Yetgeul › Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) › Former Collection, Book 4

Niannu念奴

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 · 101 Chinese characters · reading time 1 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.

遺事曰。念奴者有姿色善歌唱。未嘗一日離帝左右。每執板當席。顧眄左右。帝謂妃子曰。此女妖𧰟。眼色媚人。每轉聲歌喉。則聲出於朝霞之上。雖鍾鼓箏竽嘈雜而莫能遏。宮妓中帝之鍾愛也。

The Yishi (遺事) says: Niannu (念奴) was lovely in form and face and skilled in song, and not for a single day was she away from the Emperor's side. She would always take up the clapper (拍), come forward to her place, and look about her to right and left. The Emperor said to the Consort, "This woman is bewitching, and the light of her eyes beguiles men. Each time she rolls her throat and sings, the sound rises above the morning glow. Though bells and drums and zithers and flutes sound in a clamor, they cannot block it." Among the singing girls of the palace she was one the Emperor loved greatly.

帝意方專眷玉環。尙知嬌艶念奴顔。若均寵倖分人謗。老羯何名敢作艱。

The Emperor's heart was then turned wholly upon Yuhuan (玉環), and yet he could still see the loveliness of Niannu's face. Had he but shared his favor evenly and so parted the slanders, on what ground would the old barbarian have dared to raise his troubles?