The Tiger’s Whisker
Student names
Genre: Legend and Folktale
Country and Geographic Region:
Korea
Topic: Yun Ok wants her husband
back to the way he was
Theme: Thought, effort and patience
•Sage of the Mountains/Wiseman
•Tiger/beast
•Object needed to obtain – Tiger’s Whisker
•Food/rice
•Mountain
• Given place of time
• Heroine faces a task
• Self-centered goal
• Repetition
- “Tiger! Tiger!”
• Concern with people, places and events
- Yun Ok visits the Sage of the Mts.
•Rice
•Wisdom
•Patience
•Confucianism
•Love/loyalty to one’s family
•How much control do I have over
my own life?
•What is likely to be my greatest
source of happiness?
•How can I attempt to achieve my
happiness?
•How can I cope with my troubles?
•How does war effect people?
Plot Elements
Absentation
Lack
Meditation
Counteraction
Departure
Donor tests hero
Yun Ok passes the test
Plot Elements
Provision of magical aid
Victory
Initial misfortune is remedied
Return of hero
Question 1)
 What is the initial problem for the
protagonist?
 The initial problem is that Yun Ok’s
husband has returned from war and he is
not the same as he was before he left.
Yun Ok is very unhappy.
Question 2)
 What initial goal does the protagonist
desire?
 The initial goal was to get a potion from
the Sage of the Mountain that would turn
her husband back to normal.
Question 3)
 How does the protagonist set out to
solve his or her problem and/or
obtain his or her goal?
 Yun Ok climbs the moutain to find the
Sage of the Mountain. The Sage of the
Mountain gives Yun Ok the task to get a
tiger’s whisker to complete the potion.
Question 4)
 What actions are rewarded or
admired? What awards are given? By
whom? How are the awards
appropriate for the actions?
 The possession of effort and thought are admired.
The reward given by the Sage is the knowledge of
thought, patience, and effort can help her husband.
The rewards are appropriate for the actions because
thought, patience, and effort is the actions that she
used to help her husband and the reward is knowing
that these actions will help.
Question 5)
 What actions are punished or
despised? What punishments are
given? By whom? How are the
punishments appropriate for the
actions?
 There are no punishments.
Question 6)
 What cultural traditions, customs, values,
beliefs, or knowledge are presented in this
story?
 Confucianism is a belief that is presented in this
story. Confucianism is a belief that man is the
center of the universe and man’s main goal is to
find individual happiness. The main aspects are
loyalty, responsibility, self-discipline, selfrestraint, the value of learning and how to relate
to others. These aspects are in addressed in
“The Tiger’s Whisker”.
Question 7)
 What is the lesson of the story?
Support this answer with quotes from
the text that point to this lesson?
 the lesson of the story is that “thought,
effort and patience are, in fact the most
important ingredients to your potion that
you seek.” these are very valuable
qualities to have and they will benefit
you in many ways, especially in
relationships.
Question 8)
 How could the story still speak to us
today? How might it change in
today’s society and our culture?
 It teaches us how to relate to others and
the value of patience. The characters and
setting would be more modern but the
lesson will stay the same.