''Sugungga'' is one of the five surviving stories of the Korean ''

pansori ''Pansori'' () is a Korean genre of musical storytelling performed by a singing, singer and a Pansori gosu, drummer. The term ''pansori'' is derived from the Korean words ''pan'' (Hangul: 판) and ''sori'' (Hangul: 소리), the latter of which ...

'' storytelling tradition. The other stories are '' Simcheongga'', '' Heungbuga'', '' Jeokbyeokga'', and ''

Chunhyangga ''Chunhyangga'' is the most famous ''pansori'' (musical story telling) in Korea, having had considerable popularity in the country for the past century. ''Chunhyangga'' is considered to be the best ''pansori'' musically, and as a work of literature ...

''. ''Sugungga'' is considered to be more exciting and farcical than the other ''pansori''s because of its personification of animals. The satire is more frank and humorous. It has serious parts as well in the characters of the king and loyal retainers. Therefore ''Sugungga'' is regarded as the "small Jeokbyeokga;" so Pansori singers sing those parts earnestly. ''Sugungga'' is based on the story of the

Dragon King The Dragon King, also known as the Dragon God, is a Chinese water and weather god. He is regarded as the dispenser of rain, commanding over all bodies of water. He is the collective personification of the ancient concept of the ''lóng'' in Ch ...

of the Southern Sea, a terrapin, and a wily

rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit s ...

. This story is believed to have stemmed from a tale about a terrapin and a rabbit in the early period of the

Silla Silla or Shilla (57 BCE – 935 CE) ( , Old Korean: Syera, Old Japanese: Siraki2) was a Korean kingdom located on the southern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula. Silla, along with Baekje and Goguryeo, formed the Three Kingdoms of ...

Dynasty. The theme of this story is the relationship of subject to king. Recently, the play was popularized by the Korean band Leenalchi ( Korean: 이날치) who uploaded their live action performance of the story on YouTube. The video went viral in Korea, amassing over 6 million views as of January 2021.

Plot

The story begins in a fictional kingdom in the Southern Sea ruled by a Dragon King. The King suffers from an illness that can only be cured by consuming the

liver The liver is a major organ only found in vertebrates which performs many essential biological functions such as detoxification of the organism, and the synthesis of proteins and biochemicals necessary for digestion and growth. In humans, it ...

of a

. In hopes of finding the liver to cure his disease, the dragon king commands his servants to go onto land, find a rabbit, and bring its liver back to the kingdom. Out of the servants, a terrapin volunteers to perform this act, showing his loyalty to the king. The terrapin is met with several challenges on land from an encounter with a predatory

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus '' Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on ...

to not knowing what a rabbit looks like. At the end, however, the terrapin succeeds in finding a rabbit. In order to get the rabbit to follow it back to the underwater kingdom, the terrapin lures the rabbit by telling him that a wonderous and luxurious life awaits it there. The rabbit falls for it, follows the terrapin underwater, and soon finds itself captured in the dragon king's palace. The rabbit soon realizes that it had been tricked and will be soon slaughtered for its liver. Right before slaughtering, however, the rabbit tells the dragon king that its liver is so much in

demand In economics, demand is the quantity of a good that consumers are willing and able to purchase at various prices during a given time. The relationship between price and quantity demand is also called the demand curve. Demand for a specific item ...

that someone may steal it away from the king as soon as he kills it and that because of this, it had to be slaughtered somewhere away from everyone. The dragon king listens to the rabbit and commands the terrapin to kill it away from the kingdom. Upon getting far enough from the kingdom, the rabbit ridicules the dragon king's naïveté and flees back onto land, essentially tricking both the terrapin and the dragon king. The story ends with the rabbit ridiculing the king and the terrapin once again, but admiring the terrapin's loyalty to the king as well.

Theme

The primary, over-arching theme of the story is the consequences of being naïve. In the story, the dragon King learns the hard way that being naive is a negative trait by missing an opportunity to live. It can be reasonably implied that the King loses its life after the story because of his naïveté.

References

National Changguk Company of Korea
Pansori Korean folklore {{Korea-stub

Plot

Theme

See also

References