The Dokkabi and the Pooka- 2014 winner.

The Dokkabi and the Pooka by Choi In Gyeong.

: The mischievous creatures in Korean and Irish folk tales

‘Once upon a time…….’ The stories starting with this opening gambit have fascinated people for centuries. Those old stories told by grandparents have been remembered and transmitted to the next grand children. Such folk tales are usually full of magic and fantasy, and feature supernatural characters. Thinking about magical characters in folk tales, I reckoned that every culture had the most talked-about supernatural characters in forms of a ghost, a fairy, or a monster. In Korea, the Dokkabi has been one. Often as a scary being, the Dokkabi does mischief to people with magic. Sometimes the Dokkabi punishes greedy characters or presents fortune to nice people. There are a variety of Korean folk tales where the Dokkabis make an appearance. I presume that there may be some special reasons why Korean people created this character and myriad stories about it. Maybe it is a cultural thing considering that many Korean people feel attached to the character.

When I came to know about the Pooka in Irish folk tales, it came to me as a nice surprise. The Irish fairy and the Dokkabi are very much alike in many ways. There are varied stories revolving around the Pooka in Ireland too. It came upon me that the two magical creatures in folk tales can tell much about culture of Korean and Irish people.

One common characteristic which made me associate the Pooka with the Dokkabi is that both supernatural beings can change their shapes. The Pooka is known to basically have a form of a dark horse with a long flowing mane and glowing golden eyes.[1] It is said that Pookas come out at night and take a form of a rabbit, a dog, or goat. Likewise, the Dokkabi is a shape-shifter. It is believed that worn-out household utensils such as a broom, a broken dish, or a poker turn into Dokkabis. When night falls, these old things can take on the form of humanlike beings and wander around. Dokkabis appear as a giant, a femme fatale, a child, or an old man in varied folk tales.

The ability to transform oneself of the Irish Pooka and Korean Dokkabi tells us that both have magical power, the power over ordinary human beings. The two creatures are notorious for causing mischief to people with their magical power. In Irish folk tales, the Pooka has been blamed for making milk curdle, frightening hens into stopping laying eggs, and damaging farms.[2] Also, it is said that berries harmed by the frost overnight should be avoided for the Pooka spitted on and poisoned the berries.[3] Similarly, the Dokkabi in Korean folktales is also an extraordinary mischief doer breaking a caldron and placing a cow on the top of a roof.

People have been told to be wary of an encounter especially at night with the Pooka and the Dokkabi while walking alone. The Pooka in stories often offers a ride to a tipsy person on his way home and terrifies the rider with its wild jumping.[4] Also, in one story, the Dokkabi challenges a man returning from a market to a wrestle. The Dokkabi wrestles with the man plaguing him for the whole night and suddenly disappears when it starts to dawn.

These two mischievous creatures truly take pleasure in playing tricks on human beings as seen in these stories and they have been feared for their eccentric deeds. However, I think both the Irish Pooka and the Korean Dokkabi are far from brutal and devilish ghosts. They sometimes do good things for humans too.

In one story by an Irish poet, Lady Wilde, the Pooka helps a farmer’s son in return for his kindness. [5] The Pooka does the son’s work of milling secretly and leaves a gift of a golden cup at his wedding. In Korean folk tales, the Dokkabi also sometimes do beneficent things to people. A Dokkabi repays the borrowed money to a man over and over again forgetting the fact that he has already repaid and makes the lender rich. From these episodes, the Dokkabi and the Pooka show morals to return people’s favor and bring big fortune to them.

One thing I want to note about the Dokkabi’s beneficent acts though is that such serendipity is often the result of the Dokkabi’s being fooled by humans. In a famous Korean folk tale, a poor but nice man with a big lump on his chin is caught singing by a gang of Dokkabis. The Dokkabis liked the poor man’s singing and encore the man. Impressed by his singing, the Dokkabis ask him how he can sing so well. As the poor man is musing for the reason stroking the lump on his chin, the Dokkabis think the lump is the secret to his excellent singing. On the spot, the Dokkabis take the lump from the poor man’s chin with their magic and give him a sack of silver and gold for the lump. As seen here, the Dokkabis have a special liking for music and they are easily gullible, and can do things good for human beings.

Even though the Dokkabis are easily fooled by humans in many Korean folk tales, they still can be as wicked to bad people as they usually do. Another man who has a lump on his chin hears the nice man lost his lump and recieved treasure from the Dokkabies and searches for the Dokkabis too. The greedy man finds the gang of Dokkabis and sings to them. However, this time the Dokkabis have found out the lump has nothing to do with singing so the greedy man is punished for his attempt to deceive the Dokkabis. The Dokkabis put the lump from the nice man on the greedy man’s chin and beat him. As a result, the greedy man comes to have two big lumps on his face.  Even though the Dokkabis are not keen on figuring out who is a good or bad person, their propensity happens to reward the good and punish the bad.

Slightly different from the Dokkabi, the Pooka seems more cunning and often clever. It is said in Ireland that the Pooka can give words of wisdom in November to those who consult it. Some says that the Pooka resembles the Irish people in that it is fond of chatting to people. [6]  Even though the Pooka is wicked most of the times, it can be benevolent to people as well.

Searching about the Pooka and the Dokkabi, I found that the two fairy characters resemble each other. That also made me wonder why people have created a certain type of characters and have been attached to those characters. Reading about those two fascinating characters, I came up with my own explanations.

Unexplainable natural phenomena such as frost, curdled milk are often attributed to the Pooka. Also, traditionally phosphorous light is believed to be caused by the Dokkabi in Korea. From these superstitions, I think people before modern science came up with their own explanations for these mysterious natural phenomena by considering them as mischief by the supernatural beings.

In addition, the magical beings which are usually wicked but benevolent occasionally can deliver the morals to people who listen to the folk tales. As both the Pooka and the Dokkabi know how to reward for kindness, the people will learn that their good deeds will be rewarded and therefore they should be nice to other beings.

Lastly, I think there is a reason why the two characters have survived in Korean and Irish storytelling. The two supernatural beings resemble each the people in their culture. Koreans have a liking for music and dance. Irish people like storytelling and chatting. I think these cultural characteristics are reflected in the two characters respectively. And that is how the two characters can be the most talked about characters in folk tales.

 

 

[1] www. yourirish.com/folklore/pookas

[2] http://marie-mckeown.hubpages.com/hub/Forgotten-Irish-Fairies

[3] www. yourirish.com/folklore/pookas

[4] www. yourirish.com/folklore/pookas

[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pooka

[6]  www. yourirish.com/folklore/pookas