Text continued from previous page(Farm Labourer’s Daughter Grows as Heroine):
… the fatherly leader and worked her fields with all heart. And now she was coming to the General with gifts as a token of gratitude.
Busy as he was with the guidance of a new nation-building the respected and beloved leader took time to meet her. When the visitor entered his room, the great leader warmly greeted her, clasping her rough hands. She hesitated about how to respond to him.
“Dear General!”, she said presently. “I’m here with some of wheat and potato I reaped from my land that you had given me. Here are some for you. Please take it for my best wishes. I had been servant until the year before last. But now I’m leading a worthy life with my own home and farm land. I owe it to you General….”
Lumps in her throat prevented her remarks. The great leader put kindly her into a chair, taking her hands, and asked her informally about how things were going with farming.
He learned from her talk that there was not a middle school yet in her place. He said:
“I appreciate your grain offering, yet I think it would have been better if you had it donated for school building in your village…. All peasants must do farming hard but at the same time, they should join efforts to build a fine school and give a good education to the younger generation.”
Told that she could not read and write Korean the respected and beloved leader said to her with a tender smile:
“Each and every Korean must become capable of reading our language. For this, they must learn. You, too. Not too late as yet.
… Only when one learns, one will find one’s life worth living and can do a good service to one’s country.” He was emphatic.
The former servant listened to the fatherly leader, her head hung and fingering the edge of her coat. She raised her head and said: “Dear General, I’ll try as you have advised.”
At this, the fatherly leader was very pleased. “Well,” he added, “give me your promise that you will learn reading and writing within three months and write me a letter yourself about the result. Could you?”
“Yes, I will do as you have told me, General.”
The great leader encouraged the visitor further, saying that she should not only wipe up her ignorance but also arouse all people in the anti-illiteracy campaign. “Do you understand me?”
“Yes,” her voice sounded powerfully, “I will do, I’ll keep my promise.”
Back to her village, she studied hard, mindful of the respected and beloved leader’s teachings.
In late October, three months since she had pledged before the fatherly leader, Li Gye San wrote carefully three sheets of a letter to the fatherly leader, sitting up several nights. It read:
…Dear General Kim Il Sung! I have just finished my letter to you today. Bearing in mind your words about sending it in three months, I have studied hard, awake or asleep. I can read newspaper a little. My life is daily becoming interested, dear General! Rice, millet, bean and red bean have grown well in paddy and non-paddy fields I got thanks to you. I bought a cow for the first time. I am also raising pigs. Cow and pig raising is quite interesting. We have also built a new school ….
Dear General, I can read and my life is turning for the better. Really, I find my life worth living…..
Following your teaching, I will study and work harder.
On the day of her addressing to the great leader, a peasants’ meeting was held in Pyongyang County, appealing an anti-illiteracy campaign to the whole land.
Soon later, the literate woman had the honour of receiving the personal reply from the fatherly leader.
It expressed his pleasure at the fulfillment of her promise that she had cleared off her illiteracy in three months and sent a letter about her success. It stimulated her to work and study harder for greater success in the future.
Afterwards, she gave herself heart and soul into the work for her village and farming.
The fatherly leader’s care for her was constant and profound, and with this Li Gye San has become a college graduate, deputy to the Supreme People’s Assembly, Labour Heroine of the Republic and chairman of the cooperative farm management board.
She is rendering her wholehearted service to the revolution under the great leader.
Lower Left Caption:
A letter to the fatherly leader, which Li Gye San wrote after she got rid of illiteracy
Lower Right Caption:
Li Gye San (second from left) is full of the desire to gladden the fatherly leader with bumper harvest
End of Text
Walter Corbiere
… the fatherly leader and worked her fields with all heart. And now she was coming to the General with gifts as a token of gratitude.
Busy as he was with the guidance of a new nation-building the respected and beloved leader took time to meet her. When the visitor entered his room, the great leader warmly greeted her, clasping her rough hands. She hesitated about how to respond to him.
“Dear General!”, she said presently. “I’m here with some of wheat and potato I reaped from my land that you had given me. Here are some for you. Please take it for my best wishes. I had been servant until the year before last. But now I’m leading a worthy life with my own home and farm land. I owe it to you General….”
Lumps in her throat prevented her remarks. The great leader put kindly her into a chair, taking her hands, and asked her informally about how things were going with farming.
He learned from her talk that there was not a middle school yet in her place. He said:
“I appreciate your grain offering, yet I think it would have been better if you had it donated for school building in your village…. All peasants must do farming hard but at the same time, they should join efforts to build a fine school and give a good education to the younger generation.”
Told that she could not read and write Korean the respected and beloved leader said to her with a tender smile:
“Each and every Korean must become capable of reading our language. For this, they must learn. You, too. Not too late as yet.
… Only when one learns, one will find one’s life worth living and can do a good service to one’s country.” He was emphatic.
The former servant listened to the fatherly leader, her head hung and fingering the edge of her coat. She raised her head and said: “Dear General, I’ll try as you have advised.”
At this, the fatherly leader was very pleased. “Well,” he added, “give me your promise that you will learn reading and writing within three months and write me a letter yourself about the result. Could you?”
“Yes, I will do as you have told me, General.”
The great leader encouraged the visitor further, saying that she should not only wipe up her ignorance but also arouse all people in the anti-illiteracy campaign. “Do you understand me?”
“Yes,” her voice sounded powerfully, “I will do, I’ll keep my promise.”
Back to her village, she studied hard, mindful of the respected and beloved leader’s teachings.
In late October, three months since she had pledged before the fatherly leader, Li Gye San wrote carefully three sheets of a letter to the fatherly leader, sitting up several nights. It read:
…Dear General Kim Il Sung! I have just finished my letter to you today. Bearing in mind your words about sending it in three months, I have studied hard, awake or asleep. I can read newspaper a little. My life is daily becoming interested, dear General! Rice, millet, bean and red bean have grown well in paddy and non-paddy fields I got thanks to you. I bought a cow for the first time. I am also raising pigs. Cow and pig raising is quite interesting. We have also built a new school ….
Dear General, I can read and my life is turning for the better. Really, I find my life worth living…..
Following your teaching, I will study and work harder.
On the day of her addressing to the great leader, a peasants’ meeting was held in Pyongyang County, appealing an anti-illiteracy campaign to the whole land.
Soon later, the literate woman had the honour of receiving the personal reply from the fatherly leader.
It expressed his pleasure at the fulfillment of her promise that she had cleared off her illiteracy in three months and sent a letter about her success. It stimulated her to work and study harder for greater success in the future.
Afterwards, she gave herself heart and soul into the work for her village and farming.
The fatherly leader’s care for her was constant and profound, and with this Li Gye San has become a college graduate, deputy to the Supreme People’s Assembly, Labour Heroine of the Republic and chairman of the cooperative farm management board.
She is rendering her wholehearted service to the revolution under the great leader.
Lower Left Caption:
A letter to the fatherly leader, which Li Gye San wrote after she got rid of illiteracy
Lower Right Caption:
Li Gye San (second from left) is full of the desire to gladden the fatherly leader with bumper harvest
End of Text
Walter Corbiere
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