Yetgeul › Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) › Latter Collection, Book 9

Thanking the Duke of Jinyang for Sending Dragon's Brain and a Physician to Cure My Eye Ailment謝晉陽公送龍腦及醫官理目病

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 · 4 passages · 171 Chinese characters · reading time 1.7 min

Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Latter Collection, Book 9 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.

1Preface

某値目瞳有膜。醫云非龍腦難理。此藥非人間所常得也。以是雖甚惶懼。不得已仰黷令鑑。伏蒙邸下旣賜以千金難覓之藥。又特遣名醫仇郞中來理。此實天地父母之恩也。曷勝道哉。感至揮淚。因成謝詩三首。奉呈左右云云。

A film has formed on my pupil, and the physician said that unless it be dragon's brain (龍腦) it would be hard to cure. This medicine is not something that can always be had in the world of men. And so, in great fear and yet having no other course, I looked up to you and troubled you with my petition.

Your Highness has graciously bestowed on me a medicine that is hard to obtain even for a thousand pieces of gold, and has besides sent the renowned physician Vice Director Gu especially to cure me. This is truly the kindness of heaven and earth, of father and mother. How am I to say it all? Overcome, I shed tears. I have therefore made three poems of thanks and present them at your side.

Interlinear notes 1

幷序

The preface is included with it.

2The First Poem

龍腦眞爲百藥王。人間處處覓難輕。一朝得受千金賜。未啓緘封眼已明。

Dragon's brain is truly the first of all medicines, and it is not easily found anywhere men live. In a single morning I received your bestowal, worth a thousand gold, and before I had even broken the seal my eyes were already bright.

3The Second Poem

醫王纔到蓽門前。不覺衣裳倒且顚。方接一言知術妙。倉公扁鵲肯同肩。

No sooner had the honoured physician reached my brushwood gate than without knowing it I had put my clothes on upside down. Exchanging a single word with him, I knew his skill was exquisite: could even Cang Gong (倉公) and Bian Que (扁鵲) stand shoulder to shoulder with him?

4The Third Poem

冒顔乞藥出吾情。特遣名醫意外榮。若借良方淸我眼。一生祝壽質神明。

That I made bold to beg for the medicine was a thing done out of my own feeling; that you sent a renowned physician besides is an honour beyond my expecting. If by the loan of a good prescription my eyes should grow clear, I shall pray to the gods all my life long that you may enjoy long life.

‹ Thanking the Duke of Jinyang Again for Sending White RiceContentsGrieving Again over My Eye Ailment ›Listen to this piece