“Our part of Korea is like a dragon with many humps,” Sang-hee’s father said. “The humps are the mountains, the first hump facing the sea, the last hump facing the king’s palace. Our mountain is the first hump. Our fire is the first fire.”
“Every evening at sunset, Sang-hee’s father climbed to the top of the mountain, carrying a pair of tongs and a little brass pot filled with live coals, coals to start a fire. A fire so big, it could be seen from the next mountain, where another fire-keeper saw it and lit his fire, a fire big enough to be seen from the next mountain, where a third fire-keeper saw it and lit his fire and on and on. A fire on every hump of the dragon’s back, all the way to the last one, the hump that could be seen from the palace walls. When the king saw the fire on the last mountain, he knew that all was well in the land.”
