Bulgasari

In the most commonly told version, the creature's origin is tied to a period of hardship for Buddhist monks, sometimes framed against a historical persecution of Buddhism, during which a monk or a household of monks is said to have shaped a small figure out of rice grains, or in some tellings rice paste or cooked rice, either as a plaything or as an offering.

In the most commonly told version, the creature's origin is tied to a period of hardship for Buddhist monks, sometimes framed against a historical persecution of Buddhism, during which a monk or a household of monks is said to have shaped a small figure out of rice grains, or in some tellings rice paste or cooked rice, either as a plaything or as an offering. Accounts vary on exactly how the figure comes to life, but the common thread is that the little rice creature is accidentally touched by a needle, a drop of blood, or some other stray bit of metal or bodily substance, and it stirs to life and begins to eat.

As the story continues, the Bulgasari's appetite escalates from stray needles to tools, weapons, and eventually whole stores of ironware, its size and strength swelling in proportion to how much metal it consumes, until it becomes large and destructive enough to threaten the household or the surrounding village.

Accounts of its end vary: in some tellings the same monks who inadvertently created it manage to destroy it, often by fire, while in others the creature is overcome only with great difficulty after having grown far beyond its makers' control, and the tale is generally read as a caution about a small, seemingly harmless creation that becomes destructive once its appetite is allowed to run unchecked.

It is described as first consuming needles and small bits of metal left lying around the house, and its body is said to change as it eats, growing firmer and more solid, its rice-soft form gradually taking on an iron-like density.

In some tellings its appearance is described as bear-like or otherwise monstrous, with an insatiable, growing hunger that focuses specifically on metal rather than food in general.