“Go on, Harabeoji,” Channing said.
Chunhyang was bolder than all the others on the hill that day. When it was her turn on the swing, she dared to soar to great heights. No one else was as brave. She wanted to see everything possible.
Across the lush gardens of Gwanghallu, from far away, Mongryong saw a flash of color. Bright yellow and red silk blazed through the green leaves of the trees in the distance. It was Chunhyang! He caught a glimpse of her as she swung high into the air and then lost sight of her as she retreated. Again and again she burst into view before disappearing.What kind of girl was this?He wanted to meet her, so he wrote a note and sent his servant to deliver it.
“What did it say?” I asked.
“Clever words about Chunhyang’s beauty,” Harabeoji said.
“He’s so far, how does he know what she looks like?” I leaned in.
Channing said to me, “Stop. You’re ruining the story.” Then to Harabeoji, she asked, “What happened next?”
Chunhyang read Mongryong’s note and dashed off a wittier reply because she had studied all the same books he had. Remember her father had a government job, too? He had taught her how to read and write. She said no to meeting Mongryong right away and had her servant deliver it to him. She was a very independent girl.
“So am I,” Channing said.
“Me too,” I added.
But Chunhyang was curious. After a few more notes back and forth, she agreed to see Mongryong and instantly liked him so much that she let him come to her house that very night so she could introduce him to her mother.
“What about her father?” Channing asked.
“He died when she was very young, which was many years ago,” our grandfather said in a quiet voice.
“Oh,” Channing said.
I hated this story for sure now.
“You mean Chunhyang was like a teenager when she met Mongryong?” my cousin continued.
Harabeoji nodded.
“Go on,” Channing said.
Chunhyang’s mother loved her daughter and agreed to help Chunhyang and Mongryong get to know each other in secret so that they could overcome these old rules. This is how Chunhyang and Mongryong were able to hide their relationship from the whole town. They were together all the time without Mongryong’s parents knowing because if they found out, then they wouldn’t allow Chunhyang and Mongryong to be together at all.
“How could his parents not know?” I asked. Mongryong seemed very sneaky to me. Clever and sneaky.
“He hid it from them by going over at night while his parents were asleep. And during the day, he told them he was studying in Gwanghallu Pavilion though he was at Chunhyang’s house,” Harabeoji said.
“He’s a liar,” I announced.
“They wouldn’t understand and they’d keep them apart,” Channing said. “He had to lie. That doesn’t make him a liar.”
“Those were the rules back then,” Harabeoji answered.
This story was getting worse by the minute. I kicked at the dirt at my feet, but I was listening for what happened next.
“So then?” Channing asked. “They lived happily ever after?”
“Not yet,” Harabeoji said.
“I knew it,” I exclaimed. “If you’re lying, you can’t be happy. You’ll always get caught.”
“You’ve lied,” Channing said.
“You too,” I snapped back.
