Pansori “Simcheongga” is a story of a faithful daughter restoring eyesight for her blind father. Sim Cheong may be the lead character, but her father is the one who drives the story. Mr. Sim was not born blind, but lost sight when he was around 20 years old. He had relied on his wife for everything, but sadly his wife died only a few days after she gave birth to her daughter, Cheong. He had to raise his baby daughter on his own when he could barely take care of himself. So, he carried the baby in his arms as he begged for breast milk from village women. Fortunately, Cheong grew up lovely and affectionate, caring for her father with the food she received from her neighbors. Unsuspecting in nature, however, Mr. Sim was scammed into donating three hundred bushels of rice to a Buddhist temple to get his eyesight back, believing that he could take better care of his daughter once he was able to see again. But he is too poor to get the rice and Cheong sacrifices herself to the sailors who offer to give the rice instead of Mr. Sim. The girl leaves with the sailors and her father, left all alone and still blind, cries for his daughter. That is when a scheming woman appears before him. She is a woman named Bbaengdeok뺑덕, who decides to marry the poor Mr. Sim after hearing the rumor that he’s become rich from Cheong’s sacrifice. But her behavior was deplorable, using Mr. Sim’s money to buy herself alcohol and food and causing trouble all over the village. Here is Kim Yul-hee singing “Bbaengdeok” with the Soul Sauce. 

Bbaengdeok / Sung by Kim Yul-hee, performed by the Soul Sauce

The song “Bbaengdeok” lists all the shameful antics of Bbaengdeok.

Meanwhile, Cheong threw herself into the water as a sacrifice for the sea god, but with the help of the sea god, she is brought back to life and returned to land to become the empress. Although she now has wealth and prestige of an empress, she still worries about her blind father and wonders where he is now. So she decides to hold a big festivity at the palace for all the blind people in the empire. If her father was still blind, she believed that he would come to the party and they would be reunited. The news of palace festivity for the blind reaches Mr. Sim and he leaves for the capital with Bbaengdeok. But she has no intention to accompany him to the palace since she has left him nearly penniless. She abandons him in the middle of the road after hooking up with a young blind man also on his way to the capital. Abandoned in an unfamiliar place, Mr. Sim almost considered giving up but he was able to continue his journey, thanks to the kindness of strangers he met on the way. One time he meets women who run a mill. He helps them run a heavy mill wheel and receives food in return. There is an a cappella version of the work song, “Eoyuwa Bang’ayo어유와 방아요,” sung by gugak ensemble Torys. 

Eoyuwa Bang’ayo / Sung by Torys

After many difficult days, Mr. Sim finally arrives at the palace festivity. But he’s taken to the empress even before the party begins. This makes him fear for his life, since he believes that he would be punished for sacrificing his daughter. He is startled, however, when the empress calls him father and takes him into her arms. He still can’t make sense of what is happening to him until Cheong tells him what she had gone through. Only then does he realize that his daughter has returned to him and that is when his eyesight is restored and he is at last able to see her face. Amazingly, when Mr. Sim opened his eyes, every blind man and creature in the kingdom also regained sight. This implies that although Sim Cheong gave her life her father only, her good deed ended up bettering the whole world. The song for this scene is sung by Jo Ella.

When All Blind Men Get Their Eyesight Back / Sung by Jo Ella