In these paintings, the tiger's body is small, and its face is playful and comic.
According to legends and folk tales, the Korean tiger is rather clownish, docile,
and lovable, rather than aggressive and ferocious. The magpie is, even today,
still regarded as a messenger carrying good news. It was believed that if a magpie
clattered in the morning, a visitor would come. A magpie was supposed to be a
messenger of a tutelary deity and is an original form represented in Korean art.