음양陰陽

138. The Spotted Ox
A cattle dealer bought four or five cows at the market and was returning home when night fell, so he stopped at an inn. The innkeeper's wife, wanting to get one of the cows, decided to use a honey trap on the cattle dealer.
 
When the cattle dealer asked, “Which cow do you want?” the innkeeper's wife replied, “Give me that spotted ox!” So, in exchange for the spotted ox, the innkeeper's wife agreed to give herself to the cattle dealer. However, when they started, the cattle dealer added a condition, saying that every time he pulled out and reinserted, she had to mumble, “The spotted ox is mine!” He said he would only give her the cow if she said those words, so the innkeeper's wife agreed.
 
And so the act began, and for the first while, every time there was an 'in and out,' she clearly articulated, “The spotted ox is mine! The spotted ox is mine!” But as the excitement gradually intensified, she eventually couldn't do it anymore, and with heavy breaths, she just made a nasal sound, “Spotted, spotted, spotted, spotted.” And so, because she didn't keep her promise, she neither got the cow nor did anything but ruin her body.
 
 
139. Hochi Manchoho
This is a true story that happened at a newspaper office in Seoul. There were two newspapers published in Japan called 'Hochi Shimbun' and 'Manchoho.' One day, these two newspapers were placed half-folded on a desk in the newspaper office. That is, the characters 'Manchoho' were written consecutively below the two characters 'Hochi.' A frivolous reporter who saw this asked a female reporter next to him to read the five characters consecutively. The female reporter, without thinking, blurted out “Bojimanjoho,” and in the next moment, her face turned bright red, and she furiously rushed at the male reporter.

Yubin Hochi Shimbun No. 551

140. A Wise Judgment
Once upon a time, there was a village woman of ill repute. No matter how much her husband admonished her, she not only refused to listen but, on the contrary, defiantly retorted, “What does it matter to you? I'm doing what I want with what's mine!”
 
Unable to bear it any longer, the husband finally appealed to the authorities. The magistrate summoned the villager and gave him a lengthy lecture, but even then, the villager protested, saying, “What does it matter? I’m doing what I want with what’s mine.” While it was somewhat logical if one considered it that way, it was undeniably morally wrong, so the magistrate was racking his brain over how to resolve the matter.
 
Just then, he noticed a mouse hole under the wall, with a mouse going in and out. Seeing this, the magistrate quickly asked the villager, “You, what kind of hole is that?”
The villager innocently replied, “It’s a mouse hole!”
“Why is it called a mouse hole and not a bottom hole?”
“Your Honor, since a mouse goes in and out, what else could it be but a mouse hole?”
“Aha! You just said that the hole you have is yours, but if we follow the logic of the mouse hole, it’s not yours just because it’s attached to you. Since your husband uses it, isn’t it clearly your husband’s? From now on, you must always do as your husband tells you. If you take what belongs to another and do as you please again, there will be no forgiveness, so be aware of that,” he thundered.
 
 
*'報知新聞' is pronounced 'Hochi Shimbun', and '萬朝報' is pronounced 'Yorozu Choho'. As the colony descended into a low-quality society that self-destructed human dignity, it reached a stage where people joked and played with words in such times. However, these two newspapers recorded the history of wars that occurred in modern pan-Asia. Ishikawa Yasujiro (石川安次郎, pen name Ishikawa Hanzan (石川半山), 1872-1925), the chief editor of Yorozu Choho, stayed in Beijing for five years, covering the Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901), and also had experience as a special correspondent for the Treaty of Portsmouth (September 5, 1905). In an era where there is no distinction between 'my hole' and 'another's hole', people cannot comprehend how significant these newspapers were during this period.