Korean Idiom about Envy: ‘When my cousin buys land…’
At the weekends in autumn, the bike paths along the Han River are packed. Everyone’s out and about from fledgling riders wobbly on rental bikes to speed cyclists dressed for the Tour de France. But all are partial to a pot of instant noodles at a convenience store along the way!
It’s a contemporary scene. But at a rest area approaching Gimpo near the Banghwa Bridge I came across a story from the past. An information board pointed out this spot where hundreds of years ago in the Goryeo period two brothers did a wild thing:
They threw their gold into the river!
Seems like a strange thing to do. Here’s the story.
The Story of the Two Brothers Who Threw Their Gold Nuggets into the River
During the reign of King Gongmin of Goryeo Dynasty, two brothers were walking together when one of them found two gold nuggets. He kept one for himself and gave the other to his older brother.
However, when they reached the river, the younger brother who had found the nuggets suddenly threw his gold into the river.
‘What did you do that for,’ his older brother asked in shock?
The younger brother explained that as soon as he gave away one of the nuggets, he felt a pang of hate. He admitted that although he loved his brother, giving him the gold made him feel hostility towards him! And for that reason he had thrown his own gold away.
The older brother realised what he was saying and agreed that it was the right thing to do that. So he threw his gold nugget in the river as well.
THE END
Hmm. I find this a rather quirky tale. And I balked at the idea of throwing gold into the river! Wasn’t there a better way to deal with this situation? 😐
The brothers clearly realised that the gold would inevitably have a negative impact on their lives. But the story definitely shows the absurdity of harbouring resentment.
This reminded me of a Korean idiom about envy that I’d heard: ‘when my cousin buys land, my stomach hurts!’
I like this brilliantly honest and open description of the feeling of envy at someone else’s success. It accepts a rather unbecoming part about ourselves that we probably don’t want to admit – we envy those close to us when they do well in life, or – heaven forbid – start doing better than us. 😡
I couldn’t think of an English equivalent for this expression off the top of my head. But a google search came up with a quote from the Roman poet Horace: ‘An envious man grows lean with the fatness of his neighbour‘
So true!
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Great post! The idiom is very funny! 😊
🙂