46 



omens, foreboding inundations, disorder, war, nay even the 

 dynasty's fall. As gods of water, clouds, and rain they caused 

 high floods by their fights, and as representatives of the Imperial 

 power their victory or defeat meant rebellion, war, and even the 

 fall of the reigning House. 



According to the Tso chvfen ' a high flood was ascribed to 

 dragons fighting in a pool in the nineteenth year of the reign 

 of Chao, Duke of Lu (523 B. C). "There were great floods in 

 Ch'ing; and [some] dragons fought in the pool of Wei, outside 

 the She gate. The people asked leave to sacrifice to them; but 

 Tsze-ch^an refused it, saying: "When we fight, the dragons dp 

 not look at us. Why should we look at them, when they are 

 fighting? If we offer a deprecatory sacrifice to them, they will 

 leave their abodes. If we do not seek the dragons, they also will 

 not seek us". Then the matter was given up. 



The Yih lin ^ says : "If six dragons have angry fight with one 

 another under an embankment, and tJifi_azuxe_a£_yfillow dragons 

 do not conquer, the travellers will meet hardships and trouble" '. 

 As we have seen above, the azure and yellow dragons especially 

 were harbingers of felicity ; so their defeat was a sign of coming 

 trouble, probably caused by inundations. 



In regard to impending war and ruin we may quote the follo- 

 wing passages from the Histories, 



In the Boohs of the Sui dynasty^ we read: "In the Liang dynasty 

 (A. D. 502—557), in the second year of the T'ien kien era (503), 

 there were dragons fighting in a pool in Northern Liang province. 

 They squirted fog over a distance of 'some miles. As to the evils 

 of dragons and snakes the Hung fan lou king dmfen ^ says : 'These 

 are trouble and damage of dragons and beasts. That which be- 

 longs to Heaven is symbol of the Ruler. If the Heavenly breath 

 is injured, and the Tao of the Euler is wounded, also the dragons 

 are injured. Their fights are symbols of weapons and shields'. 



1 Legge, Chinese Classics, Vol. V, Part II, pp. 674 sq. (Book X, year XIX). 



2 ^ ;J5|t > a work on divination, quoted by the T. S., Ch. "ISO, ^ ^ ^ ^ , p. 3a. 



4 |5| #, Ch. XXIII, nr 18, ^ fj ,^, ^ "p , p. 17a. 



5 *^ f@ i. tr # ' "^f- "^"^ ^ROOT, Vol. V, p. 491, note 1 : "A work based on 

 a section of the Shu king entitled Hung fan or The Great Plan. It seems to have 

 been held in great esteem in the sixth century as an expositor of prognostics. It was 

 then composed of eleven chapters, -with a commentarv bv Liu Hiancr sn that it mnot 



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