Read the folk tale Nelly loves
Heungbu and the Swallow’s Seed
A poor but kind-hearted brother mends a swallow’s broken leg, and a single seed he plants in return changes his family’s fortune forever.
Long ago, two brothers lived in a village at the foot of a mountain. Nolbu, the elder, had inherited their father’s land and grown wealthy and stingy, while Heungbu, the younger, had been turned out with nothing, and lived in a tiny house with his family, always kind despite having so little.
One spring, Heungbu found a swallow that had fallen from its nest under his roof, its leg broken. He splinted the small leg with a strip of cloth and fed the bird crumbs until it healed and could fly south for the winter with the others.
A single seed
The following spring, the swallow returned and dropped a single gourd seed at Heungbu’s door before flying off again. Heungbu planted it without expecting anything in particular, and watched, amazed, as it grew into three enormous gourds, each one larger than a grown man.
What the gourds held
When Heungbu and his wife finally cut the gourds open, rice, gold, and fine silk spilled out, more than enough to feed and clothe their whole family for years. Heungbu shared generously with his neighbors, and word of his sudden fortune soon reached his brother’s ears.
Nolbu tries the same trick
Nolbu, greedy for the same reward, caught a swallow, broke its leg himself, and then bandaged it, expecting to be rewarded the following spring exactly as his brother had been. Sure enough, a swallow returned the next year and dropped a gourd seed at his door too. But when Nolbu’s gourds were finally cut open, out poured nothing but goblins and endless trouble, and Nolbu lost nearly everything he owned.
Family, shared again
Heungbu, hearing of his brother’s ruin, did not gloat or turn away. He welcomed Nolbu and his family into his own home and shared everything he had, just as freely as before, and the two brothers lived out their years together, closer than they had ever been.
The swallow, the story says, never cared about the gourd at all. It only ever cared about the kind of heart that would mend a broken wing and ask for nothing in return.
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Jajangga
Play this softly while you read: a traditional handplayed Korean lullaby, the same culture this tale comes from.
More stories, more lullabies
This is one tale in a growing collection of traditional stories from around the world, each one paired, where we can, with a real lullaby from the same culture.