Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) 東國李相國集 · Yi Gyubo · Compiled 1241 (Goryeo, 28th year of King Gojong); revised and enlarged 1251 · 2 passages · 81 Chinese characters · reading time 0.8 min
Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Former Collection, Book 4 The collected writings of Yi Gyubo of Goryeo, gathered and cut in woodblock by his son Yi Ham in 1241 and revised and enlarged by his grandson Yi Ikbae in 1251. It holds poems and rhapsodies, memorials and reports sent up to the king, records written for temples and pagodas, stele and tomb inscriptions, letters and prefaces, and the state letters that passed to and from the Mongols during the invasions. The Lay of King Dongmyeong, which sings the founder of Goguryeo, stands in volume 3 of the first collection, and the daily life of a man who called himself the White Cloud Layman — with his wine, his zither and his verse — fills the later collection. The book closes with the last poem he wrote as his eyes failed and he laid down the brush, and with the dirge and tomb inscription others made for him after his death.
The Tianbao yishi (天寶遺事) says: When Song Jing (宋璟) became chief minister, the hearts of men at court and among the people turned to him in admiration. At a spring banquet of that time the Emperor bestowed on Song Jing the golden chopsticks he himself had been using. Song Jing received them, but not knowing the reason he did not dare offer thanks. The Emperor said, "The chopsticks I have given you are meant to mark your uprightness."
重價那能賭一賢。合將金筯表心堅。豈惟當食猶憂國。畫作謀籌不借前。
With what heavy price could one buy a single worthy man?
It is fitting that golden chopsticks should mark his steadfast heart.
How should it be only that he worried for the state even while he ate?
In drawing up his plans he had no need to borrow a predecessor's chopsticks.