by Ilyon
One day when Kumwa was hunting on a mountain called T'aebaek he saw a beautiful woman by the stream known as Ubalsu. When he asked who she was, she replied, “I am the daughter of Habaek,7 the dragon king in Soha (West River) and Yuhwa (Willow Flower) is my name. When I was out with my sisters on a picnic a strong man came up to me and said, 'I am a heavenly prince and Haimosu is my name.' He took me into a cottage on the bank of the Yalu River near Ungsin-san (Bear God Mountain). There he enjoyed me and then left me, never to return. When my father and mother learned what had happened they were angry, and sent me into exile in this lonely place.”
The Book Tangun-gi says “Tangun fell in love with the daughter of Habaek and begot a son who was called Puru.” Since the above story says that Haimosu enjoyed the daughter of Habaek and she bore Chumong, it would seem that Puru and Chumong were half brothers.
Kumwa was puzzled by the woman's story, and confined her in a dark room. But the blazing sunlight clasped her and cast its warmest rays over her body long and tenderly, till she conceived and gave birth to a giant egg.8 Kumwa was surprised. He cast the egg before his dogs and swine, but they would not eat it; he cast it on the road, but the horses and cattle would not tread on it; he cast it in a field, but the birds and beasts covered it with their feathers and fur. The king tried to crack the egg, but to no avail. At last he gave it back to its mother, who wrapped it in a soft cloth and laid it in a warm place. Soon the shell cracked, and out sprang a lovely boy who looked noble and gracious, like a great prince.
By the time he was seven years old the child was as strong as a mature man. He made a bow and arrows for himself and used them with such good marksmanship that he was called Chumong, the good bowman, according to the custom of the country in those days.
Kumwa had seven sons, none of whom was a match for Chumong in any art, civil or military. Taiso, the eldest, said to the king: “Chumong is not the son of a mortal man and the sooner he is killed the better it will be for the throne.” But the king would not listen, and commanded Chumong to feed the horses. Now Chumong was a good judge of horseflesh, and knew a flying horse from a plodding horse. So he made a steed lean by giving it little to eat and he made a packhorse fat by giving it much to eat.
The king rode the fat horse when he went hunting and gave the lean horse to Chumong. The lean horse, being fast and strong by nature, carried its master like the wind, while the good bowman's arrows struck the game like lightning. For this reason he was hated even more by the jealous princes and courtiers, who now resolved to kill him.
Chumong's mother learned of this horrible conspiracy and said to him, “My son, your life is in danger. You must go away, anywhere you please. You have many heavenly gifts which will ensure your success.” Chumong bade a tender farewell to his affectionate mother and fled with of and two other followers. When he reached the stream called Omsu he cried to the deep water, “I am the son of heaven and Habaek's grandson. Now the enemy is upon my heels, what shall I do?” Immediately a host offish and turtles gathered together on the surface to form a bridge so that Chumong and his party could cross. Then they dispersed and sank back into the depths, leaving the pursuers on horseback with no way to cross.
Chumong continued his journey as far as Cholbonju (in Hyonto Province), where he built a temporary palace beside the stream called Pullyusu. He gave the name Koguryo to his land, from his family name Ko, meaning high, because he was begotten by the sun on high. (Chu-mong originally had the family name Hai, from the royal family with whom he had lived, but changed it to Ko because of his parentage.) When he was twelve years old, in the second year of Kien-chao (Kapsin) of Hsiaoyuan-ti of Han, he ascended the king's throne. Koryo (i.e. Koguryo) at her zenith was composed of 220,580 households. (The traditional date for the founding of Koguryo is 37 B.C. The population figure given seems to be an error, for other records state that even at her dissolution Koguryo had 697,000 households.)
In the Churin-chuan (Vol. 21) it is written, “When a chambermaid of King Ningp'inli was got with child, a physiognomist announced that she would bear a noble king. The king roared, 'That is none of my seed and ought to be killed.' But the chambermaid pleaded, weeping, 'A god of love from heaven embraced me and then was gone, leaving me pregnant.'
“When the child was born the king declared it to be a threat to the crown. He cast it into a pigsty, but the sow breathed her warm breath into its nostrils; he cast it into a horse stable, but the mare suckled it that it might live. Thus the child grew up to be the king of Puyo.” This is another version of the story of how Chumong became the first king of Koguryo, with the dynastic title Tongmyong. Ningp'inli was a nickname of King Puru.
14. Pyonhan and Paekje
Paekje is also called Southern Puyo. In the 19th year after the coronation of Hyokkose, the founder of Silla (38 B.C.), the men of Pyonhan surrendered to him the sovereignty over the whole of their country.
The Old and New T'ang-shu states, “The descendants of Pyonhan inhabited Nangnang”; but the Houhan-shu says, “Pyonhan is in the south, Mahan is in the west, and Chinhan is in the east.”
Ch'oe Ch'i-won (a scholar during the Silla period) states that Pyonhan was identical with Paekje.
According to the Main Chronicle (Official records of Paekje) Onjo (the first king of Paekje) rose to power in the fourth year of Hung-chia, so he became king more than 40 years later than Hyokkose (Silla founder) and Tongmyong (Koguryo founder). (This statement corresponds fairly well with the traditional foundation dates, which are Silla 57 B.C., Koguryo 37 B.C. and Paekje 18 B.C.)
The T'ang-shu states that the ancestors of Pyonhan lived in the land of Nangnang because Onjo was descended from Tongmyong. Perhaps a hero of Nangnang origin established a state in Pyonhan which was in rivalry with Mahan before the reign of Onjo, but this does not mean that Onjo himself came from the north of Nangnang. (The latter statement is purely conjectural.)
Some scholars call Mt. Kuryong Mt. Pyonna, but this is a mistake. According to an authentic statement of an ancient sage there was a mountain named Pyon-san in the land of Paekje, hence the country was called Pyonhan. (This is evidently a mistake.)
In her heyday Paekje had a population of 152,300 households.9
15. Chinhan
In the Houhan-shu it is written, “The men of Chinhan said, 'When the refugees from Ch'in (One of the Chinese kingdoms during the Warring States period in China, previous to the Han dynasty) arrived in Korea, Mahan ceded them an area along her eastern frontier, and host and guest called each other 'to,' meaning fellow-man. The Chinese pronunciation was 'tu.' This and other similarities led to the writing of the name of Chinhan in Chinese fashion, using the name of the Chinese state of Ch'in plus the character designating Korea, Han. Chinhan was divided into 12 small states, each consisting of about 10,000 households.”
16. Kyongju (Pleasure Ground for Each of the Four Seasons)
(This section is somewhat out of place chronologically but is left in its original place as it sets the scene for much of what is to follow.)
When Silla reached the height of her prosperity the capital, Kyongju, consisted of 178,936 houses, 1,360 sections, fifty-five streets nd thirty-five mansions. There was a villa and pleasure ground for each of the four seasons, to which the aristocrats resorted. These were Tongya, the east field house, for spring; Kokyang house, for summer; Kuchi house, for autumn; and Kai house for winter.
During the reign of the forty-ninth king Hongang, houses with tiled roofs stood in rows in the capital and, not a thatched roof was to be seen. Gentle sweet rain came with harmonious blessings and all the harvests were plentiful.
17. King Hyokkose, the Founder of Silla
In ancient times there were six districts in Chinhan, each belonging to a separate clan. They were the Yi, Chong, Son, Ch'oe, Pae and Sol clans, each of which claimed to have a divine progenitor.
On the first day of the third month of Ti-chieh (during the Chinese Han dynasty) the chieftains of these six clans and their families gathered on
the bank of a stream called Alch'on to discuss problems of common interest. There was general agreement as follows: “It is not good for us to live in scattered villages without protection. We are in danger of attack by strong enemies nearby. We must therefore seek a noble and glorious king to rule over us and defend us as our commander-in-chief.”
The chieftains and their families then climbed a high mountain, where they worshipped and prayed to heaven to send them a gracious prince according to their wish. Suddenly there was a lightning-flash, and an auspicious rainbow stretched down from heaven and touched the earth in the south by the well called Najong in the direction of Mt. Yang, where a white horse was seen kneeling and bowing to something.
In great wonderment they ran down to the well. When they came near, the white horse neighed loudly and flew up to heaven on the rising veil of the rainbow, leaving behind a large red egg (some say a blue egg) lying on a giant rock near the well. When the people cracked the egg they found within it a baby boy whose noble face shone like the sun. When he was given a bath in the East Stream (where Tongch'on Temple stands, to the north) he looked even more bright and handsome.
The people danced for joy, and the birds and beasts sang and danced round the boy. Heaven and earth shook, and the sun and moon shone brightly (indicating that this was indeed the king they had prayed for). They named him King Hyokkose, meaning bright ruler. (Ilyon goes on to cite similar stories of fabulous births such as the goddess mother of the Fairy Peach from Chinese sources, perhaps to authenticate this one. The official records—compiled, of course, long after the event—list Hyokkose as the first king of Silla and give his reign dates as 57 B.C. to 3 A.D.)10
They offered the wonderful boy the royal title “Kostilgam” or “Kosogan” because when he first spoke he declared “Alji-Kosogan (baby-king) is rising.”. For this reason succeeding Silla sovereigns all bore the title Kosogan. (King) All the people in the country welcomed the boy-king with cheerful acclamations and hoped that he would marry a virtuous queen.
On the same day a she-dragon descended from heaven to another well, called Aryongjong in Saryang-ni, and from under her ribs on the left side produced a baby girl, who burst like a flower from a bud. (Some accounts say the she-dragon appeared and died, and the baby was found inside when the body was opened.)
The child was fair of face and graceful of form, but her mouth was like the beak of a chick. However, when the people bathed her in the North Stream of Moon Castle, the beak fell off, revealing her cherry-red lips. The stream was thenceforth called Palch'on (beak-falling stream).
The people erected a palace at the foot of South Mountain and brought up the two babies, who grew to be a noble prince and princess. Since the prince had been born from an egg in the shape of the gourd called “pak” in the native tongue, they gave him the family name Pak. (Evidently a foundation-myth of the Pak clan. The official records do indeed indicate that the first three Silla kings and some later ones were of this clan. The name is a common one in modern Korea.) The princess was named Aryong after the well where she was born.
When they reached the age of thirteen in the first year of Wufeng, the prince was crowned king with Princess Aryong as his queen consort. The country at this time was called Sorabol or Sobol, a native dialect word. The name Silla was not used until a later time, during the reign of Kirim-Nijilgum (although some historians attribute this naming to the reign of Chijong Maripkan or King Pophung.)
(Ilyon here inserts a brief account of the founding of the Kim clan. The original Kim —the word means “gold”— was said to have been found in a forest where a golden cock crowed. The Kim clan eventually took aver the Silla throne and kept it until the end of the kingdom. Kim is the commonest surname in Korea.)
Thus Hyokkose, the Great Chief of the Pak family founded the kingdom of Silla and ruled over it for sixty-two years, after which he ascended to heaven. After seven days the ashes of his body fell to the earth and scattered, and the soul of his queen ascended to join him in paradise.
All the people wept over the ashes of their good king and queen, and tried to bury them in the same tomb, but a large snake appeared and prevented this. So the royal remains of each were divided into five parts and interred in pairs in the Northern Mausoleum, within the precincts of a temple called Tamom-sa. The people called these the Five Mausoleums, or Sanung (Tomb of the Snake). The Crown Prince succeeded to the throne and was given the title Namhae-wang (second Silla king in the official records, reigned 4-24 A.D.)
18. King Namhae
Namhae Kosogan was also called Ch'ach'a Ung or High Chief, a unique title honoring this king. His father was King Hyokkose, his mother was Lady Aryong and his queen was Lady Unje. Now to the west of Yongil-hyon rises Mt. Unje, where dwelt the queen's goddess mother. She sent down rain in times of drought when the people offered prayers to her.
King Namhae ascended the throne in the fourth year of Yuanshih (Kapcha) during the reign of P'ing-ti of the prior (Chinese) Han dynasty. He died in the fourth year of Tihwang of Wang-Mang after ruling his country 21 years. He was one of the first “Three Hwangs" (Kings) of Silla.
In the Sankuoshih it is written, “In Silla the king was called Kosogan (meaning noble person), Ch'ach'a Ung or Chach'ung.”
Kim Tae-mun11 writes, “In the national language Ch'ach'a Ung means 'sorcerer.' Since a sorcerer served the spirits and officiated at sacrificial ceremonies, the people honored him with the fear and respect due a high chief. The king was also called Nisagum, which means 'tooth-marks.' According to an old book, when King Namhae died his son Norye (Yuri, third king) offered to give the throne to T'alhae. But T'alhae stood on ceremony and said, 'A wise sage has the most teeth.' So they played a tooth game by biting into a rice cake (presumably to observe the tooth-marks and determine who had the most teeth).
“Another title for the king was Maripkan. In the Silla dialect Marip means 'seat marker,' referring to the marks which indicated where the king and his courtiers were to sit during court ceremonies.”'
A comment in Samguk Sagi says, “In the Kingdom of Silla the kings had different titles— there were one Kosogan, one Chach'ung, 16 Nisagums and four Maripkans.”
In the Chronological History of Monarchs by Ch'oe Ch'i-won, the famous Confucian scholar at the close of the Silla Kingdom, all the Silla sovereigns are called “King” (i.e. the Chinese designation “wang") instead of Kosogan or other titles. Perhaps he thought such titles were not dignified enough for an official history. But in describing the history of Silla it is instructive to include the old titles as they were used by the ancient people. The people of Silla called a posthumously honored nobleman Kalmun-wang, but the meaning of this is not clear.
During the reign of King Namhae the people of Nangnang invaded Kumsong, but were defeated and driven away. And in the fifth year of T'ien-feng (11 A.D.?) seven vassal states of Koguryu surrendered to the king.
19. King Norye (Yuri 24-57)
Pak Norye-Nijulgum, otherwise called Yuri-wang, at first offered to give up his claim to the throne in favor of T'alhae, his sister's husband. But T'alhae shook his head, saying “A virtuous man has more teeth than a commoner. Let us see who has more teeth.” Each bit into a rice cake, and on the cake which Norye had bitten were marks of more teeth than on T'alhae's. In this way he ascended the throne with the title of Nijilgum (tooth-game). The title was subsequently used for several other monarchs.
He was enthroned in the first year of Kengshih of Liusheng-kung, even in the year of Kemi. During his reign he changed the names of the six departments, creating new administrative districts, conferred family names on the six tribes, wrote songs,12 built ice cellars and made ploughshares and carriages.
In the 18th year of Kienwu he attacked and destroyed Isoguk. In the same year the soldiers of Koguryo invaded Silla.
20. King T'alhae
(57-80)
(One reason for this story is probably to explain the temporary displacement of the Pak clan by the Sok clan on the Silla throne. The
Pak clan returned to the throne for four further reigns, after which it was again displaced by Sok. The Sok clan then alternated with the Kim clan for a time, until the throne became permanently hereditary in the Kim clan under King Naemul. 356-402.)
The origin of T'alhae Nijilgum, otherwise called T'alhae Nisagum, was as follows. During the reign of King Namhae in Silla, a boat came drifting to the shores of the Kingdom of Karak (a relatively small area on the south coast). King Suro of that kingdom and his people beat drums to welcome the treasure-boat and its crew with due ceremony, out it sailed away and anchored at Ajinpo in Hasojich'on, east of Kerim (i.e., Silla) Even now there exist near Kyongju two villages called Sang-Soji and Ha-Soji.
An old fisherwoman named Ajin-Uison, who had fished for King Hyokkose, saw a large crowd of magpies land on the boat with dance and song. In great wonder she pulled the boat to the sand beach and found on board it a large box, twenty feet long and thirteen feet wide. The old woman moored the boat near a grove of trees and prayed to heaven to send her good luck. Then she opened the box, and to her surprise discovered a handsome boy, together with seven treasures,13 a manservant and a maidservant. After being entertained for seven days, the boy told his story:
“We have come from Yongsongguk, the Kingdom of the Dragon Castle, a thousand li (i.e. a very long distance) northeast of Waiguk. There have been twenty-eight dragon kings of that country, all born of the wombs of but two women. Each ascended the throne at the age of five or six. They gave the thousands of simple people the first lessons in right living.
“King Hamdalpa my father married the daughter of the king of Choknyoguk, but she bore no sons to succeed to the throne. After offering prayer for a son for seven years she brought forth a large egg from her womb.
“The king told his courtiers that the birth of an egg from a woman had seldom been known throughout the ages and was a bad omen. He had a large box made, put the egg into it together with seven treasures and two servants, and placed it on a boat. Then he had the boat launched on the ebbing tide, hoping that it would go drifting to some land where those on board could live happily. Immediately a red dragon appeared from the depths of the sea and convoyed the boat to this place. During the long journey I was born from the egg and grew up to be a strong boy.”