The fishmonger complained about her, “My guess is correct.  Choi Chum-ji’s family will not buy a fish until the sun rises from the west.”  The fishmonger went off toward another house.

After the daughter-in-law went back home, she washed her hands with an iron pot used for cooking soup.  Then she made some soup from the water she used to clean the fish scales from her hands.

When Choi chum-ji saw the fish-scale soup on his dinner table, he flew into a rage.  When he saw that the fish soup had a few scales floating in it, he begrudged the money someone might have spent.  Still he was anxious to taste it.  He summoned all of his family to find out who had bought the fish.

His daughter-in-law had no choice but to explain the whole story.  She thought that her father-in-law might praise her for making the fish soup without spending any money.  But when he heard the story he scolded her, saying, “Well, indeed, it is a pity to have it only for one meal.  If you had washed your hands in the well, we could have enjoyed the fish soup for several months.”

The Bride’s Island

Although it was daybreak, it was still very dark.  A young woman was climbing up the steep mountain road.  Several times she fell over stones, but she struggled upward to the top of the mountain where there was a shrine to the mountain god.  At the shrine, she prayed to the god, making numerous polite bows.

“Dear God, please help cure my husband’s disease. I beg you to help my husband recover from his illness.”  While she prayed like this, the morning became bright.  The smoke rose like fog from the chimneys of a group of cottages nestled down at the foot of the mountain on which she stood.  Behind the village lay the blue sea.  Far out in the water, seven islands, big and small, seemed to be connected as if they were linking their arms over one another’s shoulders.