In ancient times, there lived a son and his mother. The son took care of his mother, respected him, and his mother worked and fussed about every day. Now he is busy around the house, now he is gardening, now he is spinning yarn. By the sweat of their brow they earned their living.
Their neighbors loved and respected them.
The son's name was Moon Hyesong, which means respectful son.
Moon Hyesung's father died early, and the mother's only hope was for her son.
She doted on him.
But then trouble happened. The mother fell ill. He lies in bed and does not get up. Her son does not leave her side. Day and night he nurses. I am ready to go around the whole world to find a cure and help my mother. That’s how poor she is, she’s suffering, day by day she’s getting worse and worse. The young man became sad and thought:
Why is the world so unfair? What bad did my good mother and I do? Why didn’t God let her live the rest of her days in peace? Am I working hard? He thought so and clenched his fists from powerlessness.
The neighbors feel sorry for the mother, they bring her delicious food, but she doesn’t even touch it, she leaves everything to her son.
The young man is moved to tears by his mother's care.
And the mother grieves that she has never been able to feed her son enough.
What Hyesung didn’t do to cure his mother. I collected medicinal herbs, caught birds, and animals - all in vain.
The mother looks at her son and thinks: If I die, my son will remain alone in the whole world. And the people around are evil and cruel. Scary mother, tears are rolling from my eyes.
Neighbors came to the young man and said:
“Only sansam can cure your mother, but how can I get it?” - They say, but they themselves sigh.
The young man said: Sansam is the root of life! How did I forget about him?! I will get it out of the ground, no matter what it costs me.
And the young man began to go to the mountains, looking for the root of life. Is this really an easy task?
Is the root of life given only to the lucky ones? - the young man thinks. – Maybe I wasn’t looking well? And he went in search again and again.
The young man once met two of his old friends - they played together when they were children. They heard that the young man was trying to obtain the root of life for the sick woman, and they said:
“I’m sorry that they haven’t helped you yet, but your mother doesn’t care.” Let's look for sansam together. We heard that in the old days, sansam grew in the deep Daesong gorge. So let's go there.
- Thank you! – Hyesung cried.
Once upon a time they always came to each other's rescue. And the most responsive was Hyesung.
But time passed, and the former friends were overcome by greed. There was no more trust between them. Therefore, Hyesung was delighted to the depths of his soul at their friendly support.
No sooner said than done. Friends went to the mountains to look for the root of life. They climb one steep path, then another. Everyone climbs higher, forgetting their fatigue. Hyosung looks at his friends, and his soul feels so good. They’re just like brothers,” he thinks. They live without knowing need, but they help me.
No wonder they say: A friend is more valuable than gold.
Hyesung looks at the autumn sky, clear as crystal, and it seems to him that the souls of his friends are just as pure and all the birds and animals are jealous of him that he has such good friends!
He bent over the cliff, looked - flowers were turning red on the ledge, and then he shouted:
- Look, what wonderful flowers!
- This is sansam! - says one of the friends. He saw his father once buy sansam from a traveling merchant. - So lucky!
All three began to look for a path to get close to the flowers and count them. There were twelve bushes of the magical plant in total.
- We must go down quickly! But how to do this?!
Hesung pulled out a rope from the bag and said:
“Hold the rope tightly, I’ll go down it!”
- Look, dig carefully! Don't damage the roots!
The friends hold the rope tightly, and Hyesung goes down, taking the basket with him. And he’s not the least bit scared, he’s thinking about his mother.
Hyesung reached the ledge, affectionately stroked the scarlet heads of the flowers and whispered:
“I will be so grateful to you, root of life, just heal my kind mother quickly.”
Suddenly, out of nowhere, two moths appeared. Young men flutter over your head, as if they want to cheer you up.
And friends are hurrying Hyesung:
- Dig quickly! Just be careful! Don't spoil the roots!
A young man digs up roots, and they look like little people, smiling at the young man. And it seems to him as if his mother took a miraculous medicine, recovered and became very young. And Hyesung sang with joy. For the first time, many years of exhausting work.
Hyesung dug up all twelve roots, carefully placed them in a basket and shouted to his friends:
- Hey, pull out the basket first, and then me!
The basket floated upward. And the guys exclaimed:
- Ah, sansam! The root of life! What happiness!
The basket contained twelve large corneisansama, each the size of a large radish. A whole wealth. The boys' hearts began to pound.
Greed overwhelmed them. The same thought came to mind: Divide twelve roots into three - you get four, and two - six.
One figured that six roots could be turned into a lot of money, a rice plantation could be bought, and a house could be built under a tiled roof.
Another decided to donate six roots to the Pyongyang governor so that the totem would give an official position.
“Let’s go,” one guy said to the other. – Let’s divide the roots among ourselves, that’s the end of it.
They took the roots and ran away. Hesung is waiting for the rope to be lowered for him, but they don’t lower it. He screams and calls his friends, but they don’t respond.
Have they really left me here alone? - thinks. Even my heart ached.
Hyesung sat there for a long time, still looking up to see if the rope would appear.
I waited in vain. His friends left and he was left to certain death. The young man became sad:
Let me die, but what will happen to my poor mother? After all, she is waiting for me and suffering! How treacherous people are!
I remembered my childhood years. How could this happen? Even this morning my friends were so kind to me! Are a few sansam roots more valuable than friendship?
Hyesung doesn't know what to do. I lost heart completely. There is no going down or going up from this sheer cliff. The young man pounded the rock with his fists and began shouting loudly:
- Scoundrels, maybe your parents are not dear to you either?
Suddenly everything around went dark. It began to rain. Through its noise, only the screams of the unfortunate man and the growling of animals were heard.
Dawn finally arrived.
Maybe these scoundrels will take pity on the mother and give her at least one, the smallest root of sansam? They'll probably tell her that I fell into the abyss. Then the mother will call her son day and night, die of grief, and she will not need the root of life.
Thoughts, one more sad than the other, overwhelmed Hyesung. A day passed, then another, and a third came. Hyesong would have died of hunger, but it was good, edible roots grew nearby in a crevice.
Suddenly Hesung hears something rustling, he opens his eyes slightly and looks - a huge snake is crawling towards him, its sting sticking out. How can Hyesung fight her?
Apparently, his last hour has struck. He decided to throw himself into the abyss and shouted:
- Mom!
His scream echoed and reached the Pyongyang fortress. Hyesung fell into unconsciousness.
Meanwhile, the snake wrapped itself around his body and pulled him out of the abyss.
Hyesung woke up and heard birds chirping cheerfully and a stream babbling. Overhead, the blue sky is clear, like crystal, knowing neither evil nor good.
The young man shouted:
- Mom! - and began to quickly descend from the cliff.
And he himself thinks: Scoundrels in human form are worse than animals.
Suddenly Hyesung looks - between two fluffy pine trees a rainbow cloud shimmers. He rubbed his eyes, and this fairy was walking towards him, smiling.
The dress sparkles on her, she is a real beauty.
She bowed to Hyesung, handed him that same basket, and in the basket were sansam roots.
“Let’s go home, good young man,” says the beauty. “Your mother can’t wait for you.”
The young man can’t believe his eyes, he thinks: Isn’t this all a dream?
And the fairy says:
– When you reach that big rock, you will see your friends. Greed destroyed them.
The fairy said so, flapped her rainbow wings and flew away.
Heson rushed to a large rock, looked - his friends were standing, not moving, clutching each other’s throats. Apparently, lightning struck them while they were fighting over the roots.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru