A Letter Submitted to the Imperial Younger Brother by the Hand of the Returning Mongol Envoy蒙古國使齎廻。上皇太弟書。
某月日。使臣某至。奉傳鈞旨。備認皇太弟大王殿下起居萬福。欣慰良多。但來敎。以小國不曾發遣女孩兒及會漢兒文字言語人。亦不進奉諸般要底物等事。督責甚嚴。聞令惶悸。不知所圖。上件人物。皆下國所乏。前已再陳所不能應副之由。輸寫肝膽。無所隱蔽。庶蒙炤悉。儻或矜恕。尙復徵詰不已。意者區區微誠。不足動大王之鑑耶。豈或慮矯飾之詞而不之信耶。言若有飾。惟皇天后土知之。且小國勤事大邦。猶恐不盡其誠。況於贄獻之禮。雖不承嚴令。豈不欲務爲繁夥浩侈。以猒大國之心乎。然物之有無豐瘠。係于風土。我國本介居山谷間。地甚磽确。雖有所產。例皆麤品。殊不合上國之用。從以獻芹之意。歲備不腆般品。以修情禮而已。每枉鈞旨。徵索無旣。小國其何以堪之哉。以有涯之用。供無旣之求。決知不能。如以不能。獲罪於上國。亦乖依仰大邦佇蒙撫恤之意也。其若靑絲綾走絲等物。本非我國所產。此亦前所具陳。想大國已詳之矣。雖風土所生。隨時之有無。有進與未。況地所不產哉。其諸般名手匠人。亦如前書所陳國無能者。故未能發遣。事輒違意。深恐深恐。伏惟大王殿下挾太弟之貴。導天子之化。以綏靖四方爲己任。其於遠人。時有以寬容。以示字小之義。實小邦之望也。所徵物件。雖不能依數准備。粗竭帑儲。具如別錄。謹附廻使。俾所過州郡交領檢獻。以此爲籍手之資。惟大王諒之。請勿以些小爲罪也。惶恐惶恐。
On a certain day of a certain month, the envoy So-and-so arrived and conveyed your honored intent. We learned in full that His Highness the Imperial Younger Brother, the Great King, is in every happiness, and our gladness and comfort are truly many.
Only, in the instruction you sent, you rebuked us most severely, saying that our small country had not sent girls and men who know the writing and speech of the Han tongue, and had not presented the various things you seek. Hearing your command we are so afraid and trembling that we do not know what to do.
The persons and goods set down above are all things that our lower country lacks. We have twice before reported the reasons we cannot comply, pouring out our liver and gall and hiding nothing, in the hope that you would look into it and know. We supposed you might pity us and forgive, and yet you still do not cease to ask again and to press us. Is it, we wonder, that our trifling small sincerity is not enough to move the Great King's mirror? Or do you take it for words made up, and so not believe us? If there be any contrivance in our words, Heaven and Earth alone shall know it.
Moreover, a small country serving a great state diligently still fears that it cannot exhaust its sincerity. How much more in the rite of presenting gifts: even had we not received your stern command, how should we not wish to make them many and ample and so fill the heart of the great state? But whether a thing exists or not, and whether it is ample or meager, hangs upon the land and the climate. Our country is by nature set in among mountain valleys, and the land is exceedingly meager and full of gravel. Even what it produces is all coarse stuff, and quite unsuited to the use of the state above. We do no more than keep up our feeling and our courtesy, making ready poor goods each year in the spirit of one who presents water-parsley. Each time your honored intent comes down, what you seek is without end — with what shall a small country bear it? We know that it can by no means be done, to meet an endless seeking with a use that has its limit. And if, because we cannot do it, we incur blame from the state above, this too runs counter to our intent in leaning upon a great state and awaiting its care.
Such things as blue thread, damask silk and running thread (走絲) are not produced in our country at all. This too we reported in full before, and we think the great state already knows it in detail. Even of what the land does produce, there is having and not having according to the season, so that we sometimes can present it and sometimes cannot; how much more what the land does not produce? As for the various famed artisans, as we reported in our earlier letter, there are none in the country able to do such work, and so we could not send them. In every matter we come to cross your intent, and we are exceedingly afraid.
We consider respectfully that Your Highness the Great King holds the honor of Imperial Younger Brother and leads the transforming work of the Son of Heaven, and makes it your own business to set the four quarters at peace. That you should from time to time show leniency to men far off, and so display the righteousness of loving small countries, is truly the hope of a small country.
The goods you sought we have not made up to the number; yet we have swept out our storehouses almost bare, as the separate list shows. We respectfully send them by the hand of the returning envoy, and have had each district they pass through take them over, inspect them and present them onward; let these serve as our poor stock. We only beg that the Great King weigh it and not punish us for its being little. We are afraid, we are afraid.