동아시아 <우렁각시> 유형 설화의 서사구조 비교— 한⋅중⋅일⋅베트남의 이야기소를 중심으로

Abstract

This paper compares the five most basic, unchanging narrative structures of Ureonggaksi-type tales passed down over generations in East Asia, namely in Korea, China, Japan and Vietnam. From a broad perspective, this text explores the similarities and differences of such tales that have formed through various transformations as they were passed down. In East Asia, the four countries of Korea, China, Japan, and Vietnam all have similar Ureonggaksi-type folk tales that are part of oral tradition. The transformation of these stories, which were passed down by word of mouth, began as soon as the original story was formed and shared with others. Ureonggaksi-type tales were also formed with the most basic narrative structure in their respective countries before undergoing repeated transformations that represented the characteristics of each country. When comparing the narrative structures of these tales, it was found that some stories were quite similar despite differences among their respective countries. For example, when the snail bride’s identity is revealed, despite the fact that the man violated taboo by seeing her, the punishment imposed upon him in the stories of all four countries seemed to grow more lenient or disappear altogether. On the other hand, there were also big differences among some of the stories. For example, each country described the scene of the snail’s transformation into a human very differently. This seems to be because the storytellers of each country took different approaches to fill in any blanks in details to keep listener’s interested without ruining the core elements of the original tale. This paper is significant in that it identifies similarities and differences by comparing the narrative structure of the Ureonggaksi-type stories passed down in East Asia, thereby helping to understand these tales as they were shared in Korea and other countries in East Asia.