Book X 603*
Dressed in white mourning robe and cap, the king went out to Anamdong^9
and looked for the queen’s tomb site.
16th Day (Sinchíuk)
Venus approached the Constellation of the Heart.Left Chancellor Cho Chun and Right Chancellor Kim Sahyŏng, who were
both merit subjects, submitted a memorial to the king:
“Respectfully, we believe Your Majesty on high turned your family into a
nation in accordance with the will of Heaven and the wishes of the people.
This was possible because of your sublime virtue and profound benevolence,
which impressed both Heaven and the people. Her Majesty, Queen Hyŏn,
also deserves the credit because she was faithful and discreet in her words
and conduct. She was always careful in ordinary times and decisive in a
crisis, lending her support to Your Majesty whenever you made serious deci-
sions. The assistance and contributions that she has made as the wife of Your
Majesty, shining in history, are too numerous to count. Since she suddenly
passed away due to the indifference of Heaven, the sorrows and griefs of
your servants are ten thousand times deeper than those of ordinary people.
“As we look at ourselves, in spite of lacking talent and ability, we were so
fortunate to encounter the great era [reigned over by Your Majesty] and
presumptuously joined the rank of merit subjects. Though you are officially
our sovereign, you are like a parent in our hearts. We owe you favors and
gratitude beyond description but do not know how to repay them. Hence, we
request you to appoint one of the merit subjects and have him watch over the
queen’s tomb for three years. Then you can make it a precedent so that the
tomb of the queen can continue to be guarded and managed generation after
generation. Though this is very far from repaying our debt of gratitude to
you, we would like to at least express it this way for now. It would be
extremely fortunate if you were to grant our request.”
Granting the request, the king had Lord Anp’yŏng Yi Sŏ, a member of the
merit subjects, watch over the tomb of the queen.- An area in Seoul that now belongs to the Borough of Sŏngbuk