Activity time: 10 minutes

Materials for Activity

• A copy of the story, “The Snake Husband”
• Newsprint, markers, and tape
• Optional: Simple dramatic props

Preparation for Activity

• Read the story “The Snake Husband.” The story is relatively long. Prepare to tell it dramatically, using different voices for the snake’s mother, the three sisters, and the snake, or, even better, plan ahead for volunteers to read and/or act out these roles: Make additional copies of the story and provide these to readers and/or actors ahead of time.
• Post blank newsprint.

Description of Activity

Gather the group. Ask participants if anyone knows what “transformation” means. Affirm that “transformation” is another way to say “change.”

Say you will share a folk tale from Korea that includes a few different kinds of transformation. Invite them, as they listen to the story, to notice anything that changes and be ready to share what they noticed when the story is done.

If you have invited volunteers to read parts, gather them alongside you. Suggest simple props if you have brought some. Tell/read/perform the story.

After the story, invite participants to call out transformations, or changes, they noticed. Write them on newsprint. If no one mentions these events in the story, add them yourself:

• The snake turning into a human
• The youngest sister breaking a promise
• The snake leaving his wife (the youngest sister)
• The wife turning into a beggar.

Ask:

• Do you think any of these transformations was a miracle? Why or why not?
• Do any of the transformations have realistic explanations? Does that matter, when deciding whether an event is a miracle?
• Does an event have to be good, or have a good result, to be a miracle?