Gang Tae-ung

This film whose main characters are marionettes deals with the old Korean folktale "Heungbu and Nolbu." Greedy elder brother Nolbu kicks his good-natured brother Heungbu out of home and takes all the inheritance from their father. Poor but good man Heungbu one day cures a swallow's broken leg and frees it to fly away. Next year, the swallow comes to Heungbu's and gives him a gourd seed. He plants the seed and split it in fall. A huge amount of gold, silver and gems come out of the gourd, and he becomes rich over a night. Nolbu gets green with envy of him.

Kongjui, who had been living alone with her father, welcomes a stepmother and a stepsister called Patchui into her life. When her father is out, the stepmother and Patchui make her do all the housework and the stepmother believes all of Patchui's lies and beats Kongjui mercilessly. When talks of marriage between Kongjui and the son of a respectable family come out one day, the stepmother does everything in her power to get Patchui married to the young man. Unaware of her stepmother's plans, Kongjui runs into the young man in the woods and the two fall in love.