The Tale of Master Yedeok
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.
Seongyulja had a friend whom he called Master Yedeok. The man lived east of Jongbon Pagoda and earned his living carrying away the village's night soil each day. His surname was Eom, and people called him Eom Haengsu. Haengsu was a title for an older man among the laborers. Praising his virtue, Seongyulja honored him with the title Master.
His pupil Jamok disapproved of the friendship. Many celebrated scholars and members of the scholar-official class wished to follow his teacher. Why, of all people, would he choose Eom Haengsu, who did such lowly work, as a friend? Jamok said that he too felt ashamed and wished to leave his teacher's school. Seongyulja laughed, told him to sit down, and began to discuss how people form relationships.
Seongyulja said that it was easy to win people over by cleverly discovering what they took pride in and praising it. One need only avoid their sore points and tell them what they wanted to hear. Jamok covered his ears, calling this the trickery of the marketplace and the work of pleasing others. Seongyulja then pointed out that this was precisely the kind of relationship Jamok ought to be ashamed of. A bond formed for profit, or maintained through flattery, was unlikely to last.
For Seongyulja, a good friend was not simply someone who was always present and made a show of closeness. A friendship could endure across great distances if people met in spirit and valued one another's virtue. Eom Haengsu had never asked Seongyulja to recognize him. Rather, Seongyulja found himself wanting to praise him again and again as he watched his life. Eom lived in a small thatched house. Each morning he shouldered a carrying basket and went into the village to clear away its filth.
Eom Haengsu diligently collected the waste of people and various animals. He valued what others shunned as if it were precious stones, so even when he gathered more, no one accused him of taking their share. Bent over his work, he was not distracted by splendid writing or music. His manure was used in many fields, including those growing radishes in Wangsimni, vegetables in Salgoji, and water dropwort in Cheongpa. Work that others looked down on enriched the vegetable fields and sustained his livelihood.
His way of life was simple. He ate a bowl of rice morning and evening, and declined offers of meat, saying that vegetables filled the stomach just as well. New clothes or wide sleeves seemed inconvenient for his work. On New Year's Day he dressed properly, put on his shoes, and greeted the neighbors. Once home, however, he changed back into his old clothes and shouldered his basket again. Praise could add nothing to his honor, and criticism could add nothing to his shame.
From here Seongyulja went on to argue that people should live within their circumstances and allotted station. In his view, the desire to leave one's place out of envy of wealth and rank could throw the world into disorder. Yet he also said that even the salary of a great office was unclean if obtained unjustly, and that wealth amassed without effort left a foul smell on one's name. What touched Eom Haengsu's body was filthy, but the way he worked to support himself was fragrant.
Seongyulja said that whenever he found the discomforts of life hard to bear, he thought of Eom Haengsu. A scholar who wore resentment on his face in poverty, or flaunted success with his whole body, ought to feel ashamed before him. To Seongyulja, Eom was someone he could learn from, so much so that he hesitated to lower him even to the rank of friend. He ended by explaining that this was why he did not casually call the man by his name, but gave him the title Master Yedeok.
穢德先生傳
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.
蟬橘子有友曰穢德先生。在宗本塔東。日負里中糞。以爲業。里中皆稱嚴行首。
行首者。役夫老者之稱也。嚴其姓也。子牧問乎蟬橘子曰。昔者。
吾聞友於夫子曰。不室而妻。匪氣之弟。友如此其重也。世之名士大夫。
願從足下遊於下風者多矣。夫子無所取焉。夫嚴行首者。里中之賤人役夫。下流之處而恥辱之行也。
夫子亟稱其德曰先生。若將納交而請友焉。弟子甚羞之。請辭於門。蟬橘子笑曰。
居。吾語若友。里諺有之曰。醫無自藥。巫不己舞。
人皆有己所自善而人不知愍然。若求聞過。徒譽則近諂而無味。專短則近訐而非情。於是泛濫乎其所未善。
逍遙而不中。雖大責不怒。不當其所忌也。偶然及其所自善。比物而射其覆。
中心感之。若爬癢焉。爬癢有道。拊背無近腋。摩膺毋侵項。
成說於空而美自歸。躍然曰知如是而友可乎。子牧掩耳卻走曰。此夫子敎我以市井之事。傔僕之役耳。
蟬橘子曰。然則子之所羞者。果在此而不在彼也。夫市交以利。面交以諂。
故雖有至懽。三求則無不踈。雖有宿怨。三與則無不親。故以利則難繼。
以諂則不久。夫大交不面。盛友不親。但交之以心。而友之以德。
是爲道義之交。上友千古而不爲遙。相居萬里而不爲疎。彼嚴行首者。未甞求知於吾。
吾常欲譽之而不厭也。其飯也頓頓。其行也伈伈。其睡也昏昏。其笑也訶訶。
其居也若愚。築土覆藁而圭其竇。入則蝦脊。眠則狗喙。朝日煕煕然起。
荷畚入里中除溷。歲九月天雨霜。十月薄氷。圊人餘乾。皁馬通。
閑牛下。塒落鷄。狗鵝矢。笠豨苓。左盤龍。
翫月砂。白丁香。取之如珠玉。不傷於廉。獨專其利。
而不害於義。貪多而務得。人不謂其不讓。唾掌揮鍬。磬腰傴傴。
若禽鳥之啄也。雖文章之觀。非其志也。雖鍾皷之樂。不顧也。
夫富貴者。人之所同願也。非慕而可得。故不羡也。譽之而不加榮。
毁之而不加辱。枉十里蘿蔔。箭串菁。石郊茄蓏水瓠胡瓠。延禧宮苦椒蒜韭葱薤。
靑坡水芹。利泰仁土卵。田用上上。皆取嚴氏糞。膏沃衍饒。
歲致錢六千。朝而一盂飯。意氣充充然。及日之夕。又一盂矣。
人勸之肉則辭曰。下咽則蔬肉同飽矣。奚以味爲。勸之衣則辭曰。衣廣袖不閑於體。
衣新不能負塗矣。歲元日朝。始笠帶衣屨。遍拜其隣里。還乃衣故衣。
復荷畚入里中。如嚴行首者。豈非所謂穢其德而大隱於世者耶。傳曰。素富貴行乎富貴。
素貧賤行乎貧賤。夫素也者定也。詩云夙夜在公。寔命不同。命也者分也。
夫天生萬民。各有定分。命之素矣。何怨之有。食蝦醢。
思鷄子。衣葛羨衣紵。天下從此大亂。黔首地奮。田畝荒矣。
陳勝，吳廣，項籍之徒。其志豈安於鋤耰者耶。易曰。負且乘致寇。至其此之謂也。
故苟非其義。雖萬鍾之祿。有不潔者耳。不力而致財。雖埒富素封。
有臭其名矣。故人之大往飮珠飯玉。明其潔也。夫嚴行首負糞擔溷以自食。可謂至不潔矣。
然而其所以取食者至馨香。其處身也至鄙汚。而其守義也至抗高。推其志也。雖萬鍾可知也。
繇是觀之。潔者有不潔。而穢者不穢耳。故吾於口體之養。有至不堪者。
未甞不思其不如我者。至於嚴行首無不堪矣。苟其心無穿窬之志。未甞不思嚴行首。推以大之。
可以至聖人矣。故夫士也窮居。達於面目恥也。旣得志也。施於四體恥也。
其視嚴行首。有不忸怩者幾希矣。故吾於嚴行首師之云乎。豈敢友之云乎。故吾於嚴行首。
不敢名之。而號曰穢德先生。
Recognizing a Friend
Jamok and Seongyulja judge the same person on different grounds. Jamok sees occupation and status first; Seongyulja cares about how a person earns money and treats others. Set their judgments of Eom Haengsu side by side. When the grounds for respect change, an apparently ordinary life takes on a different meaning.
Eom Haengsu's work is presented through bodily movements and the names of fields around the city, rather than through abstract praise alone. Removing night soil is connected to growing vegetables. Consider how this detailed account of a worker's day makes the argument persuasive. The story shifts the meanings of cleanliness and dirt from what clings to the body to how wealth is acquired.
The story's respect for labor needs to be read together with its argument about allotted station. Praising Eom Haengsu's virtue while insisting that everyone should be content with their assigned place leaves today's reader with different questions. Rather than treating the work as a straightforward modern declaration of equality, consider how far its effort to value character over status reaches, and where it stops.