Korean cards (D)

This joker has written on it the words 금강전설 which means “legend of the diamond” and 금강산 팔선녀 which means “Geumgangsan Mountain Eight Fairies”.

These writings refer to Geumgang Mountain, one of the most famous mountains in North Korea.
There are some folktales associated with Mt. Geumgang, like “The Fairy and the Woodcutter”, in which legend tells of eight fairies who came down from the sky attracted by the beauty of the mountain, to bathe in the ponds. One day, a woodcutter hid the winged clothes of one of the fairies, who, unable to return to heaven, got married with the woodcutter, until one day he finds his winged clothes and returns to paradise.
A more “patriotic” variant says that the eight fairies decided on their own initiative to stay on Mount Geumgang, preferring it to life in paradise.

This folktale would suggest that the Jack with the axe on the playing cards represent the woodcutter and Geumgang Mountain is shown on the jokers.

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