Alyeong

by Charles La Shure

The first queen of Silla. When Bak Hyeokgeose was born, the elders decided that a suitable wife needed to be found. On that day, in Saryang village there appeared a strange creature that was a cross between a chicken and a dragon (Korean kyeryong). From its left side a girl was born. She was a beautiful child, but she had the beak of a chicken. When she was taken to be bathed, however, the beak fell off. The child took her name from the Alyeong well next to which she was born, and she was married to Bak Hyeokgeose when she reached the age of thirteen.

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