King Heonan憲安王

King Heonan ascended the throne. His name was Uijeong (誼靖), and he was a younger half brother of King Sinmu by another mother. His mother was Lady Jomyeong, a daughter of King Seongang. He came to the throne by the dying charge of Munseong. There was a great amnesty, and Kim An of the rank of ichan was made sangdaedeung.

In the second year, in spring, the first month, the king himself offered sacrifice at the Singung. In summer, the fourth month, frost fell. From the fifth month until the seventh month of autumn it did not rain. On the bank of the river south of Dangseong commandery a great fish came out. It was forty paces long and six cheok high.

In the third year, in spring, grain was dear and the people went hungry, and the king sent out envoys to relieve and save them. In summer, the fourth month, he gave out a decree that the dikes be mended and made whole and that farming be urged on.

In the fourth year, in autumn, the ninth month, the king gathered his many subjects at the Imhaejeon. Eungnyeom of the royal house was fifteen years old, and he had a place in that gathering. The king wished to see what was in his mind, and asked him of a sudden, "You have been out at your studies many a day now. Have you not seen a good man?"

He answered, "I have seen three men, and privately I thought they had good conduct in them." The king said, "How so?"

He said, "One was the son of a high house, and in his dealings with others he never put himself first but took the lower place. One had a house rich in goods and could have made his clothes lavish, yet he was always glad in hemp and ramie. One had power and glory, yet he had never laid that power upon another. What I saw was this."

The king heard it and was silent, and then he spoke into the ear of the queen, "I have looked over many men, and there is none like Eungnyeom." He meant to give him his daughter in marriage, and he looked at Eungnyeom and said, "I would have you take care of yourself, young lord. I have a daughter, and I shall let her serve at your pillow."

He set out wine again and they drank together, and the king said quietly, "I have two daughters. The elder is twenty years old this year, the younger nineteen. It is only as the young lord chooses to take."

Eungnyeom declined but could not have his way, and he rose and bowed and gave thanks. Then he went home and told his father and mother. His father and mother said, "We hear that of the faces and the coloring of the king's two daughters the elder is not the equal of the younger. If it cannot be helped, you ought to marry the younger."

Still he doubted and could not settle it, and so he asked a monk of Heungnyunsa. The monk said, "If you marry the elder there are three gains; with the younger it is the other way about, and there are three losses."

Then Eungnyeom said to the king, "I dare not settle it myself. I shall follow only the king's command." At this the king's eldest daughter was given to him in marriage.

In the fifth year, in spring, the first month, the king lay sick and did not mend for a long while, and he said to those about him,

"I am unlucky. I have no son, only daughters. In the old affairs of our country there were indeed the two women rulers Seondeok and Jindeok, yet that comes near to a hen crowing at dawn, and it cannot be taken for a rule. My son-in-law Eungnyeom is young in years, but he has the ripened virtue of an old man. You lords, set him up and serve him. He will surely not let fall the fair thread of the ancestors, and then, though I die, I shall not rot."

On the twenty-ninth day of that month he died. He was given the posthumous name Heonan (憲安), and he was buried at Gongjakji.