Shim Cheong, the Devoted Daughter
Classical Stories · No. 61 — The girl who gave herself to the sea to open her father's eyes.
- Classical Stories
- 49 min
- Ages 8–13
- 7 chapters
About this audiobook
Shim Cheong is raised by her blind father alone, and cares for him with all her heart. When a monk tells her father that an offering of three hundred sacks of rice to the temple would restore his sight, the old man rashly pledges it — a fortune they could never pay. To keep his promise and save his eyes, Shim Cheong sells herself to sailors who need a maiden to sacrifice to the dragon-king so their ship may pass the deadly waters. She leaps into the sea — but her devotion so moves the dragon-king that instead of death she is honored, sent back to the surface inside a great lotus flower, discovered by the king of the land, and made his queen. And she has one wish: to find her father, and finally let him see her.
Why it's worth a listen
A blind widower's devoted daughter learns that a fortune in rice offered to the temple might restore her father's sight — a fortune far beyond them — and makes a heartbreaking bargain with sea-merchants who need a sacrifice for the dragon-king of the deep. Korea's most beloved tale of devotion, and the astonishing turn the sea gives it.
A question to keep
How far would you go for someone you love — and what if the sacrifice is not the end of the story?
Chapters
- The Sound of the Wooden Fish
- A Promise Built of Rice and Stars
- The Price of the Sea
- Into the Indigo Waves
- The Palace of the Dragon King
- The Great Feast of the Blind
- A Question to Keep