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Queen Inhyeon, Lady Min, the second wife of King Sukjong the Great1 of Joseon,2 came from a noble lineage with its ancestral home in Yeoheung.3 Her father was Min Yujung, who served in the government as the minister of military affairs,4 and her maternal grandfather was Song Jungil, who was the chief state councilor.5 She was born on the twenty-third day of the fourth lunar month in the Year of the Red Sheep,6 after her mother Lady Song had a strange dream. Auspicious marvels appeared above the house, and a sweet fragrance filled her birth room and lingered there for a long time. Her parents, seeing the signs as portents of momentous events to come, ordered everyone in the household to make no mention of them to outsiders.
She grew up quickly, sprouting up in an extraordinary manner. Her appearance was so fair that flowers and the moon hid themselves in embarrassment in her presence, and her visage was so radiant that even the sun lost its brilliance before her. Her beauty was incomparable in old times and new. Her abilities in the womanly tasks of weaving and sewing were so efficient and so skillful that it appeared as if she were aided by a hundred supernatural spirits. Yet she never displayed pride in her talents, always appearing pristine, calm, and solemn so that none could discern her thoughts. She also had a gentle and guileless personality with laudable generosity, and always seemed content with everything and undisturbed by worry. She was particularly notable for her righteous conduct, impeccable manners, and filial piety, all of which she practiced with modesty and politeness. A person of an upright mindset, dignified mien, considerable magnanimity, as well as faultless actions in all things, when she sat still throughout the day in a decorous manner, she became enveloped by a tranquil wind and a fair cloud. The grace and solemnity of her appearance were such that people dared not look at her in an impudent manner. The purity and freshness of her form evoked the fragrant waters of autumn, while her lofty and steadfast honor was as precious as gold and jade, and as sturdy as a pine tree. From an early age she did not care for frivolous...