The Bridge of Fish and Turtles
Wind, campfire and river sounds change with every scene, and the music follows the story.
Born from an egg laid by Yuhwa, daughter of Habaek the water god, Jumong grew up to be the finest archer in Buyeo. When the sons of King Geumwa, jealous of him, sought his life, Jumong took his mother’s advice and left Buyeo with three friends.
Characters
born from an egg
She stayed in Buyeo
His family had ruled for generations
married in Buyeo
raised in Buyeo
The Bridge of Fish and Turtles
The founding of Goguryeo, as told in the Samguk Sagi and on the Gwanggaeto Stele
Buyeo soldiers with torches chased after Jumong.
and do great things.
There’s no bridge to cross!
and the grandson of Habaek!
What am I to do?
Then fish and turtles rose in rows from the river and formed a bridge.
As soon as Jumong’s party had crossed, the fish and turtles scattered and vanished into the water.
it’s gone!
The pursuing soldiers could only stamp their feet on the bank. They never got across the river.
According to the “Lay of King Dongmyeong,” after crossing the river, Jumong was resting under a great tree when he came upon a pair of doves. The doves were carrying barley seeds.
Mother has sent me barley seeds.
A few days later, at Modungok, three shabbily dressed men appeared before Jumong.
I have met three worthy men.
has sent you!
Jumong granted the three men the surnames Geuk, Jungsil and Sosil, and gave each of them a task suited to his talents.
With the three men, south once more.
37 BCE.
Jumong was
twenty-two years old.
At last the party reached the Jolbon River.
and the mountains and rivers are rugged.
make our capital!
With no time to build a palace, Jumong lived in a thatched hut by the Biryu River.
be called ‘Goguryeo’!
which means ‘high’!
Hearing the news, people flocked in from all directions.
and it’s true!
When the neighboring Malgal cast covetous eyes on the land, Jumong drove them off.
One day, Jumong saw vegetable leaves floating down the Biryu River.
upriver.
Following the river upstream, he came to the kingdom of Biryu. Its king, Songyang, came out to meet Jumong.
as kings for generations.
so you should serve under me.
serve under anyone!
After a war of words, the two kings agreed to test their skill with the bow.
Songyang’s arrow failed to hit the navel of a painted deer set up less than a hundred paces away.
Jumong had a jade ring hung more than a hundred paces away, and shattered it with a single arrow.
at a hundred paces…!
The following summer, Songyang surrendered his kingdom.
that the old land has been regained.
Jumong let Songyang go on ruling that land.
The next spring, it is said, a yellow dragon appeared at Gollyeong, and in autumn, auspicious clouds.
In the autumn of 34 BCE, the walls and palace were finally built.
In the nineteen years of Jumong’s reign, Goguryeo spread out in every direction, over mountains and valleys.
Jumong’s mother Yuhwa, who had stayed behind in Buyeo, died in East Buyeo.
rest in peace.
King Geumwa buried Yuhwa with the rites due to a king’s mother, and even built her a shrine.
and do great things.
In the fields where his mother’s seeds had ripened gold, the king gazed at the northern sky for a long time.
In the tenth month of that year, Jumong sent envoys to Buyeo with precious gifts to thank it for its kindness.
but I must repay its kindness
in protecting my mother.
Around that time, in East Buyeo.
A boy was growing up without ever having seen his father’s face.
The boy’s name was Yuri.
Yuri liked to play in the street, shooting at sparrows.
No wonder you have no manners!
It is said that Yuri shaped a pellet of clay, shot again, and plugged the hole perfectly.
and where is he?
He went south, founded a kingdom
and became its king.
On the night he left Buyeo, Jumong told his wife, who was carrying his child, that if she bore a son, she must be sure to pass on his words.
on a seven-cornered stone.
Day after day, Yuri roamed the mountains and valleys in search of a seven-cornered stone and a pine tree.
so many pines…
But he found nothing.
One day, as Yuri sat on the wooden floor after coming home exhausted, he heard a sound from beneath a pillar.
from under the pillar?
corners?
a pine pillar!
Father left behind.
When he dug beneath the pillar, out came a piece of a broken sword.
With three friends, Okji, Guchu and Dojo, Yuri set out for Jolbon, taking his mother with him.
Tucked inside his clothes, a single piece of a broken sword.
Arriving in Jolbon, Yuri knelt before the king and held up the piece of the sword in both hands.
where did you get it?
on a seven-cornered stone.
The king took a piece of a sword from inside his robe. When the two pieces were put together, they became a single sword.
are my son.
In the fourth month of that year, Jumong made Yuri crown prince.
But the days father and son spent together were few.
In the ninth month of that year,
Jumong died at the age of forty.
The Gwanggaeto Stele tells it this way: Heaven sent down a yellow dragon, and the king stood on its head and rose up to Heaven.
rule the kingdom with righteousness.
People called him ‘King Dongmyeong.’
According to the “Lay of King Dongmyeong,” Yuri buried the jade whip his father left behind at Yongsan.
are my son.
Five months.
That was all the time
father and son had together.
Five months earlier,
on the night Yuri became crown prince.
Two brothers on the city wall.
belongs to Yuri.
They were Biryu and Onjo, two princes who had grown up in Jolbon.
That night, the two brothers went to see their mother, Soseono.
Their story
will become another kingdom.
