ABSTRACT
ABANDONED by her father-in-law after the birth of a son to Lady I, the young Queen concentrated on winning the affection of her spoilt but kindly husband and of the still influential Dowager Cho. She succeeded in finding a good post for her 40-yearold cousin, Min S ng-ho, whom her father, before his death, had adopted as his son, and they began to recruit other talented members of their clan. Then, having won the King from Lady I, she gave birth to a son of her own. The Taew ngun called to congratulate her and offered a present of rare mountain ginseng for the health of the baby, which immediately took ill and died. Infant mortality was high but the Queen inevitably suspected her father-in-law and there would grow up between them an implacable hatred.
