The Story of Kongji

By 정해송 Hae-song Jang, Class 3-7

Once upon a time, there lived a nice couple. They had a precious daughter named Kongji. Kongji was raised with the greatest affection, and love from her parents. Kongji’s mom died of a serious disease. There was no one to take care of her when her mother died. Her dad thought, “She needs a stepmother.”

 The stepmother had a daughter of her own, Patji. Stepmother treated her badly. “Fill up this urn until I come back!” But, no matter how hard she tried the urn was still empty because there was a hole at the bottom of the urn. Then a giant toad appeared in front of her. “Don’t worry I will block the hole for you.” She could fill the urn with the help from the giant toad. The next day, the stepmother called up Kongji, again. “Pull out the weeds from the vegetable field by tonight. ” Kongji worked very hard, but because the field was very wide, she could hardly finish half of it. “Kongji, I will do it for you.” A cow appeared and pulled out the weeds from the field.

One day, there was a festival at the village. “Kongji, you can come to the festival after you harvest three bushels of rice.” Her stepmother and Patji dressed up nicely, and went to the festival. “There is no way I can get the work done in time for the festival”, she thought. When Kongji was crying desperately, a large flock of birds flew in, and said, “Don’t worry, we will help you.” They pecked the rice in great speed and got the work done in a second.

After that, mice brought a pretty dress and shoes. “Come on Kongji, put this on, and go.” She was running quickly without knowing that the king was passing by. She accidentally left one of her shoes behind and went to the festival. The king gave an order to his followers, “Find the holder of this shoe.” The King’s followers went to the festival and announced, “If there is the holder of this shoe, please come up front.” At that moment, Patji yelled out “It’s my shoe”, wishing for a reward. She couldn’t fit her foot in the shoe because her foot was too big. Then one of the king’s followers saw Kongji missing a shoe, and realized that Kongji was the one who had lost her shoe. The king recognized Kongji’s sweetness and kindness. The king and Kongji got married, and lived happily ever after.

 

By 채미지 Miji Chae, Class 3-8

Once upon a time there was a girl named Kongji. Kongji’s mother died, so she live with her stepmother. One day Kongji’s father died. The stepmother was mean to Kongji everyday.

One day the stepmother gave a lot of work to Kongji. Only if she finished could she go to the party. Kongji have a lot of work so she need a lot of time. She wanted go to party too.

Before she finished the work a sparrow, toad and fairy came and helped Kongji finished her work. Kongji went to the party but she fell down and lost one of her shoes. The bachelor saw Kongji and he fell in love. So he found Kongji and married with Kongji.

By 김나영 Nayeong Kim, Class 3-1

Once there was a kind girl named Kongji. Her mother died when she was a baby. When she was 14, her father married a woman who had a daughter, Patzzi. But her father died soon. After her father died, the stepmother and Patzzi treated Kongji very unfairly. One day, the mayor invited all the people to a ball. Kongji wanted to go, but her stepmother made Kongji fill up the enormous pot and peel the rice. If she finished it, she could go to the ball. She tried to fill up the pot, but there was a big hole in the bottom. So the pot was never filled.

 By that time, a toad appeared and blocked the hole for her. And the sparrow appeared and peeled the rice. With their help, Kongji was done. A fairy helped Kongji to become beautiful. She turned Kongi’s rags into pretty clothes. Then, Kongji quickly went to the ball. As Kongji crossed a bridge, she was surprised by the mayor and tripped. One of her shoes fell into the stream. She was embarrassed by that, so she ran away. The mayor fell in love with Kongji. He went out to every woman in the village and had them try the shoes on. But the shoes only fit Kongji. The mayor and Kongji married and lived happily ever after.