[BWAHAHAHAHA 2] 'She Farted, So She Was Abandoned'

By G.S. Hand

I’ve been exploring the roots of Korean humor through the book “Kkalkkal Useum” (or “Laughing Bwahaha”), a collection of short comedic texts originally published in 1916. Namgung Seol is credited as the editor, but no author is listed, which is common for Korean literature of this era and earlier. It’s often unclear where the texts originally came from or who the original author was.

According to researcher Kim Jun-hyeong, the publisher adapted the content from the earlier 1913 collection “Angcheon Daeso” ("looking up into the sky and laughing uproariously") by removing the more serious and politically oriented sections to focus on humor. Another important change is that while the earlier work used Chinese-derived hanja characters, “Kkalkkal Useum” was written entirely in Hangeul (vernacular Korean). This was a commercial decision to appeal to a broader reading public since writing in Chinese characters was only accessible to the more highly educated. “Kkalkkal Usuem” seems to have sold quite a lot of copies in its time, but only a handful exist today, perhaps because, as popular entertainment, it wasn’t considered worth preserving.

I’m a bit on the fence about whether to call these short texts “jokes.” Some seem very joke-like, with a clear set-up and punchline. On the other hand, the text below seems more like a funny anecdote with folktale elements.

“She Farted, So She Was Abandoned”

There once was a bride who farted on her wedding night. The groom ran off and left her, but luckily she got pregnant that night, and she had a son she named Mushim Chul.

She sent him to school, but his classmates teased him: "Your father left your mother on their wedding night."

When he asked his mother why, she sighed and said, "I farted on our wedding night, so your father left me and married someone else. Now he's a high government official, so I don't dare contact him."

Mushim Chul set out for the man’s house carrying cucumber seeds. He called out, "Won't you buy some cucumbers that you can plant in the morning and pick to eat in the evening?"

The owner of the house called the boy over and said, "Are these seeds truly as you say?"

Mushim Chul replied, "They are, but they must be planted by someone who's never farted."

The owner said, "Who ever heard of someone who's never farted?"

Mushim Chul countered, "And yet you abandoned my mother for farting on your wedding night."

Although the owner of the house knew nothing of the boy’s history, he realized this must be his son, so he immediately had the wife he had abandoned moved into his house.

Having a son is a marvelous thing.

G.S. Hand is a graduate of the Translation Academy at LTI Korea and a master’s candidate in Modern Korean Literature from Korea University, as well as winner of the Fiction Grand Prize of the 53rd Modern Korean Literature Translation Awards. He lives in Seoul.