Page:A modern pioneer in Korea-Henry G. Appenzeller-by William Elliot Griffis.djvu/38



HAT is Korea's true history? We all know the story of how in 1122 B.C., when the Chow dynasty in China came to an end, a statesman (whose name is read Ki-tse in Chinese and Kija in Korean) who declined to serve the new ruler left the Court and journeyed eastward with five thousand followers. So far the Chinese annals.

The Korean nursery story is that Kija came into the peninsula, established his capital in the valley of the Ta Tong River and at Ping Yang began his civilising operations. He taught the people laws, ethics, measures and standards of value. To every Korean child, this legend is as sacred writ interpreted by infallible orthodoxy. Hundreds of foreigners living on the soil accept it without salt and a hundred gravely written books and the encyclopedias repeat this pretty tale.

Now apart from what actually happens in human experience, the writing of history is an industry which, like all other crafts and arts, follows models and is influenced by human conceits, rivalries, and prejudices. Just as our savage ancestors in Europe, when they received Roman letters and