Imagery
2010 Seoul World Lantern Festival
If you know anything about classical Korean literature, you’ll recognize this as a scene from Song of the Sea Palace. Here, the rabbit rides on the tortoise’s back as they head down into the sea to the palace of the Dragon King. There the dying Dragon King will demand the rabbit’s liver as medicine, but the rabbit will employ a clever ruse to save his skin (he claims that he left his liver on land, as the tortoise hadn’t told him the purpose of their journey). This story has a special place in my heart—it was the subject of my MA thesis and prompted me to continue my exploration of Korean trickster figures.