Korean Folktales: The Farting Woman

A long long time ago, when dragons still smoked long pipes...

... there was a beautiful young woman who was sweet, kind and intelligent, but who had one big problem: she couldn't control her farts. She farted often, and her farts were very loud and strong, known to blow over large kimchi pots, or blow the tiles off a roof. Her farting concerned her parents because the beautiful young woman was about to get married. They were afraid of what would happen if she farted in front of her new husband and his parents, so they told her not to fart anymore.

The beautiful young woman married her new husband and she held in all of her farts. They had many children and lived happily together for many years. Her parents-in-law loved her very much because she was a very good daughter-in-law. After 10 years she began to get very sick, and her husband and parents-in-law were very worried about her. They asked her what was wrong, and she told them that she had been holding in her farts for the past 10 years, which was making her sick. They told her that they loved her, and that her health was important to them, so she should fart if she had to.

As it had been a very long time since she had last farted, she warned her husband, parents-in-law and children to hold onto a pillar as the fart was going to be very powerful. When she had finished, her children had been blown into a field, her husband and parents-in-law had been blown onto a neighbour's roof, and her house was destroyed. After that, she could fart any time she wanted to.