The Story of the Nol-boo and Heung-boo Brothers

This is a Korean story that has been translated into English and adapted into a play. It was performed at the Christmas party by ten students at my school.

Nol-boo and Heung-boo are brothers. One is very wealthy, so much so that he and his wife take on the responsibility of supporting the other brother, his wife and their nine kids. The two families lived under one roof and everything was copasetic for a period of time. At some point the wealthy brother decides he is sick and tired of supporting his brother's family because "they take up too much room and eat too much". He and his wife have a discussion and come to the conclusion that it is time to kick the freeloading brother out on his ass. The now homeless brother and his family spend some time on the street and quickly come to the realization that they won't make it. The kids are hungry and want to eat "lot's of pizza, hamburgers, hot dogs and spaghetti". The father vows to set out and find some money. He finds a man who offers him $1000 for something (that was lost in translation from kidspeak to my ears). It doesn't work out. The father, dejected and hungry heads home empty handed. Along the way he finds a sparrow who has a hurt leg because someone bit it. The father calls for his wife to bring bandages so that he might mend her leg. In order to return the favor the sparrow gives the father a seed. Being the humble and good man that he is, the father gratefully takes it home to his family who sings a song about planting it and later reaping all of the food that will grow as a result of this one seed. The next day the family discovers that a giant pumpkin has grown in the front yard so they do the obvious next thing. They fetch a giant six person saw. They saw open the pumpkin and what could be inside but an angel/fairy. This is where the story gets interesting. So the angel/fairy doesn't grant them three wishes, provide them with a house and food or endow the father with some sort of skill or trade so that he might actually find a job, no no no. This angel/fairy works for mastercard evidently because instead of anything really useful she gives the family a credit card. The family is elated with this newfound opportunity and decide that they are rich and immediately start planning to buy a big house filled with lots of food and the whole thing will simply be charged to their credit.

The other brother gets jealous of all of this and seeks a credit card of his very own. He wanders into the woods to find the sparrow. He knows that in order to get the credit card he has to help the sparrow but it doesn't need his help. He decides to bite the sparrow in the leg so that he might turn around and offer to mend the wound thus being given the magic seed as a sign of gratitude. The sparrow does in fact give him a seed which he goes home and plants. The next day the wealthy brother and his wife saw open their own pumpkin and reveal what looked to be a genie but ended up being some military drill sergeant type. The drill sergeant made them do lots of squats, a hundred push-ups and "duck walks". The wealthy brother and his wife reluctantly performed each task and quickly became exhausted but were too scared to stop. Finally the brother with the credit card comes to visit his brother and sees what is going on and tells the genie/drill sergeant to "go away". He does and the credited brother helps the other one to his feet and saves the day.

I think that sometime after the holidays I will have to teach a lesson on responsible money and banking practices so that my students don't continue to be mislead.