An Encounter With a Hobgoblin

I got myself into trouble in the year Pyong-sin, and was locked up; a

military man by the name of Choi Won-so, who was captain of the guard,

was involved in it and locked up as well. We often met in prison and

whiled away the hours talking together. On a certain day the talk

turned on goblins, when Captain Choi said, "When I was young I met

with a hobgoblin, which, by the fraction of a hair, almost cost me

my life. A strange case indeed!"

I asked him to tell me of it, when he replied, "I had originally no

home in Seoul, but hearing of a vacant place in Belt Town, I made

application and got it. We went there, my father and the rest of the

family occupying the inner quarters, while I lived in the front room.

"One night, late, when I was half asleep, the door suddenly opened,

and a woman came in and stood just before the lamp. I saw her clearly,

and knew that she was from the home of a scholar friend, for I had

seen her before and had been greatly attracted by her beauty, but had

never had a chance to meet her. Now, seeing her enter the room thus,

I greeted her gladly, but she made no reply. I arose to take her by

the hand, when she began walking backwards, so that my hand never

reached her. I rushed towards her, but she hastened her backward pace,

so that she eluded me. We reached the gate, which she opened with a

rear kick, and I followed on after, till she suddenly disappeared. I

searched on all sides, but not a trace was there of her. I thought

she had merely hidden herself, and never dreamed of anything else.

"On the next night she came again and stood before the lamp just as

she had done the night previous. I got up and again tried to take

hold of her, but again she began her peculiar pace backwards, till

she passed out at the gate and disappeared just as she had done the

day before. I was once more surprised and disappointed, but did not

think of her being a hobgoblin.

"A few days later, at night, I had lain down, when suddenly there

was a sound of crackling paper overhead from above the ceiling. A

forbidding, creepy sound it seemed in the midnight. A moment later

a curtain was let down that divided the room into two parts. Again,

later, a large fire of coals descended right in front of me, while an

immense heat filled the place. Where I was seemed all on fire, with

no way of escape possible. In terror for my life, I knew not what to

do. On the first cock-crow of morning the noise ceased, the curtain

went up, and the fire of coals was gone. The place was as though

swept with a broom, so clean from every trace of what had happened.

"The following night I was again alone, but had not yet undressed

or lain down, when a great stout man suddenly opened the door and

came in. He had on his head a soldier's felt hat, and on his body

a blue tunic like one of the underlings of the yamen. He took hold

of me and tried to drag me out. I was then young and vigorous, and

had no intention of yielding to him, so we entered on a tussle. The

moon was bright and the night clear, but I, unable to hold my own,

was pulled out into the court. He lifted me up and swung me round

and round, then went up to the highest terrace and threw me down,

so that I was terribly stunned. He stood in front of me and kept

me a prisoner. There was a garden to the rear of the house, and a

wall round it. I looked, and within the wall were a dozen or so of

people. They were all dressed in military hats and coats, and they

kept shouting out, 'Don't hurt him, don't hurt him.'

"The man that mishandled me, however, said in reply, 'It's none of

your business, none of your business'; but they still kept up the cry,

'Don't hurt him, don't hurt him'; and he, on the other hand, cried,

'Never you mind; none of your business.' They shouted, 'The man is

a gentleman of the military class; do not hurt him.'

"The fellow merely said in reply, 'Even though he is, it's none of

your business'; so he took me by the two hands and flung me up into

the air, till I went half-way and more to heaven. Then in my fall I

went shooting past Kyong-keui Province, past Choong-chong, and at last

fell to the ground in Chulla. In my flight through space I saw all the

county towns of the three provinces as clear as day. Again in Chulla

he tossed me up once more. Again I went shooting up into the sky and

falling northward, till I found myself at home, lying stupefied below

the verandah terrace. Once more I could hear the voices of the group

in the garden shouting, 'Don't hurt him--hurt him.' But the man said,

'None of your business--your business.'

"He took me up once more and flung me up again, and away I went

speeding off to Chulla, and back I came again, two or three times

in all.

"Then one of the group in the garden came forward, took my tormentor

by the hand and led him away. They all met for a little to talk and

laugh over the matter, and then scattered and were gone, so that they

were not seen again.

"I lay motionless at the foot of the terrace till the following

morning, when my father found me and had me taken in hand and cared

for, so that I came to, and we all left the haunted house, never to

go back."

Note.--There are various reasons by which a place may be denominated

a "haunted house." The fact that there are hobgoblins in it makes it

haunted. If a good or "superior man" enters such a place the goblins

move away, and no word of being haunted will be heard. Choi saw the

goblin and was greatly injured.

I understand that it is not only a question of men fearing the goblins,

but they also fear men. The fact that there are so few people that

they fear is the saddest case of all. Choi was afraid of the goblins,

that is why they troubled him.

Im Bang.