Ungnyeo
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Ungnyeo () was a bear who became a woman according to the creation myth of the Korean nation. She has an important role in the myth as the wife of Hwanung, the divine king of the world, and as the mother of Dangun, the mythological founder of Korea.
Key facts
- Korean name/auto.hangul
- ^웅녀
- Korean name/auto.hanja
- 熊女
- Korean name/auto.lk
- bear woman
via Wikipedia infobox
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Article
4 sectionsContents
- Story
- Interpretation of the story
- References
- External links
Ungnyeo () was a bear who became a woman according to the creation myth of the Korean nation. She has an important role in the myth as the wife of Hwanung, the divine king of the world, and as the mother of Dangun, the mythological founder of Korea.
==Story== In the tale, a tiger and a bear lived together in a cave and prayed to the divine king Hwanung to be made human. Hwanung heard their prayers and gave them each 20 cloves of garlic and a bundle of mugwort, and ordered them to stay out of the sunlight and eat only this food for 100 days. Due to hunger, the tiger left the cave after roughly 20 days, but the bear remained inside. After 21 days, she was transformed into a woman.