Habaek
Also known as: River Earl
Mythological Narrative
Scholarly Commentary & Evolution
## The founder's grandfather
The Gwanggaeto Stele (414 CE) opens by declaring that the founder, King Chumo, was the son of the Heavenly Emperor and that 'his mother was the daughter of Habaek', and when Chumo reaches a river he cannot cross, he calls out that he is the son of heaven and grandson of Habaek. The river god's lineage was thus part of the Goguryeo royal claim from the earliest written record.
## The contest of shapes
In Yi Gyu-bo's *Lay of King Dongmyeong* (1193), Habaek lives in a palace beneath the waters, with three daughters, of whom Yuhwa is the eldest. When Haemosu seizes Yuhwa and asks for her hand, Habaek demands proof of divinity and they contest in transformations: carp and otter, deer and wolf, pheasant and hawk. Each time Haemosu's form overcomes Habaek's, and Habaek accepts him, only for Haemosu to abandon Yuhwa. Habaek, angered, punishes his daughter and casts her out.
## The title
*Habaek* is the Korean reading of *Hebo*, 'Earl of the River', the title of the god of the Yellow River in Chinese tradition. The Goguryeo figure is a local water god whose title was borrowed or translated; he should not be simply identified with the Chinese deity.
Academic Discussion & Critique
Exchange peer-reviewed hypotheses, comparative Indo-European etymologies, and archaeological field interpretations regarding Habaek.
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