Once upon a time there were two brothers. The older brother was named Nolbu. The youger one was named Hungbu. When Nolbu and Hungbu were grown, their parents died. "This is my house now," Nolbu said to Hungbu. "You and your family get out" Hungbu and his family were very poor. One cold day they had nothing to eat. "Please go ask your brother to give us some rice." Hungbu's wife said. Hungbu did not want to ask his brother, but he went to Holbu's house to please his wife. "My dear brother," said Hungbu, "my family is hungry. Please give us some rice." "No!” said Nolbu. "Go away!" As he left, Hungbu saw Nolbu's wife in the kitchen. She was spooning rice into a bowl. Hungbu asked, "Can you please spare me some rice?" "Here's some rice!" she said. She hit Hungbu on the cheek with her spoon. He quickly ate the rice that stuck to his face. "May I have a little more rice?" asked Hungbu. He turned so she could hit his other cheek, but she chased him away instead. Spring came, and two swallows built a nest under Hungbu's roof. The mother laid eggs, and soon baby birds hatched. One day Hungbu heard the baby swallows chirping noisily. He saw a big snake eating the baby birds. "Bad snake!" yelled Hungbu. The snake slithered away, but only one baby swallow was left. The little swallow grew quickly. Then one day the bird hurt its wing while learning to fly. "Poor little bird," said Hungbu. He bandaged the wing and put the bird back in its nest. When fall came, the swallow's wing was healed. The little bird flew south with the other swallows. The next spring, the swallow returned to Hungbu's house. It dropped a seed and flew away. Hungbu planted the seed and watered it. Green vines grew from the seed. Then pumpkins grew where the flowers had been. Hungbu said to family, "Let's eat a pumpkin." So they sawed open a huge pumpkim. When the pumpkin split open, it was full of rice. Hungbu and his family ate and ate. They cut open another pumpkin. It was full of gold coins and beautiful cloth. They cut open a third pumpkin. It was full of people. The people quickly built Hungbu and his family a big house. Nolbu heard of hunbu's good luck and came to visit. "My brother", Nolbu said, "tell me how you became so rich." Hungbu told him about the swallows and the snake and the seed and the pumpkins. The story made Nolbu angry. "Humph!" he said, and stomped away. The next spring, Nolbu built a nest under his roof. A swallow came and lad eggs in the nest. Nolbu touched the eggs so many times that only one egg hatched. The baby swallow grew quickly. When it was learning to fly, Nolbu broke its wing. Then he said, "Poor little bird. I'll fix your wing. But remember to bring me a pumpkin seed next spring." Fall came, and the swallow flew south. In spring it came back to Nolbu's house. The bird dropped a seed and flew away. Nolbu planted the seed and watered it. Green vines grew from the seed. Then white flowers grew on the vines. Then pumpkins grew where the flowers had been. Nolbu said to his wife, "Let's get rich." So they sawed open a huge pumpkin. When the pumpkin split open, it was full of thieves. They ate up all Nolbu's food and stole everything they could carry. Nolbu cut another pumpkin. An old man jumped out. The old man said, "Nolbu, your grandfather borrowed money from me and enver paid me back. Now you owe me a full bag of gold." Nolbu put all his money into the old man's bag, but the money did not fill it. "Since you cannot fill up my bag, you can pay off the rest with a beating." said old man. Soldiers appeared and beat Nolbu with sticks. Nolbu cut open a third pumpkin. Out jumped two monsters. The bigger monster said, "Nolbu, how dare you break the baby swallow's wing?" "Who me?" asked Nolbu, "I didn't do it...a snake did!" "Don't lie to us," growled the monsters, and they smashed Nolbu's house with their clubs. Nolbu and his wife were so frightened they fainted. When Nolbu and his wife woke up, they found Hungbu and his family trying to help them. Nolbu said, "My brother, how sorry I am. Please forgive me." "Of course I forgive you," replied Hungbu. "And from now on, let's live together at my house." So the two families lived in peace at Hungbu's house. They grew pumpkins and shared their fortunes, and lived happily ever after.
* Modern Version of Hungbu and Nolbu
Once upon a time there was a beautiful country named Chosun, and there were two brothers in Chosun. The big brother named Nolbu, and the little brother named Hungbu. They lived in a small town. Hungbu was really famous among girls because of his charming appearance. However, not like Hungbu everybody hated Nolbu because he had a bad temper and he was ugly. They grew up together in the town. When they became 19 years old, their parents told them to get married. At that time in their country, it’s quite normal to get married under 20-year-old youngsters. Therefore, two brothers tried hard to find their soul mates and married. After that they bought a house and lived near the town. Nolbu was smart, so he decided to run his own business. He became a successful CEO. Hungbu was stupid, so he shined people’s shoes to live. He lived poorly because he couldn’t earn a huge amount of money. One day while Nolbu was eating dinner, Hungbu visited Nolbu’s house to beg his help because he trusted his brother. He said, "Nolbu, please help me. I have nothing to eat." Nolbu was mean, selfish, and jealous of Hungbu’s popularity, so he rejected Hungbu’s request. Hungbu was shocked by Nolbu’s reaction. After that he decided not to get in touch with his brother. He wanted to be rich to revenge. He thought he’s handsome face will help him to be rich. He went to the most famous entertainment management agency, and took audition. Few weeks later, he got a phone call from the agency. The agency said, "Your talent is excellent and we want to make a contract with you." The agency helped Hungbu to be a rock star. Hungbu practiced singing, dancing, and even autographing. A year later, Hungbu made his debut. His album sold like mad. He became a trillionaire. Hungbu visited Nolbu’s house agin, but this time he was a famous rock star and rich. Nolbu was surprised by his success. He congratulated Hungbu, but deep inside his mind he envied him. He served dinner to Hungbu, they talked and Hungbu left. Few hours later, Nolbu didn’t feel good. He thought it’s food poisoning. However, he got big rashes, and he started to vomit. He went to see a doctor, but he couldn’t figure out what’s wrong with Nolbu. The day after Nolbu’s wife found his cold dead body. She said, "Oh my gosh! What happened? My poor Nolbu." She called police. The police performed an autopsy, and a sign of death was a murder by poison.
