had become a teacher to others at that age. With each passing year he added the achievements of someone from the past who had been his age. The wall grew black with writing meant to spur him on. Yet as the years passed, opportunities to make his name remained scarce.
When he turned seventy, his wife teased him, asking whether he would put more black writing on the wall that year. Delighted instead, Old Min told her to grind some ink and wrote about Fan Zeng, who had still harbored great plans in old age. When she asked when he intended to put those plans to use, he laughed: compared with Lü Shang, who had accomplished great things even at eighty, he was still like a younger brother. He had grown old without giving up the things he wished to do.
The young Park Ji-won had been ill for a long time and felt weighed down in spirit. Songs, paintings, old objects, and visitors' stories did little to lift his mood. Someone said that Old Min's stories made the heart feel lighter, so Park invited him. On arriving, Old Min saw a musician's puffed cheeks, called them an angry face, slapped him, and shouted at him. When he went on to poke fun at the stiff atmosphere of the performance, Park burst into laughter. Old Min opened the doors and windows to let in the breeze, then sat down. He was seventy-three at the time.
Park admitted that he had no appetite and could not sleep at night. Old Min made a gesture of congratulation. Eating less in a poor household saved money, he joked, and staying awake at night meant living twice as long as other people. Even when the meal arrived, Park merely picked over the food instead of eating. Old Min made to leave, complaining that the host had invited a guest but was eating first on his own. Park hurriedly had a meal brought for him, and Old Min ate heartily without protest. Watching him, Park found his mouth watering and began to eat as well.
At night Old Min sat silently with his eyes closed. When Park grew bored, he proposed a contest: each would read and memorize a book he had never seen before. They took the Rites of Zhou from the shelf and chose different passages. Before long, Old Min announced that he had already memorized his. Startled, Park asked him to wait a little longer. But the more anxious Park became, the less he could absorb, until at last drowsiness overcame him and he fell asleep. The next day, asked whether he still remembered his passage, Old Min laughed and said that he had never memorized it in the first place.
On evenings when people gathered, they asked questions designed to leave Old Min at a loss for words. Asked whether he had seen a ghost, he pointed to a guest sitting in the darkness behind the lamp, watching everyone else. Asked who counted as an immortal, he thought of a poor man weary of worldly life. Asked who had lived the longest, he launched into a long tale about a rabbit and a toad disputing their ages. At the end of the tale stood a person who had read many books. Through books, such a person had witnessed the rise and fall of countless ages, and so held more time within one lifetime than anyone else.
Asked what tasted best, he named salt, which brought out every other flavor. Asked whether he knew a medicine that prevented death, he told of nearly starving while eating nothing but rare medicines. What saved him was the rice an old woman next door fed him. Old Min said that he himself had lived for more than seventy years by eating that rice morning and evening. Asked what frightened him most, he paused before naming himself. Without keeping watch over one's heart, he explained, one's eyes, tongue, arms, and legs could become tools for harming both oneself and others.
One day someone reported that swarms of locusts had appeared in Hwanghae Province and the authorities were ordering people to catch them. Old Min said he had seen locusts in Jongno that were more worrying than those little insects. Seven ja tall, they moved about in crowds like people and consumed the grain. His listeners were startled when he said that the difficulty in catching them was finding a gourd large enough to hold them. His joke made people laugh while turning their eyes toward those who lived by consuming what others produced.
Park Ji-won also teased Old Min with riddles that split written characters into parts. Even when Min recognized a comparison of himself to an old dog, he rearranged the character's shape to turn it into a compliment. His words could be mischievous and blunt, but he was upright in character and delighted in good deeds. He loved the Book of Changes and the Laozi, and read widely. After Min's death, Park fell seriously ill again and thought of the old man he could no longer ask to visit. He recorded Min's laughter and conversations to remember him, mourning a man who had never found the chance to fulfill his ambitions in the world.
閔翁傳
The Classical Chinese original comes from ITKC’s publicly released Collected Korean Literary Works XML. Paragraphs are divided for readability. Consult the official source below for variant characters, collation notes and page images.
閔翁者。南陽人也。戊申軍興從征功授僉使。後家居。遂不復仕。
翁幼警悟聰給。獨慕古人奇節偉跡。慷慨發憤。每讀其一傳。未甞不歎息泣下也。
七歲大書其壁曰。項槖爲師。十二。書甘羅爲將。十三。
書外黃兒遊說。十八。益書去病出祈連。二十四。書項籍渡江。
至四十。益無所成名。乃大書曰孟子不動心。年年書益不倦。壁盡黑。
及年七十。其妻嘲曰。翁今年畵烏未。翁喜曰。若疾磨墨。
遂大書曰范增好奇計。其妻益恚曰。計雖奇將幾時施乎。翁笑曰。昔呂尙八十鷹揚。
今翁視呂尙猶少弱弟耳。歲癸酉甲戌之間。余年十七八。病久困劣。留好聲歌。
書畵古釖。琴彛器諸雜物。益致客。俳諧古譚。慰心萬方。
無所開其幽鬱。有言閔翁奇士。工歌曲。善譚辨。俶恠譎恢。
聽者人無不爽然意豁也。余聞甚喜。請與俱至。翁來而余方與人樂。翁不爲禮。
熟視管者。批其頰大罵曰。主人懽。汝何怒也。余驚問其故。
翁曰。彼瞋目而盛氣。匪怒而何。余大笑。翁曰。
豈獨管者怒也。笛者反面若啼。缶者嚬若愁。一座默然。若大恐。
僮僕忌諱笑語。樂不可爲歡也。余遂立撤去。延翁坐。翁殊短小。
白眉覆眼。自言名有信。年七十三。因問余君何病。病頭乎。
曰不。曰病腹乎。曰不。曰然則君不病也。遂闢戶揭牖。
風來颼然。余意稍豁。甚異昔者也。謂翁吾特厭食。夜失睡。
是爲病也。翁起賀。余驚曰。翁何賀也。曰君家貧。
幸厭食。財可羡也。不寐則兼夜。幸倍年。財羡而年倍。
壽且富也。須臾飯至。余呻蹙不擧。揀物而嗅。翁忽大怒。
欲起去。余驚問翁何怒去也。翁曰。君招客。不爲具。
獨自先飯。非禮也。余謝留翁。且促爲具食。翁不辭讓。
腕肘呈袒。匙箸磊落。余不覺口津。心鼻開張。乃飯如舊。
夜翁闔眼端坐。余要與語。翁益閉口。余殊無聊。久之翁忽起。
剔燭謂曰。吾年少時。過眼輒誦。今老矣。與君約生平所未見書。
各默涉三再乃誦。若錯一字。罰如契誓。余侮其老曰諾。卽抽架上周禮。
翁拈考工。余得春官。小閒。翁呼曰。吾已誦。
余未及下一遍。驚止。翁且居。翁語侵頗困。而余益不能誦。
思睡乃睡。天旣明。問翁能記宿誦乎。翁笑曰。吾未甞誦。
甞與翁夜語。翁弄罵坐。客人莫能難。有欲窮翁者。問翁見鬼乎。
曰見之。鬼何在。翁瞠目熟視。有一客坐燈後。遂大呼曰。
鬼在彼。客怒詰翁。翁曰。夫明則爲人。幽則爲鬼。
今者處暗而視明。匿形而伺人。豈非鬼乎。一座皆笑。又問翁見仙乎。
曰見之。仙何在。曰家貧者仙耳。富者常戀世。貧者常厭世。
厭世者非仙耶。翁能見長年者乎。曰見之。吾朝日入林中。蟾與兎爭長。
兎謂蟾曰。吾與彭祖同年。若乃晩生也。蟾俛首而泣。兎驚問曰。
若乃若悲也。蟾曰。吾與東家孺子同年。孺子五歲乃知讀書。生于木德。
肇紀攝提。迭王更帝。統絶王春。純成一曆。乃閏于秦。
歷漢閱唐。暮朝宋明。竆事更變。可喜可驚。吊死送往。
支離于今。然而耳目聰明。齒髮日長。長年者乃莫如孺子。而彭祖乃八百歲。
蚤夭閱世。不多更事。未久吾是以悲耳。兎乃再拜郤走曰。若乃大父行也。
由是觀之。讀書多者。最壽耳。翁能見味之至者乎。曰見之。
月之下弦。潮落步土。耕而爲田。煑其斥鹵。粗爲水晶。
纖爲素金。百味齊和。孰爲不鹽。皆曰善。然不死藥。
翁必不見也。翁笑曰。此吾朝夕常餌者。惡得而不知。大壑松盤甘露。
其零入地千年。化爲茯霛。蔘伯羅產。形端色紅。四體俱備。
雙紒如童。枸杞千歲。見人則吠。吾甞餌之。不復飮食者。
葢百日。喘喘然將死。鄰媼來視歎曰。子病饑也。昔神農氏甞百草。
始播五糓。夫效疾爲藥。療饑爲食。非五糓。將不治。
遂飯稻粱而餌之。得以不死。不死藥。莫如飯。吾朝一盂。
夕一盂。今已七十餘年矣。翁甞支離其辭。遷就而爲之。莫不曲中內含譏諷。
葢辯士也。客索問。無以復詰。乃忿然曰。翁亦見畏乎。
翁默然良久。忽厲聲曰。可畏者莫吾若也。吾右目爲龍。左目爲虎。
舌下藏斧。彎臂如弓。念則赤子差爲夷戎。不戒則將自噉自齧自戕自伐。是以聖人克己復禮。
閑邪存誠。未甞不自畏也。語數十難。皆辨捷如響。竟莫能窮。
自贊自譽。嘲傲旁人。人皆絶倒。而翁顔色不變。或言海西蝗官。
督民捕之。翁問捕蝗何爲。曰是虫也。小於眠蚕。色斑而毛。
飛則爲螟。緣則爲蟊。害我稼穡。號爲滅糓。故將捕而瘞之耳。
翁曰。此小虫不足憂。吾見鍾樓塡道者皆蝗耳。長皆七尺餘。頭黔目熒。
口大運拳。咿啞偊旅。蹠接尻連。損稼殘糓。無如是曹。
我欲捕之。恨無大匏。左右皆大恐。若眞有是虫然。一日翁來余望而爲隱曰。
春帖子狵啼。翁笑曰。春帖子榜門之文。乃吾姓也。狵老犬。
乃辱我也。啼則厭聞。吾齒豁。音嵲兀也。雖然。
君若畏狵。莫如去犬。若又厭啼。且塞其口。夫帝者造化也。
尨者。大物也。著帝傅尨。化而爲大。其惟𢅛乎。
君非能辱我也。乃反善贊我也。明年翁死。翁雖恢奇俶蕩。性介直樂善。
明於易。好老子之言。於書葢無所不窺云。二子皆登武科未官。今年秋。
余又益病而閔翁不可見。遂著其與余爲隱俳詼。言談譏諷。爲閔翁傳。歲丁丑秋也。
余誄閔翁曰。嗚呼閔翁。可恠可奇。可驚可愕。可喜可怒。
而又可憎。壁上烏未化鷹。翁盖有志士。竟老死莫施。我爲作傳。
嗚呼死未曾。
What Laughter Leaves Behind
Old Min turns questions about unfamiliar things back toward familiar life. The elixir of immortality becomes rice; the longest-lived person becomes someone who has read many books. Look for the change of direction between each question and its answer. An unexpected reply brings fresh attention to everyday values hidden behind grand names.
Not every act that produces laughter is something a reader today would want to imitate. The scene in which Min slaps the musician and shouts at him also contains violence and discourtesy. You can examine why the scene is funny within the work without accepting the behavior as a model for life. The episodes with the ailing narrator can likewise be read as scenes of relationship and recollection within literature.
The mourning at the end changes how the earlier jokes sound. The old man who wrote past achievements on his wall kept his ambitions throughout his life, yet never found enough opportunity to fulfill them. After finishing the work, return to the opening. You can see both the gap between his gift for making people laugh and his unfulfilled life, and the narrator's wish to preserve him in writing.