The Story of Simcheong

Story at a Glance

Simcheong grows up caring for her blind father, Sim Hyeon. When he promises a monk three hundred seok of rice, he cannot fulfill it. Simcheong accepts a merchant’s offer to pay the debt in exchange for her life at sea. The 24-chapter Seoul edition carries her story through death, return in a lotus, and reunion with her father.

The Folktale — Faithfully Retold

In the reign of the Ming emperor Chenghua, the scholar Sim Hyeon lived in Namgun with his wife Jeong. They had no child. After an unusual dream, a daughter was born to them, and they named her Simcheong.

When Simcheong was three, her mother died. Her father became ill and lost his sight. Simcheong grew up in his care, and from the age of seven or eight she looked after him. She worked wherever she could so that the two of them might live.

When she was thirteen, Simcheong spent the day pounding grain at a wealthy family’s house. Her father went out alone to look for her and fell into a pit. A monk who collected offerings for a temple found and rescued him. The monk told Sim Hyeon that if he donated three hundred seok of rice, his sight would return and his daughter would rise to honor. Sim Hyeon, moved by faith, promised the offering without having the means to provide it.

Simcheong learned of the promise and worried over what her father had done. At the same time, merchants from Nanjing were looking for a young woman to offer to the Dragon King at Indanso. Simcheong agreed to go with them in exchange for three hundred seok of rice. She believed that the offering might bring her father’s sight back.

On the day the ship was to leave, she told her father what she had arranged. Sim Hyeon wept and begged her not to go. Seeing his grief, the merchants delayed their departure for several days and added fifty seok of rice to the promised amount. Then the ship put out to sea, and Simcheong was cast into the water.

She did not die there. The Dragon King’s people brought her to the underwater palace. When she tasted the food there, she remembered her former life as the Dragon King’s daughter, Gyuseong. The heavenly court appointed her queen of Yurigu and promised a restored future for Sim Hyeon as well.

Simcheong returned to the human world in a lotus flower. She became a queen and arranged a gathering for blind people. Sim Hyeon came among the guests. The separated father and daughter recognized one another, and his sight was restored. The promise of future happiness had come true, though not in the way Sim Hyeon had imagined when he made it.

Korean Context in This Story

The plot of Simcheongjeon differs across editions and pansori performance traditions. This page follows the Academy of Korean Studies summary of the 24-chapter Seoul woodblock edition. It does not import scenes from the more expansive Jeonju edition or modern adaptations.

Versions and Sources

Selected text: Gyeongpan 24-jang Simcheongjeon, old-Hangul transcription, displayed in six linked sections and based on the National Institute of Korean Language’s historical-text normalization materials. The available transcription was checked for this retelling’s sequence: the three-hundred-seok vow, the additional fifty seok, the offering at Indanso, Simcheong’s identity as the Dragon King’s daughter, appointment as queen of Yurigu, and reunion with Sim Hyeon. The Academy of Korean Studies edition entry distinguishes the Seoul block-print line from the longer Jeonju tradition. This is an editorial plot check against a normalized transcription, not a critical-edition translation or image-rights clearance.