General Introduction (Ch’ongsŏ) 51*
In the ninth month [of the ninth year of King U], T’aejo returned from the
Northeast Region. When he passed by Anbyŏn on his way [to Kaegyŏng],
he found a couple of pigeons perching on a mulberry tree in the middle of a
field. T’aejo shot one arrow and felled both birds at the same time. Two men,
named Han Ch’ung and Kim Inch’an, saw T’aejo shoot the birds while
weeding their fields near the road. Expressing their admiration for T’aejo’s
superb shooting, they said, “What excellent archery skill you have, young
bachelor (toryŏng)!” Laughing, T’aejo replied, “I have already passed the
age of a young bachelor.” Then he told them to take the pigeons with them.
As the two men offered a meal of millet, T’aejo took it, appreciating their
sincerity. They followed T’aejo without delay and eventually became dynas-
ty-founding merit subjects.
T’aejo was so magnanimous and virtuous by nature that he was keen to
save the world and valued human life. Because he was endowed with these
qualities, the more contributions he made to the country, the more humble
he became. He also had always had great respect for Confucian teachings
and was thus dissatisfied with his family legacy, which had produced no
Confucian scholars. For this reason, he made His Majesty [King T’aejong]
exert himself more to studying the Confucian classics. His Majesty duly
obeyed T’aejo’s instruction and never neglected his studies, prompting
T’aejo once to say, “You will be the only one [among my sons] who will
fulfill my wish.” Whenever Consort Kang heard His Majesty reading a
book, she lamented, “Why was he not born from me?”
That year, His Majesty passed the civil service examination. T’aejo was
moved to tears at the news and went into the royal palace to bow down to
the ground. When His Majesty was later appointed deputy director (chehak)
of the Office of Special Counselors, T’aejo was so pleased that he let the
royal messenger read the letter of appointment several times. Whenever
T’aejo held a banquet with invited guests, he let His Majesty compose a
poem in response to the poems of his guests and said, “You certainly con-
tributed to the success of our meeting.” Though His Majesty could achieve
his royal greatness by virtue of his talent, it was actually T’aejo’s relentless
recommendation of learning that enabled His Majesty to reach his goal.
In the eleventh year (1384) of Sin U, T’aejo joined the king on a hunt.
When the artisans presented newly made arrows, T’aejo ordered some round
papers to be placed randomly on a stack of straw, and he hit them all with