48 



to the sky and the black one fell on the earth and died *. As • 

 black was the colour of the Later (i. e. Northern) Cheu dynasty, 

 these dragon fights- were forebodings of its approaching fall, which 

 actually took place two years later. 



As to inundations announced beforehand by dragon fights, we 

 may refer to the History of the Sung dynasty ^ where we read 

 that in the fifth year of the K^ien Tao era (A. D. 1169) such a 

 battle in the air was seen amidst a heavy thunderstorm. "Two 

 dragons fled and pearls like carriage wheels fell down on the 

 ground, where they were found by herdsboys. In the following 

 years inundations afflicted the country". 



Sometimes dragon fights are mentioned not as omens, but only 

 as causing heavy storms which destroyed a large number of 

 houses and government buildings and killed hundreds of people, 

 carrying them into the air together with their domestic animals, 

 trees and tiles, over a length of more than ten miles. Such a 

 storm raged in the fourth month of the ninth year of the Hwang 

 t^ung era (1149) above the Yu lin river in Li cheu '. 



Devastation caused by lightning was believed to be the result 

 of sacred fire, sent by Heaven to stop dragon fights. "In the 

 fifth month of the year yih-wei (probably 1295) on a place near 

 the lake at I hing, all of a sudden there were two dragons which 

 twisting around each other and fighting both fell into the lake. 

 Their length had no sharp limits. In a short space of time a 

 heavy wind came riding on the water, which reached a height 

 of more than a chang (ten ch'^ih or feet). Theti there fell from 

 the sky more than ten fire balls, having the size of houses of 

 ten divisions. The two dragons immediately ascen ded (to the sky), 

 for Heaven, a fraid that they might cause calamity, sent out 

 sacred fire to drive them away. Supposed that Heaven had been 

 a little remiss for a moment, then within a hundred miles 

 everything would have turned into gigantic torrents. When I 

 recently passed by boat the Peachgarden of Teh Ts'ing, those 



1 Wang Shao chw^en, ^ -Sj^ 'jS , "Biography of Wang Shao", Books of the Sui 

 dynasty, Ch. LXIX, ^|j ^ , nr 34, p. 2a. 



2 Sect, i ^ ^, (Ch. 61-67): % M ^ ^ -t ^ Z. ^ ^^ 



3 Kin shi, -^ ^, History of the Kin Dynasty (A. D. 1206—1368), Ch. XXIII, 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



