The Press. (Stafford Springs, Conn.) 1883-1935, 1904-08-03
THE QUEEN OF sINRA
A PARAGON WHO RuLED IN KOREA
IN THE SIXTH CENTURY.

rntelIiwent-An Oriental Rival to
Joan of Arc-How She Bahned Her
Foes, Wooed China and Saved Her
Country.
Korea in the sixteenth century was
q series Of independent and warning
kingdoms On the earterly side Of the
peninsula lay the monarchy of Sinra,
which was ruled over by King Chin
Pyeng On the western side were the
kingdoms of Paikchyei and Kokourye.
Near these lay the kingdoms of Baiji
and Gaoli. Each land had an am
bilious ruler and each was desirious Of
extending It's boundaries at the expense
Of it's neighbors. Though Sinra was
not as rich as many of it's rivals, yet 1t
preserved it's autonomy through the
sleepless energy and wisdom of King
Chin. To other monarchs he seemed
the embodiment of craft and power,
but to the great mobiles Of his land he
was merely good natured man, who
was guided by singular daughter
named TEX Man.
Strange stories were told of the
IL.
made his home near the palace about
the time Of her birth and had guarded
her during the first ten years of her
life. Fairy foxes, who were the wolves
of Korea, but without the cruelty and
bloodthirstiness of the latter, were her
playmates and taught her the mystic
rious knowledge which they possess.
When she reached the age of twelve
she was so respected by the people of
the palace that she was taken from the
market" daughters and invested with
a rank altogether peculiar to herself
For in those days prevailed the Gus
tom, which has been the law Of the
land up to the present time, that the
king should have as many daughters
as possible by his wives and concu-
bines and should marry or sell them to
the great mobiles of his realm. In this
way the royal family was connected
with every prominent blood, and Incl
dentally a large income was derived
by the royal treasury.
The other daughters of King Chin
and their names were legion-were ed,l-
Gated and sold according to the custom
of the country, but TEX Man and her
sister Seung were raised to rank equal
to that of the lord councillor. There
were disputes between the father and
TEX Man, but in nearly every instance
subsequent events proved the girl to
have been right.
Thus on one occasion when she urged
the fertilization and garrisoning of a
pass between Sinra and Gaoli her ia
Their refused on the ground that the
latter country would never dream Of
using so dangerous a defile for mill
tary purposes. Only six months after
ward the king of Gaoli took possession
of the pass and fortified 1t so as to rem
der it impregnable. King Chin in con-
sternation admitted that he was wrong
and appealed to TEX Man for advice.
Attended by we'll armed escort she
travelled swiftly to the mouth OF the
pass and, studying the configuration of
the land, changed the course of small
stream SO as to block the defile and
then fortified the Sinra side of the new
water course.
At her instigation her father was in
duced to build walls around many
towns in the neighborhood of the
passes and to furnish these with gran
aries, cattle sheds and barnsnso that
in case of invasion the country could
retreat and offer a firm resistance to
the invaders.
She it was who first advocated the
importation of Japanese swords and
spears to replace those of native work
manship or of Chinese origin. The
wisdom of her advice was displayed a
few years afterward. when in an en-
gagement between a company of Sinra
soldiers and one of the Baiji the for
mer won the day, merely by the supe-
riority of their weapons. When it
came to a hand to hand combat the
Japanese blades cut through the Baiji
swords with almost as much ease as
IL they had been of wood or horn.
1t surprised the outside world when.
on the death of her father King Chin,
the royal council unanimously elected
her queen of Sinra. She was but
twenty eight years old. tall, broad
shouldered and erect. She could handle
spear, sword or bow as well as any
soldier; could equal any cavalryman
in Craftsmanship and was an expert
swimmer and diver Several times,
when leading her army she attired
herself in armor and went the rounds
of the sentries to test the discipline of
her troops. On one of these nocturnal
trips it is recorded that she found two
sentinels asleep. One had been drink
ing and was sleeping off the effects
of q debauch. Him TEX Man dis
patched with a single blow of her
sword. The other had been wounded
during the day and had fallen asleep
from sheer weakness. Him the queen
raised into her own arms and sent him
back to camp with kindly reproof and
q silver coin.
When the neighboring kings recover
ed from their surprise they Immediate
~ began preparations to invade and
conquer the land of Sinra. Had they
acted unitedly, there would have been
no hope for the realm; not even the
strength and valor of TEX Man the
Intelligent would have been of any
avail against such coalition. But
here her craft came into play and
proved as efficient as her courage.
She fOmented dissensions between
GaOli and Bohai. which resulted in a
long and tedious war in the far north
She applied the same method in the
south, where for several years con.
fict between Kokourye and Baiji was
kept alive and bitter. This left her
only one foe to deal with. King WI
Wang Of Paikchyei He made extern
sive preparations. pretending that they
were to be directed against South Gaoli |
But the queen, who had spies at his
court, Kept herself well informed as to
ms movements. The common people |
OF Sinra said that she got her infor-
nation from the frogs and the birds, |
but the real frogs were the gossips at |
the court of WI Wang and the birds |