“To destroy jade and gravel together,” refers to indiscriminate destruction.
“Without wind and without cloud,” describes a serene life.
“Go to sea,” is a provincial malediction heavier than a tinker’s, and worse than “Go to grass.”
“I am I, and another is another,” is a formula of selfish, and Corean for “ego et non ego,” “I and not I.”
“A poor horse has always a thick tail”—talent and capacity are badly located.
The large number of morals pointed and tales adorned by the tiger are referred to elsewhere. [[320]]
CHAPTER XXXVI.
THE COREAN TIGER.
The one royal quadruped associated with Corea, as the white elephant is with Siam, the bison with the United States, or the dromedary with Egypt, is the tiger. Unlike his relative in India that roams in the hot jungles and along the river bottoms, the Corean “king of the mountains” is seen oftenest in the snow and forests of the north, ranging as far as the fiftieth parallel.