The Tale of Gwangmun
This is the complete English version of MeKorean’s modern Korean retelling of the main scenes. It is not an official ITKC translation or a line-by-line scholarly translation. Consult the Classical Chinese original for its precise wording.
Gwangmun was a man who begged in the Jongno marketplace. The children who lived with him made him their leader and left him to guard their shelter. On a bitterly cold day of rain and snow, the children went out to find food, but one sick child stayed behind. Hearing the child's pitiful groans, Gwangmun went out to find something to eat himself. By the time he returned, however, the child was dead. Not knowing what had happened, the other children suspected Gwangmun of killing him. They beat him and drove him away.
Gwangmun took shelter in a village house during the night and was caught as a thief. Haltingly but without pretense, he explained that he had only come in to escape his enemies. The owner thought he did not seem like a thief and released him at dawn. As he left, Gwangmun asked for an old straw mat. Puzzled, the owner followed him and saw him wrapping the child's body, which the children had thrown under Supyo Bridge, in the mat. He carried it to the western outskirts, buried it, and wept. Only when the owner asked did Gwangmun tell him everything that had happened.
Impressed by Gwangmun's heart, the owner took him home, gave him clothes, and treated him well. He then recommended him to the wealthy owner of an apothecary shop and found him work. Some time later, money went missing from the shop. The owner would go out, return to inspect the lock, and repeatedly start to speak to Gwangmun before stopping himself. Gwangmun, unaware of the reason, carried on in silence. A few days later, the owner's wife's nephew arrived and returned the money he had taken earlier while the owner was away.
Realizing that his suspicion had been wrong, the apothecary was deeply ashamed and apologized. He then told everyone he knew about Gwangmun's character. The story passed from merchants to the guests of prominent households and the circles around officials, spreading widely through Seoul within a few months. Trust in Gwangmun also acquired practical force in trade. Borrowers normally had to leave goods or documents as security, but people came to trust his word so much that, if he stood as guarantor, they no longer asked for such collateral.
Gwangmun did not win people over with polished words. He was mocked for his looks and wore old clothes, but he had a gift for turning quarrels into laughter. When he came across people fighting, he too would strip off his clothes and join in, pretending to settle the dispute with gestures and lines drawn on the ground instead of words. People laughed, and when even the quarrelers joined in, the dispute dissolved. Still unmarried after forty, he was urged to take a wife. He reflected on his own appearance, replying that women liked beautiful faces just as men did. When urged to get a house, he said there was no hurry: he could roam the market by day and stay in people's homes at night.
Once, a group gathered at the home of the famous gisaeng Unsim and asked for songs and dances, but she was reluctant to oblige. Gwangmun arrived that night and sat down in his worn clothes. At first the guests disapproved, but he paid no attention, beating time on his knee and humming. Then Unsim rose, changed her clothes, and performed a sword dance. Everyone enjoyed themselves, and the guests made friends with Gwangmun before parting. The main account ends with this scene of his character moving another person's heart.
In the appended account, Park Ji-won explains that he wrote down stories about Gwangmun that people told him when he was young and ill. Around that time Gwangmun was traveling through various southern towns, gaining a reputation, and had not returned to Seoul for a long while. At a temple, a beggar boy heard the monks praising Gwangmun and falsely claimed to be his son. Thinking of Gwangmun, the monks treated the boy with much greater care. A man in that region was secretly plotting rebellion. Seeing what had happened, he decided to use Gwangmun's reputation to deceive people into joining him. He had the boy call him his uncle and presented himself as Gwangmun's younger brother.
But someone found it suspicious that Gwangmun, who had lived alone all his life, should suddenly have a grown son and a younger brother. The matter was reported to the authorities, and Gwangmun was arrested along with them. A confrontation during questioning revealed that they did not know one another at all. The plotter was executed, the boy was exiled, and Gwangmun was released. In Seoul, such crowds turned out to see him that the marketplace was nearly empty for days. A man who had never sought fame had been put in danger by his own name.
After many years, Gwangmun met old acquaintances and exchanged news of the past. Some people they had known were dead, others had risen to high office, and new names had become famous. Pyo Cheol-ju, once immensely wealthy, was now poor and made a living brokering house sales. When he said that only now did he understand people's ways, Gwangmun joked that it was like losing one's sight just as one learned carpentry. Gwangmun's body had aged too, but his eye for people and his wit remained. Where he went after that is not known.
廣文者傳
The Classical Chinese original comes from ITKC’s publicly released Collected Korean Literary Works XML. Paragraphs are divided for readability. Consult the official source below for variant characters, collation notes and page images.
廣文者。丐者也。甞行乞鍾樓市道中。群丐兒。推文作牌頭。
使守窠。一日天寒雨雪。群兒相與出丐。一兒病不從。旣而兒寒專纍。
欷聲甚悲。文甚憐之。身行丐得食。將食病兒。兒業已死。
群兒返乃疑文殺之。相與搏逐文。文夜匍匐入里中舍。驚舍中犬。舍主得文縛之。
文呼曰。吾避仇。非敢爲盜。如翁不信。朝日辨於市。
辭甚樸。舍主心知廣文非盜賊。曉縱之。文辭謝請弊席而去。舍主終已恠之。
踵其後。望見群丐兒曳一尸。至水標橋。投尸橋下。文匿橋中。
裹以弊席。潛負去。埋之西郊之墦間。且哭且語。於是舍主執詰文。
文於是盡告其前所爲及昨所以狀。舍主心義文。與文歸家。予文衣。厚遇文。
竟薦文藥肆富人作傭。保久之。富人出門。數數顧。還復入室。
視其扃。出門而去。意殊怏怏。旣還大驚熟視文。欲有所言。
色變而止。文實不知。日默默亦不敢辭去。旣數日。富人妻兄子持錢還富人曰。
向者吾要貸於叔。會叔不在。自入室取去。恐叔不知也。於是富人大慚廣文。
謝文曰。吾小人也。以傷長者之意。吾將無以見若矣。於是遍譽所知諸君及他富人大商賈。
廣文義人。而又過贊廣文諸宗室賓客及公卿門下左右。公卿門下左右及宗室賓客。皆作話套。以供寢數月間。
士大夫盡聞廣文如古人。當是時。漢陽中皆稱廣文。前所厚遇舍主之賢能知人。而益多藥肆富人長者也。
時殖錢者。大較典當首飾璣翠衣件器什宮室田僮奴之簿書。參伍本幣以得當。然文爲人保債不問。當一諾千金。
文爲人貌極醜。言語不能動人。口大幷容兩拳。善曼碩戱。爲鐵拐舞。
三韓兒相訾傲。稱爾兄達文。達文又其名也。文行遇鬪者。文亦解衣與鬪啞啞。
俯劃地若辨曲直狀。一市皆笑。鬪者亦笑。皆解去。文年四十餘。
尙編髮。人勸之妻則曰。夫美色。衆所嗜也。然非男所獨也。
唯女亦然也。故吾陋而不能自爲容也。人勸之家則辭曰。吾無父母兄弟妻子。何以家爲。
且吾朝而歌呼入市中。暮而宿富貴家門下。漢陽戶八萬爾。吾逐日而易其處。不能盡吾之年壽矣。
漢陽名妓窈窕都雅。然非廣文聲之。不能直一錢。初羽林兒各殿別監駙馬都尉傔從垂袂過雲心。心名姬也。
堂上置酒皷瑟。屬雲心舞。心故遲不肯舞也。文夜往彷徨堂下。遂入座。
自坐上坐。文雖弊衣袴。擧止無前。意自得也。眦膿而眵。
陽醉噎。羊髮北髻。一座愕然。瞬文欲敺之。文益前坐。
拊膝度曲。鼻吟高低。心卽起更衣。爲文釖舞。一座盡歡。
更結友而去。
余年十八時。甞甚病。常夜召門下舊傔。徵問閭閻奇事。其言大抵廣文事。
余亦幼時。見其貌極醜。余方力爲文章。作爲此傳。傳示諸公長者。
一朝以古文辭。大見推詡。葢文時已南遊湖嶺諸郡。所至有聲。不復至京師數十年。
海上丐兒。甞乞食於開寧水多寺。夜聞寺僧閒話廣文事。皆愛慕感嘆。想見其爲人。
於是丐兒泣。衆恠問之。於是丐兒囁嚅。遂自稱廣文兒。寺僧皆大驚時甞予飯瓢。
及聞廣文兒。洗盂盛飯。具匙箸蔬醬。每盤而進之。時嶺中妖人。
有潛謀不軌者。見丐兒如此其盛待也。冀得以惑衆。潛說丐兒曰。爾能呼我叔。
富貴可圖也。乃稱廣文弟。自名廣孫以附文。或有疑。廣文自不知姓。
生平獨。無昆弟妻妾。今安得忽有長弟壯兒也。遂上變。皆得逐捕。
及對質驗問。各不識面。於是遂誅其妖人。而流丐兒。廣文旣得出。
老幼皆往觀。漢陽市數日爲空。文指表鐵柱曰。汝豈非善打人表望同耶。今老無能矣。
盖望同其號也。因相與勞苦。文問靈城君，豐原君無恙乎。曰皆已下世矣。金君擎方何官。
曰爲龍虎將。文曰此兒美男子。軆雖肥。能挾妓超墻。用錢如糞土。
今貴人不可見矣。粉丹何去。曰已死矣。文嘆曰。昔豐原君夜讌麒麟閣。
獨留粉丹宿。曉起將赴闕。丹執燭。誤爇貂帽惶恐。君笑曰。
爾羞乎。卽與壓羞錢五千。吾時擁首帕副裙。候闌干下。黑而鬼立。
君拓戶唾。倚丹而耳曰。彼黑者何物。對曰。天下誰不知廣文也。
君笑曰。是汝後陪耶。呼與一大鍾。君自飮紅露七鍾。乘軺而去。
皆昔年事也。漢陽纖兒誰最名。曰小阿。其助房誰。曰崔撲滿。
曰朝日尙古堂遣人勞我。聞移家圓嶠下。堂前有碧梧桐樹。常自煑茗其下。使鐵突皷琴。
曰鐵突昆弟方擅名。曰然。此金鼎七兒也。吾與其父善。復悵然久之曰。
此皆吾去後事耳。文斷髮猶辮如鼠尾。齒豁口窳。不能內拳云。語鐵柱曰。
汝今老矣。何能自食。曰家貧爲舍儈。文曰。汝今免矣。
嗟呼。昔汝家貲鉅萬。時號汝黃金兜。今兜安在。曰今而後吾知世情矣。
文笑曰。汝可謂學匠而眼暗矣。文後不知所終云。
Who Makes a Person's Name?
Trust in Gwangmun is not established all at once. The householder hears his unvarnished words, believes he is no thief, and releases him. Only after seeing him bury the dead child and hearing the circumstances does he take him home, help him, and find him work. At each change in the way Gwangmun is judged, distinguish what the person making the judgment has witnessed from what they have heard from others.
Gwangmun's reputation does not spread automatically through good deeds alone. The apothecary's remorse and praise connect with merchants' conversations and reports in prominent households. The trust that results becomes a social force strong enough to secure loans without collateral. The work shows both a person's character and the process by which his name circulates.
In the later account, others exploit that same reputation. A good name can protect someone, yet it can also generate new stories and dangers in places beyond his knowledge. Compare how the early misunderstandings are resolved with how the later false accusation is cleared. The conversation between the aged Gwangmun and his old acquaintance also holds the passage of time and the changing face of the city.