토끼의 간 The Rabbit's Liver

(Instead of the usual format of typing up the Korean and then the translation, I think I will begin reversing the process. I might even just give my English translation and add the Korean as a comment or only add particulars that I comment about. Ideally, I would like to continue typing up the Korean version, but it is time consuming and I don't want the project to fall behind on account of it.)

The Rabbit's Liver

Once upon a time, there was a Sea Palace in the sea. In this Sea Palace the King of the Sea was living. One day, this King of the Sea became ill. The Sea Palace doctor examined the king, and said:

"My King, the medicine for this illness is a rabbit's liver."

The king heard this and summoned all the animals. He said:

"The medicine for my sickness is a rabbit's liver. Who among you can come to procure a rabbit's liver?"

But of the animals in the sea, nobody came forward. The King of the Sea finally said:

"Whoever comes to procure a rabbit's liver can marry the princess."

Then many animals came forward. Turtle decided to procure a rabbit's liver.

Turtle had never seen a rabbit. But he obtained a picture of a rabbit. And he took it and got out of the sea to the land. Soon Turtle found a rabbit. The rabbit was taking a nap under a rock. Turtle stealthily crawled towards the rabbit, and kindly said:

"Rabbit, there is a big festival at the Sea Palace, in the middle of the sea. We want to invite you. Let's go!"

Turtle lied to Rabbit. Rabbit said:

"Oh, really? Great! Let's go together with some other friends!"

Turtle said:

"Yeah, that's a really great idea! But this time let's go with only you. Next time let's go together with your friends."

Rabbit rode on Turtle's back. They went to the Sea Palace in the middle of the sea. The two arrived there. But Rabbit was surprised. There was no festival. Instead, some Sea Palace soldiers tied up Rabbit tightly with a rope. And the soldiers were about to vut Rabbit's belly open with a knife. Turtle said:

"I'm sorry, Rabbit. In order to cure our king's illness, we need your liver."

Rabbit was in big trouble. But soon he thought of a plan. He suddenly laughed loudly and said:

"Turtle, if you would have told me the truth beforehand, I would have brought my liver! We rabbits leave our livers in the shade of a tree during the day. And at night we again put them back in our bodies. Now you say we need the liver--what shall we do?"

The other animals heard this and criticized Turtle. Rabbit said:

"Turtle, let's return to land. Let's get my liver from the tree's shade. Then let's cure the king's illness!"

Turtle and Rabbit went to the land again. As soon as they returned to land, Rabbit said:

"What a fool! How can an animal live without its liver?"

And Rabbit fled to the middle of the forest. Just because he was sad, Turtle cried. At that moment a white bearded old man appeared. The old man was a divine spirit.

"Turtle, why are you crying so?"

"Divine Spirit, our king is sick. The medicine for the king's illness is a rabbit's liver. So I have come to procure the liver of a rabbit. But I cannot procure it."

"Turtle, you have a good heart. Here, give this to your king. Then his illness will be cured soon."

The divine spirit gave Turtle some wild ginseng. Turtle again returned to the Sea Palace. With the wild ginseng he cured the King of the Sea's illness. And as promised, he and the princess married.