A Record of the Thatched Pavilion (草亭) at Gyeyang桂陽草亭記
桂陽。僻在蓬艾之間。無一林泉勝境可以遊踐者。唯南山之側。有一亭焉。父老相傳云。故相國許公洪才嘗典是州。初相其地。築石而臺之。故太守李諱實忠。疏水作沼。跨亭於其上也。一間十椽。覆之以茅。示儉也。縱廣不過八尺。坐不過八人。殺其度也。水出巖罅。極寒冽如氷。雖盛夏入浴。毛髮立豎。不可奈久。加以盤松茂樹。布陰產涼。淸風自來。畏景不逼。最愜於避暑。故有額曰滌暑。然州人猶以草亭呼之。或曰。此地有奇形勝勢。尤利於爲州者。斯類巫瞽不經之說。儒者所宜愼導。然俚言野語。有時而中。亦不可不信也。先僕之未到。忽爲燒琴煮鶴者所毀。荒涼舊地而已。予見而傷之。召州吏謂曰。亭是李太守所創。庸害汝州。而乃敢毀耶。古人有思其人。不翦甘棠者。敢毀亭耶。吏默然而退。尋拾舊材。咄嗟更搆。明日。以畢事來告。予與僚友置酒落之。噫。予以去歲孟炎。自補闕出守是州。至今年六月。除拜禮部郞中起居注知制誥。將詣天闕。僚友諸君曰。此亭。太守所重開也。不留誌。無以使後者知之。予然之。因書大槩。囑後來者之無輕廢毀。且爲李太守存不朽之迹耳。時庚辰七月日。老守禮部員外郞李某記。
Gyeyang lies out of the way among the wormwood and the mugwort, and there is not one excellent place of grove and spring in it worth roaming and treading. There is only one pavilion beside the southern hill.
The old men pass it from one to another, saying: 「When the departed Chief Minister, Duke Heo Hongjae (許公洪才), held this district, he first looked over that ground and heaped up stones and made a terrace; and the departed prefect Yi, named Silchung (李諱實忠), let in the water and made a pond and laid a pavilion out above it.」
It is one bay with ten rafters, roofed with thatch, which is to show frugality. Lengthwise and crosswise it is no more than eight feet, and those who sit in it are no more than eight, which is to cut down its measure. The water comes out of a cleft in the rock and is exceedingly cold, like ice. Even in midsummer, if one goes in and bathes, one's hair stands up and one cannot bear it long. Besides, coiling pines and thick trees spread shade and send out coolness, and a clear wind comes of itself so that the fearful sun cannot draw near. Since it is most fitting for fleeing the heat, it has the name 「Chokseo (滌暑)」, Washing Away the Heat. But the people of the district still call it 「Chojeong (草亭)」, the Thatched Pavilion.
Someone says: 「There is a strange lie of the land and an excellent force in this ground, which is the more profitable for governing the district.」 Such talk as this is unmeasured speech after the manner of shamans and the blind, and is what a Confucian ought to be careful of quoting. Yet common speech and country tales too are sometimes right, and one cannot but believe them either.
Before I came it had of a sudden been torn down by one who burns zithers and boils cranes, and was no more than a rough old site. I looked at it and was grieved, and called the clerk of the district and said: 「The pavilion was built by the prefect Yi. What harm was it to your district, that you dared tear it down? Among the men of old there were those who, thinking of the man, did not cut down the sweet pear tree; and you dared tear down the pavilion?」 The clerk withdrew in silence. Presently they gathered up the old timbers and framed it again in the blink of an eye. The next day they came to report the work finished. I set out a drinking party with my colleagues and held its completion.
Ah, in the early summer of last year I went out from being Rectifier of Omissions (補闕) and kept this district, and in the sixth month of this year I was appointed Director in the Board of Rites, Diarist and Drafter of Edicts (禮部郞中 起居注 知制誥), and am about to go forward to the palace. My colleagues said: 「This pavilion is one the prefect has opened a second time. If no record is left, there is no way to let those who come after know of it.」 I thought them right, and for this I write down the outline, asking that those who come after do not lightly tear it down, and leaving besides a trace that shall not rot for the prefect Yi's sake. The time is a certain day of the seventh month of the year gyeongjin; written by the old magistrate, one Yi, Supernumerary Director in the Board of Rites (禮部員外郞).