[BWAHAHAHAHA 4] 'I Had Jujubes to Snack On'

By G.S. Hand

“Bwahahahaha” is a weekly column that explores the roots of Korean humor through the joke book “Kkalkkal Useum,” originally published in 1916.

Most of the jokes in “Kkalkkal Useum” are based on an underlying conflict. One of the most frequent is conflict between husband and wife, particularly between a husband who wants to take a concubine and a wife who wants to stop him. Concubinage was a part of the social order during the 1392-1910 Joseon Dynasty, but was on the way out when this book was originally published in 1916. Here, as elsewhere, it depicts — and perhaps reprints material from — a somewhat earlier era.

When a joke in “Kkalkkal Useum” is based on a conflict between figures with a power imbalance, the weaker one usually comes out on top. This joke is no exception. In this situation it’s clear that the wife is in a less powerful position, but the husband who tries to outwit her ends up making a fool of himself — although some readers may feel that he still gets better than he deserves.

“I Had Jujubes to Snack On”

A virile man took a concubine. After that, his main wife started acting out, and every day, their home became a battleground.

At last, he couldn't take it anymore, and he said, "This home will only be at peace when I'm dead," and shut himself up in his room for several days.

His wife said, "I won't act out anymore, so please open the door and eat something."

The husband extracted all sorts of promises from her before coming out, and after that, she didn't cause any trouble.

One day, an old friend told him, "Recently I took a concubine. Now my wife is so ill-tempered that I can't stand to be at home."

The first man said, "I experienced something similar, and here's what I did."

His friend listened, and after returning home he shut the door of his room and didn't eat a bite for several days. Just as he was getting unbearably hungry, his wife — who saw what he was up to — started setting delicacies outside his door. She made soup with a rich meat broth and grilled pork ribs, and the smell tickled his nose. Finally he couldn't take it, and he opened the door and said, "I won't keep a concubine anymore, so let's eat that meat, just the two of us."

Later, he visited his friend again and told that story, and his friend said, "I had some jujubes to snack on. If you go that long without eating anything, you'll die."

His friend replied, "You should have said that earlier."

You have to find a way to deal with what comes your way.

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