By Robert Neff
In the West, crows are often associated with evil – the bearers of curses and portents of doom. Like in the West, Koreans also viewed crows and ravens as messengers but their tidings were usually warnings that benefited their listener.
One of the earliest legends of these winged messengers is said to have taken place in the ancient Korean kingdom of Silla (pre-unified). On Jan. 15, 488, King Soji (reign 479-500) was preparing to embark on a journey when a crow suddenly appeared and told him that a revolt amongst the king’s subjects was about to occur. The monarch postponed his trip and was able to successfully put down the revolt. In gratitude for the crow’s timely warning, Soji declared that the crow’s efforts would be remembered every January 15th with offering of rice cakes.
In 1903, Homer Hulbert, an early Korean historian, described another incident in which a crow bore tidings that saved a Silla king’s honor and resulted in the death of at least two disloyal subjects. In the summer of 530, the king was having a feast in his summer residence when a crow suddenly appeared and dropped a letter on the table before the king. According to legend, on the outside of the letter was written: “If the king reads this two people will die. If he does not read it one person will die.”
The king, taken back by this evil portent, refused to open it until one of his servants reminded him that the one person referred to on the letter might be the king. Bracing himself, the king opened the letter and read it. According to the letter, he was to race back to the palace and enter the queen’s chamber where he was to shoot an arrow into a zither case. The king promptly did so and was shocked to discover that hidden within the zither case was the chief Buddhist priest, now dead, “who had taken advantage of the king’s absence to attack his honor.” It is probably safe to assume that the second death was that of the queen’s.
Homer added: “Ever since that time the raven has been remembered with gratitude, and it is annually fed with special cakes made for this express purpose. These cakes are called O-yak or Raven medicine. Of late years these cakes have generally been consumed by the children rather than by the ravens.”
It is unclear who this king was but, judging from the year, it appears to have been King Beopheung (reign 514-540) – a monarch already associated with another Buddhist monk’s death. Apparently a monk by the name of Ichadon had beseeched the king to establish Buddhism as the state religion but was met with opposition from the court. He then deliberately provoked the court so that he was condemned to execution. Prior to his death, he proclaimed that milk, rather than blood, would flow from his severed neck. He was executed on the 15th day of the 9th month in 527 and, if we are to believe the legends, milk sprayed from his neck while the earth shook and the sky darkened. The frightened Silla court quickly declared Buddhism the state religion.
Perhaps the best known legend of the crows involves two young lovers who neglect their duties and are banished to the opposite sides of the heavens. They are allowed to meet for only one day of the year – the seventh day of the seventh month. Pitying the lovers, the crows use their own bodies to form a bridge across the Milky Way so that the lovers might meet – even though it is for but a brief moment. The lovers, unable to endure being separated, dissolve into tears which rain down upon the earth.
It is said that if the lovers do not annually meet then the world will be plagued with droughts throughout the year. Evidence of the lovers’ meeting is given by the crows’ bald heads – they molt during this period.
Robert Neff is a contributing writer for The Korea Times. — ED