The Bird That Drinks Tears
Encyclopedia
The Bird That Drinks Tears (Korean
: 눈물을 마시는 새 Nunmuleul Masineun sae, abbreviated as 눈마새 Nunmasae) is a series of Korean fantasy novels by Lee Yeongdo
. A rare example of the genre Korean Fantasy, the stock characters and clichés of normal western fantasy such as elves, magic, dragons and Latin languages are instead replaced by Korean concepts such as dokkaebi
, ssirum, yut
and the Arajit language based on Proto-Korean language.
. Due to its length, the story was published in four hardcover volumes.
Bihyung Srable (비형 스라블) - A cheerful dokkaebi, the butler of castlemaster. He is chosen as the magician of the Rescue Party.
Tinahan(티나한) - An arrogant lekon who bent on the dream of climbing on the back of Sky Fish. He is chosen as the defeater of the Rescue Party.
Ryun Pei (륜 페이) - A young naga that is ever haunted by the murder of his father that he witnessed. He is sent on a mission to leave Keyboren and reach Haensha Archtemple, where he must help to save all four mankind's. Because of death of his father, he fears extracting heart and he didn't extracted. His name came from hanja
ryun(輪), means 'wheel'.
Samo Pei (사모 페이) - One of the most famous female naga to the males because she's so kind to the males. Elder sister of Ryun Pei. Because Ryun is suspected as murderer (connect with his fear about extracting), she chase her brother to kill. Later become the King of the army against the Naga's invasion.
, lekon and dokkaebi. Other than the humankind, the races that appear in The Bird That Drinks Tears are in most respects Lee Yeongdo
's original creations, even though the race of naga and dokkaebi originates from Indian and Korean legends, respectively.
Each races has an identical goddess and their avatars are characters;
(Notice: Basically they are all Goddess, but their avatars can be male. So, belows might be spoiler.)
Human - The God who Be Nowhere (어디에도 없는 신). His element is wind (bind nowhere). Gift to human is Naneui(나늬), most beautiful human. Only he can feel where other god and goddess is.
Naga - The Goddess who Leaves No Trail (발자국 없는 여신). Her element is water.
dokkaebi - The God who Kills Himself (자신을 죽이는 신). Her element is fire (burn self). Gift to dokkaebi is power to control fire.
Lekon - The Goddess who Be Lower Than Everyone (모든이보다 낮은 여신). Her element is earth (lower than feet of everyone). Gift to Lekon is Star-steel(별철), never be broken and never be rust.
. When environment get mild, leaves and flower grows up from spore and leave its root called Yonggeun(Dragon root). Then, root grows to the Dragon. Like some plants, Dragon reflects environment; grow with horses, dragon become flying horse. grow at the sea, dragon has webbed feet. order to take humanoid foam when grow, dragon become nearly humanoid. Neary extinct by naga, because dragon can get fire to the forest.
Black Lion - Extinguished by naga that want to go over the north because hide of the tiger keeps warm.
Sky Fish (Haenulchi, 하늘치 in Korean) - Huge flying fish. They carries ruin seems like city on their backs.
.
It is expected that Lee Yeongdo will write two more sequels, because of the quote in the series that mentions four birds. In the book there is a riddle about four bird brothers
. One bird drank water, one drank poison, one drank blood and one drank tears. The riddle asks who of the four birds will die first. This riddle appears repeatedly throughout both The Bird That Drinks Tears and The Bird That Drinks Blood
, and is entwined with many of the themes that run through two series.
Because of this riddle, many people expect that Lee Yeongdo will write two more sequels to this Bird series, The Bird That Drinks Poison and The Bird That Drinks Water. However, Lee Yeongdo has not yet confirmed this rumour and whether he would actually continue to finish all four birds is still unknown.
Korean language
Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
: 눈물을 마시는 새 Nunmuleul Masineun sae, abbreviated as 눈마새 Nunmasae) is a series of Korean fantasy novels by Lee Yeongdo
Lee Yeongdo
Lee Yeongdo is a Korean novelist known for his work in fantasy and science fiction genre. He is best known for his Dragon Raja series of fantasy novels which is also his debut work, serialised on an online forum from 1997 and published on its completion in 1998.At the time Dragon Raja was first...
. A rare example of the genre Korean Fantasy, the stock characters and clichés of normal western fantasy such as elves, magic, dragons and Latin languages are instead replaced by Korean concepts such as dokkaebi
Dokkaebi
Dokkaebi is a common word for a type of spirit in Korean folklore or fairy tales.The Dokkaebi is a mythical being that appears in many old Korean folktales. Although usually frightening, it could also represent a humorous, grotesque-looking sprite or goblin. These creatures loved mischief and...
, ssirum, yut
Yut
Yut Nori is a traditional board game played in Korea, especially during Korean New Year. The game is also called cheok-sa or sa-hee...
and the Arajit language based on Proto-Korean language.
Publishing
The novel was first serialized in Hitel, an internet forum site, continuing the tradition that all novels by Lee Yeongdo are first serialized in the internet. After the conclusion of the serial, the book was later published through Golden Bough, a publishing company of South KoreaSouth Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
. Due to its length, the story was published in four hardcover volumes.
- Book 1-Nagas Who Extract Their Hearts
- Book 2-Lekons Who Pursuit Their Desire
- Book 3-Dokkaebi Who Play Their Fire
- Book 4-Humans Who Seek Their King
Main characters
Kaigon Draka (케이건 드라카) - A mysterious human who hunts and eats nagas. He is chosen as the pathfinder of the Rescue Party that must rescue a naga and bring him to Haensha Archtemple. His name is two extinguished animal by the naga; first name 'Kaigon' means black lion, last name Draka means Dragon.Bihyung Srable (비형 스라블) - A cheerful dokkaebi, the butler of castlemaster. He is chosen as the magician of the Rescue Party.
Tinahan(티나한) - An arrogant lekon who bent on the dream of climbing on the back of Sky Fish. He is chosen as the defeater of the Rescue Party.
Ryun Pei (륜 페이) - A young naga that is ever haunted by the murder of his father that he witnessed. He is sent on a mission to leave Keyboren and reach Haensha Archtemple, where he must help to save all four mankind's. Because of death of his father, he fears extracting heart and he didn't extracted. His name came from hanja
Hanja
Hanja is the Korean name for the Chinese characters hanzi. More specifically, it refers to those Chinese characters borrowed from Chinese and incorporated into the Korean language with Korean pronunciation...
ryun(輪), means 'wheel'.
Samo Pei (사모 페이) - One of the most famous female naga to the males because she's so kind to the males. Elder sister of Ryun Pei. Because Ryun is suspected as murderer (connect with his fear about extracting), she chase her brother to kill. Later become the King of the army against the Naga's invasion.
Races
The fictional world of The Bird That Drinks Tears is inhabited by four major intelligent races - Human, nagaNaga (The Bird Series)
Naga is a fictional sentient race based on the Asian mythology of Nāga that appear in the Korean fantasy novel The Bird That Drinks Tears and its sequel The Bird That Drinks Blood, written by a Korean writer Lee Yeongdo.-Physical Characteristics:...
, lekon and dokkaebi. Other than the humankind, the races that appear in The Bird That Drinks Tears are in most respects Lee Yeongdo
Lee Yeongdo
Lee Yeongdo is a Korean novelist known for his work in fantasy and science fiction genre. He is best known for his Dragon Raja series of fantasy novels which is also his debut work, serialised on an online forum from 1997 and published on its completion in 1998.At the time Dragon Raja was first...
's original creations, even though the race of naga and dokkaebi originates from Indian and Korean legends, respectively.
Each races has an identical goddess and their avatars are characters;
(Notice: Basically they are all Goddess, but their avatars can be male. So, belows might be spoiler.)
Human - The God who Be Nowhere (어디에도 없는 신). His element is wind (bind nowhere). Gift to human is Naneui(나늬), most beautiful human. Only he can feel where other god and goddess is.
Naga - The Goddess who Leaves No Trail (발자국 없는 여신). Her element is water.
dokkaebi - The God who Kills Himself (자신을 죽이는 신). Her element is fire (burn self). Gift to dokkaebi is power to control fire.
Lekon - The Goddess who Be Lower Than Everyone (모든이보다 낮은 여신). Her element is earth (lower than feet of everyone). Gift to Lekon is Star-steel(별철), never be broken and never be rust.
Animals and the Others
Dragon - Not like any other fantasy novel, dragon of this novel is like plant propagate with sporeSpore
In biology, a spore is a reproductive structure that is adapted for dispersal and surviving for extended periods of time in unfavorable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many bacteria, plants, algae, fungi and some protozoa. According to scientist Dr...
. When environment get mild, leaves and flower grows up from spore and leave its root called Yonggeun(Dragon root). Then, root grows to the Dragon. Like some plants, Dragon reflects environment; grow with horses, dragon become flying horse. grow at the sea, dragon has webbed feet. order to take humanoid foam when grow, dragon become nearly humanoid. Neary extinct by naga, because dragon can get fire to the forest.
Black Lion - Extinguished by naga that want to go over the north because hide of the tiger keeps warm.
Sky Fish (Haenulchi, 하늘치 in Korean) - Huge flying fish. They carries ruin seems like city on their backs.
Sequels
Currently, Lee Yeongdo has written only one sequel to The Bird That Drinks Tears which is The Bird That Drinks BloodThe Bird That Drinks Blood
The Bird That Drinks Blood is a series of Korean fantasy novels by Lee Yeongdo...
.
It is expected that Lee Yeongdo will write two more sequels, because of the quote in the series that mentions four birds. In the book there is a riddle about four bird brothers
Four Bird Brothers
The tale of Four Bird Brothers are folk legend that repeatedly appears in Lee Yeongdo's fantasy novel The Bird That Drinks Tears and its sequel The Bird That Drinks Blood. In the fictional world of the series, according to the legend of Kitalzer Hunters there were once four bird brothers who each...
. One bird drank water, one drank poison, one drank blood and one drank tears. The riddle asks who of the four birds will die first. This riddle appears repeatedly throughout both The Bird That Drinks Tears and The Bird That Drinks Blood
The Bird That Drinks Blood
The Bird That Drinks Blood is a series of Korean fantasy novels by Lee Yeongdo...
, and is entwined with many of the themes that run through two series.
Because of this riddle, many people expect that Lee Yeongdo will write two more sequels to this Bird series, The Bird That Drinks Poison and The Bird That Drinks Water. However, Lee Yeongdo has not yet confirmed this rumour and whether he would actually continue to finish all four birds is still unknown.