Letter presenting gifts on his birthday獻生日物狀
1Lightly presenting medicines from east of the sea
某啓。伏以降跡仙山。爲行恩於俗界。挺神維嶽。期定亂於危時。是以杞梓材長。松春壽永。名字已標於金籙。兵符暫理於玉鈐。伏惟太尉相公員嶠稟靈。尼丘誕質。大任天降。中庸日彰。四夷識傾膽之門。遠棲仁蔭。萬姓歸返魂之域。盡飽德馨。況今秦甸停氛。鎬京聚孼。息虎旅奔沈之患。望豹篇擒縱之機。暫施決勝之謀。永致昇平之運。則必坐寧環海。後當去會瑤池。五色輕雲。鎭隨行止。千年素鶴。競效驅馳。獨保長生。却登眞位。調鼎佐玉皇之命。銜杯聽金母之歌。自此漢室公卿仰羨而空知望斷。仙家朋友相逢而不訝來遲。某居近鼇峯。遇深驥坂。每睹張良之術。唯吟郭璞之詩。喜對今辰。敢陳善祝。龜蛇病骨。叨承救活之恩。雞犬癡心。竊有奮飛之望。下情無任虔禱依攀欣抃之至。輒以海東藥物。輕黷尊嚴。謹具別幅。伏惟俯賜念察。謹狀。
I submit this. I humbly consider that he let his traces down from an immortal mountain in order to do kindness in the common world, and drew his spirit out of the great peaks, meaning to settle disorder in a time of danger. So a man of rare timber grows tall, and the spring of the pine makes a long life. His name is already marked on the golden register, and the tallies of war are ordered for a time by the jade key. I humbly consider that His Excellency the Grand Commandant received his spirit from Yuanqiao and was born in substance at Niqiu. A great charge came down from heaven, and the mean and the constant grow clearer in him day by day. The tribes of the four quarters know the gate where they may pour out their hearts, and they roost far off in the shade of his benevolence. The ten thousand families return to the land where souls are called back, and all eat their fill of the fragrance of his virtue. Still more, baleful vapors now hang over the fields of Qin, and the rebel brood gathers at Haojing. He has stilled the fear that the tiger troops would run and sink, and men look to the springs of catching and letting go that the arts of war teach. Let him use for a moment the plan that decides victory, and he will bring on forever the fortune of great peace. Then he will surely sit and quiet the encircling seas, and afterward go to meet at the Jasper Pool. Light clouds of five colors will follow his going and his staying always. White cranes of a thousand years will vie in running at his command. Alone he will keep his long life and rise instead to a true station. Seasoning the cauldron, he will aid the command of the Jade Emperor. Holding the cup, he will hear the song of the Golden Mother. From that time the dukes and ministers of the house of Han will look up and envy him, and know in vain that their hope is cut off, and the friends of the immortals' house will meet him and not wonder that he came late. I live near the turtle peak, and my meeting with him is deep as the slope where the fine horse was found. Whenever I see the arts of Zhang Liang, I chant only the poems of Guo Pu. Glad to face this day, I dare to set out a good wish. These sick bones of tortoise and snake have unworthily received the kindness that saved and revived them. This foolish heart of fowl and dog secretly has a hope of beating its wings and flying. My humble heart cannot bear the fullness of its reverent prayer, its clinging, and its glad clapping. I have at once soiled your high dignity lightly with medicines from east of the sea, and I respectfully set them out on a separate sheet. I humbly beg you to bend down and consider them. Respectfully submitted.