The Fashionable Crow

Abstract

I first saw a wall-full of this series at Kyobo Book in Seoul in July, '04. I bought one copy, came home, and worked to order the full set of thirty booklets, workbooks, and audio cassettes from the publisher. Each set cost 9,800 Won. I have divided that cost among the book (6800 Won), booklet (1000 Won), and cassette (2000 Won). The colored booklet features twenty-eight thick, sturdy pages and excellent color reproduction. The art is cartoon-like, simple, and direct. I never knew that a crow could have such revealing facial expressions! See particularly 11 and 12, the latter repeated on the title-page. Tonight God will pick the prettiest bird and there will be a party at the palace. Somehow the crow has not heard. The other birds, who find the crow dirty and ugly, will not let him bathe before them, since he will dirty the water. The crow then bathes for two hours, hoping to become white. He notices the other birds' left feathers and covers himself with them. There is on 17 a fine view of the beautiful bird the crow now sees reflected in the water. God, with a white beard and a long white garment, finds the late-coming multi-colored bird fashionable and the duck finds him beautiful, but the other birds do not know who it is. God crowns the crow the most beautiful and asks who he is. As he hesitates to give his name, a feather falls out. The other birds start identifying their own feathers on the crow. The crow pictured on 25 and 26 is not only sad but also delapidated. I didn't mean to trick anyone. I just wanted to be pretty like all of you. Don't try to be someone else. Just be yourself.