52 t h e a n n a l s o f k i n g t’a e j o
arrows. Then he said to his attendants, “I will shoot at the spine when I hunt
animals today.” He usually shot animals on the right shoulder blade, but that
day, he chose to shoot them in the spine. He killed as many as forty deer,
and his arrows hit the spine each time. Those who watched his marvelous
archery skill could not help admiring him.
Ordinary hunters shot the right side when the animal was on the left, and
the left side when the animal was on the right. T’aejo, however, did not
shoot right away and ran after the animal to shoot at the spot that he wanted
to. He galloped his horse to catch up with the animal and chased it so that it
could run on his left side. Then he shot an arrow at the animal and accu-
rately hit its shoulder blade on the right. So the people in his time said,
“When General Yi hunts animals, he always hits them on the right side.”
It happened earlier that U in his royal palace ordered military officials to
test out their archery skills. The target was a bowl-sized yellow paper with
a silver mark only a couple of inches in diameter placed in the middle. It was
set up fifty paces away, and T’aejo hit the silver mark every time he shot.
King U enjoyed the demonstration so much that he watched until nightfall,
having torches lit. He bestowed three good horses on T’aejo as a reward. Yi
Turan said to T’aejo, “It is not advisable to show such marvelous talent to
the people too much.”
When T’aejo went on a hunt in Changdan,^118 he sped up a hill on a red
horse with white spots on its nose and on each foot. As he gazed from atop
a cliff, he spotted a couple of roe deer running down toward his left. He
immediately chased them, and the faces of his companions paled. T’aejo
shot the first deer and then stopped his horse just a few paces from the cliff’s
edge. Everyone was surprised and admired T’aejo’s incredible feat.
Laughing, T’aejo said to those around him, “No one but me could stop a
horse like that.”
The friendship between T’aejo and Ch’oe Yŏng was very strong. As
T’aejo’s authority and reputation grew, some people slandered him in the
presence of [King] U. Indignant against such accusations, Yŏng said, “Lord
Yi is a cornerstone of our state. If the state is in danger, whom can you ask
to deal with it?”
Every time Ch’oe Yŏng held banquets for his guests, he would say to
T’aejo, “I will prepare the noodle dishes, and you take charge of the meat
dishes.” T’aejo replied, “No problem.” One day T’aejo went out hunting to- A district in Kyŏnggi Province.