Annals of Silla新羅始祖奕居世

Hyeokgeose, the founder of Silla, came forth from no line of human kind.

An egg came down out of the blue and blue heaven. It was as large as a gourd, and a red cord was bound about it.

He lived long inside the gourd shell, and so his surname was Bak (朴). How should this not be something heaven opened?

In the first year of Wufeng under Emperor Xuan of Han, the year gapja, he opened a state in the land of Jinhan and fixed its borders.

The customs were pure and fair and the ground of the capital was at peace, and holy kings and worthy ministers came to rule one after another. What could the high antiquity of Emperor Fu Xi add to this?

Court and countryside were grave and harmonious, with no cheating and no abuse, and men and women went their ways apart in gladness, and they set out without carrying food, and they did not shut their doors.

On mornings of flowers and evenings of the moon they went hand in hand, and made the words of byeolgok songs as their hearts led them.

One answered to a sign at Gurim (鳩林), one came out of a golden chest, and the Seok and the Kim followed one another and took their turns.

The twenty-ninth ruler, King Chunchu (King Taejong Muyeol), asked troops of Tang and put down Goguryeo and Baekje.

Lord Kim Yusin was that very subject of merit. He got a wondrous book of war and was skilled in the arts of arms.

In writing, who was it that moved China? Choe Chiwon of Cheongha (淸河) was then spreading his fame abroad.

Among monks there were Wonhyo and the master Uisang. Their minds matched the old buddhas like the halves of a tally.

The great scholar Lord Seol (Seol Chong) made the iseo (吏書), the idu writing, and by common speech and the speech of our own country even study for the examinations was opened.

Sages and worthies came out mingled together and gave their help, and the simple multitude of the people all trod in the rites.

The royal work that had spread like a trailing vine began to decline, and the base-born Gyeon Hwon turned on his lord with mad barking, and the hearts of the many were troubled and knew not where to turn.

The Great King Kim Bu (King Gyeongsun) could reckon far ahead. In the second year of Qingtai under the Last Emperor of Later Tang, in the eulmi year, in the middle month of winter, he came to the court of our king.

He was given the eldest princess to wife and invested as Sangbo (尙父), and the capped and robed, that is the officials of Silla, came to court with their sleeves touching.

Nine hundred and ninety-two years came down, and fifty-six kings were able to rule the state.

To this day the blessing left over is still not spent, and their offspring run on in the Nandae and the Bonggak, the halls of the Goryeo court.

He knew the signs and knew his own weakness, and truly he was to be trusted. My wonder at it is not enough, and in his service as a subject there was no change.

I write, and look back over all since the world was opened, and in eleven thousand years there is no such case as this.