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Thursday, April 18, 2019

P is for Perilous Persimmons (A to Z Challenge 2019: Fruit Folktales)

Of course, there is an overabundance of fruits with P. Pears, pomegranates, peaches, papayas, plums, pineapples, prickly pears, pomelos...

Here is well known and much loved folktale from Korea.

A tiger sneaks into a village at night, hungry for some prey. As he sneaks around, he hears a baby crying loudly in a house. The mother tries everything to keep the baby quiet, but to no avail. Eventually, in her desperation she even says "here comes a tiger!", which makes the tiger really proud of himself - but the baby keeps crying. The mother, exasperated, decides to give the baby a treat, and says "here's a persimmon!" Content with the treat, the baby falls quiet.

Tiger, hearing this exchanges, grows scared. What on earth is a persimmon, that it could scare a child into silence, when the threat of a tiger could not? What in the world can be more terrifying than a tiger? What kind of a monster is a persimmon, and what is it doing in that house?! Thoroughly freaked out, the tiger runs away, and takes shelter in the barn where the dreaded persimmon can't get him.

In the meantime, there is someone else sneaking around the village: A thief. The thief gets into the barn, hoping to steal a cow, but it is so dark in there that he can only find his way around by touch. Groping around in the darkness, he grabs on to the tiger's back, and thinks it is a cow with a very lush coat. He gets on the back of the tiger (facing backwards) and holds on. The tiger, terrified that it is the persimmon that is on his back, bolts, and runs away crying "Help! A persimmon is after me! Don't eat me, Mr. Persimmon!" while the thief is crying "Don't eat me, Mr. Tiger!"

And that's the end of the story.

(Read the story here, here, here, or here. Read more about the symbolism of persimmons in Korea here.)

I don't know about you, but I'm kinda curious now: What would a persimmon monster look like?


16 comments:

  1. LOL. Great start to the day :-)

    Ronel visiting from the A-Z Challenge with Music and Writing: More, Please

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  2. It would certainly look quite orange! Another delightful tale.

    My A-Z of Children's Stories

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  3. An entertaining and cute tale. It is good that the child falls quiet. the thief and tiger scare each other and run away. had never heard of a persimmon.

    https://ideasolsi65.blogspot.com/2019/04/pituitary-gland-parts-of-body.html

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  4. Interesting story!! Hmm... I guess the monster would have to be orange coloured!! Stopping by via the AtoZ! Good luck!

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  5. Really entertaining tale. Learning something from you from all the posts

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  6. I'm charmed by this one. And it reminds me that last year I had persimmon bread pudding and it was remarkably delicious. Good thing Tiger doesn't know about it - I'd hate to share.

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  7. That's a great story! A persimmon monster might have a huge body made entirely out of the fruit.

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  8. Glad that kid is safe! Didn't know tigers can be afraid of monsters and that too persimmon monster😁Also the plan of thief was foiled! It was a fun read!
    Prayer

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  9. A persimmon monster would look pretty much like those dried persimmon "donuts" in the photo! I am used to fresh persimmons, so those look ghastly! I do suppose they taste very sweet, sweeter than fresh. I only thought, "What did they do to those persimmons!?"

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  10. What a great story...gave me a giggle for sure.

    DB McNicol, author
    A to Z Microfiction: Parachute

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  11. i am laughing out loud as i read this. amazing. oh gosh. amazing.

    Joy at The Joyous Living

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  12. Hahahaha! Funny little story! I had never heard of persimmon before. In that first pic, it looks a bit like a tomato to me :P

    Find my P post @ Adventure in The Chemistry Lab: Playing With Acid!

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  13. Cute tale! Reminded me of The Gruffalo for some reason. :)

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  14. Great story! I love those fruits, we call them "kaki" in French

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  15. I love this story! And I love the idea of a persimmon-monster, too. Orange, very round and smooth but strangely squishy, with an enormous mouth that's practically as big as the whole body, full of sharp teeth and drool. It walks on skritchy little clawed legs.

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  16. What a cute story! I love persimmons, but it’s hard to decide if they are ripe, and if they aren’t, you have a very sour fruit!

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