Читать книгу Tigers of the Kumgang Mountains - Kim So-Un - Страница 7

Many years ago in old Korea, there once lived a very famous marksman and hunter. He was such a fine marksman that he could shoot down a bird in flight, almost without taking aim. Deer and wild boar were no match for this hunter once they entered the sights of his gun. He never missed a shot.

In those days the Kumgang Mountains were full of tigers. The beasts would come down from the mountains and steal, eating whatever they could find, not just horses and cattle, but people too.

There was not a single man who could stop them.

Many hunters set out for the mountains, saying, "I'll get those tigers." But none returned. Instead, they became the prey of the tigers of the Kumgang Mountains.

One day the famous marksman said: "Now it's my turn. I will kill every tiger in the mountains."

The hunter refused to listen to anyone who tried to hold him back, and he set out to find the tigers.

At the foot of the mountains he came to a lonely inn.

The innkeeper saw the hunter and said: "Alas, are you too going to try to destroy the tigers, only to have them eat you up? Listen to what I say I'm telling you this for your own good. If you value your life, give up this foolish idea."

The hunter refused to listen. In his heart, he said proudly: "With my skill, there isn't a tiger anywhere that can beat me." Out loud, he said to the woman: "Old woman, just wait and see. I shall come back in a little while, carrying a tiger as big as a mountain on my back." And, laughing to himself, the hunter continued up into the mountains.

That was the last time he was ever seen. Five years passed. Ten years went by. But the hunter did not return.