In the middle of the night, a tiger creeps into a village wanting to steal a cow, and coincidentally, a burglar is also attempting to steal a cow. Throughout the night, a child is wailing and crying endlessly. Even when his mother threatens him that a big, scary tiger is coming to eat him, the child keeps crying.
Suddenly, the tiger hears the child’s mother enticing the child with a persimmon. “Here’s a dried persimmon,” she says, and then the child stops crying. The tiger is shocked and amused, wondering how dried persimmon has stopped a child from crying. The tiger wonders if the persimmon is more frightening than him, as the tiger couldn’t scare the child. At the same time, the burglar, who mistakes the tiger for a cow, jumps on the tiger’s back. Out of fear, the tiger bolts out of the village with the burglar on his back thinking it was the frightening dried persimmon.
The moral of the story is that mischief (the tiger) and corruption (the burglar) will not prevail if kindness, like the persimmon tree, is deeply planted in the hearts of people.
Persimmons (pronounced gam in Korean) have been consumed and used for treating various ailments for centuries in Eastern medicine, and they are a treasured delicacy in Korean culture. Persimmons contain antioxidants, which help prevent oxidative damage and stress. They are great for helping maintain healthy eyes due to high levels of beta-carotene, a vital nutrient for vision and cell growth.
