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 · 142 Chinese characters · reading time 1.4 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 Minghuang zalu says: The Emperor had four hundred hooves of dancing horses trained, divided them into two companies, left and right, and gave each a name, calling them "the proud one (驕) of such and such a house." Of their tunes, called "Qingbeiyue (傾柸樂)," there were ten. The horses were all clothed in brocade embroidery and bound about with rings of gold. When the music sounded they shook their heads and swung their tails, and crosswise and lengthwise they kept to the measure. Again, a wooden couch of three tiers was set up, and when the horses were put upon it their turning was more marvelous still. When Lushan entered the capital he took several thousand of them and went back to Fanyang (范陽). After Lushan was defeated they passed into the army of Tian Chongsi (田崇嗣), who did not know their skill. One day there was a great banquet, and when the music sounded the horses heard it and danced. The men of the stable thought them uncanny and beat them to death.
猒見宮腰束素回。更敎驕馬巧徘徊。三層榻上跳呈技。舞破唐家始下來。
Sated with watching the white-silk-girt waists of the palace beauties turn,
he went on to teach proud horses to pace about with cunning art.
Leaping upon a couch of three tiers they performed their tricks,
and only when they had danced the house of Tang to pieces did they come down.