Our Little Korean Cousin | Page 2

father and the mother would not have been so
pleased. For, strange as it may seem to you who live in homes where
little daughters and little sisters are petted and loved above all the rest
of the family, in Korea little girls do not receive a warm welcome,
though the mothers will cherish and fondle them--as much from pity as
from love. The mothers know better than any one else how hard a way
the little girl will have to travel through life.
But it is Yung Pak we want to tell you about.
As his father was a wealthy man, all the comforts and luxuries which
could be given to a Korean baby were showered on this tiny boy.
One of the queer things, though, was that he had no little cradle in
which he might be rocked to sleep. And you know that all babies,
especially little babies, sleep a great deal. So how do you suppose Yung
Pak's mother used to put him to sleep in this land where cradles were
unknown? She put him on the bed and patted him lightly on the
stomach. This she called to-tak, to-tak.

As Yung Pak grew older he was given many toys, among them rattles,
drums, flags, and dolls, just as you had them. Some of the toys, though,
were very peculiar ones--different from anything you ever saw. He had
little tasselled umbrellas, just like the big one his father used when he
walked out in the sun. He also had little fringed hats and toy chariots
with fancy wheels. One of Yung Pak's favourite toys was a wooden
jumping-jack with a pasteboard tongue. By pulling a string the tongue
was drawn in and a trumpet carried up to the mouth.
Another favourite toy was a tiger on wheels. Tiger-hunting, by the way,
was considered great sport by Yung Pak's father. It was a very
dangerous one, too, and sometimes lives were sacrificed in his efforts
to capture or to kill this fierce wild beast. Sometimes the animal was
caught in a trap which was nothing less than a hut of logs with a single
entrance. In the roof of the hut heavy beams would be placed on a
forked stick. The bait--a young lamb or kid--would be tied beneath the
beams. The moment the bait was touched, down would come the heavy
timber--smash--on the tiger's head.
But Yung Pak's tiger was ferocious only in looks. It was made of paper
pulp and painted with bright stripes. This harmless image of a fierce
beast Yung Pak would pull about the floor with a string by the hour.
All his pets were not of wood and paper. Real live animals he had.
Puppies and kittens, of course. His greatest pet, though, was a monkey.
What little boy ever saw a monkey that he didn't want for his own? So
when Yung Pak's father made him a present of a monkey--a real
monkey--alive--he just danced with glee.
This monkey was not a very large one,--not over a foot high,--but he
could cut capers and play tricks equal to any monkey you ever saw
travelling with an organ-grinder. He was dressed in a scarlet jacket, and
he was always with Yung Pak, except sometimes when he would try to
plague him by breaking away and running--perhaps to the house-top or
to the neighbour's garden.
After a little while Yung Pak got used to these "monkey shines," and he
knew that his pet would not stay away long after mealtime.

As Yung Pak grew older he was allowed to play with other boys of his
own age. A favourite sport was Hunting the Ring. In this game the boys
would get together quite a large heap of sand. In this sand one of them
would hide a ring, and then the urchins would all get slender sticks and
poke around in the pile trying to find the ring. Whoever succeeded in
getting the ring on his stick won the game, and carried the prize home
as a sign of victory.
Sometimes Yung Pak would be the winner, and then he would march
home with great glee and show the trophy to his father.
One of the first things Yung Pak was taught was to be respectful to his
father. Never was he allowed to fail in this duty in the least. This does
not seem strange when we know what a sober, serious, dignified man
Yung Pak's father was. It would not do to allow his son to do anything
that would upset his dignity, though he loved him very much indeed.
It was far different with the boy's mother. Her little boy soon learned
that her wishes counted for very little in the family, and she never
ventured to rebuke him, no matter