14. The Language of Dreams!

14. The Language of Dreams! “These people lived in the mountainous region between Mesha and Sephar in the eastern hill country. These are the descendants of Shem, by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.” (Genesis 10:30-31) ‘Hwanung’ often visited secluded places to clear his mind and ponder how to achieve the ideal of Hongik Ingan (弘益人間), which means “benefit all mankind,” before returning to the palace. On that day, after finishing his training with his master, he went to a valley in the mountains opposite the palace to cool his head. He followed the stream up the valley and sat under a waterfall, still deep in thought about the nation of Hongik Ingan. The water flowing down in front of him sparkled beautifully in the sunlight. As he looked closer, he noticed that the light was reflecting not only from the water but also from the sand and rocks around him. He realized that the sparkling objects were crystals. The crystals, like the water, reflected the sunlight, making the valley sparkle. It was indeed a valley of crystals. While Hwanung was immersed in the sparkling crystals, he sensed a shadow hiding behind a tree, watching him. Pretending not to notice, he used the crystals to reflect the shadow’s location. He saw a person secretly observing him from behind a tree. Hwanung turned to look, but the figure disappeared behind the tree. It was strange to find someone in such a remote place. Hwanung quickly ran towards the tree where the shadow had been. The shadow, a nimble young woman who had lived in the forest for a long time, fled. Hwanung was curious about why a woman would be in such a forest. As he closed the distance between them, the woman suddenly whistled loudly. Sensing an unknown danger, Hwanung stopped in his tracks and looked around cautiously. There was no response from the surroundings. He tilted his head in confusion and cautiously moved towards where the woman had disappeared. After a while, he saw a small village with houses gathered in the valley. “What are houses doing in a place like this?”  ‘Hwanung’ thought it was strange. Recently, people had been forming villages to avoid wild animals, so it was hard to believe that only a few people lived in such a deep mountain valley. As he cautiously took a few more steps, sharp wooden spears suddenly surrounded him, aiming at him. They were ready to strike if he made a wrong move. Hwanung raised his hands to show he meant no harm. The people captured him and took him to their village. In front of one house, a person who seemed to be their leader and the young woman who had been watching him in the valley came out. The leader, after receiving a whispered report from the captors, questioned Hwanung in a short and strong tone.“Who are you?” It seemed to be a question about why he had come to their secluded place. Although the answer was not simple, Hwanung decided to give a straightforward response to resolve their question. “I am Hwanung, the prince of this country!” The leader was shocked and repeated the question. “The prince of this country?” “Yes! Who are you to live in such a deep forest and guard against people?” The leader did not answer this question but asked Hwanung another question. “How can we know you are the prince of this country?”“Believe it or not, it is your choice. But I came to this quiet forest to think about some complicated matters. It is more suspicious that you are guarding against me. If something happens to me and I do not appear after a certain time, the whole country will be in an uproar looking for me. You will soon find out, but you will bear the heavy responsibility for it.” Seeing Hwanung speak confidently, the leader began to believe that he was indeed the prince of the country. The leader suddenly knelt and bowed before Hwanung. “Your Highness!” The others also knelt before Hwanung. Surprised by their sudden change in attitude, Hwanung was puzzled. The leader continued to speak. “Your Highness, I apologize for not recognizing you.” Hwanung, relieved by their change in attitude, still had questions about them. “Who are you?” The leader began to tell their story. “Your Highness, people called me Bear because I admired the strength of bears and wanted to be like them. My tribe became known as the Bear Tribe. I was particularly skilled with the bow and was selected by King Asshur to be the captain of the royal guard. My close friend, a descendant of Japheth and the chief of a tribe that admired the bravery of tigers, was skilled with the sword and was selected as the captain of the palace guard. One day, King Elam of Sumer, seeing the corruption of his son Ju, transferred the birthright and priestly authority to his brother, King Asshur. Ju rebelled and waged war against King Asshur for over ten years but was ultimately defeated. Ju, in despair, took his own life. During this time, Nimrod, a subordinate of King Ju, betrayed him and surrendered to King Asshur, claiming to punish the corrupt king and establish God’s kingdom. King Asshur, pleased with Nimrod, appointed him as the ruler of the fallen Sumer. Nimrod built up his military strength over ten years. One day, he invited King Asshur, who loved hunting, to go hunting. King Asshur agreed and went with him, but only Nimrod returned. Seeing Nimrod return alone, I sensed something was wrong.” And feeling a great threat from seeing ‘Nimrod’ acting as if he were the king of Assyria, he quietly slipped out of the castle and went to his friend, the chief of the ‘Bear’ tribe, to inform him of this fact. He also informed him that many of his subordinates had already been bribed by him. Together, they secretly escaped, leading their families and tribe members to this place, while the ‘Bear’ chief went to another place to live in hiding. Those who couldn’t escape were all killed by ‘Nimrod’, who knew the faces of the Assyrian king’s subordinates, and he has been impersonating the Assyrian king ever since. He has been desperately searching for us, which is why we are hiding in this mountain with such vigilance." “So, are you saying my father was such a person?” “No! In fact, although ‘Nimrod’ raised you, he is not your biological father, Prince ‘Hwanwoong’. There is a great secret behind this.” “A secret?” "Yes. At that time, the Assyrian king, who inherited the kingship and priesthood from Elam, had no children. When he killed the Assyrian king, he did not kill the newborn prince but took him in as an adopted son. The Assyrian king himself had no sons, so he sought an adopted son to inherit his throne. He decided to adopt a descendant of his father, ‘Shem’. He thought about who would be the best choice. His father, ‘Shem’, inherited the faith lineage from his grandfather, Noah. Although his brother, Elam, should have continued the lineage, his son ‘Zu’ fell into corruption and could not continue it. So, his brother passed the lineage to him, but he had no sons to continue it. Therefore, he thought it would be best to adopt one of the sons of his next brother, ‘Arpachshad’, to continue the lineage. However, ‘Arpachshad’ had only one son, ‘Shelah’, and died early. ‘Shelah’ inherited the throne from his father and ruled the country peacefully, serving God. He also had only one son, ‘Eber’. Fortunately, ‘Eber’ had two sons, ‘Peleg’ and ‘Joktan’. Since the eldest son, ‘Peleg’, had to continue the lineage of ‘Arpachshad’, he decided to adopt the second son, ‘Joktan’, to continue his lineage. When he told his nephews about this, his nephew ‘Shelah’ and his son ‘Eber’ agreed. They adopted ‘Joktan’ and named him ‘Hwanwoong’.‘Nimrod’, who was close to the Assyrian king, knew this well. That is why he spared Prince ‘Hwanwoong’, the son of the Assyrian king, while exterminating the Assyrian king’s family, because he was not the biological son of the Assyrian king." “So, my father is?” “Yes. Your biological father is King ‘Eber’ of the neighboring kingdom of Sual.” Upon hearing this explanation, ‘Hwanwoong’ suddenly felt all his strength drain from his body. His already complicated mind became even more entangled, making him dizzy and confused. After regaining his composure, he asked the chief of the Bear tribe: “Then, can you arrange a meeting with the chief of the ‘Tiger’ tribe and my father?” “Of course. However, this will take some time, so please return for now and prepare for a long journey. Let’s meet here again in three days. Then I will guide you to the chief of the ‘Tiger’ tribe and King ‘Eber’.” “Understood. I will prepare and meet you here in three days.” With these words, ‘Hwanwoong’ returned with heavy steps, burdened by the sudden revelation of his birth secret. When he reached the crystal valley, he sat down and reflected on the events of the day. He didn’t know how to accept the truth. The worries he had in the morning seemed trivial now. But now, he was faced with even more complex and uncertain problems, sitting in the same place. ‘Hwanwoong’ sighed. “Ah! This is life!” Until a moment ago, he thought he was carrying the greatest problems and worries of life, not knowing how to solve them. But now, with the added complexity of his newfound truth, his head ached even more. He pondered whether to reject the current father who killed his biological father and took over the kingdom, and seek revenge, or to quietly leave without opposing his adoptive father and find a way to achieve ‘Hongik Ingan’ (benefiting all mankind) elsewhere. Or should he acknowledge his adoptive father, wait until he passes away, inherit the throne, and then realize ‘Hongik Ingan’? He was lost in these thoughts daily. That day, while sitting by the water, he heard a sound behind him. Turning around, he saw the daughter of the Bear tribe chief, who had been watching him from the same spot earlier. “What are you thinking so deeply about?” ‘Hwanwoong’ greeted her with a joke. “Oh, lady! Thanks to you, my morning worries seem insignificant, and now I have even bigger worries. You must take responsibility!” The lady smiled and replied: “I also once had worries as great as yours, Prince.” “You did?” “Yes. When I was young, I didn’t know much, but as I grew up and reached adolescence, I learned about the big cities where people lived. From then on, I was dissatisfied with living hidden in the forest with my father and tribe, unable to go to the cities. Despite being trained and told countless times since childhood to watch and guard against strangers entering our forest, one day, when strangers approached our forest, I didn’t inform the adults. When the adults found out later, they hurriedly packed and fled to this place, abandoning our long-lived home. As you can see, we now live in a more difficult environment. But through that experience, I clearly understood why the adults acted that way. Since then, as you saw this morning, I have become more proactive in protecting our lives and property. After once endangering everyone’s lives and surviving, I no longer have such worries.” “Oh! So, encountering a bigger or more important matter made the previous small worries insignificant! Is that what you mean?” “Yes, you could say that. The more important thing is the important thing.” “Today, thanks to you, I realized something very important!” “Oh, please don’t keep calling me ‘lady’! I have a proper name, ‘Asanyeo’.” “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t think to ask your name.” ‘Asanyeo’ blushed. “‘Asanyeo’! What a beautiful name!” ‘Hwanwoong’ picked up a piece of quartz he had seen in the morning and handed it to ‘Asanyeo’, saying: “Today, thanks to you, I realized the truth of life. This is a gift for you. Although it is not a valuable item, I will give you something better later. For now, please accept this as a token of my gratitude.” Upon hearing Hwanung’s words, Asanyeo blushed even more and tightly grasped the quartz in her hand. As the sun set in the west, casting long shadows, dusk began to creep into the forest. Realizing this belatedly, Hwanung said, “There are many wild animals in the mountains. We should descend before it gets too late!” He then stood up. Asanyeo saw him off and returned straight to the village. That evening, under the lantern light, Asanyeo fell asleep while intently staring at something, still clutching the quartz in her hand. Seeing the quartz that had slipped from her hand as she slept, the Bear General thought of his daughter Asanyeo, who cherished a piece of stone from the valley, and smiled as he said, “She must have been tired!” Hearing this, his wife responded, “Well, that might be true! There was a time when everyone’s lives were in danger because of past events, and today a stranger appeared, so how tense she must have been!” “Indeed! But from earlier, Asanyeo has been picking up and looking at a stone commonly found in the valley. Women are truly mysterious!” “How could you understand the heart of an eighteen-year-old girl?” “So, did you also do such useless things at that age?” “Oh my! Oh my! Why is that a useless thing?” “At that time, there are precious and beautiful secrets that only girls know, which adults do not understand!” “So now, you have become a dull woman without such secrets?” “What did you say? Really, you!” “No, no! Just kidding!” As their night deepened, the sounds of various insects filled the mountain valley. Three days later, Hwanung informed the palace that he would travel around the world and prepared for his journey. He returned to the quartz valley, where the Bear General, who had already prepared and was waiting, set off on a long journey with Hwanung. They bid farewell to their family and tribe members, and Asanyeo, who climbed up the mountainside to watch them until they were out of sight, felt an inexplicable anxiety and restlessness in her heart.