Ghostly monster and elixir spring fairy / 鬼怪與長壽湯的仙女

三年半前去韓國玩，買了一堆繪本，雖然看不懂，但是看到圖就很開心。最近因為心醉電視劇「鬼怪」，不禁想起我最愛的繪本，強烈地懷疑這本書應該在講韓國民俗中流傳的鬼怪，我終於有衝動請身邊的韓文老師翻譯，果然是在說一堆饑餓的鬼怪的故事，不過他們有點笨，雖然會變出金子，卻無法得到他們想要的年糕，和帥氣的孔劉差真多。

I went on a picture-book shopping spree when traveling to Korea three and half years ago. Though I hardly understood the text, I did take much delight in merely looking at the images. Lately, the super hit drama "Ghostly monster" has reminded me that maybe one of the books I own is about the folklore character, the ghostly monster. I was finally motivated to ask a Korean teacher to roughly translate the story for me. As I had guessed, the book is about a bunch of starving ghostly monsters. Though they could conjure up gold nuggets, they couldn't get the deuk bog gi (rice cake) they crave for. Well, what a contrast with the handsome lead role in the drama. 

        我真心覺得韓國人很厲害，民間傳說也可入繪本和流行文化，哪天我也要來做個年獸的故事。

     I admire Koreans for their talent and marketing strategies from the bottom of my heart. It's amazing to see folklore used in picture books and pop culture. Some day I am doing to write a story based on Nien, a fierce beast in Chinese folk stories. 

        很巧地，昨天又在dpi雜誌裡讀到當時買的另一本繪本簡介，這本叫「長壽湯的仙女」，作者白熙娜的作品都很吸引我，主題是以韓國人習以為常的澡堂生活為背景，敘述一名和媽媽去泡澡的小女孩，在玩水的時候遇見老阿媽般的仙女，兩人短暫地玩一陣子，卻發展出情誼。

     Coincidentally, I read the summary of another book I had bought back then in dpi illustration magazine yesterday. The book is titled The Elixir Spring Fairy. The books of the author, Bae Hee Na are all my favorites. The story takes place in a public bathhouse. A little girl meets a granny-like fairy as she is playing in the pool. Their short but sweet friendship becomes a wonderful memory for the little girl. 

        很偶然地在三年半後才發現自己買的書究竟在說什麼，這真是最棒的聖誕禮物！

     I hadn't expected to learn anything about the books I  purchased a long time ago, but right because of that, this surprise turned out to be the best Christmas gift!