The Horse Brokers
This is the complete English version of MeKorean’s modern Korean retelling of the main scenes. It is not an official ITKC translation or a line-by-line scholarly translation. Consult the Classical Chinese original for its precise wording.
Brokers trading horses clap their hands and move their fingers to settle an agreement. Between states, oaths may be sworn with the blood of animals; between intimates, people may pour out tears and reveal their innermost feelings. But can such displays alone prove trust? Brokers can exchange secret glances and alter a bargain, while those who persuade states may play on fear and desire to divide people. The story begins by questioning these outward signs of trust.
A man asked his wife to prepare a medicinal brew. When the amount displeased him, he grew angry and handed the task to his concubine. The medicine she brought was always just right, and he was very satisfied. But when he made a hole in the window and watched, he saw that she poured some on the ground if there was too much and added water if there was too little. Meeting someone's wishes exactly was not always proof of devotion. Whispering in someone's ear or asking them to keep a secret did not, in itself, signify a deep relationship either.
Song Uk, Jo Tap-ta, and Jang Deok-hong were discussing friendship on Gwangtong Bridge. Tap-ta described something he had seen at a cloth shop while begging that morning, tapping his gourd. A customer selected cloth and held it up to the light, yet would not name a price first. He seemed to be waiting for the merchant to speak. Then both began behaving as though they had no interest in the cloth. The merchant looked at the distant mountains and spoke about the clouds, while the customer clasped his hands behind his back and admired a picture on the wall.
Song Uk said that Tap-ta had recognized the manner of forming relationships, but not the principle beneath it. Deok-hong added that a curtain was hung in a puppet show to hide the strings that moved the puppets. Song Uk replied that this too explained only the face shown to the world. Although he had reached thirty without gaining a single friend, he had heard what was needed for what people called a gentleman's friendship, and he went on with his account.
Song Uk pointed to the way an arm holding a wine cup naturally bends toward the mouth instead of extending outward. Deok-hong recalled an old verse about answering a crane's call and sharing a fine cup of wine. Song Uk read three things in this: power, the force toward which people gravitate; reputation, the raising of one another's names; and profit, which they hope to possess together. But the more people desire these things, the smaller each person's share becomes. That, he explained, was why people sought them inwardly while shying away from speaking of them openly.
Song Uk continued that ordinary praise rarely moved a person's heart. Praise a virtue someone has already achieved, and they find it trivial; point out what they have yet to accomplish, and they feel disappointed. Call one person the best before a crowd, and everyone else loses heart. Relationships that work in the world therefore require a special set of skills, he said. Listening to him, it seemed that calculating the openings through which a heart could be moved mattered more than respecting that heart.
Song Uk offered five techniques. To praise someone, rebuke them in public; to show delight, display anger; to grow close, act shy or distant instead. To gain trust, show doubt, and to move someone deeply, use tears. He spoke of these methods as if they were a dignified way of living in the world. Yet however noble their names sounded, tricks for manipulating other people's feelings were at work within them.
When Tap-ta struggled to understand, Deok-hong explained. If you made someone's merits plain while rebuking them, the praise would carry further; if you grew angry, it could seem to come from love. Keeping your distance when already close, or doubting someone you trusted, could make the bond seem deeper. Late at night, as a drinking party drew to an end, a silent exchange of looks that touched on sorrow could readily stir emotion. He added that although meeting people made him want to weep, no tears would come, which was why he had gained no friend in thirty-one years.
Tap-ta asked whether one might instead approach others with a faithful heart and gain friends through righteousness. Deok-hong rebuked him harshly. He argued that the poor sought righteousness because they had many wants, while those of low station did not shrink from difficult tasks because they had little to protect. A person in worn-out trousers need not roll them up to cross water, he said, whereas a rich man worried even about mud on the soles of his shoes. He relegated loyalty and righteousness to the poor and lowly, declaring them irrelevant to the rich and powerful.
Tap-ta's expression changed. He said that he would rather live without friends in the world than practice that sort of gentleman's friendship. Together the three men tore their hats and clothes, dirtied their faces, and disheveled their hair. With ropes around their waists, they sang in the marketplace. What they rejected was less friendship itself than a relationship that bargained for power and profit under friendship's name, staging even its sincerity.
The appended Master Humor's Essay on Friendship discusses the gaps between people through ways of joining wood, iron, and leather. Being far apart does not necessarily make people distant, while sitting knee to knee and clapping shoulders does not necessarily join their hearts. After examples from the relationships of ancient statesmen, it traces how flattery enters the gaps in a relationship and slander widens them. Between the appearance of closeness and the reality of the heart remains a distance that calls for further scrutiny.
The commentary even ranks flattery. Its highest form is to present oneself as uninterested in reputation, profit, or social connections. Next comes the use of candid words and the opening of channels between people to convey one's intentions. The lowest form, approving everything the other person says and does, may please at first but eventually breeds boredom and suspicion. At the end, it says that Song Uk and Tap-ta begged for food on the road and Deok-hong sang in the streets, yet none resorted to the horse broker's tricks. How, then, should a gentleman who reads books behave? The question returns to the reader.
馬駔傳
The Classical Chinese original comes from ITKC’s publicly released Collected Korean Literary Works XML. Paragraphs are divided for readability. Consult the official source below for variant characters, collation notes and page images.
馬駔舍儈。擊掌擬指。管仲，蘇秦鷄狗馬牛之血信矣。微聞別離。拋彄裂帨。
回燈向壁。垂頭呑聲。信妾矣。吐肝瀝膽。握手證心。
信友矣。然而界準〔音嶻〕隔扇。左右瞬目。駔儈之術也。動蕩危辭。
餂情投忌。脅强制弱。散同合異。覇者說士。捭闔之權也。
昔者有病心而使妻煎藥。多寡不適。怒而使妾。多寡恒適。甚宜其妾。
穴牕窺之。多則損地。寡則添水。此其所以取適之道也。故附耳低聲。
非至言也。戒囑勿洩。非深交也。訟情淺深。非盛友也。
宋旭，趙闒拖，張德弘。相與論交於廣通橋上。闒拖曰。吾朝日鼓瓢行丐。入于布廛。
有登樓而貿布者。擇布而舐之。暎空而視之。價則在口。讓其先呼。
旣而兩相忘布。布人忽然望遠山。謠其出雲。其人負手逍遙。壁上觀畵。
宋旭曰。汝得交態。而於道則未也。德弘曰。傀儡垂帷。
爲引繩也。宋旭曰。汝得交面。而於道則未也。
夫君子之交三。所以處之者五。而吾未能一焉。故行年三十。無一友焉。
雖然。其道則吾昔者竊聞之矣。臂不外信。把酒盃也。德弘曰。
然。詩固有之。嗚鶴在陰。其子和之。我有好爵。
吾與爾縻之。其斯之謂歟。宋旭曰。爾可與言友矣。吾向者告其一。
爾知其二者矣。天下之所趨者勢也。所共謀者名與利也。盃不與口謀。而臂自屈者。
應至之勢也。相和以鳴非名乎。夫好爵利也。然而趨之者多則勢分。謀之者衆則名利無功。
故君子諱言此三者久矣。吾故隱而告汝。汝則知之。
汝與人交。無譽其善。譽其成善。倦然不靈矣。毋醒其所未及。
將行而及之。憮然失矣。稠人廣衆。無稱人第一。第一則無上。
一座索然沮矣。故處交有術。將欲譽之。莫如顯責。將欲示歡。
怒而明之。將欲親之。注意若植。回身若羞。使人欲吾信也。
設疑而待之。夫烈士多悲。美人多淚。故英雄善泣者。所以動人。
夫此五術者。君子之微權。而處世之達道也。
闒拖問於德弘曰。夫宋子之言。陳義獒牙。廋辭也。吾不知也。
德弘曰。汝奚足以知之。夫聲其善而責之。譽莫揚焉。夫怒生於愛。
情出於譴。家人不厭時嗃嗃也。夫已親而逾疎。親孰踰之。已信而尙疑。
信孰密焉。酒闌夜深。衆人皆睡。默然相視。倚其餘醉。
動其悲思。未有不悽然而感者矣。故交莫貴乎相知。樂莫極乎相感。狷者解其慍。
忮者平其怨。莫疾乎泣。吾與人交。未甞不欲泣。泣而淚不下。
故行于國中三十有一年矣。未有友焉。
闒拖曰。然則忠而處交。義而得友。何如。德弘唾面而罵之曰。
鄙鄙哉。爾之言之也。此亦言乎哉。汝聽之。夫貧者多所望。
故慕義無竆。何則。視天莫莫。猶思其雨粟。聞人咳聲。
延頸三尺。夫積財者。不恥其吝名。所以絶人之望我也。夫賤者。
無所惜。故忠不辭難。何則。水涉不褰。衣弊袴也。
乘車者。靴加坌套。猶恐沾泥。履底尙愛。而况於身乎。
故忠義者。貧賤者之常事。而非所論於富貴耳。闒拖愀然變乎色曰。吾寧無友於世。
不能爲君子之交。於是相與毁冠裂衣。垢面蓬髮。帶索而歌於市。
滑稽先生友情論曰。續木吾知其膠魚肺也。接鐵吾知其鎔鵬砂也。附鹿馬之皮。莫緻乎糊粳飯。
至於交也。介然有閒。燕越之遠也非閒也。山川閒之非閒也。促膝聯席非接也。
拍肩摻袂非合也。有閒於其閒。衛鞅張皇。孝公時睡。應侯不怒。
蔡澤噤喑。故出而讓之。必有其人也。宣言怒之。必有其人也。
趙勝公子爲之佋介。夫成安侯常山王。其交無間。故一有間焉。莫能爲之間焉。
故可愛非閒。可畏非間。諂由閒合。讒由閒離。故善交人者。
先事其間。不善交人者。無所事間。夫直則逕矣。不委曲而就之。
不宛轉而爲之。一言而不合。非人離之。己自阻也。故鄙諺有之曰。
伐樹伐樹。十斫無蹶。與其媚於奧。寧媚於竈。其此之謂歟。
故導諛有術。飭躬修容。發言愷悌。澹泊名利。無意交遊。
以自獻媚。此上諂也。其次讜言款款。以顯其情。善事其間。
以通其意。此中諂也。穿馬蹄。弊薦席。仰唇吻。
俟顔色。所言則善之。所行則美之。初聞則喜。久則反厭。
厭則鄙之。乃疑其玩己也。此下諂也。夫管仲九合諸侯。蘇秦從約六國。
可謂天下之大交矣。然而宋旭闒拖乞食於道。德弘狂歌於市。猶不爲馬駔之術。而况君子而讀書者乎。
Words That Bargain with Friendship
The phrase 'a gentleman's friendship' can hardly be read here as advice to follow unquestioningly. As the explanations become more elaborate, they reveal methods for manipulating sincerity, and Tap-ta rejects that friendship at the end. Distinguish the rules a character states from the attitude the work as a whole takes toward them. Deok-hong's words become particularly sharp satire when he recasts loyalty and righteousness as a calculation of gains and losses for different social ranks.
Adjusting the medicine, bargaining over cloth, the puppet's strings behind a curtain, and the arm bending toward the mouth are all visible scenes. In each, however, outward behavior differs from the hidden intention driving it. Set these images side by side to see why an abstract discussion of friendship connects with a merchant's techniques. Majang, in the Korean title, means a broker who mediates the buying and selling of horses.
The advice to rebuke in order to praise, or to keep a distance in order to grow close, repeatedly pairs an intention with its opposite action. Write out the five techniques in two columns: 'purpose' and 'outward behavior.' You might also consider the difference between leaving someone free to respond and drawing out a reaction calculated in advance.
In the original, the account of the three men is followed by Master Humor's Essay on Friendship. Reading this commentary makes it clearer whom the final question about 'a gentleman who reads books' addresses. Notice how beggars and a street singer become the standard of judgment, while avoiding the assumption that every word they speak is a direct statement of the author's views. The work is arranged so that words and actions reflect back on one another.