Skip to main content
Read page text
page 148
GUEST LITERATURE – KOREA “Yông-su! I’m gonna switch it off!” threatens Aunt Chung-sim, standing in front of the TV with arms akimbo. He thinks she looks like a hungry lioness. The boy starts pouting and finally bursts into tears.Tears roll down his cheeks like a trickle of water struggling to push its way through a desert. “Okay! Okay! Oh, dear!” says the aunt, moving away from the TV screen. Wiping tears with the back of his hand, the child fixes his eyes on the zebras again: “Millions of gnus and zebras live together peacefully. In the distance lions, cheetahs and hyenas roam.” Yông-su hates the predators. He can’t understand why those nasty creatures have to eat gazelles, antelopes and even zebras, when there is plenty of grass to graze on the plain. It is so painful to watch lions kill a zebra, sinking their long, yellow fangs into the poor victim’s neck thatYông-su can’t help yelling at the predators at the top of his lungs. The worst of all is when lions attack a zebra from behind, pouncing on its rump. The scene reminds him of a man who once stripped his mother naked and climbed on top of her. Remembering, at the moment, the poor zebras killed by lions,Yông-su yelled: “No!” at the man, but in vain. The raging man kicked the boy and beat his mother to a pulp. There was nothing he could do to help his wounded and bleeding mother. Night after night the man would be on top of the naked woman and she would utter strange noises.The helpless child would sit at the feet of his mother, shedding silent tears.The man was as ferocious as a lion declaring his newly secured kingship.Whenever the man caught sight of Yông-su as he crossed the courtyard, he would lay such a painful knuckle-blow on the child’s head as to bring tears to his eyes. His mother could do nothing at all that might get on the man’s nerves. The child hated his mother for that. Then one night, in pouring rain, his mother secretly left the village, covering herself and her son on her back with a plastic sheet. “Let’s eat!” Aunt Chung-sim callsYông-su to the dining table. Pretending not to hear her, he wonders why “The Animal Kingdom” should always be on at dinner time? If it were on some other time, he would not have to be scolded by Aunt Chung-sim. No other aunts or uncles pay any attention toYông-su at mealtimes.They don’t care whether the boy skips a meal or not. If he doesn’t eat now, he will be terribly hungry later on, but he can’t afford to miss this chance today of 146 BANIPAL 43 – CELEBRATING DENYS JOHNSON-DAVIES
page 149
JEONG DO-SANG watch the zebras. He isn’t sure at all if and when zebras will be the main topic of the programme again. He hates waiting: waiting is like having a cone of ice cream in his hand. “Be quick or your dinner will be gone!” threatens his aunt’s angry voice. He wants to eat while watching the zebras. But his aunt won’t let him do the two things at the same time. His mother would feed him spoonfuls herself as he carried on watching zebras on TV. Suddenly, he misses his mother very much. Did she cross the Mara River safely? She had left Yanji in November last year to go to Korea. She shed a waterfall of tears when she promised her son she would come back for him later and Yông-su trusted her tears rather than her words. Not long after she left, a snowman walked into this small house. It was Aunt Chung-sim, completely covered in snow, who came from somewhere far away. “What are you doing? Are you listening to me?” The aunt loses her temper and snatchesYông-su’s hand. “Aunt, look! Look at that!” the boy points to the TV screen where the legs of a foal have just slipped into view out of a mother zebra’s behind. The zebra neighs, flaring her nostrils. Other zebras gather around and protect her as she gives birth. Along with the legs comes the head. The mother zebra seems to be struggling. Eventually, the foal drops onto the grass. “Oooh!” exclaims Aunt Chung-sim.The mother zebra eats up the white membrane in which the foal’s body was wrapped. “Pretty, isn’t it?” saysYông-su, pointing to the new-born foal. “It is, indeed!” nods the aunt. “Now, let’s go and eat.” She pulls him by the hand. “No! I want to see it.” The boy shakes his head stubbornly. The baby zebra is struggling to stand up. With hands clenched, Yông-su cheers him on: “Get up! Get up! Drink your mummy’s milk!” The baby zebra falls back on the ground twice more before it manages to straighten its legs and stand firm. “My dear boy, we must leave tonight.We will be going a long way. If you don’t eat now, that’s it; there’ll be no time for any more meals. You’ll be starving.You wouldn’t like that, would you? I beg of you, please, eat now.” BANIPAL 43 – SPRING 2012 147

Page Text

View plaintext

GUEST LITERATURE – KOREA

“Yông-su! I’m gonna switch it off!” threatens Aunt Chung-sim, standing in front of the TV with arms akimbo. He thinks she looks like a hungry lioness. The boy starts pouting and finally bursts into tears.Tears roll down his cheeks like a trickle of water struggling to push its way through a desert.

“Okay! Okay! Oh, dear!” says the aunt, moving away from the TV screen. Wiping tears with the back of his hand, the child fixes his eyes on the zebras again: “Millions of gnus and zebras live together peacefully. In the distance lions, cheetahs and hyenas roam.”

Yông-su hates the predators. He can’t understand why those nasty creatures have to eat gazelles, antelopes and even zebras, when there is plenty of grass to graze on the plain. It is so painful to watch lions kill a zebra, sinking their long, yellow fangs into the poor victim’s neck thatYông-su can’t help yelling at the predators at the top of his lungs. The worst of all is when lions attack a zebra from behind, pouncing on its rump.

The scene reminds him of a man who once stripped his mother naked and climbed on top of her. Remembering, at the moment, the poor zebras killed by lions,Yông-su yelled: “No!” at the man, but in vain. The raging man kicked the boy and beat his mother to a pulp. There was nothing he could do to help his wounded and bleeding mother. Night after night the man would be on top of the naked woman and she would utter strange noises.The helpless child would sit at the feet of his mother, shedding silent tears.The man was as ferocious as a lion declaring his newly secured kingship.Whenever the man caught sight of Yông-su as he crossed the courtyard, he would lay such a painful knuckle-blow on the child’s head as to bring tears to his eyes. His mother could do nothing at all that might get on the man’s nerves. The child hated his mother for that. Then one night, in pouring rain, his mother secretly left the village, covering herself and her son on her back with a plastic sheet.

“Let’s eat!” Aunt Chung-sim callsYông-su to the dining table. Pretending not to hear her, he wonders why “The Animal Kingdom” should always be on at dinner time? If it were on some other time, he would not have to be scolded by Aunt Chung-sim. No other aunts or uncles pay any attention toYông-su at mealtimes.They don’t care whether the boy skips a meal or not. If he doesn’t eat now, he will be terribly hungry later on, but he can’t afford to miss this chance today of

146 BANIPAL 43 – CELEBRATING DENYS JOHNSON-DAVIES

read next page

My Bookmarks

Buy this Book
Skip to main content