I've had some comments about the post that Torie and I wrote together. Mainly of what Torie worte. Sorry Tor, but I think you are a little off on the creation Myth thing. This is what the story that I got from a friend. Sorry that it is not cited, I don't know where it came from exactly.

THE TAN-GUN MYTH Once upon a time there was a divine prince named Hwan-ung, who was the son of the god of the heavens. The prince wanted to help humankind, and asked his father to give him the Korean Peninsula to govern. The wish was granted. The prince was sent to Earth with three thousand followers.

The prince appeared on Mt. Taebaek(Mt. Paektu)*, near a divine sandlewood tree. He took the title of Chonwang, and established Shin-si (The City of God). He set up a code of law, teaching people good from evil. He taught them 360 practical arts, including farming, weaving, cooking, medicine, and fishing. He created a government with three leaders in charge of the wind, the rain, and clouds. Then, he returned to his Heavenly home.

Well, a she-bear and a tiger lived in a big cave near the sandlewood tree. The bear and the tiger watched what the prince was accomplishing. They too wanted to become human beings. Every day they went to that sandlewood tree and prayed to the prince's father in Heaven.

Finally the god in Heaven heard them. He told them to each eat twenty bulbs of garlic (and some other disgusting things!) and then to hide away for 100 days. If they did this carefully, they would become human beings.

Well, the bear and the tiger ate the garlic and disgusting things. They hid in their dark cave. But (you guessed it) the tiger became restless. He left the cave after a short while, and tigers today still wander over the mountains and through the woods. However, the bear liked sleep, so the bear slept soundly. After only 37 days, the bear (surprise!) became a beautiful woman, soon to be known by the name Ung-nyo.

Ung-nyo was pleased, but she was lonely. The tiger had failed the test. Ung-nyo now had no one to marry her. She went to the sandlewood tree to pray for a child. The prince heard her prayers. He came down to Earth as a human and married Ung-nyo. It was Ung-nyo who gave birth to Tan-gun!

Tan-gun became the first human being said to be to be king over all of Korea. He called his kingdom Choson. He established his capital city at Asadal, now Pyongyang, in 2333 B.C., and ruled for l,500 years. Until recent times, Korean calendars and dates were figured from the time of Tan-gun. He was seen as a great teacher, a great leader, a great law-giver, and a unifier of all Korean peoples.

Some Koreans think of Tan-gun as a historic figure, others as the mythic progenitor of the Korean people. Whatever, the story helped all Koreans develop a sense of unity and pride of being a people with a long, distinctive history and ancient culture. Over the years, the myth has been the source of spiritual awakening and solace in times of conquest and crisis.

*Mt. Taebaekan is on the modern border between Manchuria and North Korea.