Journal · Korean Folktales for Little Readers · Book 1
What is gotgam, and why is a tiger afraid of it?
In The Tiger and the Dried Persimmon, a mother hushes her crying baby with one word: gotgam. The tiger listening outside has no idea what a gotgam is, and decides it must be the scariest creature in the world.
A gotgam is a dried persimmon. In autumn, Korean families peel orange persimmons and hang them on strings under the roof. After many weeks in the cold air, the fruit becomes soft, chewy, and very sweet.
You can find gotgam at Korean grocery stores in winter. Families often share them at Seollal (Lunar New Year) and Chuseok, and use them to make a cinnamon punch called sujeonggwa.
Tigers once lived in Korea’s mountains, and they appear in many old stories. Sometimes they are frightening. Very often, like this tiger, they are a little bit foolish. Korean storytellers even begin tales with the words “back when tigers smoked pipes,” which means about the same as “once upon a time.”
