Tokki- Korean CreatureCreature · Beast"The Clever Rabbit"
Also known as: 토끼, 兔, and T'okki
Titles & Epithets
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Description
Lured to the Dragon Palace by the turtle Byeoljubu, Tokki faces death when Yongwang demands its liver to cure his illness. The rabbit outwits the entire underwater court by claiming to have left its liver drying on a rock on shore, and the moment its feet touch land it leaps free, mocking their credulity.
Mythology & Lore
The Turtle's Invitation
In the Byeoljubu-jeon and the pansori Sugungga, the Dragon King Yongwang lies ill in his underwater palace, and his physicians declare that only a rabbit's liver can cure him. The turtle Byeoljubu volunteers to go ashore and fetch one.
Byeoljubu finds Tokki on the mountainside and fills the rabbit's ears with descriptions of the Dragon Palace: its coral halls, its feasts, the honors awaiting a guest of the king. Tokki is suspicious but vain. He climbs onto the turtle's back and rides down into the sea.
The Yonggung receives Tokki with ceremony. The court bows. The feast is laid. Then Yongwang tells the rabbit why it was really brought here. He needs its liver, and he intends to take it.
The Great Deception
Tokki does not panic. The rabbit explains, calmly, that rabbits can remove their livers at will for cleaning and safekeeping. It left its liver drying on a rock on the mountainside before departing. If the Dragon King wants it, someone must take the rabbit back to shore.
Yongwang, desperate, orders Byeoljubu to return the rabbit to land. The moment Tokki's feet touch earth, the rabbit leaps free and delivers a blistering speech mocking the Dragon King, the turtle, and the entire court for believing that any creature walks around without its liver. In the Sugungga pansori tradition, this moment is performed with great comic relish, the rabbit's escape bringing the audience to laughter.