MSK2020
The following two folktales contain the quest archetype. Read both…
The following two folktales contain the quest archetype. Read both folktales carefully, paying attention to how the archetype is represented in each. Then, respond to the question that follows.
“The Sneezing Colossus” from Korean Fairy Tales
Mr. Kim, who lived at the foot of the mountains, was a lazy lout. He had a family to support, but he did not like steady work. He preferred to smoke his pipeas long as a yardstickand to wait for something to turn up.
One day, his wife, tired of trying to feed hungry children from empty dishes, gave her husband a good scolding and bade him begone and get something for the household. This consisted of father, mother, and four little folks, whose faces were not often washed, besides a little dog. This puppy, when danger was near, always ran into the house through a little square hole cut in the door, and when safely within barked lustily.
So Mr. Kim went out to the mountains to find somethinga root of ginseng, a nugget of gold, or some precious stone, perhaps, if he were lucky. If not, some berries, wild grapes or pears might do. Meanwhile at home, his wife pounded the grain that was left in the pantry for the children’s dinner.
Mr. Kim rambled over the rocks a long time without seeing anything worth carrying away. When it was about noon he came to one of the mighty mir-yeks, or colossal stone Buddhas, cut out of the solid mountain. It rose in the air many yards high. Ages ago in the days of Buddhism, when monasteries covered the land and Buddhist friars and nuns chanted Sanskrit hymns to the praise of Lord Buddha, devout men, laboring many months, chiseled this towering colossus into human form. Its nose stood out three feet, its mouth was four feet wide. On its flat head was a cap, made of a slab of granite and shaped like a student’s mortar-board, on which ten men could stand without crowding one another.
Long gone and forgotten were the monks, and the monastery had fallen to ruins. The forest had grown up around the great stone image until it was nearly hidden by the tall trees surrounding it. In front, from the ground up, the wild grapevines had gripped the stone with their tendrils and spread their matted branches and greenery until they nearly covered the image up to its neck.
But out of a crevice in the head of the figure grew a pear tree, sprung from a seed dropped long ago by the great-grandfather of one of the birds singing and chirping nearby. And, oh joy! at the end of the outer branch was growing a ripe, luscious pear nearly as big as a man’s head. What a prize! It would, when cut up, make a dessert for the whole family. Happy Kim! He blessed his lucky star.
Seizing hold of the bushes and wild grapevines, by dint of great effort Mr. Kim climbed upward and got as far as the chin of the great stone face. Above him protruded the big nose, the nostrils of which gaped like caverns. Yet although he was standing with his foot on the stone lips and holding on to the nose, despite all his exertions, he could get no further up the granite face. He was at his wit’s end. Far above hung the delicious-looking pear as if to tantalize him. A gentle breeze was swaying the fruit to and fro, and it seemed to say, “Take me if you can.”
But the nose, being polished, was slippery and the ears were too smooth to climb. What could he take hold of? Surely to shin up any further was impossible. Must he give up the pear?
A bright thought entered his head. He would crawl up into the right nostril and hope for an exit to the top. So, thinking he might find his way he began like an insect to enter the hole and soon the man Kim disappeared from sight, as with hands and feet he climbed into the darkness.
Wasn’t it dangerous to tickle the nostrils of the great stone man in this way?
But whatever Kim may have thought he kept on, determined to get that pear, come what might.
Suddenly a blast loud enough to rend the mountain was heard. Hash-ho! Had an earthquake or tempest taken place? Was this rolling thunder?
No, the colossus had sneezed. Thus the stone man got rid of the intruder. The first thing Mr. Kim knew, he was flying through the air, and he tumbled upon the bushes. His wits were gone. He knew nothing. This was about one o’clock in the afternoon.
Mr. Kim lay asleep or unconscious till near sun-down. Then he woke up and realized what had happened. There was the stone nose beetling over him far up toward the sky.
But in sneezing so hard, the colossus had shaken its head also and the big pear had dropped off. Kim found it lying by his side, and picking it up went on his way rejoicing.
At home the little dog looking through the square hole saw him, barked welcome, and a right merry supper they had over the big pear cut into slices, as Mr. Kim told the story of his adventures.
“The Last of the Thunderbirds” from Myths and Legends of Alaska
Long ago there were many thunderbirds living in the mountains, but at last, there were only two left. These birds made their home on the round top of a mountain overlooking the Yukon. They hollowed out a great basin on the summit for a nest, and from the rocky rims they could look down upon a village upon the river bank.
From this perch the thunderbirds, looking like a black cloud, would soar away, bringing back to their young a reindeer in their talons. Sometimes with a great noise like thunder, they swooped down upon a fisherman in his kayak and carried him away. The man would be eaten by the young birds, and the kayak broken to bits in the nest. Every fall the young birds flew away into the northland, but the old birds remained in the nest. They had carried away so many fishermen that only the most daring would go out on the great river.
One day when a fisherman went to look at his traps, he cautioned his wife not to leave the house for fear of the thunderbirds. During the morning, she needed fresh water and started for the river. A noise like thunder filled the air, a black shadow fell over her, and a thunderbird darted down upon her.
When the fisherman returned to his house, people of the village told him of the thunderbird. He made no answer. He took his bow and quiver full of war arrows and started for the mountain. When he reached the rim of the great nest, he looked in. The old birds were away. The nest was full of young eagles with fiery, shining eyes and shrill cries. The hunter fitted a war arrow, the string twanged, and the arrow killed a young thunderbird. So the hunter killed them all.
The hunter hid behind a great rock near the nest. When the old birds came home, the thunder of their wings was heard even across the great river; their cries of rage frightened the villagers on the river’s bank. The mother bird swooped down upon the hunter beside the rock. Quickly he fitted a war arrow, the string twanged, and the arrow bit deep into her throat. Then the mother bird, flapping her wings so that the hills shook, flew away to the northland.
The father bird circled overhead and then swooped down upon the hunter. He crouched below the rocks and the thunderbird’s great talons caught only the rock. The hunter fitted a war arrow in his bow, the string twanged, and the heavy war arrow bit deep under his great wing. Spreading his wings like a black cloud in the sky, the thunderbird flew away to the northland.
The quest archetype tells a story about the search for someone or something which will restore growth and prosperity to a wasted land when found and brought back. Examine how the plots of the folktales above contain elements of the quest. Then, compare and contrast how the quest archetype is presented in both folktales. Include the following in your response:
a well-written paragraph of 5-7 sentences
a comparison of both plots to the archetype and to each other
evidence from the text that supports your analysis
