this is based off the Korean myth where a tiger and a bear prayed to become human. the Divine King Hwanung came down and told them to stay in a cave for 100 days and eat nothing but mugwort and garlic and mayyybe he’d make them human. the tiger tapped out after 20 days but the bear stuck it out. in reward for her persistence, the bear woman became a human. she became depressed and lonely tho bc she was all alone in the world now and prayed for a child under a sacred tree. Hwanung, who already favored her, took her as his wife and in the future their child, Dangun, later grew up to found the nation of Korea. Ungnyeo, or “bear woman” is foundational to Korea’s origin mythos.
this is an angsty queer creative retelling with slightly different circumstances where they are all under a divine command to bring humanity into the earth against their individual wills, but that background helped me follow along with the plot better. hope it helps you too! (づ￣ ³￣)づ ヾ(❀╹◡╹)ﾉ~
this is based off the Korean myth where a tiger and a bear prayed to become human. the Divine King Hwanung came down and told them to stay in a cave for 100 days and eat nothing but mugwort and garlic and mayyybe he’d make them human. the tiger tapped out after 20 days but the bear stuck it out. in reward for her persistence, the bear woman became a human. she became depressed and lonely tho bc she was all alone in the world now and prayed for a child under a sacred tree. Hwanung, who already favored her, took her as his wife and in the future their child, Dangun, later grew up to found the nation of Korea. Ungnyeo, or “bear woman” is foundational to Korea’s origin mythos.
this is an angsty queer creative retelling with slightly different circumstances where they are all under a divine command to bring humanity into the earth against their individual wills, but that background helped me follow along with the plot better. hope it helps you too! (づ￣ ³￣)づ ヾ(❀╹◡╹)ﾉ~