Dokgaebee appear continually in Korean literature and myths. There was even a popular drama in 2016 about a dokgaebee.

As with all mythical creatures, there’s a lot of diversity in stories about dokgaebee so we’ll start with the most popular lore. First of all, in general, dokgaebee are thought to be a kind of third kind of being. They’re not exactly mortal and not exactly spirits. That means, of course, that they do have magic powers. Most specifically, the ability to create things using their big clubs. But what their magic is varies greatly from story to story.

They are generally said to look like large men. But there are lots of variations on that. They sometimes look like little children, and sometimes just look like normal people. Sometimes they have horns, sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they have a more goblin-like appearance. As for clothes, they typically wear either clothes made in nature such as skins, or Korean traditional clothes, such as hanbok. They typically carry clubs. They may also have other magical items that they use or give to humans.

Dokgaebee are said to be big fans of buckwheat jelly and rice wine. As for their hobbies, they like wrestling, telling stories, causing mischief, and singing. They absolutely hate the color red. They also hate being made to look foolish.

Their relationship with people is a bit complicated. The easiest way to describe them might be as a force of chaotic good. They are often expressed as creatures in which good and evil are both at play. So although they are generally on friendly terms with people, they’re not above playing pranks on them.

In this way, dokgaebee often do things to help out the poor, and cause chaos to the rich and greedy. The best example of this might be the story “The old man with the lump on his face” 혹부리 할아버지 (Watch the video). In this story, the old man with the lump is rewarded because of his kind and humble spirit, but his greedy neighbor is punished. However, they are not always interested in helping. In fact, in many stories flat out tease humans for no apparent reason.

They are also generally thought of as rather proud creatures. This is why they often respond badly when they are ignored, teased, or bested by humans. In general, if a human does something that offends a dokgaebee’s pride, it typically results in some sort of magical retaliation.

Sources:

1. Namuwiki: https://namu.wiki/w/%EB%8F%84%EA%B9%A8%EB%B9%84
2. Wikimall: https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EB%8F%84%EA%B9%A8%EB%B9%84
3. 김용택.(2015) 전래동화 50 Korean Folk Tales. 은하수미디어.
4. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guardian:_The_Lonely_and_Great_God