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Hi Keith:<br><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>Does anybody on the list have
details of the children's stories Kim Il Sung (possibly with Kim Jong Il)
is alleged to have written? I have been trying to find a reference and
any details about such ventures for some time...and any help would be
much appreciated.</blockquote><br>
This won't be a lot of help, but two of these stories are featured on
North Korean postage stamps in the 1970s. The first to get its own set of
commemorative stamps was the story "A cock chasing a
butterfly," illustrated in cartoon style on North Korean postage
stamps nos. 1148-1153 (1973; the numbers are from the North Korean
<i>Korean Stamp Catalogue (1946-1998)</i>). The captions read:<br>
<br>
1148: Cock appearing in the village of butterflies<br>
1149: Butterflies discussing how to repulse cock<br>
1150: Cock chasing butterfly<br>
1151: Butterfly luring the cock<br>
1152: Cock faced with danger<br>
1153: Cock drowned<br><br>
This set of 6 got a detailed, two-page write-up in <i>Korean Stamps</i>,
nos. 11-12 (1974, pp. 24-25). The article starts: "Featured in the
stamps are scenes from the fable "A Cock Chasing a Butterfly"
authored by the great revolutionary leader Comrade Kim Il Sung and told
to the men of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army during the
Anti-Japanese armed struggle.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Through a
fight between a butterfly and a cock, the leader explained that the
victory in a fighting could never be won only by the might of strength,
but it could be attained by wisdom, determination and skilled
strategy..."<br><br>
The second story is commemorated in another set of 4 stamps from 1979
titled "Story about Two Generals" (nos. 1785-1788). The
captions read: <br><br>
1785: Game of military arts<br>
1786: Game of sending feather of chicken over fence<br>
1787: Two generals smashing Japanese invaders<br>
1788: Two generals returning in triumph<br><br>
This set, too, got a two-page write-up in <i>Korean Stamps</i> (1980, no
2, pp. 22-23, but I seem to have only p. 22). The write-up begins:
"This story was told personally by the great leader Comrade Kim Il
Sung. <br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Upon a
time [sic] there were two villages called Torae and Naru in a coastal
area of our country. Engaged both in fishing and farming, the people of
village Torae and village Naru lived intimately.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>And, one
day they were informed of the fact that the overseas robbers were making
preparations for attacking the villages. Then the villagers began to make
preparations to defend their homeland from the enemy's
invasion..."<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab><br>
Philatelically yours, <br>
Ross King<br><br>
PS My Eudora 'Miss Manners' censoring function really would have
preferred 'rooster' in the North Koreans' translations!</html>