King Dongmyeong東明王

The founder, King Dongmyeong the Holy, was of the house of Go, and his name was Jumong (朱蒙).

Before this, Haeburu, king of Buyeo, had grown old without a son, and he sacrificed to the mountains and the streams and prayed for an heir. The horse he rode came to Gonyeon, and seeing a great rock it faced it and shed tears. The king thought it strange, and had a man roll the rock aside, and there was a little child, golden in color and in the shape of a frog. The king was glad and said. "Is this then heaven giving me a fine son?" So he took him up and reared him, and named him Geumwa (金蛙). When he was grown, he set him up

as crown prince.

Afterward his minister Aranbul said. "The other day heaven came down to me and said, 'I shall have my own sons and grandsons found a country here. Do you get away from this place. On the shore of the Eastern Sea there is a land whose name is Gaseopwon. Its soil is rich and fat and fit for the five grains, and a capital may be set there.'" Aranbul then urged the king, and he moved his capital there, and the country was named Eastern Buyeo.

In his old capital there was a man, and none knew where he had come from, and he called himself Hae Mosu, son of the Emperor of Heaven, and came and made his capital there. When Haeburu died, Geumwa succeeded to the throne.

At this time a woman was found at Ubalsu, south of Mount Taebaek, and when she was questioned she said. "I am a daughter of Habaek, and my name is Yuhwa. When I went out to play with my younger kin, there was a man who said of himself that he was Hae Mosu, son of the Emperor of Heaven, and he lured me into a room by the Amnok below Mount Ungsim and had his way with me, and then went off and did not come back. My father and mother rebuked me for following a man without a go between, and at last they sent me to live in banishment at Ubalsu."

Geumwa thought it strange and shut her up in a room. The light of the sun shone on her, and she drew her body away to avoid it, but the sun's shadow followed and shone on her again. By this she conceived and bore a single egg, and it was as big as five doe of grain would hold. The king threw it away and gave it to the dogs and the pigs, but none of them would eat it. He threw it out in the middle of the road, but the oxen and horses went around it. Afterward he threw it out in the field, and birds covered it with their wings. The king tried to split it, but he could not break it, and at last he gave it back to its mother. Its mother wrapped it in cloth and put it in a warm place, and a boy broke the shell and came out, and his frame and his bearing were outstanding and wonderful.

When he was barely seven years old he was uncommonly above others, and he made a bow and arrows himself and shot with them, and of a hundred shots a hundred struck home. In the common speech of Buyeo, one who shoots well is called jumong, and so, they say, he was named by it.

Geumwa had seven sons, and they always played with Jumong, but in their skill none of them came up to him. His eldest son Daeso said to the king. "Jumong was not born of man, and in his nature he is brave. If we do not plan against him early, I fear there will be trouble later. I ask that he be got rid of." The king did not listen, but set him to tend horses.

Jumong marked out the fine horse among them and cut down its feed so that it grew thin, and fed the dull ones well so that they grew fat. The king rode the fat ones himself and gave the thin one to Jumong. Afterward, when they hunted in the field, they gave Jumong few arrows because he shot well, yet the beasts Jumong killed were very many.

The king's sons and his many ministers plotted again to kill him. Jumong's mother came to know of it secretly and told him. "The people of the country are going to do you harm. With your talent and your plans, where could you go and not do well? Rather than linger and take shame, it is better to go far off and do great things."

Jumong then made friends of three men, Oi, Mari and Hyeopbo, and going on he came to Eomhosu. He wanted to cross, but there was no bridge, and he was afraid of being pressed hard by the soldiers who pursued him, and so he spoke to the water. "I am the son of the Emperor of Heaven and a grandson of Habaek on the mother's side. Today I am fleeing, and those who pursue me are about to come up. What shall I do?"

Then the fish and the turtles floated up and made a bridge, and Jumong was able to cross, and the fish and the turtles then broke apart, and the pursuing horsemen could not cross.

Going on, Jumong came to Modungok and met three men. One wore hempen clothes, one wore patched clothes, and one wore clothes of water weed.

Jumong asked. "What manner of men are you? What are your surnames and what are your names?" The one in hempen clothes said. "My name is Jaesa." The one in patched clothes said. "My name is Mugol." The one in clothes of water weed said. "My name is Mukgeo." But they did not tell their surnames.

Jumong granted Jaesa the surname Geuk, Mugol the surname Jungsil, and Mukgeo the surname Sosil. Then he told his followers. "I am now receiving a great command and would open the first foundation, and just at this time I have met these three worthy men. How should this not be given by heaven?"

So he weighed their abilities and gave each of them a charge, and together with them he came to Jolboncheon. Seeing that its soil was rich and fair, and that its mountains and rivers were steep and firm, he wished at last to make his capital there. But he had no leisure yet to build palaces and halls, and so he only wove a hut on the bank of the Biryu river and lived there. He named the country Goguryeo, and from this he took Go (高) for his surname.

At that time Jumong was twenty two years old. It was the second year of Jianzhao of Emperor Xiaoyuan of Han, and the twenty first year of Hyeokgeose, the founder of Silla, the year of gapsin.

On all four sides they heard of this, and those who came and attached themselves to him were many. Because his land bordered on the villages of the Malgal, and he feared the harm of their raiding and thieving, he drove them off and kept them out, and the Malgal feared him and submitted and did not dare to trespass.

The king saw leaves of greens floating down the Biryu river, and knew that there were people upstream. So he went hunting and sought them out, and came to the country of Biryu. Songyang, the king of that country, came out and saw him and said. "I dwell apart in a corner by the sea and have never had sight of a gentleman. Today we have met by chance, and is that not good fortune as well? Yet I do not know where you have come from."

He answered. "I am the son of the Emperor of Heaven, and I have come and made my capital at such a place."

Songyang said. "I have been king for generations, and the land is small and not enough to hold two lords. The day you set up your capital is but a shallow one. Would it not be right for you to become a dependency of mine?"

The king was angry at his words, and because of this he argued and disputed with him, and they also shot at marks against each other to match their skill, and Songyang could not stand against him.

In the second year, in summer, the sixth month, Songyang gave up his country and came and surrendered, and so that land was made Damul district (多勿都), and Songyang was invested as its lord. In the speech of Goguryeo, to win back old land is called damul, and so, they say, it was named by it.

In the third year, in spring, the third month, a yellow dragon appeared at Gollyeong. In autumn, the seventh month, an auspicious cloud appeared south of Gollyeong, and its color was blue and red.

In the fourth year, in summer, the fourth month, clouds and mist rose up on all four sides, and for seven days men could not tell one color from another. In autumn, the seventh month, the walls and the palaces and halls were built.

In the sixth year, in autumn, the eighth month, holy sparrows gathered in the courtyard of the palace. In winter, the tenth month, the king ordered Oi and Bubunno to strike the country of Haengin, southeast of Mount Taebaek, and they took its land and made it into a walled town.

In the eleventh year, in autumn, the ninth month, a luan bird (鸞) alighted on the royal terrace. In winter, the eleventh month, the king ordered Buwiyeom to strike Northern Okjeo and destroy it, and its land was made into a walled town.

In the fourteenth year, in autumn, the eighth month, the king's mother Yuhwa died in Eastern Buyeo. Its king Geumwa buried her with the rites of a grand queen, and then set up a shrine to her spirit. In winter, the tenth month, an envoy was sent to Buyeo with the products of the land, to repay that kindness.

In the nineteenth year, in summer, the fourth month, the king's son Yuri fled back from Buyeo with his mother, and the king was glad and set him up as crown prince.

In autumn, the ninth month, the king departed the world, being then forty years of age. He was buried at Mount Yong, and was called King Dongmyeong the Holy (東明聖王).