THE LEGEND OF BAN-DAL

An audacious girl saves her fellow villagers from a beastly curse—caused by their own greed.

In this tale set “long, long ago, when tigers still roamed the land,” Su-Kyoung lives at the foot of Korea’s Mount Jiri. “The villagers and the animals here [enjoy] a peaceful coexistence, each taking only what they [need] to live.” A stranger’s arrival dramatically interrupts the villagers’ pastoral lives as he convinces them to overfish and sell their catch to neighboring towns. Their purses swell, and they can afford sumptuous desserts from other villages, but soon the fish disappear, their stream turns murky—and the stranger vanishes. Rumors insist the village is “cursed by a beast,” but determined Su-Kyoung sets out one night and meets a black bear, Ban-Dal, who leads her to the vicious tiger—“he [who] has stolen the peace from our land.” The beast declares, “There is no curse! I simply presented your village with ideas, and you chose to be lazy and greedy.” Ban-Dal and Su-Kyoung prove victorious against his attack, earning rewards from the Sky God for their courage. Korean American Yoon creates a magnificently resonant modern myth, giving a provenance for the half-moon (ban-dal) marking across the chest of Korea’s native black bear. Kim, also Korean, enhances Yoon’s potent text with exquisite illustrations, highlighting traditional Korean clothing, architecture, and landscapes, created with digital graphite and scanned handmade textures.

Spotlights Korean customs while celebrating great courage—to stupendous effect.