CHAPTER II
A HISTORICAL VITASCOPE
As the beginnings of Grecian history are inextricably intertwined with the loves and jealousies of the gods, and English history has its early legends of the marvels of King Arthur's court, so the history of Korea is sufficiently old to lose itself in mythical traditions. Mystery has always enveloped the Ever-White Mountains on the northern frontier of the land. The people in the olden time, according to tradition, lived without a ruler, until a deity descended from heaven and made his home at the foot of a sandal-tree upon the Ever-White Mountains. The people, recog- nizing his superiority, made him their king and called him Dan-Kun, or the "Sandal Prince." He made his earliest home in Pyeng-yang, where to this day there is a temple to his honor, and his descendants are said to have reigned for a thousand years. However, Chinese and Korean tradition alike affirm that a being somewhat more authentic, the Chinese noble, Keja, was the founder of the social order of Korea. Keja lived in the days of the wicked emperor Chow Sin, the "Nero of China." He was one of three wise counselors who met with the usual fate of the
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