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On the Affair of Trying to Strike a Greedy Minister with a Bowl垸擊貪臣說

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 · 1 passages · 173 Chinese characters · reading time 1.7 min

Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Former Collection, Book 21 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.

崔員外洪烈。志尙剛正。嘗掌記南京也。縛殺權臣義文所遣蒼頭之怙主勢橫恣割人者。由是著名矣。爲微官時。廣會中有一文士理邑不廉者。崔君擧飮器瓷垸將擊之。先以口銜指大嘯。以敫其氣。敢言曰。坐有貪者。吾欲擊之。昔者段秀實笏擊奸臣。今崔子將垸擊貪臣矣。雖不斥言其名。其人自省己之不廉。潛出而遁之。後有以此爲戲者。崔君輒怒。唯李郞中元老笑之。則雖以銜指大嘯狀示之。崔君不得怒。但低頭自笑而已。以與李君相好故也。

Choe Hongnyeol (洪烈), Supernumerary Gentleman (員外), was firm of purpose and esteemed uprightness. Once, when he was Recorder (掌記) at Namgyeong (南京), a slave sent by the powerful minister Uimun (義文), trusting in his master's power, was wantonly cutting away what belonged to others, and Choe bound him and put him to death. From this his name became known.

When he held a low office, in a large gathering there was a man of letters who governed a district without integrity. Master Choe raised the porcelain bowl he drank from, meaning to strike him, and first held a finger in his mouth and whistled loudly to rouse his spirit, and said boldly, 「There is a greedy man in this company, and I mean to strike him. Long ago Duan Xiushi (段秀實) struck a treacherous minister with his tablet (笏); today Master Choe (崔子) will strike a greedy minister with a bowl.」 Though he did not name the man outright, that man examined his own want of integrity and slipped out and fled.

Afterwards, whenever anyone made a jest of this affair, Master Choe would at once grow angry. Only when Yi Wonno (元老), the Vice Director (郞中), laughed at it — even if he acted out the holding of the finger in the mouth and the loud whistling — Master Choe could not be angry, but only bent his head and laughed at himself. It was because he and Master Yi were on good terms.

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