Kongjwi and the Flower Shoe
A Korean Folktale of a Black Ox, a Kind Toad, and One Lost Flower Shoe
Under a plum tree in old Korea lives Kongjwi, a girl who is kind to every living thing. But when a cold new stepmother fills her days with impossible chores, kindness comes back in wonderful ways — a great black ox plows the stony field, a fat old toad plugs the leaky jar, and hundreds of sparrows come down to help. Then a sky maiden brings a gift: two little flower shoes... and one of them is about to float away and change everything. Korea's own Cinderella, told with warmth, humor, and one glowing flower shoe — a story about how kindness, shared, only grows.
About this book
Under a plum tree in old Korea lives Kongjwi, a girl who is kind to every living thing. But when a cold new stepmother fills her days with impossible chores — a stony field, a wooden hoe, a jar that will not fill — kindness comes back in wonderful ways: a great black ox plows the field, a fat old toad plugs the leaky jar, and hundreds of sparrows swoop down to help.
Then a sky maiden brings a gift — a beautiful hanbok and two little flower shoes — and Kongjwi runs to the great festival at last. But hopping across the stream... oh! One little shoe floats away, straight toward the magistrate's parade. Whose shoe is this? A Korean Cinderella story with flower shoes — and it ends not with a punishment, but with the kindest feast of all.
- Read-aloud English — a CRACK to gasp at, a shoe-hop to giggle at, and a refrain of kindness, written to sound lovely out loud
- Rich illustrations in a painterly style with the bold charm of Korean minhwa folk art
- A gentle window into Korea — an "About This Story" note on flower shoes, onggi jars, and how older tellings end
- Perfect for ages 4–8 — a fairy-tale plot children already love, in a world that is new
A wonderful gift for curious kids, multicultural classrooms, and families who collect Cinderella stories from around the world.
Book 5 of Seori Tales — Korean Folktales for Children.
Details
- Series
- Seori Tales — Korean Folktales for Children, Book 5
- Original tale
- 콩쥐팥쥐
- Reading age
- 4-8 (Preschool - Grade 3)
- Paperback pages
- 24, full colour
- Publisher
- Seori Books
- Paperback ISBN-13
- 9798164542320
Inside the book
Korean Words in This Story
- Kongjwi — the kind girl's name; kong means "bean."
- Patjwi — her stepsister's name; pat means "red bean."
- Kkotsin — flower shoes: silk shoes with upturned toes and flower embroidery.
- Hanbok — traditional Korean clothes, worn every day and on happy days alike.
- Onggi — the big brown earthenware jar Korean families keep in the yard.
- Bagaji — a water dipper made from half a dried gourd.
- Wonnim — the magistrate, the chief of a village or county.
- Say them out loud together!
