Also known as The Red Fan and the Blue Fan: Ppalgan Buchae, Paran Buchae.
Original Korean title: 빨간 부채 파란 부채 · Ages 4-8 · about
2 minutes to read aloud
A playful choice for children who enjoy magic getting out of hand. Min discovers two fans that change the size of a nose, plays a trick for money, and finds himself lifted into the sky. The gentle ending leaves room to talk about making amends.
One hot day, a woodcutter named Min found two fans beside the path: one red, one blue.
Min waved the red fan. His nose stretched across the path—then past a tree!
He tried the blue fan. His nose slipped back to its usual size.
Min waved the red fan at a sleeping rich man. The man's nose stretched across the room!
"Help!" cried the rich man. "I will give you a bag of coins to make it small!"
Min waved the blue fan, and the nose shrank. He took the coins without telling the man his trick.
But Min wanted more. "Maybe there is treasure in the sky!"
He waved the red fan. Past the roof, past the birds, his nose reached the clouds!
"A new clothesline!" said a sky keeper, and tied the tip of Min's nose to a railing.
Min waved the blue fan. With its tip still tied, his shrinking nose pulled him up to the sky!
The keeper caught Min, sat him in a soft cloth seat, then untied his nose.
The keeper lowered the cloth seat, slowly, slowly. Min waved the blue fan until his nose was small again.
Back on the ground, Min returned the coins. "I played a trick on you, and I am sorry."
That evening, Min put both fans away. A plain summer breeze cooled his very ordinary nose.
About This Story
This book retells the Korean folktale Ppalgan Buchae, Paran Buchae: The Red Fan and the Blue Fan. A buchae is a hand fan. In this story, its everyday breeze has a very unusual power.
Tellings differ: the finder may be an old man, a farmer, or a woodcutter. The red fan makes noses longer, the blue fan makes them shorter, and a greedy trick leads to a nose reaching the sky.
In some versions, people in the sky tie the nose to a post. When the finder uses the blue fan, his body rises as his nose shrinks. Some endings are harsher than ours.
For this retelling, we imagined Min as a woodcutter and a sky keeper who lowers him home in a soft cloth seat. Min returns the coins and says sorry. The magic is old; these words and pictures are new.
Korean Words in This Story
Buchae — a hand fan, used to make a cooling breeze.
Ppalgang — the color red. Our red fan makes noses longer.
Parang — the color blue. Our blue fan makes noses shorter.
Hanbok — traditional Korean clothing, like the outfits in the pictures.
Say them out loud together.
What it is about
Greed, consequences, and making amends.
Questions worth asking
Why does Min return the coins after he gets home?
What would you do if you found the two magic fans?
