was said to have been written by a very wise man hundreds of years ago.
A strange thing about it was that it was composed during one night, and
so great was the wise man's struggle that his hair and beard turned
white during that night. When Yung Pak was told this fact he was not a
bit surprised. He thought it was hard enough to have to learn what was
in the book, to say nothing of writing it in the beginning.

At the same time that Yung Pak was learning to read, he was also
learning to write. But you would have been amused if you could have seen
his efforts. The strangest thing about it was that he did not use a pen,
but had a coarse brush on a long handle. Into the ink he would dip this
brush and then make broad marks on sheets of coarse paper. You would not
be able to understand those marks at all. They looked like the daubs of
a sign-painter gone crazy.

Later on, Yung Pak had to study the history and geography of his
country. Some of the names he had to learn would amuse you very much.
The name of the province of Haan-kiung, for instance, meant Perfect
Mirror, or Complete View Province. Kiung-sang was the Korean name for
Respectful Congratulation Province, and Chung-chong meant Serene Loyalty
Province. One part of Korea, where the inhabitants were always peaceable
and unwarlike, was called Peace and Quiet Province, or, in the Korean
language, Ping-an.

Under Wang Ken's instruction Yung Pak made rapid progress in his
studies, and when the boy's father questioned him from time to time as
to what he had learned, he was very much pleased, and commended his son
for his close attention to his studies.

"Sometime," Ki Pak said to the boy, "if you continue to make such good