The Dragon King inquired: “Do you not know the name of this mountain? It is Nam-ak, full of spiritual lights, strange and mysterious.”
“Where are the approaches?” asked the General.
The Dragon King replied: “The day is not yet late, let us take a hasty look at it before we go.”
The General then mounted the chariot and was soon at the base. He took his bamboo staff and entered on the stony way, crossed a hill, passed over a yawning chasm, where the surroundings seemed more and more wonderful, with a thousand views opening out before his vision, impossible to take in at a single glance. The old saying of “A thousand peaks vied with each other and a thousand streams rushed by” was true of this fairy region.
The General rested on his staff and surveyed the wide landscape with an increasing sense of surprise and questioning. He then sighed and said: “I have long been a follower of the camp and engrossed in the fortunes of war, so am tired of the dust of earth. How can the earth-to-earth particles of this body be so important? How can one win lasting merit, and after death attain to eternal life?”
As he said this to himself he heard the sound of bells from among the trees. He pushed forward. “Evidently,” said he, “there is a temple of the Buddha somewhere near.” He crossed a dangerous pass and ascended a lofty peak, and there stood a temple with the main hall hidden away in a shady recess. Many priests were gathered about. The chief priest sat on an elevated dais, and at the time of Yang's approach was reading the sacred books and discoursing on the same. His eyebrows were long and white and his features thin and transparent. His age must have been very great indeed.
Seeing the General approach, he called all the priests together to meet him. “We dwellers in the hills,” said he, “are dull of hearing and so did not know beforehand of the coming of your Excellency, nor have we gone out to meet you beyond the gates as we should have done. Please forgive us. The day of your final coming has not yet arrived. Will you not enter the hall, worship and return?”
The General entered before the Buddha, burnt incense and made his obeisance. Then he returned, and as he stepped down his foot slipped and he awoke with a start, and behold he was leaning on his writing-table in the midst of the camp.
The east began to lighten. In wonder he asked his aides: “Did you gentlemen sleep and dream too?”
They made as one reply: “We accompanied your Excellency and fought an awesome spirit army, defeated it, took captive their commander, and returned. This is assuredly a proof of certain victory.”
The General told all that he had seen in his dream, and afterwards they went together to inspect the White Dragon Lake. The ground was covered with scattered scales of fish and blood that flowed like running water. First of all the General raised his cup and took a drink of the fateful potion and then refreshed the sick soldiers. They recovered, and the army came in companies with their horses to the shore and drank freely. Their glad shoutings shook the earth; the rebels heard it and trembled, desiring forthwith to make terms.
Yang then wrote a communication announcing victory. The Emperor was greatly delighted, and in his memorial to the Empress Dowager he praised Yang So-yoo, saying: “So-yoo is indeed the greatest general since the days of Kwak Pom-yang; let us wait for his return to make him First Minister of State and so reward him for his unparalleled success. If he has fully decided as to the marriage proposal with the Crown Princess and can conform to our commands, all is well, but if he still persists in having his own way, we cannot punish one so meritorious as he nor compel him by force. It is a question difficult to solve and one full of deep perplexity.”
The Empress Dowager said in reply: “The daughter of Justice Cheung is truly a very beautiful girl. He and she have met and seen each other. How can he readily cast her aside? My idea is to take advantage of So-yoo's absence, issue an order commanding Justice Cheung to marry off his daughter elsewhere, and so do away for ever with this desire of So-yoo. How can they fail to do as we command?”
His Majesty did not reply, but waited for a moment. He then got up quietly and went out. At this the Crown Princess, who was seated by the side of her mother, said: “Mother, your honourable decision is indeed quite wrong. The question of Cheung See's marriage belongs not to us but to her family. How can the Government undertake to direct a matter of this kind?”
The Empress replied: “This is a matter of exceeding great importance to yourself as well as to the State. I must talk with you about it. General Yang So-yoo is not only superior to others in looks and learning, but already by the tune he played on the jade flute he has proven himself your chosen affinity. You cannot possibly turn him away and choose another. So-yoo has already established a special attachment with the house of Justice Cheung, and cannot cast that off either. This is a most perplexing matter. I think that after So-yoo's return, if he is married to you, he will not object to take Cheung's daughter as a secondary wife. I wanted first to inquire what you thought of this.”
The Princess said: “I am not a person given to jealousy. Why should I dislike Cheung See? But the fact that Yang had already sent her his wedding presents forbids his making her his secondary wife. An act like this would be contrary to all good form. Justice Cheung's is one of the oldest ministerial families, distinguished from time immemorial for ability and learning. Would it not be high-handed oppression to force her into the place of secondary wife? It would never never do.”
The Empress said: “Then what do you propose that we should do?”
The Princess replied: “Ministers of State may have three wives of the first order. When General Yang returns with his high honours, if he attain to the highest he will be made a subject king, if to the lowest he will still be a duke, and it will be no presumption on his part to take two wives. How would it do to have him take Justice Cheung's daughter as his real wife as well as myself?”
“It would never do,” said the Empress. “When two women are of the same rank and station there need indeed be no harm or wrong done, but you are the beloved daughter of his late Majesty and the sister of the present monarch. You are therefore of specially high rank and removed from all others. How could you possibly be the wife of the same man with a common woman of the city?”
The Princess said: “I am truly high in rank and station; this I know, but the enlightened kings of the past and those who were sages honoured good men and great scholars regardless of their social position. They loved their virtue, so that even the emperor of a thousand chariots made friends and intimates of such and took them in marriage; why should we talk of high rank or station? I have heard that Cheung's daughter, in beauty and attainments, is not behind any of the famous women of the past. If this be true I should find it no disgrace at all but an honour to make an equal of her. Still, what I have heard of her may not be true, and by rumour alone one cannot be sure of the real or the imaginary. I should like to see her for myself, and if her beauty and talents are superior to mine I shall condescend to serve her, but if they are not as we hear them reported, then we might make her a secondary wife, or even a serving-maid, just as your Majesty may think best.”
The Empress sighed, and said: “To be jealous of another's beauty is a natural feeling with women, but this daughter of mine loves the superiority of another as much as if it were her own, and reverences another's virtue as a thirsty soul seeks water; how can the mother of such a one as she fail to be happy? I, too, would like to see Cheung's daughter. I shall send a dispatch to that effect to-morrow.”
The Princess replied: “Even though your Majesty should send such a command I am sure Cheung's daughter would feign sickness and not come. If she should decline there would be no way of summoning her by force as she belongs to a minister's household. Let us do it by means of the Taoist priestess and the Buddhist nun. If we knew of Justice Cheung's day of sacrifice in advance, I imagine we should have no difficulty in meeting her.”