The Story of Hong Gildong

The Story of Hong Gildong (Hong Gildong jeon) is a Korean novel of unknown authorship written in the mid-19th century during the Joseon Dynasty. The story is about Hong Gildong, the illegitimate son of a nobleman, who overcomes his low birth status and becomes an outlaw, a hero, and a king. The Story of Hong Gildong is considered the most important work of early Korean fiction because its titular character became an iconic symbol: a righteous bandit who challenged class distinctions, which were a strict feature of Joseon society. Like Robin Hood, Hong Gildong robbed from the rich and gave to the poor, making him an everyman hero. Though short for a novel by Western standards (a work of this length is usually considered a novella or a long short story), The Story of Hong Gildong is considered the first Korean novel, and this guide refers to it as a novel.

This guide uses the 2016 Penguin Classics edition of the text translated into English by Minsoo Kang.

Content note: The guide refers to rape and rape culture, which appear in the source text.

The story takes place in 15th-century Joseon in the capital city of Jangan and is narrated in the third-person past tense. State Minister Hong mo is from an illustrious noble family. One day, after waking from a seemingly auspicious dream, he makes amorous advances toward his wife. She rejects him, so the minister sleeps with their maid, Chunseom, instead, and she bears him a son named Gildong. Gildong is exceptional in every way, but his lowborn status keeps him from pursuing a career in government or military service like other noblemen. Even as a child, Gildong understands this. He laments his fate, and though his parents love him, they are unsympathetic.

The senior concubine, Chorang, is jealous of Chunseom and Gildong, and she conceives a plot to have Gildong killed. She meets with a shaman and a physiognomist (a fortune-teller who reads faces) and sends the physiognomist to the minister’s wife to hold a fortune-telling session for the family. When the fortune-teller sees Gildong, she gasps and says he has the spirit of a king. Because he is lowborn, this could spell disaster for his family and all of Joseon.

The minister is shocked, and Chorang urges him to have Gildong killed for the greater good. The minister acknowledges her point, but he is conflicted; for a while, he keeps Gildong confined to a cottage behind the main house. There, Gildong studies and masters many subjects, including magic and divination: “[He gains] the power to summon supernatural spirits and control the wind and the rain” (13). At this time, Gildong is about 10 years old.

The minister knows that Gildong’s talents and ambition are great and that the only way to stifle them is to have him killed, but he loves Gildong and cannot bear the thought. He falls ill, and Chorang plots with the minister’s wife and his eldest son, Inhyeon, to have Gildong killed. They agree, and Chorang contacts the local assassin Teukjae to accomplish the task. On the night of the attack, Gildong senses an intruder. Using magic, he disorients Teukjae and beheads him. He spirits the shaman and physiognomist to his chamber and beheads them as well. He wants to kill Chorang, but he spares her because his father cares for her. That night, he says goodbye to his mother and father and goes into the mountains. Inhyeon reveals the assassination attempt to Minister Hong, who has Chorang banished.

Gildong becomes the leader of the Taesobaek Mountain bandits, and they rob Haein Temple, a Buddhist monastery, of its riches. Afterward, Gildong and the bandits begin their mission of robbing the rich and giving to the poor. They refer to themselves as the Hwalbindang, or a band of men dedicated to helping the poor (32). Gildong conjures eight copies of himself out of strawmen. He gives each of them an army of 500 bandits and sends them to the eight provinces of Joseon, where they steal from corrupt government offices.

The king learns of the crimes and offers a reward for capturing Gildong. The Supreme General of the Police Bureau, Yi Heup, goes in search of Gildong, but Gildong tricks and captures him. Gildong spares Yi Heup’s life and tells him to warn others against trying to arrest him again. Gildong then goes throughout the eight provinces and executes corrupt officials, each time sending a letter to the king to inform him of the execution. The king learns that Gildong is Minister Hong’s son and calls the minister and Inhyeon in for questioning. The king wants to imprison Minister Hong and strip him of his titles, but Inhyeon pleads with the king to allow him to catch Gildong. The king reinstates the minister and appoints Inhyeon the governor of Gyeongsang Province. He gives Inhyeon one year to apprehend Gildong.

Once in Gyeongsang, Inhyeon posts notices in each town, calling for Gildong to surrender himself to the authorities. Gildong orders “the false Gildongs to send their soldiers back to Hwalbindang and surrender themselves at the administrative center of each province” (43-44), then he goes to visit his brother in person. The false Gildongs are brought to the king, and the king asks Minister Hong to identify his true son. The minister falls ill from the strain, but the Gildongs crush some herbs they are carrying and revive him. The Gildongs tell the king to call off Gildong’s arrest so he can leave the country. Once the message is delivered, the Gildongs fall to the ground as piles of straw.

Gildong posts notices on the city gates, requesting that the king make him the minister of war in exchange for his surrender. Gildong lets Inhyeon arrest him, and Inhyeon’s officers take Gildong to the king. When Gildong arrives, he flies into the air and his chains fall away. The king decides to grant Gildong’s request, and not long after, “a youth in a blue robe and jade belt” appears at the Ministry of War to claim his position (49). He thanks the king but tells him that he is leaving Joseon. Gildong asks for three thousand seoks of rice to feed his men, then flies into the air and disappears into the clouds. The king praises his powers and calls off Gildong’s arrest.

Gildong travels with his three thousand bandits and their families to the island of Jae, which he has chosen as their new home. After getting settled, Gildong goes to Mangdang Mountain in China to find a plant he wants to use to poison an arrowhead. While there, he sees a band of monsters—shapeshifting uldongs—who have captured a woman. Unbeknownst to Gildong, the woman is Lady Bek, the daughter of the nobleman Bek Yong; she disappeared one night, and her father has offered her hand in marriage to anyone who can bring her back. Gildong defeats the uldongs in their castle and rescues Bek’s daughter, along with two other captured noblewomen. Upon his daughter’s return, Bek Yong throws a wedding feast for her and Gildong, and the two other women—whose last names are Jo and Jeong—offer to become Gildong’s concubines. Gildong takes his new family back to Jae, where the bandits welcome them with a feast.

Three years later, Gildong travels to Joseon disguised as a monk in anticipation of his father’s death. Gildong is now about 20 years old. When he arrives at his parents’ house, Inhyeon does not recognize him. When Gildong reveals his identity, Inhyeon tells him their father died regretting that he would never see Gildong again. Gildong convinces Inhyeon to bring their father’s body to a burial location on Jae Island. He takes Inhyeon and Chunseom to Jae, where they hold a lavish funeral for Minister Hong. Inhyeon departs, mourning the distance between him and Gildong; Gildong vows to help Inhyeon return one day. Chunseom stays in Jae and lives in Gildong’s household, where she is treated as nobility: “Lady Bek and the concubines waited on their mother-in-law with great care” (65).

Gildong mourns his father for the customary three years. He then gathers an army of 100 thousand men to overtake the small, prosperous, nearby country of Yul Island. They defeat the King of Yul, and he dies by suicide. Gildong renames the country Annam and appoints himself king. He sends an emissary to deliver a letter to the King of Joseon, which thanks the king for his past benevolence. Gildong requests that his emissary visit his ancestors’ grave to pay Gildong’s respects. After completing the ancestor rituals in Joseon, Inhyeon and his mother accompany the emissary back to Annam, and Gildong sends an envoy to greet them. Gildong reads a letter from the King of Joseon, in which the king expresses regret that he did not allow Gildong to serve him.

Inhyeon and his mother travel to Jae to pay their respects at Minister Hong’s grave. Shortly after, Inhyeon’s mother dreams of her husband and passes away. They bury her next to the minister in what is now called the Royal Tomb of Seol. Inhyeon remains in Annam for three years to mourn his mother, then returns to Joseon.

Time passes, and Gildong’s mother passes away. He has three sons: Seon, by his wife; Chang, by Consort Jeong; and Hyeong, by Consort Jo. He names Seon as the Crown Prince and his successor, and he names Chang and Hyeong the Lord and Duke of Jae Island, respectively. When Gildong turns 60, he abdicates in favor of his first son so that he can devote himself to study. He moves with his wife to beautiful Myeongsin Mountain, where they live in a thatched hut. Gildong practices asceticism “until his mind [becomes] so powerful that his white hair [turns] black and he [regains] teeth that he had lost” (76).

One day, a storm overtakes the mountain, and King Seon sends officials to check on his parents. Their hut is orderly and peaceful, but Gildong and Lady Bek have disappeared. King Seon calls his brothers back from Jae Island, and they mourn their father and the queen, designating the hut as the Royal Tomb of Hyeon.