52 



SzE-MA Ts^iEN. "In olden times, when the rulers of the Hia dynasty- 

 were declining (in virtue and power), there were two divine 

 dragons which stopped at the palace of the Emperor and said : 

 'We are two rulers of Pao'. The Emperor ttied to find out by 

 divination whether he should kill them, send them away or keep 

 them, but to none of these questions he received a. favourable 

 answer. When he cast lots, however, as to the question whether 

 he should request (the dragons) to give him their foam to store 

 it away, the answer was favourable. Then a piece of cloth was 

 spread and a written communication was offered to them. The 

 dragons disappeared and their foam remained; it was put in a 

 case and stored away. When the Hia dynasty was lost, this case 

 was transmitted to (the House of) Yin ; when (the House of) . 

 Yin was lost, it was transmitted again to (the House of) Cheu; 

 During these three dynasties no one dared open it; but at the 

 end of the reign of King Li it was opened and looked into. The 

 foam flew through the palace and could not be removed. King 

 Li ordered his wives to undress and to raise cries in unison 

 (naked) against the foam. The foam changed into a black lizard * 

 and in this form entered the rear departments of the palace (the 

 female departments). A young concubine of the seraglio, who had 

 reached the age when one loses his milk-teeth (seven years), 

 met it. When she had reached the age when young girls put a 

 hair-pin in her hair (i. e. the age of fifteen, when they get 

 marriageable), she was pregnant. Without having a husband she 

 gave birth to a child, which she abandoned with fright. At the 

 time of King Silen (King Li's son) a little girl sung, saying: 'A 

 bow of wild mulberry wood and a quiver of reed are sure to 

 destroy the dynasty of Cheu'. King Silen heard this, and as 

 there were a married couple who sold these utensils, he ordered 

 them to be seized and put to death. They escaped and being 

 on the road saw lying there the child which the young con- 

 cubine of the seraglio had just abandoned. They heard it 

 crying in the night, pitied it and took it up. The man and his 

 wife then fled to (the land of) Pao. The people of Pao, having 

 committed some crime, asked for (permission to) present to the 

 King the girl whom, the young concubine had abandoned^ in 

 order to atone therewith for their misdeed. (Thus) the girl came 

 from Pao, and this became Pao Sze. In the third year of King 

 Yiu's reign the King went to the seraglio, saw Pao Szg and fell 



1 ^ ^ , hiXen yuen. Chavannes (p. 282, note 5) remarks that yuen, which means 



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