Banggwijaengi myeoneuri

Lore & Background

In a household long ago, the daughter-in-law looked sick and was growing thinner. When her in-laws got worried and asked her what was wrong, she answered that it was because she could not fart. When they heard this, her mother- and father-in-law told her not to worry and urged her to fart freely. The daughter-in-law answered that her farts were extremely powerful. She urged the family to prepare thoroughly, telling her father-in-law to hold on to a column, her mother-in-law to the door, her husband to the kitchen door, and her sister-in-law to the rice pot. When she farted, it was so powerful that the house was badly damaged, with some parts flying off and other parts collapsing. When they saw the strength of her fart, her parents-in-law decided to send her back to her original family.

Reader's Guide

Banggwijaengi myeoneuri is a folk tale but has mythical qualities. The daughter-in-law, with farts powerful enough to send houses and people flying and strip fruit from high branches, resembles a female giant in a myth. The resounding farts she emits can be seen as an inheritance from excremental motifs in giant tales; among the various types of excretion, farting is one that induces particular mirth. Moreover, the way the daughter-in-law is expelled from her in-laws’ home before returning again can be seen as a kind of 'rite of passage' whereby a daughter-in-law gains the acceptance of her husband's family. The tale is recorded in almost 100 different versions in key oral tale collections including Hanguk gubi munhak daegye and is told throughout the Korean Peninsula. Variations include endings where the story finishes with the huge fart, where the fart blows away the parents-in-law or the parents-in-law and the husband, or where the daughter-in-law is kicked out. In some versions, instead of meeting a peddler, she farts to knock down pears or jujubes for her father-in-law. The wares sold by the peddler also vary, including brassware, silk, hemp cloth, sundries, or wooden bowls.

Did You Know?

• In some variations, the daughter-in-law's fart blows away just the parents-in-law or the parents-in-law and the husband, widowing the protagonist.
• The peddler's wares in some versions include brassware, silk, hemp cloth, sundries, or wooden bowls.
• The tale is a type of 'farter tale,' which also includes stories about competitions among farters and thieves chased away by farts.

The Narrative Arc

The story follows a daughter-in-law who appears increasingly ill and thin in her husband's household. When her in-laws press her about her condition, she reveals that her suffering stems from holding in her farts. They urge her to release them freely, but she warns them of the extraordinary force behind each one. She instructs each family member to grip a different structural element—a column, a door, the kitchen entrance, a rice pot—before unleashing a blast so violent that sections of the house are torn away and others collapse entirely. Horrified by the destruction, the parents-in-law decide to send her back to her birth family. During the journey home, she crosses paths with a traveling peddler and wagers that she can retrieve fruit from a high tree. A single enormous fart accomplishes the task, and she receives a valuable item in exchange. Witnessing this, her father-in-law recognizes the practical utility of her gift and welcomes her back into the household.

Mythical Resonance and Thematic Depth

Although classified as a folk tale, Banggwijaengi myeoneuri carries distinct mythical undertones. The protagonist's capacity to hurl entire houses into ruin and strip fruit from towering branches places her in the same mythological register as female giants found in other Korean narratives. Her thunderous emissions echo the excremental motifs long associated with giant tales, where bodily functions of extraordinary scale serve as markers of supernatural power. Among the various forms of excretion that appear in such stories, flatulence carries a particular comedic charge that amplifies the humor. Beyond the mythic layer, the narrative also functions as a rite of passage. The daughter-in-law's expulsion from her in-laws' home and subsequent return mirrors a ritual of rejection and reacceptance, through which she ultimately secures her place within her husband's family. This cyclical structure—banishment followed by triumphant reinstatement—gives the tale a deeper social meaning beneath its surface absurdity.

Oral Transmission and Version Diversity

Banggwijaengi myeoneuri enjoys an exceptionally broad footprint across the Korean Peninsula, having been preserved in nearly one hundred distinct versions within major oral literature collections, including the Hanguk gubi munhak daegye (Outlines of Korean Oral Literature). This sheer volume of recorded variants testifies to the tale's deep roots in communal storytelling traditions. The versions cluster into several broad narrative families. In some, the story simply concludes with the daughter-in-law's cataclysmic fart. Others extend the destruction so that the in-laws—or the in-laws plus the husband—are blown away entirely, leaving the protagonist a widow. A third group ends with her being cast out by her in-laws with no reconciliation. In a fourth, she farts to knock pears or jujubes from a tree for her father-in-law's enjoyment before returning home. Finally, the peddler's merchandise shifts across tellings, ranging from brassware and silk to hemp cloth, sundries, or wooden bowls.

The Farter-Tale Comedic Tradition

Banggwijaengi myeoneuri belongs to a recognized subgenre of Korean folklore known as the 'farter tale,' a category of comedic narratives built around the humor of flatulence. The daughter-in-law's story is the most prominent example, but the tradition extends well beyond a single protagonist. Other tales in this family feature contests in which characters compete to produce the most impressive or destructive fart, turning bodily function into a spectacle of one-upmanship. Still others deploy flatulence as a practical weapon, with characters using a well-timed burst to chase off thieves or fend off unwanted intruders. What unites these stories is the deliberate inversion of the taboo surrounding bodily excretion: what is normally hidden and suppressed becomes a source of public spectacle, social leverage, and even economic exchange. The comedic force of the genre rests on the gap between the undignified nature of the act and the extraordinary, almost heroic, consequences it produces, making Banggwijaengi myeoneuri both a laugh-out-loud entertainment and a subtle commentary on social acceptance.