Little Boy

in adaptation of the Korean Folktale the little green frog

There was a little boy who lived with his mother in an apartment in Taegu.  He would never listen to what his mother told him, he would do the exact opposite.  For instance, if the mother told him to go get kimchi, he would get tofu.  If the mother told him to go play in the playground, he would go play in the mountain.  As the boy grew, the mother became more concerned of his future, because he wouldn’t change his behavior.

                When the mother became very old and very sick, her son was about to graduate.  She called her son to her one day because she thought that she was going to die soon.

                “My son, I don’t think that I will live much longer.  When I die, don’t bury me next to Father, bury me with my side of the family.”  She said very weakly.  She thought that in saying this, that she would be buried next to her husband.

                She died in her sleep that day.  The boy was very sad, and he cried for many days.  After his crying, did he realized that he treated his mother horribly and he felt guilty for causing her illness.  He then decided to do what his mother had wanted, and buried her at her family’s grave.  His mother’s family’s grave was buried at the bottom of a mountain. 

                Every time, when it rained really hard, the boy would worry about his mother grave and that it would wash away.  So he would stand close to it and cried with the rain.  That’s why people croak if they stay in the rain too long.