592 CHINESE FOLKLORE AND SOME WESTERN ANALOGIES. 



found in the rainl)ow, as in till probtihility is the niao-ie arch or cause- 

 way joining- heaven and earth, upon which the Japanese creative pair 

 Izanagi and Izanami stand to dip their divine wand into the ocean and 

 form the tirst island out of the drops dripping- from its point. 



Apropos of Japan, we discover in her fairy tales many developments 

 of the oft-repeated theme of the unconscious flight of time already 

 alluded to. Wang Chih's experience in watching the chess players is 

 repeated in that of Lu AVen, a Japanese woodcutter. Avith an exact- 

 ness that proves the Chinese origin of the stor3\ The same motif 

 inspires the popular tale of the fisher boy of Urashima. an adventure 

 ascribed to the period of the Empress Suiko, in the seventh centur}' of 

 our era. In this account Taro, the dutiful son of poor parents, after 

 praving to the sea god in a storm, is rewarded l)v the appearance of a 

 kindly old divinity upon a tortoise, who bids him mount up beside 

 him and all will be well. He is taken to a palace of magnificent pro- 

 portions and populous with radiant throngs, who, with the naive ego- 

 tism ever characterizing dreams and fairy tales, unite to do him 

 honor. Here the ingeiuious Taro spent seven blissful days; but being 

 as good as he was happy, he at length asked permission to return to 

 his father. A l)ox was given him, as he remounted the tortoise, with 

 injunctions never to open it. Arrived at the familiar seabeach, he 

 found the inhabitants and their dwellings entirely changed, and learned 

 presently that his family had been dead and buried twelve generations 

 before. Of course he opens the box, a purple mist arises, envelops 

 him, and he sinks down to die of the weight and infirmities of four 

 hundred years thus suddenly acquired. 



A considerable group of anecdotes might be collected throughout 

 the East resembling the "'Judgment of Solomon." Here are three from 

 China, the first introducing a bit of the supernatural element 

 extremely characteristic of popular stories there: A thousand years 

 ago or less there lived a young man and his charming bride, whose 

 love and happiness were enough to excite the jealousy of a white dog. 

 The brute therefore turned himself into a replica of the husband, and 

 was enjoying the success of ' his deception when the real spouse 

 returned. Each began to accuse the other of fraud, and the poor wife, 

 being ipiite unable to decide between them, made both come with her 

 to a magistrate. The officer, with the politician's fine sense of sorcery, 

 suspecting a dog in disguise, put both the fellows into the cage of a 

 tame tigei'. whose special aversion was dogs. Of course the sagacious 

 animal knew which was the false husband and the real canine, and the 

 affectionate couple were reunited. 



The second variant of the theme relates to the wife of a man who 

 was so long separated from him that, believing her husband dead, she 

 married another. Unlike Enoch Arden, the man on his return wants 

 his wife back, while her second spouse denies any prior lien upon his 

 property which he is l)ound to respect. The woman herself, being 



