ungnyeo was a bear who became human.
according to ilyeon’s memorabilia of the three kingdoms, before there was a kingdom, there was a bear and a tiger who lived together in a cave. they wanted to become human so they prayed to the gods to have their wish granted and one god, hwanung, heard them. he gave them garlic and mugwort and told them to stay out of the sun and eat only this for 100 days.
hungry, the tiger left on the 20th day. on the 21st day, the bear became a human woman named ungnyeo.
ungnyeo went on to have a son with the god hwanung. her son, dangun, went on to become the first king of korea.
i am h and i am human who currently lives in washington dc. right now, i’m working on a manuscript of poems about ungnyeo and the tiger. this is my blog hence, hlog.