The Fairy and the Woodcutter

A kind woodcutter hides a deer from a hunter. In thanks, the deer reveals the secret of a mountain pond. There he meets a maiden who has come down from the sky. They live together for a time, but in the end she returns to the heavens. A bittersweet tale of kindness, longing, and letting go.

A folktale told across Korea in many variations. Like Korea itself — full of mountains — it features mountain ponds and maidens from the sky.

한국 전역에서 다양한 모습으로 전해지는 옛이야기예요. 산이 많은 한국답게 산속 연못과 하늘의 선녀가 자주 등장해요.

• 선녀seonnyeo
  /SUHN-nyaw/

  A beautiful woman who comes down from the sky — a Korean heavenly maiden.

• 나무꾼namuggun
  /NAH-moo-kkun/

  A person who gathers and sells wood from the mountain — a woodcutter.

• 사슴saseum
  /SAH-seum/

  The antlered animal of Korean mountains — a deer.

• 한복hanbok
  /HAHN-bohk/

  Korean traditional clothing — bright colors and flowing sleeves.

• 폭포pokpo
  /POHK-poh/

  Water falling from a cliff — there are many in Korean mountains.

This folktale becomes a 5-page coloring storybook in the app. Two of these pages branch — you choose which path the story takes.

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  A Deer by the Waterfall

  A young woodcutter pauses to drink at a waterfall and meets a deer fleeing a hunter. He hides the deer behind a great boulder. Moments later the hunter arrives, breathless: "Have you seen a deer?"

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  The Starlit Pond

  Grateful, the deer tells him of a secret pond high in the mountain. Beneath the stars, a folded hanbok lies on the bank. A fairy bathes in the water. What should he do?

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  The White Deer in the Deep Wood

  The deer seemed lost to the hunter, but soon a pure white deer appears in the deep forest and leads the woodcutter through the mist. There, a fairy in flowing robes offers her hand. "Will you come with me?"

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  The Promise that Rose to the Sky · ☁️ The Sky-bound ending

  At the end of the deer's path, a rainbow bridge rose into the sky. Hand in hand, the woodcutter and the fairy walked among the stars. From that day on, on clear nights, two stars shine side by side.

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  Becoming the Mountain Spirit · 🌲 The Mountain Spirit ending

  The woodcutter never left the mountain. With the deer, he built a small hut and cared for the animals. Over the years his figure blurred into the mountain mist, and people began to call him the Mountain Spirit.

The original ends sadly when the fairy returns to the sky alone. Our version lets you choose — rise together to the heavens, or stay and become the Mountain Spirit.

원작은 선녀가 결국 하늘로 돌아가는 슬픈 결말이에요. 우리 버전은 함께 하늘로 오르거나, 나무꾼이 산에 남아 산신령이 되는 두 결말을 골라요.