Mireuk vs Seokga

The creator of the world in the Korean shamanic Song of Creation, who separates heaven and earth, props up the sky with copper pillars, makes stars from an extra sun and moon, and creates the first humans, before losing the world to the cheating Seokga.

Born when heaven and earth came into being (Changse-ga, recorded 1923).

In 1923 the folklorist Son Jin-tae recorded the *Changse-ga* ('Song of the Creation of the World') from the shaman Kim Ssang-dori of Hamheung in northern Korea, publishing it in 1930. It begins when heaven and earth came into being and Mireuk was born. Heaven and earth were stuck together, and Mireuk pushed the sky up like the lid of a pot and set copper pillars at the four corners of the earth to hold it. There were two suns and two moons; Mireuk took one moon to make the stars of the Big Dipper and the Southern Dipper, and one sun to make the great and small stars.

The rival of Mireuk in the Korean shamanic Song of Creation, who wins rule of the world by stealing the flower that blossomed on Mireuk's knee while they slept, bringing about the imperfect present age.

No origin is told; he arrives after Mireuk has made the world (Changse-ga).

In the *Changse-ga* recorded in 1923 from the shaman Kim Ssang-dori, Seokga appears after Mireuk has ordered the world and demands to rule it. Mireuk proposes contests. In the first, each lowers a bottle into the East Sea, Mireuk on a golden cord and Seokga on a silver one; Seokga's cord breaks. In the second, each tries to freeze a river in summer; again Mireuk succeeds. In the last, they agree to lie down and sleep, and the one on whose knee a flower blooms will rule. A flower blooms on Mireuk's knee; Seokga, only pretending to sleep, breaks it off and puts it on his own.