scholars have also emphasized connective motifs in the myth. Kim Sun-hyun points out that the story demonstrates the interlinkedness of life and death from its very beginning; death strikes at a lavish wedding, the beginning of a new life. The most important of Cheongjeong-gaksi's tasks may also be seen as connective. The rope that she weaves from her hair is hung between two different places; in versions where one end is hung in the middle of the air, it implicitly links the temple sanctum to the supernatural realm. In the 1926 version, the fire too is explicitly said to be bright enough to be seen in the afterlife and to thereby draw Dorang-seonbi back to the living world. Kim also notes that the narrative centers on liminal spaces such as gates, graves, mountain temples, and bridges, furthering its ritual purpose of connection. Cheongjeong-gaksi paving the road with her bare hands, which appears in all but one of the versions, is a particularly important connective element. Cheongjeong-gaksi's road is symbolic of the road to the afterlife that the dead soul will travel on through the Mangmuk-gut. Unlike the other tasks, the paved road leads to a genuine reunion, albeit a very brief one before the husband returns to the afterlife. This parallels the nature of the funeral itself, in which the bereaved are able to briefly reunite with their loved ones and bid them farewell before they enter the unreachable world of the dead. The myth, therefore, affirms both the unfordable gap between life and death and the ability of religious ritual to allow brief communion between the two. Folklorist Shin Donghun argues that over the course of the recitation, Cheongjeong-gaksi acts as a surrogate for the bereaved. Her physical agony stands for the emotional agony felt upon a loved one's death. By committing suicide, she acts out the unrealizable desire of the bereaved to kill themselves and join the deceased in the afterlife. As they listen to the narrative, the people at the funeral are able to metaphorically "become Cheongjeong-gaksi, hang themselves, and head to the afterlife to meet their loved one." Among the final episodes of the narrative, in which Cheongjeong-gaksi finds Dorang-seonbi doing well in the afterlife, presents hope to the funeral attendees that the deceased person of this particular funeral is at peace there as well. Shin concludes that the religious purpose of the narrative is to