Great Queen Jinseong and Geotaji眞聖女大王·居陀知
1A Writing Thrown on the Road
真聖女大王居陁知第五十一真聖女王臨朝有年,乳母鳬好夫人與其夫魏弘匝干等三·四寵臣擅權撓政,盗賊蜂起.國人患之,乃作陁羅尼隠語書投路上.王與權臣䓁得之,謂曰“此非王居仁,誰作此文.”乃囚居仁扵獄.居仁作詩訴于天,天乃震其獄囚以免之.詩曰.燕丹泣血虹穿日,鄒衍含悲夏落霜.今我失途還似舊,皇天何事不垂祥.陁羅尼曰,“南無亡國刹尼那帝判尼判尼蘇判尼于干三阿干鳬伊裟婆訶.”說者云,“刹尼那帝者言女主也,判尼判尼蘇判尼者言二蘇判也,蘇判爵名,于于三阿十也,鳧伊者言鳬好也.”
Great Queen Jinseong and Geotaji.
The fifty-first ruler, Queen Jinseong, had held court for several years when her wet nurse Lady Buho, the nurse's husband Wihong of the rank of japgan, and three or four other favorites seized power and threw the government into disorder, and bandits rose like swarms of bees.
The people of the country were troubled, and so someone wrote a piece in the hidden words of a dharani and threw it on the road.
The queen and the powerful ministers found it and said, "Who but Wang Geoin could have written this?"
So they put Geoin in prison.
Geoin wrote a poem and appealed to Heaven, and Heaven struck the prison with a thunderbolt and set the prisoner free.
The poem goes:
When Dan of Yan wept blood, a rainbow pierced the sun; when Zou Yan held in his grief, frost fell in summer. Now that I have lost my way, it is just like those days of old. For what reason does high Heaven send down no sign?
The dharani goes:
"Namu mangguk challinaje pannipanni sopanni ugansamagan bui sabaha."
Those who explain it say, "'Challinaje' means the female ruler. 'Pannipanni sopanni' means two sopan, and sopan is the name of a rank. 'Ugansamagan' means ten. 'Bui' means Buho."
2Lots Drawn by Dropping Wooden Slips in the Water
此王代阿飧良貝王之季子也.奉使扵唐,聞百濟海賊梗扵津鳬,選弓士五十人隨之.舡次鵠島〔鄕云骨大島〕,風濤大作信宿俠旬.公患之,使人卜之,曰“島有神池,祭之可矣.”扵是具奠扵池上,池水湧髙丈餘.夜夢有老人謂公曰,“善射一人留此島中,可得便風.”公覺而以事諮於左右曰,“留誰可矣.”衆人曰“冝以木簡五十片書我軰名,沉水而鬮之.”公從之.軍士有居陁知者名沉水中,乃留其人,便風忽起舡進無滯.
In this queen's reign, Yangpae of the rank of achan was the youngest son of the king.
He was going to Tang as an envoy. Hearing that Baekje sea bandits were blocking the crossing, he chose fifty good archers to go with him.
The ship put in at Gokdo〔In the native tongue it is called Goldaedo.〕, where wind and waves rose high, and they stayed more than ten days.
The lord was troubled and had a man divine. The man said, "There is a sacred pond on the island. If you make an offering there, it will be well."
So they set out offerings beside the pond, and the water of the pond surged up more than a jang.
That night an old man appeared to the lord in a dream and said, "Leave one good archer on this island, and you will get a fair wind."
The lord awoke and talked the matter over with those around him. "Whom should we leave?"
The company said, "Let us write our names on fifty wooden slips, drop them in the water, and draw lots."
The lord did so.
Among the soldiers there was one called Geotaji (居陀知), and his name sank in the water. So they left that man behind. A fair wind rose at once, and the ship went on without hindrance.
Interlinear notes 1
鄕云骨大島
In the native tongue it is called Goldaedo.
3The Novice Turns into an Old Fox
居陁愁立島嶼,忽有老人從池而出謂曰,“我是西海若.每一沙弥日出之時從天而降,誦陁羅尼三繞此池,我之夫婦子孫皆浮水上,沙弥取吾子孫肝腸食之盡矣,唯存吾夫婦與一女爾.來朝又必來,請君射之.”居陁曰“弓矢之事吾所長也,聞命矣.”老人謝之而没,居陁隠㐲而待.明日扶喿旣暾,沙弥果來誦呪如前,欲取老龍肝.時居陁射之,中沙弥即變老狐,墜地而斃.扵是老人出而謝曰,“受公之賜.全我性命,請以女子妻之.”居陁曰,“見賜不遺固所願也.”老人以其女變作一枝花納之懷中,仍命二龍捧居陁趂及使舡,仍護其舡入扵唐.境唐人見新羅舡有二龍負之,具事上聞,帝曰“新羅之使必非常人.”賜宴坐扵羣臣之上,厚以金帛遺之.旣还國居陁出花枝,變女同居焉.
Geotaji stood on the island in sorrow, when suddenly an old man came out of the pond and said to him:
"I am the god of the West Sea. Every day at sunrise a novice monk comes down from the sky, chants a dharani, and circles this pond three times, and then my wife and I and all our children and grandchildren float up on the water.
The novice has taken the livers and bowels of my children and grandchildren and eaten them all, until only my wife and I and one daughter are left.
Tomorrow morning he will surely come again. I ask you to shoot him."
Geotaji said, "Bow and arrow are what I do best. I have heard your command."
The old man thanked him and vanished, and Geotaji hid himself, lying low, and waited.
The next day, when the sun had risen, the novice came indeed, chanting the spell as before, and tried to take the old dragon's liver.
Then Geotaji shot, and the arrow struck the novice. At once he turned into an old fox, fell to the ground, and died.
Then the old man came out and gave thanks. "By your grace I have kept my life whole. I ask you to take my daughter as your wife."
Geotaji said, "That you give her and do not cast me off is truly what I wished."
The old man changed his daughter into a single flowering branch and put it inside Geotaji's robe. Then he ordered two dragons to carry Geotaji and catch up with the envoy's ship, and to guard that ship into Tang.
The people of Tang saw that the Silla ship was borne by two dragons, and reported the matter in full to the throne. The emperor said, "The envoy of Silla can be no ordinary man."
He gave a feast, seated him above all the ministers, and presented him with rich gifts of gold and silk.
After he returned to his country, Geotaji took out the flowering branch. It changed into a woman, and they lived together.