Read Young-hee and the Pullocho Online
Authors: Mark James Russell
Young-hee and the Pullocho
To my son James, who is just starting
a long journey of his own
MARK JAMES RUSSELL
TUTTLE
Publishing
Tokyo | Rutland, Vermont | Singapore
Published by Tuttle Publishing, an imprint of Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd.
Copyright © 2015 Mark James Russell
All rights reserved.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data for this title is in progress.
ISBN 978-0-8048-4497-0
ISBN 978-1-4629-1510-1 (ebook)
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North America, Latin America & Europe
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The Tuttle Story “Books to Span the East and West”
Many people are surprised to learn that the world's leading publisher of books on Asia had humble beginnings in the tiny American state of Vermont. The company's founder, Charles E. Tuttle, belonged to a New England family steeped in publishing.
Tuttle's father was a noted antiquarian book dealer in Rutland, Vermont. Young Charles honed his knowledge of the trade working in the family bookstore, and later in the rare books section of Columbia University Library. His passion for beautiful booksâold and newânever wavered throughout his long career as a bookseller and publisher.
After graduating from Harvard, Tuttle enlisted in the military and in 1945 was sent to Tokyo to work on General Douglas MacArthur's staff. He was tasked with helping to revive the Japanese publishing industry, which had been utterly devastated by the war. When his tour of duty was completed, he left the military, married a talented and beautiful singer, Reiko Chiba, and in 1948 began several successful business ventures.
To his astonishment, Tuttle discovered that postwar Tokyo was actually a book-lover's paradise. He befriended dealers in the Kanda district and began supplying rare Japanese editions to American libraries. He also imported American books to sell to the thousands of GIs stationed in Japan. By 1949, Tuttle's business was thriving, and he opened Tokyo's very first English-language bookstore in the Takashimaya Department Store in Nihonbashi, to great success. Two years later, he began publishing books to fulfill the growing interest of foreigners in all things Asian.
Though a westerner, Tuttle was hugely instrumental in bringing a knowledge of Japan and Asia to a world hungry for information about the East. By the time of his death in 1993, he had published over 6,000 books on Asian culture, history and artâa legacy honored by Emperor Hirohito in 1983 with the “Order of the Sacred Treasure,” the highest honor Japan can bestow upon a non-Japanese.
The Tuttle company today maintains an active backlist of some 1,500 titles, many of which have been continuously in print since the 1950s and 1960sâa great testament to Charles Tuttle's skill as a publisher. More than 60 years after its founding, Tuttle Publishing is more active today than at any time in its history, still inspired by Charles Tuttle's core missionâto publish fine books to span the East and West and provide a greater understanding of each.
Contents
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“Give him
back
!” Young-hee shouted, trying to sound commanding.
She stared in desperate terror at the creature grinning malevolently in front of her. Short and grotesque, with the stump of a horn in the middle of his forehead, he smelled of ash and deceit. He was a
dokkaebi
, a goblin. And he had her little brother.
“No, he's my servant now,” the dokkaebi answered, “fair and square.”
Young-hee's thoughts raced. Around them, crowds of bizarre creaturesâelegant fairies, entrepreneurial witches, clay golem servants, and people-that-weren't-really-people surged through the market, ignoring the overstuffed stall where Young-hee faced off against the dokkaebi. She was on her own.
Think!
she urged herself, but she barely understood the rules of this strange place, and this goblin was clearly happy with his prize.
Oblivious, Young-beom turned his dirt-smudged face to his big sister and chewed happily on his
yakgwa
honey biscuit.
Stupid! I never should have brought Bum to a place like this.
“Bum” being her nickname for her annoying little brother. She had been to the goblin market before, but not without a guide, and never with Bum. She had been told it was treacherous, but thought she could handle it. Now, because of her recklessness, her brother had been taken.
“He's not your servant,” she said. “He's my brother.”
“Oh, I must differ. I offered an exchange of services: I'd fill his hunger with a delicious cake, if he'd enter my service for a year. He accepted.”
“No!” cried Bum, growing upset. “I did
not
!”
The goblin scowled. “And yet, there's one of Woo's half-eaten
yakgwa
in your hand, and its crumbs around your mouth. Or is the boy a thief?”
“Woo?”
“Woo,” he grunted, pointing a lumpy goblin thumb at himself.
Scared by the goblin's snarl, Bum tried to run, but the moment he reached the shop limits he stopped shortâas if held by a chain. Young-hee rushed to Bum and put a comforting hand on his head.
“He couldn't have agreed to anything,” said Young-hee, watching her brother begin to understand that something was very wrong. “He's too young. He's just a little kid.”
“
Pfft
,” said the dokkaebi dismissively. “He accepted the offered. Now he must pay the price. That's the way of things.”
“But he didn't know,” she said weakly. She ran a hand down Bum's side to his ankle, feeling the invisible thread that held him fast. She had narrowly avoided similar capture on her first market visit.
“Few people know the true cost of the things they buy,” the goblin snapped. “That is not my concern. Woo never made the rules. That's just the way things are.”
Young-hee tried to imagine what her mom would do. “Look, Mr. Woo ⦠I'll get my friendsâthe
jangseung
guardians and, uh, and the giant toads, and the fairies. I'll bring them all here, and they'll make you give me my brother back.”
Woo shrugged. “Tell whomever you like. Everything's fair and square. This is a goblin market, and goblin rules apply.”
“
Jigyeowo
,” screamed Young-hee, her emotions exploding, and her face turning red. Bum cringed. “Give me my brother back!
Right now!
Or I
swear
I'll make you sorry!”
Woo spread his fingers and pressed his open hand against Young-hee's chest, pushing her hard against the wall behind her, just beyond Bum's reach.
“You will do
no
such thing,” said the dokkaebi with low menace. “You think you can threaten me, girl, in my own shop?” He stuck a fat, earthen finger from his other hand in her face. “Do you know anything about dokkaebi power? Your little brother is
mine
now, for at least the next year, and there is so much I can do to him. I could sell him to something big and nasty, some creature that likes to eat little boys. He's not very big, but many creatures would find him juicy and delicious. Or maybe I could just vanish him, send him somewhere far awayâanother realm, another time even. I have many, many cruel options if you rub Woo the wrong way.”