Two Brothers

By Grace Andreacchi

One brother is rich and selfish, the other is poor and noble-hearted. When the poor brother helps a little swallow with a broken leg, he's rewarded in an extraordinary manner. What's growing inside those giant pumpkins anyway...? A tale of brotherly love and hate from ancient Korea. First published in Horizon Review, this play is based on the Pansori tale 'Heungbu and Nolbu'.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jan 3, 2013
• ISBN: 9781326381646

Grace Andreacchi

Grace Andreacchi was born and raised in New York City but has lived on the far side of the great ocean for many years—sometimes in Paris, sometimes Berlin, and nowadays in London. Works include the novels Scarabocchio and Poetry and Fear (Andromache Books), Give my Heart Ease, which received the New American Writing Award, and Music for Glass Orchestra. Stories and poetry appear in both online and print journals. Her work can be viewed at graceandreacchi.com. 

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Copyright Information

The right of Grace Andreacchi to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This is a work of fiction. Any similarity of persons, places or events depicted herein to actual persons, places or events is purely coincidental.

This play first appeared in Horizon Review.

Copyright © 2008 by Grace Andreacchi .

All rights reserved

ISBN 978-1-326-38164-6

Published by Andromache Books, London

Cover image: Swallows Diving, Totoya Hokkei

by the same author

For the theatre

AGNES

LAWRENCE

RAPHAEL AND TOBIAS

Fiction

SCARABOCCHIO

POETRY AND FEAR

GIVE MY HEART EASE

MUSIC FOR GLASS ORCHESTRA

Poetry

ELYSIAN SONNETS AND OTHER POEMS

TWO BROTHERS

GRACE ANDREACCHI

butterfly.jpg

Andromache Books

Contents

Copyright Information

by the same author

Acknowledgements

CAST OF CHARACTERS

PROLOGUE

About the Author

Acknowledgements

This play is based on the traditional Korean tale ‘Heungbu and Nolbu’, with additional material adapted from classical and folk Korean poetry.

CAST OF CHARACTERS

SONHWA, the Narrator.

Gentle goddess of the pumpkin, her name means 'Fairy Flower'. She wears a traditional high-waisted Korean dress in shimmering white, bound with a blue and orange sash, and an elaborate orange head-dress that represents the pumpkin.

HEUNGBU

NOLBU, older brother to Heungbu

BO BAE, or 'Treasure', wife to Heungbu

TAEKWON, or 'Sour Pickle', wife to Nolbu

JOO EUN, or 'Silver Pearl', Heungbu's baby daughter

1st SWALLOW

2nd SWALLOW

SWALLOW KING

SWALLOW COURTIERS, MAID SERVANTS & CHILDREN

A SERPENT

TWO SMALL BOYS

TWO MOON MAIDENS

TWO GOBLINS

A SWALLOW PUPPET

NOTE: Downstage right is a small tree, about 5 feet in height, which occupies the same place throughout and indicates the change of seasons. In spring it is covered in white blossoms - it is a plum tree. In winter it is a snow-covered pine. In autumn it is a maple covered in bright red leaves.

PROLOGUE

[The story takes place in a small Korean village, long ago. Centre stage is a snug and comfortable house set in a garden. Downstage right the plum tree. Rosy dawn light and the morning chorus of birds. Enter Sonhwa.]

SONHWA      I am Sonhwa, the Flower Fairy of the                         Pumpkin

Every spring I bear a white blossom

Every fall I yield a big bright pumpkin

Tasty to eat, also useful for drinking                         gourds

or fine hat!

[Taps her head-dress.]

In this house live two brothers

Their names are Heungbu and Nolbu.

Nolbu is the older brother.

I'm afraid to tell you about him -

You won't like hearing it. He's not a nice                         man at all.

What's he like? Well!

Eats a lot, drinks a lot, curses a lot

Beats people up a lot

Has his own way a lot

Slaps his own wife a lot

Slaps crippled man, pinches baby

Speaks rough words to father and mother

Pulls a dog's tail

Drowns a cat

Spits in the rice pot

And rubs pepper in people's eyes just for                         fun.

His heart is crooked like a kudzu vine,                         grown all in a tangle.

His wife Taekwon is named after the sour yellow pickle which she resembles very much. She's so greedy she wants the best of everything for herself. If she went to the market and saw some fine new thing for sale, she'd fall down in a faint if she couldn't have it, and wouldn't get up for maybe one hundred days.

Now Heungbu is not like that at all. Heungbu, the younger brother, is good-natured and loyal. His heart is straight as a flying arrow. He loves his wicked brother Nolbu, and sighs to see him do wickedness every day. Still, he says nothing, he bites his lips. Even when Nolbu beats him he tries to bear it without complaining. His wife Bo Bae is named after a treasure, but she's only a poor farmer's daughter. Still,