The Hungbu and Nolbu tale type: a Korean double contrastive narrative structure

Folklore, April, 2002 by James Huntley Grayson

"The Tale of the Two Brothers and a Dog" is interesting not only because the narrative structure is double that of "The Story of Hungbu and Nolbu," but because its narrative stresses the Confucian virtue of the younger brother's character to an even greater extent. In this tale, the filial piety of the younger brother is marked out by the fact that it is he who seeks out the (herbal?) medicine which could cure his mother, and it is he who expresses grief at her death and remorse that he was so unfilial as to be unable to find the medicine which could have cured her. These narrative elements are in contrast to the elder brother, who appears to feel nothing when his mother dies. The younger brother's filial character is stressed again in the narrative when it is noted that it is he who visits the mother's grave to show his respect and grief. Filial piety is a fundamental ethic of Confucianism, and one would normally expect the older brother to take responsibility for tending his mother, taking the lead in the family to mourn his mother's death, to outwardly express his lack of filiality for "allowing" her to die, and to lead the family in continuing to remember her after her death. Here again we see role inversion between the elder and younger brother.

It is at this point that a Buddhist element is introduced into the tale, the appearance of the dog at the mother's graveside, which is clearly intended to represent the reincarnation of the soul of the deceased mother. This Buddhist element has been brought into this tale specifically to emphasise the filial virtue of the protagonist. The motif of a dog as the reincarnation of the spirit of a dead mother is a thematic element which is used in several Korean tales, most notably in Tale 318, "The Grave of a Faithful Dog." The appearance of the dog in "The Tale of Two Brothers and a Dog" is meant to be a reward for the filial behaviour of the younger brother. This feature is further emphasised by the assistance which the dog renders to him. The older brother's lack of filial virtue is stressed likewise by his unfilial attitude towards his mother's death, and his killing of the dog, which, of course, is his mother in another guise. The filial character of the protagonist is stressed again in the second part of the tale when he mourns the dog's death and gives her a proper burial, just as if she were a human and as he had done for his mother. The blessing bestowed on the protagonist for this act affirms a traditional folk belief that the ancestors look over and bless their descendants if they properly tend the ancestral graves and host the ancestral memorial rituals. Thus, this element of the tale's storyline affirms both Confucian concepts of filiality and traditional Korean spiritual concepts. The tale emphasises the "hard" character of the elder brother because he does not learn from his first experience and is killed as a result. Because he does not follow the moral example of his younger brother, his punishment is very severe.