43) Korea - 19. Honjwi (Soul Mouse)

This is a folktale where a person's soul turns into a mouse and wanders around while they sleep, and they perceive these experiences as dreams. Since it's the soul of a living person leaving the body, it's classified as a 'saengryeong' (living spirit). A wife follows a mouse that emerges from her napping husband's nostril. The wife lays down a ruler as a bridge for the mouse when it encounters a door threshold or a puddle. When the mouse digs in a field and then returns to enter the husband's nostril, the husband wakes up. The husband recounts that in his dream, he crossed a difficult path with the help of a fairy, found a golden pot, but returned without it due to lack of strength. The couple later found the golden pot in the field and became rich. There's also a variation where ordinary people have two soul mice, but thieves have three. When the wife killed one soul mouse, the husband became timid and stopped stealing. Mice are animals that steal grain, but they also symbolize fertility and abundance. They are perceived as divine creatures that travel between the earth and the surface, understanding the secrets of nature. Therefore, the soul mouse is interpreted as having a dual nature: bringing hidden wealth from underground and stealing from others.