Looking at the sea in front of the Islands of Seven Mountains, the young woman sighed.  At the beginning, her husband’s illness was not so serious, but as time went on it was getting critical.  Whenever she heard that there was an effective medicine for her husband, she made every possible effort to get it for him, even to the point of selling her new household goods as well as her marriage presents.  Her husband’s condition had not improved at all, but she never became discouraged in nursing him and she faithfully prayed every daybreak at the mountain shrine.

As the sound of her husband’s moaning reached her ears, she felt as if it were breaking her heart.  How tender and sweet her husband had been to her before he became sick! She sobbed bitterly, leaning her back on the wooden gate of her weather-beaten cottage.  She tearfully bit her lips and resolved to cure her husband’s malady.

At that moment a fortune-teller, the oldest and most powerful one in the village, was passing her house.  When the fortune-teller saw her crying, she tried to soothe the young woman with words of sympathy.  The old woman was about to tell her something more, but she kept her mouth closed and set her face.  When the young woman saw the fortune-teller’s expression, she asked her anxiously whether she had any remedy to cure her husband.

Although her eyes were full of tears, they shone with determination.  The young lady, anxious to hear some miraculous message, gazed at her face expectantly.  However, the old woman hardly said anything.  After a while, she spoke reluctantly.  “Dear lady, yes, there is only one method for your husband’s cure.  But it’s a most difficult one.  Moreover, it’s too dangerous for a woman to undertake.  Heaven might punish me if I disclose it.”

The fortune-teller did not seem willing to say any more about it.  The lady clutched the old woman’s hand and implored her to help her husband.  Unable to resist the younger woman’s entreaty, the fortuneteller said, “You know the open sea.  I mean the sea in front of the Islands of Seven Mountains.  If you go over the smallest mountain, you will see an unknown mysterious medicinal plant. It is said that this marvelous plant can even bring a dead man to life.”

The young lady was startled to hear this.  “Of course, it could save your husband’s life.  However, you should know the island is a very strange one.  It’s a fearful island from where no one can return once he goes there.  Moreover, a woman is not allowed to go even near the island. … I shouldn’t have said anything about it.