Once upon a time there lived in a remote village a boy named Cheon Don.
This Cheon Don really loved to draw, but the problem was that he didn’t have a brush. And there was no money to buy a brush either.
In ancient times, there were no pens or pencils in Korea; people wrote and drew with brushes.
So Cheon Don drew with whatever he could find. He would come into the forest, take a piece of bark, find a sharp pebble and scratch it on the bark: he would draw trees and mountains. Otherwise he will run to the river and drag a twig along the coastal sand - beautiful pictures are obtained.
Neighbors admire the pictures: how fresh flowers bloom on the sand, how trees grow.
“I wish I could buy Cheon Don a brush,” they say. - But where will you get the money for it? Our village is poor. No one has a penny.
But Cheon Don doesn’t even dare to dream about a brush. He draws with a stick on the sand and on the damp ground and shows it to people. Let them admire the beauty around them, otherwise they work from morning to night, not noticing either the high mountains or the fast rivers.
Once Cheon Don painted a big picture in the sand: there are high mountains, mighty trees grow on the mountains, and from behind one tree a tiger peeks out.
All day long the peasants came to the river bank to look at the picture, and in the evening they brought the inhabitants of the neighboring village, the one beyond the pass.
People admired the wonderful picture and went home.
And Cheon Don is still standing by the river, looking at the picture. “When I come in the morning, I won’t see any mountains, trees, or a tiger: the picture will be covered with sand,” he thinks.
He felt sad from such thoughts. But there was nothing to do, he went home and went to bed.
And a gray-haired old man appeared to him in a dream and said:
“Don’t worry, Cheon Don, that your painting was covered with sand. You won't have to draw with a stick anymore. I’ll give you a magic brush, and now you can paint with this brush.”
He said so and handed the brush to Cheon Dong. Cheon Don was happy:
“Thank you, grandfather!” And there was no trace of the old man, as if he had never existed.
“Grandpa, grandpa!” – Cheon Don shouted and woke up.
Cheon Don sighed: “So it was a dream!” He turned over on his other side, wanted to sleep a little more, but something suddenly pricked him in the side. Cheon Don looks, can’t believe his eyes – the brush lies next to him, glistening. Cheon Dong took a brush, and it was made of pure gold.
Cheon Dong barely waited until morning. And when the sun rose, he ran to the mountains, tore a piece of bark from a tree and began to draw a bird. As soon as he finished painting the last feather, the bird beat its wings, flew out of the picture and soared into the blue sky.
Cheon Don was surprised: “It really is a magic brush!” He ran faster to the river, took a large stone, and drew a perch on it.
“Come on, perch, swim,” he says.
The painted perch started, slid off the stone - and plunged into the water!
Since then, Cheon Don began to paint with a golden brush. Whatever he is asked to do, he will draw. And his magical paintings immediately come to life. If the peasants ask to draw an ox, Cheon Dong will draw a big ox, and at that very moment the ox will come to life; If the boys ask them to draw colorful birds, Cheon Dong will draw colorful birds.
All the people rejoice and thank Cheon Dong. One rich man, Pak, is dissatisfied: he lived well alone, but here all the peasants do not know their needs. “This is a mess,” Park thinks, “we need to take the brush away from Cheon Dong.”
He waited for an opportune moment, when the whole village was in the field, mounted the best horse and rode to Cheon Don. He drove up to the house and shouted:
- Come out, Cheon Don! Give me your brush! I want to draw myself!
Cheon Don was scared: when the rich man takes the brush away, what will happen then? The peasants will become poor again. He quickly took the brush:
- Help me out, brush!
In a flash, Cheon Dong drew a war horse, jumped onto the horse’s back and rushed towards Pak. The horse hits the ground with its hooves, flames burst from its mouth, and smoke pours out of its ears. Puck got scared, turned his horse and started whipping him. The horse reared up, neighed loudly, threw Puck to the ground and rushed off into the mountains - only he was seen. And Puck groans and groans and can’t get up.
Cheon Dong laughed:
- You will know how to hunt for other people's property! Don’t try to offend the peasants without me: I’ll be back soon.
He said this, whipped his horse and disappeared from sight.
Cheon Don rode for three days and three nights and rode to Seoul, where Wang Korea lived. He got off his horse and began to walk around Seoul, watching how ordinary people lived. He walked and walked, looked and looked, and saw that life was bad for the poor people: everyone was offending them, but there was no one to complain to.
Then Cheon Don began visiting the poor people in Chibi, drawing rice and drawing clothes. Soon the whole city knew about the magic brush.
[Chibi is a Korean house.]
The great Van himself heard about this and became angry: how dare a daring boy wield a magic brush?
He ordered the servants to find the insolent man and immediately bring him to the palace. The servants began to roam around the city, looking into the chibi. They’ll go into the chibi and let’s poke around in the corners: there’s rice and clothes in the chibi, which means Cheon Don has already been here.
They went around all the houses - there were bags of rice everywhere, new clothes were everywhere. Maybe he’s no longer in the city?
Suddenly the servants see: standing on the outskirts of a chibi, small, dilapidated, about to fall apart. They came in and looked - there was no rice, no new clothes. The servants hid better and began to wait for Cheon Dong.
The sun has already set, the stars have lit up in the sky, but Cheon-dong is still not there. Finally, someone's footsteps were heard, and a boy with a golden tassel in his hands entered the chibi.
“Hello, good people,” he says. - I came to help you.
The hostess waved her hands at him:
“Run quickly, son, evil people are hiding here.” Cheon Don turned to the door, wanted to run out into the courtyard, but where was it: the Van’s servants jumped out, grabbed Cheon Don, took away his magic brush, tied him tightly with ropes and led him to the palace.
They brought him to the palace, put him in prison, and in the morning they took him to the van.
Wang Korea is sitting on the throne, fanning himself with a silk fan.
- So that’s what you are, you worthless boy! - speaks. - Come on, draw something.
They untied Cheon Don's hands, gave him a gold tassel and began to wait for what would happen next.
Cheon Don took his brush, waved it twice, and a huge toad jumped across the floor - jump-jump, jump-jump - right to the throne where Van was sitting.
- Ay-yay! - Van screamed and jumped onto the throne. - Beat her, beat her!
The servants rushed to catch the toad, running, screaming, bumping into each other. We barely caught it. And Cheon Don stands grinning. Van saw that the boy was laughing at him, got angry and ordered Cheon Dong to be thrown into prison.
Cheon-dong's servants grabbed him, shackled him with iron chains and threw him into prison.
Then they went to the van and let’s paint with a golden brush. But where are they, the incompetents! Their dog looks like a cat, a tiger looks like a huge hare, and they can’t even draw a bag of rice.
Then the great Van himself got down from the throne and took a brush:
- Look how to draw! He said so and began to draw a piece of gold. He drew and drew, and he came up with a huge stone. A stone rolled right under Van’s feet. The van barely managed to jump to the side. And the stone rolled to the place where Van stood, hit the throne with all its might and smashed it to pieces.
The van got angry, ordered the servants to throw away the stone, and he himself began to draw the tree. As soon as I drew a curved trunk, the trunk turned into a poisonous snake. The snake hissed and crawled towards the van.
The van rushed around the hall.
- Catch her, catch her, beat her! - shouts. The servants began to catch the snake, but they caught it by force.
Van sees that his magic brush is not listening. He had to call Cheon Dong again.
Cheon-dong's servants brought him.
“Well, Cheon Don, choose: either you will draw, or I will order you to be executed without delay,” Van tells him.
There is nothing to do - Cheon Don had to agree.
They took off his heavy chains, gave him a gold tassel, and placed a guard behind him so that he would shoot sharp arrows at Cheon-Dong if he disobeyed the van.
Van scratched the back of his head, thought and said:
– Draw a lake, Cheon Dong.
Cheon Dong waved his brush - one-two! – and a blue lake appeared in the middle of the hall. Van rejoiced:
- Now draw a beautiful boat.
Cheon Don waved his brush again - and a beautiful boat swayed on the blue water.
Van climbed into the boat and let’s swim on the lake and sing songs. He rode and rode, and then he said:
– What’s the point of riding in a boat if there are no waves? Give me some waves!
Cheon Dong brushed the water with a brush - and waves began to flow across the lake: chul-lon, chul-lon. The boat rocked on the waves, and Van was glad.
“More,” he shouts, “more!” Make the waves higher!
Again Cheon Don swept his brush through the water, and the waves came across the lake, but not like the first time, but large, high ones: chhal-lan, chhal-lan. But Van is still not enough.
- Make it even higher! - shouts. “Otherwise I’ll have you executed!”
Cheon Dong waved his brush with all his might, a huge wave rose, overturned the boat, and Van immediately sank to the bottom.
Van's servants rushed to save him, and they all drowned too.
And Cheon Don drew a white crane, sat on its back and went to other cities and villages to help poor people.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru