5 h 24 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 5 h 24 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when the road through ordinary life is also a path for ghosts, imps and fairies?
Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Fairies gathers stories from the writings of Im Pang and Yi Yuk. Scholars, farmers, officials and travelers meet beings that tease, frighten, help or test them. In these brief tales, the spirit world stays close, and an unexpected meeting can demand a choice.
Passed from person to person before being written down, these stories carry the fears, hopes and humor of old Korea. Ghosts and imps test human character, while fairies and other wonder-workers offer gentler encounters. Each short tale brings a clear situation, a meeting or trouble, and a quick turn that invites you onward.
What you’ll discover
- Spirits beside ordinary people Meet scholars, farmers and travelers whose everyday paths cross the unseen world.
- Character put to the test Watch people decide how to act when a ghost or imp appears.
- Fairies and gentler wonders Discover beings of beauty and ease beyond the hard work of ordinary days.
- Fear with room for humor Explore tales that reveal what people dread, hope for and find funny.
- Stories shaped for telling Enjoy short, direct encounters with clear beginnings and quick turns that suit reading aloud.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this book if you love ghost stories, shape-changing foxes, clever heroines, and brave officials. Each quick tale has its own strange turn.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A dancing girl's love sends a boy walking
- Beggars and magicians may be spirit-men in disguise
- Foxes, cats, and snakes can wear a familiar face
- The dead keep close watch on the living
- Magic can save a life in wartime
- Brave women outwit powerful men
- Merit and kindness are noticed in the end
- Short tales carry their lessons in plain voices
Who’s who
- CharanA gifted dancing girl of Pyong-an who loves Keydong and plans a way for them to live honorably together.
- KeydongThe governor's gifted son who walks through winter snow, in rags, to find the girl he cannot forget.
- Chang To-ryongA filthy beggar of Seoul whom the magician Chon bows to, and whose true nature is hidden for fifteen years.
- Cheung Puk-changA seer who knows books by heart, speaks foreign tongues unlearned, and sees distant events from where he sits.
- Chon U-chiA proud magician of Seoul who fears the greater spirit-men and tries to keep out of Yun's sight.
- Han Myong-hoiThe powerful governor of Pyong-an who takes what he pleases until a deputy's daughter meets him with a sword.
- Sim Heui-suA handsome boy who loses his heart to the dancing girl Ta-hong and later becomes a first minister.
- Ta-hongA dancing girl who pledges herself to Sim and waits patiently for the day of his honors.
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- 15-minute summary
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- Paperback
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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Contes populaires coréens : lutins, fantômes et fées
A governor's son begs his way through winter snow to find Charan, the dancing girl he loves.
Medium level2–5 hours to readfrançais
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In short
Would you walk five hundred lee through winter snow for someone you were told to forget? Keydong, the son of a governor, does just that in the first tale of this collection.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A dancing girl's love sends a boy walking
The first tale sets a high standard for devotion. The governor of Pyong-an has a sixteen-year-old son named Keydong. At a birthday feast the dancing girl Charan is chosen to dance with him. The two become inseparable for six years.
When the governor returns to Seoul, Keydong says Charan will be like a worn-out pair of shoes once they leave. Everyone admires his calm. Yet in Seoul he can think of nothing else. He slips out of a monastery on a winter night and sets off north.
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- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
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Cite this edition
Im, Pang, and Yi Yuk. Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Fairies. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/korean-folk-tales-imps-ghosts-and-fairies.
Im, P., & Yi, Y. (2026). Korean folk tales: Imps, ghosts and fairies. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/korean-folk-tales-imps-ghosts-and-fairies
Im, Pang, and Yi Yuk. Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Fairies. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/korean-folk-tales-imps-ghosts-and-fairies.
@book{im2026korean,
author = {Im, Pang and Yi, Yuk},
title = {Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Fairies},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/korean-folk-tales-imps-ghosts-and-fairies}
}
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What is Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Fairies about?
It is a collection of more than fifty short Korean tales about ghosts, fox women, magicians, genii, hell, clever women, and honest officials. Each story is brief and often ends with a plain comment from the writer.
Who wrote Korean Folk Tales and when?
Most tales come from Im Bang, who died in 1724, with a good number from Yi Ryuk, an earlier writer. They wrote down stories told to them by officials, scribes, and friends.
Are these tales true stories?
The writers present them as reports from named witnesses, so they read like accounts rather than invented fables. Many are strange, and the writers sometimes admit they cannot explain them, which gives the book its honest voice.
The author
Im Pang
1640–1724 · Korean scholar and storyteller
Pang Im, also known as Im Bang, was a Korean writer who lived in Korea from 1640 to 1724, during the Joseon dynasty. He wrote the collection Cheonyerok. Some of his writings appeared in Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Fairies, translated by James Scarth Gale and published in 1913.
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