Gojoseon Mythology : The First Country Built by Koreans

Hwanin, the king of the gods, had a son named Hwanwoong.

He looked at the human world in heaven and wished to live together with humans.

His father ordered Hwanwoong to go down to the human world with Pungbaek, the god who controlled the wind, Usa, the god who controlled the rain, and Unsa, the god who controlled the clouds.

Hwanwoong settled in Taebaek Mountain in Gangwon Province with 3,000 officials and lived peacefully with the people.

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One day, a bear and a tiger came to him together. They told Hwanwoong that they wanted to be human. Hwanwoong gave them mugwort and garlic and told them that they could become human if they went into a deep cave and lived on mugwort and garlic for 100 days without seeing the light.

Bears and tigers entered the cave with great joy, so they lived by eating only garlic and mugwort.

A few days later, the tiger left the bear behind and went out of the cave. The bear stopped the tiger, but it did nothing. Afterwards, the bear endured lonely eating mugwort and garlic.

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On the 20th day, the bear collapsed from exhaustion. The bear, who opened his eyes the next day, felt her body changed. She had become a beautiful woman. The bear who went out of the cave began to live with people, who called her Ungyeo. The lady wanted to get married, but she couldn't find a mate. She prayed for dozens of days and finally Hwanwoong appeared and proposed to her. She gave birth to a son with him, who is Dangun.

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Dangun became an adult and established the country, which was the first Korean country Gojoseon.

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Bears represent a tribe of bears and tigers represent a tribe of tigers. The story says that the bear tribe joined forces with Hwanwoong's tribe to drive out the tiger tribe and establish the country.