The Blind Fortune Teller
Part 2

Illustration by Eric Shim

The blind fortune teller successfully exorcised the devils that had caused the sudden death of the young girl. But as she stirred back to life, the devils were able to avoid capture.

‘I shall not live long now,’ the blind man said, ‘for the devils that have escaped will certainly take their revenge on me.’

With that he left the house, refusing to accept any of the gifts the girl’s father offered.

News of the blind man’s feat spread and eventually reached the ears of the king. Skeptical of such incredible stories, the king feared the blind man was an imposter out to cheat ignorant people. So the king decided that the blind man should be punished unless his claims could be proven true. He summoned the blind man before his court.

The king had a rat killed and ordered it to be placed before the blind man. ‘What is that in front of you?’ the king asked.

The blind man answered without delay, ‘It is a rat, your majesty.’

The king, a little startled, then asked, ‘How many rats are there? Can you tell me that, too?’

‘There are three rats, your majesty,’ the blind man replied.

Thereupon the king burst out laughing. Then he began to reprimand the blind man. ‘You are a liar and an imposter. There is only one rat, yet you answered three. So now we know how a blind fortune teller deceives people. You are nothing but a charlatan. You are a public menace, and I sentence you to be hanged immediately.’

The blind man insisted that he was right. ‘Your majesty, I have a clear impression of three rats. There can be no mistake about that.’ Despite his protests, he was led away to be executed.

Out of curiosity, some of the courtiers examined the rat, and to their amazement, they found that there were two perfectly formed baby rats inside it. They told the king, who was deeply impressed by the blind man’s uncanny insight, and the king immediately ordered that he be released.

It was the custom that when urgent messages had to be sent to the prison authorities, a man was sent up the watchtower at the eastern corner of the palace to signal with a flag. If the flag was waved to the right, it meant that the prisoner was to be reprieved. But if it was waved to the left, it meant that the execution was to be carried out. So a man was sent to the tower to send the message that the blind man should be spared. But when he tried to wave the flag to the right, an evil wind sprang up immediately and pushed the flag over to the left. However hard he tried to push it to the right, the wind swung the flag over to the left.

So the blind man was executed, and then the evil wind died away. The mocking laughter of devils echoed round the castle, and voices said, ‘Now we have our revenge! We can now go away.’

Told by Zong Teg-Ha; Onyang (1936). Taken from Folk Tales From Korea, pg. 59 (Elizabeth, NJ. Hollym International Corp., 1982).