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Memorial of thanks from the Princess to the Queen公主謝王后表

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 · 162 Chinese characters · reading time 1.9 min

Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Former Collection, Book 30 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.

云云。后掖推慈。親莅施縏之禮。侯蕃作配。克成合巹之歡。俯仰增慙。周章失措。伏念妾精非㜈耀。派接天潢。旦違母育之恩。繼奉坤貞之德。養均己息。雖深撫育之情。性弊下愚。罔服柔嘉之訓。夫何睿眷。及此薄軀。導宣帝命之優。遂正人倫之始。此蓋伏遇王后殿下慶膺沙麓。功邁塗山。光配至尊。旣協符於燕石。尙容末質。亦得耦於鳳臺。妾敢不勉服女箴。修成婦道。委身外邸。縱忘執櫛之勞。注想中宮。第祝倒松之壽。云云。

And so forth. In the Queen's Palace you extended your affection and, presiding in person, performed the rite of filling the purse; and being matched to the house of a feudal lord, I have come into the joy of the shared cup. Looking down and looking up, my shame grows, and in my flurry I do not know what to do.

Prostrate, I consider that your handmaid's essence did not come from the shining stars, yet her branch reaches to the pool of heaven. In a single morning I lost the grace of a mother's rearing, and thereafter I bore up the upright virtue of the Queen's Palace. Your rearing of me was as of your own child, and the affection with which you stroked and reared me ran deep; yet my nature being foolish in the lower sort, I never mastered your gentle and lovely teaching.

How then has your bright regard reached even to this slight body, drawing out and unfolding the sovereign's ample command and setting aright at last the beginning of human duty?

This is because, prostrate, I have met with Her Highness the Queen, who received the blessing of Shalu (沙麓) and whose merit passes that of the lady of Tushan (塗山氏), who was matched in splendor to him who is highest of all so that already it was as a tally fitting the Yan stone (燕石), and who yet suffered even a worthless stuff and let it obtain a mate at the phoenix tower.

How should your handmaid dare not strive to master the admonitions for women and cultivate the way of a daughter-in-law to its completion? Having committed my body to a house outside, the labor of attending with comb in hand must be forgotten; yet pouring out my heart toward the Central Palace, I shall only pray that your years be long as the pine's.

Interlinear notes 2

中謝。

Here the words of thanks (中謝) are inserted.

燕石 — this is a comparison paired with the 鳳臺 of the following clause, but its source has not been confirmed. The characters have been kept so that the clause would not be lost. — Translator

‹ Report of thanks submitted by the Earl of Hawon (河源伯) to the Crown PrinceContentsMemorial of thanks from the Princess for being given in marriage ›Listen to this piece