Page:Village life in Korea (1911).djvu/107

Rh that kite becomes public property and belongs to the one that can catch it on its descent to the earth. At the close of the season all kites are laid aside, and there is no more use for them till the return of the season next year.

There is also a swing season which affords much sport for the men and boys each year at the proper season, though it lasts for only a few days. Swings are made of straw rope and fastened to the limbs of trees. Sometimes as many as three or four boys stand on each other's shoulders and swing at the same time. Our village boy takes little or no interest in swimming, jumping (either broad or high jumps), or foot-racing and such other sports. He knows nothing of the bat and the ball, and as for football, he never heard of that. But he takes his turn in the stone fight at the proper season. This stone fight is a very interesting game, and might well be adopted in the colleges of the West in the place of football, since it furnishes all the excitement necessary to make it interesting without the chances of killing the participants being quite so great. It is the national game, and is played only during the first fifteen days of the year.

A level place is selected at the foot of a hill, or, better still, between two hills, so that the spectators can occupy the hillsides and be near enough to see without endangering their lives from the flying stones. The game usually takes place between two villages or two different communities, which form the opposing sides in the contest. The two companies of men and boys take their places, being well supplied with stones