Memorial of thanks from the Princess for being given in marriage公主謝下嫁表
妾言。伏蒙聖慈以今月日許令妾嬪于河源伯。至三日差降朝散大夫金吾衛大將軍高宗揖。賜敎書一道。仍頒禮物者。三命丁寧。特擧授綏之典。十行密勿。復優出綍之辭。慶賜便蕃。使華旁午。撫襟靈而增悸。靦面目以何施。伏念妾質謝猗蘭。姿虧穠李。託仙源之濬。早費生成。依聖日之昇。例蒙恩賞。腰懸銅縷。口食膏田。望已過於分涯。固難論報。身不離於左右。誓篤承顔。豈意宸慈。曲循古制。遽納委禽之聘。遂成占鳳之祥。此蓋伏遇聖上陛下政尙齊家。化先理內。念人倫之端始。莫重婚姻。賁息女之賤微。俾諧伉儷。妾敢不心虔帷薄。步節佩環。率禮無違。事舅姑而思順。因嚴致敬。奉君父以竭誠。云云。
Your handmaid speaks. By your holy affection, prostrate I have been visited with your consenting, on such-and-such a day of this month, to give your handmaid in marriage to the Earl of Hawon (河源伯); and, when the third day came, with your sending Go Jongeup (高宗揖), Grand Master for Court Audience and Grand General of the Geumo Guard, to send down one copy of the letter of instruction and then to distribute the betrothal gifts.
The command sent down three times was earnest, and you took up especially the rite of giving the carriage strap; the writing of ten lines was kindly, and you made the words of the rescript ample once more. The blessed bestowing is ample, and the envoys' comings and goings frequent this way and that. Stroking my breast, the fluttering grows; and where shall I put this shamed face?
Prostrate, I consider that your handmaid's stuff does not reach the fair orchid and her looks fall short of the luxuriant plum blossom. Lodging myself at the deep source of the immortals, from early on I squandered the grace of being born and reared; and leaning upon the rising of the holy sun, I was visited as a matter of course with grace and reward. At my waist I wear a seal-cord of copper thread and with my mouth I eat the produce of rich fields, so that what I have received goes already beyond the brim of my portion, and truly it is hard to speak of repaying. I swore that my body would not leave your side and that I would be thick in bearing up your countenance.
How could I have thought that the sovereign's affection would bend down and follow the old institutions, accepting all at once the betrothal gift of the presented wild goose and bringing to pass at last the auspice divined of the phoenix?
This is because, prostrate, I have met with Your Majesty the Holy Sovereign, who in governance exalts the setting of the household in order and in instruction puts the ordering of what is within first, who, considering that at the beginning of human duty nothing is weightier than marriage, has adorned a lowly and mean daughter and let her be matched.
How should your handmaid dare not keep her heart reverent within the curtains and govern her steps by her girdle-jades? Following ritual without transgression, I shall serve my husband's parents and think upon yielding; and following your sternness with all respect, I shall bear up with all sincerity him who is at once my sovereign and my father.
Interlinear notes 1
中謝。
Here the words of thanks (中謝) are inserted.