Elder Brother Tiger: 호랑이 형님

호랑이 형님

Elder Brother Tiger

옛날 호랑이 담배 먹을 적 일입니다.

This happened long ago, back when tigers used to smoke tobacco.

지혜 많은 나무꾼 한 사람이 깊은 산 속에 나무를 하러 갔다가, 길도 없는 나무 숲속에서 크디큰 호랑이를 만났습니다.

Once, a clever woodcutter went deep into the mountains to gather firewood and encountered an enormous tiger in a forest where there wasn't even a path.

며칠이나 주린 듯싶은 무서운 호랑이가 기다리고 있었던 듯이 그 큰 입을 벌리고 오는 것과 딱 맞닥뜨렸습니다.

He came face to face with a terrifying tiger that looked as though it had been starving for days. It seemed to be lying in wait, approaching with its enormous jaws wide open.

소리를 질러도 소용이 있겠습니까, 달아난다 한들 뛸 수가 있겠습니까.

What good would screaming do? And even if he tried to run, how could he possibly outrun it?

꼼짝달싹을 못하고, 고스란히 잡혀먹히게 되었습니다..

Unable to move a muscle, he was about to be devoured alive.

악 소리도 못 지르고, 그냥 기절해 쓰러질 판인데, 이 나무꾼이 원래 지혜가 많고 능청스런 사람이라, 얼른 지게를 진 채 엎드려 절을 한 번 공손히 하고,

He was on the verge of fainting without even being able to cry out. But this woodcutter was naturally clever and quick-witted, so he hurriedly bowed low and respectfully, still wearing his carrying frame on his back, and said,

“에구, 형님! 인제야 만나 뵙습니다그려.”

"Oh, my dear elder brother! At long last, I've found you!"

하고, 손이라도 쥘 듯이 가깝게 다가갔습니다.

With that, he approached so closely that he seemed ready to take the tiger's hand.

호랑이도 형님이란 소리에 어이가 없었는지,

The tiger was so taken aback at being called elder brother that it replied,

“이놈아, 사람 놈이 나를 보고 형님이라니, 형님은 무슨 형님이냐?”

"You fool! How dare a human call me his elder brother? What do you mean, elder brother?"

합니다.

it said.

나무꾼은 시치미를 딱 떼고 능청스럽게,

The woodcutter played innocent and replied smoothly,

“우리 어머니께서 늘 말씀하시기를, 너의 형이 어렸을 때 산에 갔다가 길을 잃어 이내 돌아오지 못하고 말았는데, 죽은 셈치고 있었더니, 그 후로 가끔가끔 꿈을 꿀 때마다 그 형이 호랑이가 되어서 돌아오지 못한다고 울고 있는 것을 본즉, 분명히 너의 형이 산 속에서 호랑이가 되어 돌아오지 못하는 모양이니, 네가 산에서 호랑이를 만나거든 형님이라 부르고 자세한 이야기를 하라고 하시었는데, 이제 당신을 뵈오니 꼭 우리 형님 같아서 그럽니다. 그래, 그 동안 이 산 속에서 얼마나 고생을 하셨습니까?”

"My mother has always told me that when you were little, my elder brother went into the mountains, got lost, and never came home. We eventually gave him up for dead. But ever since then, whenever Mother dreams, she sees him weeping because he has become a tiger and cannot return home. So she is certain that her eldest son must have turned into a tiger somewhere in these mountains and been unable to find his way back. She told me that if I ever met a tiger in the mountains, I should call him my elder brother and ask him what happened. And now that I've met you, you look exactly like the brother we lost. That's why I called you that. Goodness, how terribly you must have suffered all these years in the mountains!"

하고 눈물까지 글썽글썽해 보였습니다.

As he spoke, he even made his eyes well up with tears.

그러니까, 호랑이도 가만히 생각하니, 자기가 누구의 아들인지도 그것도 모르겠거니와, 낳기도 어디서 낳았는지 어릴 때 일도 도무지 모르겠으므로, 그 사람 말같이 자기가 나무꾼의 형이었을지도 모른다는 생각이 들었습니다.

The tiger thought about it carefully. It did not know whose son it was, where it had been born, or anything at all about its childhood. So it began to wonder whether, just as the man claimed, it might actually have been the woodcutter's elder brother.

그렇게 생각하기 시작하자 어머니를 그렇게 오래 뵙지 못하고 혼자 산 속에서 쓸쓸히 지내온 일이 슬프게 생각되어서,

Once this thought took hold, it grew sorrowful at the thought of having been separated from its mother for so long and living all alone in the mountains, and said,

“아이고, 얘야, 그래 어머니께선 지금도 안녕히 계시냐?”

"Oh, my dear boy! Tell me, is our mother still alive and well?"

하고 눈물을 흘렸습니다.

The tiger asked, shedding tears.

“예, 안녕하시기야 하지만, 날마다 형님 생각을 하고 울고만 계십니다. 오늘 이렇게 만났으니, 어서 집으로 가서 어머님을 뵙시다.”

"Yes, she is well enough, but she spends every day thinking of you and weeping. Now that we've found each other, let's hurry home and visit Mother!"

하고, 나무꾼이 조르니까,

The woodcutter urged him, but the tiger replied,

“얘야, 내 마음은 지금 단숨에라도 뛰어가서 어머님을 뵙고, 그 동안 불효한 죄를 빌고 싶다만, 내가 이렇게 호랑이 탈을 쓰고서야 어떻게 갈 수가 있겠느냐……. 내가 가서 뵙지는 못하나마, 한 달에 두 번씩 돼지나 한 마리씩 갖다 줄 터이니, 네가 내 대신 어머님 봉양이나 잘 해 드려라.”

"My dear boy, I long to rush straight home this very instant, see Mother, and beg her forgiveness for having been such an unfilial son all these years. But how can I go to her looking like this, wearing a tiger's skin? ... Although I cannot visit her myself, I will bring a pig to the house twice every month. Please take good care of Mother on my behalf."

하였습니다.

He said.

그래서 나무꾼은 죽을 것을 면해 가지고 돌아와 있었더니 호랑이는 정말로 한 달에 두 번씩, 꼭 초하루와 보름날 밤에 뒤꼍 울타리 안에 돼지를 한 마리씩 놓고는 가는 것이었습니다.

And so the woodcutter escaped death and returned home. Just as the tiger had promised, twice every month, on the nights of the first and fifteenth days of the lunar month, it would leave a pig inside the fence in the backyard and then disappear.

나무꾼은 그것이 밤 사이에 호랑이가 어머님 봉양하느라고 잡아다 두고 가는 것인 줄 알았습니다.

The woodcutter knew that the tiger was catching the pigs and leaving them there during the night to provide for their mother.

그 해 여름이 지나고 또 가을이 지나고 또 겨울이 지날 때까지, 꼭 한 달에 두 번씩 으레 돼지를 잡아다 두고 가더니, 그 후 정말 어머니가 돌아가셨는데, 그 후로는 영영 초하루와 보름이 되어도 돼지도 갖다 놓지 않고, 만날 수도 없고, 아무 소식도 없어져 버렸습니다.

Throughout that summer, then autumn, and even through the winter, the tiger faithfully continued to bring a pig twice every month. But eventually, the mother truly passed away. After that, even when the first and fifteenth days of the month came around, the tiger never brought another pig. The woodcutter never saw it again, nor did he ever hear another word from it.

그래 웬일인가 하고 궁금하게 지내다가, 하루는 산에 갔다가 조그만 호랑이 세 마리를 만났는데, 겁도 안 내고 가만히 보니까, 그 꼬랑지에 베 헝겊을 매달고 있었습니다.

The woodcutter wondered what could have happened. Then one day, while out in the mountains, he came across three little tiger cubs. He watched them calmly, without feeling afraid, and noticed that each had a strip of hemp cloth tied to its tail.

하도 이상해서 그것이 무엇이냐고 물어 보니까, 그 작은 호랑이는 아주 친하게,

Finding this very strange, he asked them what the cloth was for. One of the little tigers answered in a friendly manner,

“그런 게 아니라오. 우리 할머니는 호랑이가 아니고 사람인데, 그 할머니가 살아 계실 때는 우리 아버지가 한 달에 두 번씩 돼지를 잡아다 드리고 왔는데, 그 할머니가 돌아가셨다는 말을 듣고, 그날부터 우리 아버지는 굴 밖에 나가지도 않고, 먹을 것을 잡아오지도 않고, 굴 속에만 꼭 들어앉아서 음식도 안 먹고, ‘어머니 어머니’ 하고 부르면서 울고만 계시다가 그만 병이 나서 돌아가셨답니다. 그래 우리들이 흰 댕기를 드렸답니다.”

"Oh, it's nothing like that. Our grandmother wasn't a tiger; she was a human being. While she was alive, our father used to catch a pig and take it to her twice every month. But when he heard that she had passed away, from that very day onward, Father wouldn't even leave his cave or go out to hunt for food. He just sat inside the cave, refusing to eat, and wept, calling out, 'Mother! Mother!' He cried so much that he eventually fell ill and died. So we tied white mourning ribbons to our tails in his memory."

하였습니다.

He said.

아무리 한 때의 거짓 꾀로 호랑이를 보고 형님이라고 하였던 일이라도, 그 말 한마디로 말미암아 호랑이가 그다지도 의리를 지키고, 효성을 다한 일에 감복하여, 나무꾼도 눈물을 흘렸습니다.

Though the woodcutter had once called the tiger his elder brother as a clever deception to save his own life, he was deeply moved by how faithfully the tiger had kept its word and fulfilled its filial duties because of that single remark. The woodcutter, too, shed tears.