The Tiger’s Whisker

1. The Tiger’s Whisker Student names

2. Genre: Legend and Folktale • Country and Geographic Region: Korea • Topic: Yun Ok wants her husband back to the way he was • Theme: Thought, effort and patience

3. Motifs • Sage of the Mountains/Wiseman • Tiger/beast • Object needed to obtain – Tiger’s Whisker • Food/rice • Mountain

4. Genre Characteristics • Given place of time • Heroine faces a task • Self-centered goal • Repetition • “Tiger! Tiger!” • Concern with people, places and events • Yun Ok visits the Sage of the Mts.

5. Cultural Signifigance • Rice • Wisdom • Patience • Confucianism • Love/loyalty to one’s family

6. Universal Questions • How much control do I have over my own life? • What is likely to be my greatest source of happiness? • How can I attempt to achieve my happiness? • How can I cope with my troubles? • How does war effect people?

7. Plot Elements • Absentation • Lack • Meditation • Counteraction • Departure • Donor tests hero • Yun Ok passes the test

8. Plot Elements • Provision of magical aid • Victory • Initial misfortune is remedied • Return of hero

9. Question 1) • What is the initial problem for the protagonist? • The initial problem is that Yun Ok’s husband has returned from war and he is not the same as he was before he left. Yun Ok is very unhappy.

10. Question 2) • What initial goal does the protagonist desire? • The initial goal was to get a potion from the Sage of the Mountain that would turn her husband back to normal.

11. Question 3) • How does the protagonist set out to solve his or her problem and/or obtain his or her goal? • Yun Ok climbs the moutain to find the Sage of the Mountain. The Sage of the Mountain gives Yun Ok the task to get a tiger’s whisker to complete the potion.

12. Question 4) • What actions are rewarded or admired? What awards are given? By whom? How are the awards appropriate for the actions? • The possession of effort and thought are admired. The reward given by the Sage is the knowledge of thought, patience, and effort can help her husband. The rewards are appropriate for the actions because thought, patience, and effort is the actions that she used to help her husband and the reward is knowing that these actions will help.

13. Question 5) • What actions are punished or despised? What punishments are given? By whom? How are the punishments appropriate for the actions? • There are no punishments.

14. Question 6) • What cultural traditions, customs, values, beliefs, or knowledge are presented in this story? • Confucianism is a belief that is presented in this story. Confucianism is a belief that man is the center of the universe and man’s main goal is to find individual happiness. The main aspects are loyalty, responsibility, self-discipline, self-restraint, the value of learning and how to relate to others. These aspects are in addressed in “The Tiger’s Whisker”.

15. Question 7) • What is the lesson of the story? Support this answer with quotes from the text that point to this lesson? • the lesson of the story is that “thought, effort and patience are, in fact the most important ingredients to your potion that you seek.” these are very valuable qualities to have and they will benefit you in many ways, especially in relationships.

16. Question 8) • How could the story still speak to us today? How might it change in today’s society and our culture? • It teaches us how to relate to others and the value of patience. The characters and setting would be more modern but the lesson will stay the same.