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 · 90 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 Yishi (遺事) says: Prince Shen (申王) too gave himself to extravagance, and in general the circumstances of that time were such. Every night in the palace, when he gathered with the various princes and the imperial kin to feast, he had dragon-sandalwood (龍檀木) carved into the shape of boys, clothed them in green robes and had belts tied about them, made them hold painted candles, and set them in a row at the banquet seats, calling them candle servants (燭奴). In the various palaces and the houses of the imperial kin all copied this.
身是親王富貴俱。合陳珠翠日歌呼。宮中豈乏僮千指。費盡龍檀作燭奴。
His body is that of a prince royal, and wealth and honor are all his;
well may he spread out pearls and kingfisher plumes and sing and shout the whole day long.
How should the palace lack a thousand servants?
Yet he used up all the dragon-sandalwood to make servants to hold candles.