youngest daughter bestows on them. Unlike her mainland equivalent, Gameunjang-agi wields divine authority and is the proactive figure throughout the narrative. The added focus on the heroine reflects the Jeju narrative's sacred function as the myth of an actively worshipped deity. It is possible that the mainland folktale descends from an ancient myth which was closer to the Samgong bon-puri, and which at some point lost its religious significance. The mainland folktale and the Jeju Samgong bon-puri may descend from a Buddhist legend. In this story, which was known to Koreans via the fifth-century Chinese Buddhist compendium Za Baozang Jing, the Buddhist monarch Prasenajit has a beautiful and talented daughter. While the king tells her that he is the reason that she is loved and respected, the princess insists that her success is due to her own karma. The king ultimately tests her by marrying her to the poorest beggar in the capital. She does so, and soon discovers a great quantity of buried treasure. The princess and the beggar become as rich as Prasenajit himself. Astounded, the king visits Shakyamuni Buddha and learns that his daughter had indeed accumulated much good karma in her previous lives by serving the Vipasyin and Kasyapa Buddhas. Very similar myths are told by the Miao, Zhuang, and Dai peoples of southern China. In these as well, a third daughter is expelled from a rich family when she tells her father that she thanks herself for her wealthy life and not her parents. She marries a poor man—in one case, a charcoal burner—and become rich after fortunately discovering gold or silver. In one of the myths, her father is later reduced to a beggar. He visits the house of his daughter, not knowing who its owner is, and is hosted by her. After the humiliation of being fed by his abandoned daughter, the man kills himself to save face and becomes the god of thunder. These myths may also share a common source with the Korean stories. The thirteenth-century Korean history Samguk yusa features a legend about the seventh-century King Mu of the ancient kingdom of Baekje, who was said to originally have been a poor yam gatherer. When he heard that the daughter of King Jinpyeong of the neighboring kingdom of Silla was very beautiful, he went to the Silla capital and taught the local children a song claiming that the princess was