Romantic Tales from Old Korea

There are not many old Korean love tales, but everyone knows the story of Chunhyang. In 1892, the first Korean to visit Paris, Hong Jong-u, helped publish a French version of the story of Chunhyang. Titled Fragrant Springtime (the meaning of Chunhyang ), it is the first Korean story ever published in a western language. A couple of years later, a second, more developed novel set in Korea was published, A Dead Tree Blossoms. It includes parts of the story of Sim Cheong and her blind father, but is very different in many unexpected ways.