This novel is in Korea in the 1800s. There is no automatic transportation such as cars, so people move to other places on foot. Tigers can speak the human language at this time.

The mountain path is in the background. The mother runs into a tiger while walking down this street.

It is the house where my brother and sister and mother live. A tiger comes to this house to eat the brother and sister, and the story unfolds against the backdrop of this house.

A woman went to help a neighbor and told her son and daughter, “While I’m away, be very careful not to open the door to any strangers.” She helped her neighbor in his field all day and earned some foods to eat.

On her way back home, the woman was stopped by a fierce tiger. “Give me something to eat,” the tiger said, “or I will eat you.” The woman was terrified and threw some foods from her basket and hurried on. But the cunning tiger ate all of the food in the basket and even the woman. He put on the woman’s clothes and went to the woman’s small house.

The tiger, disguised as the children’s mother, knocked on the door. “Let me in, children. It's only me,” the tiger said sweetly. But the children were suspicious. “Is it really you, mother? Why is your voice so coarse?” the son asked. “I’ve been talking all day,” the tiger said. “Can you put your hand through the opening?” the daughter said suspiciously. The tiger put his hand through the opening. “You’re not our mother!” the girl cried. “Your hand is covered with fur. You are a tiger!”

The tiger broke the door and the children ran out the back door and climbed a tree next to the well. “How did you get in there?” the tiger demanded, looking at the reflection of the children in the well. The children laughed and said, “We are up here in the tree. If you want to climb up here, pour oil on the tree,” the boy said. “That makes it easy to climb.” The tiger ran off and found some oil. He covered the tree trunk with the oil, but the tree was now even more slippery. He fell to the ground. “How clever you are! I give up. But just tell me how did you really get so high up the tree?” the tiger said in a flattering way. “We took the axe,” the girl suddenly said proudly. “We chopped holes for our feet in the trunk of the tree,” the girl also added.

The cunning tiger laughed and got an ax. The children now realized how foolish they had been and began to pray. The Lord of Heaven heard their prayer and immediately sent down a strong rope with a pail at the bottom. The children quickly sat in the pail and pulled upward. When the tiger reached the top of the tree, he also prayed. The Lord of Heaven heard the tiger’s prayer, but he sent down a rotten rope with a pail at the bottom this time. In his hurry, the tiger quickly sat in the pail and pulled upward. His rotten rope could not carry the tiger’s weight, and it broke. The tiger fell and died. When the children reached Heaven, the Lord made the young girl become the sun because she was shy. That way, no one would ever be able to look at her directly. He made the young boy become the moon.