56 



the second year of the reign of the Emperor Hwei (B. C. 193), 

 in the morning of the hwei-yiu day of the first month, there 

 were two dragons which appeared in a well at Li-wen-ling (a 

 village), east of the palace of Lan-ling. They were seen till the- 

 evening of the yih-hai day ; then they went avray. Liu Hiang is 

 of the following opinion: 'If a dragon, a symbol of dignity, is 

 in straits in the well of a commoner, this means calamity consisting 

 in a feudal lord being about to be secretly seized' '. Afterwards 

 the Empress-Dowager Lil secretly killed Ch'u, the king of San 

 Chao \ and also Lii was finally murdered. King-fang says in his 

 Tih chw^en^: 'When those who have virtue meet injuries (i.e. 

 are put to death), the bad omens of this are that dragons appear 

 in wells'. Further, he says : 'In cases of execution or violent cruelty 

 black dragons come out of wells' ". * 



The '^Biography of Chang Wen-piao of Ch'u" '^ gives the following 

 tale. "When Wen-piao was going to plot his. rebellion and, still 

 being engaged in preparing it, had not yet settled (his plans), one of 

 his followers dreamt at night that a dragon was coiling above 

 Wen-piao's chin. Wen-piao was very much rejoiced and said T 

 'This is Heaven's appointment' (to the Throne, i. e. it is a sign 

 that 1 shall ascend the Throne). Then he settled his plans, raised 

 troops, and was defeated. Men of knowledge said : 'As the dragon 

 is a divine being and yet came out of his chin, this was an omen 

 that calamity should be at work and that his shen (soul) should 

 go away ' ". " Here again the dragon appeared in a wrong place. 



§ 3. Dragon horses. 

 The Li hi ' says : "The Ho (river) sent forth the horse with 



/t la ft ^ IS o 



2 Cf. Giles, 1.1. p. 553, nr 1442, s. v. Lu Hon: "To make the throne secure, she 

 poisoned the Prince of Chao, another son of the late Emperor by a concubine"- 



^ M 51 ^ ^ # ' 1"°^«<i T. S. Ch. 129, f I ^ IE * ^ ' P- ^*«- 



7 Legge, Sacred Books of the East, Vol. XXVII, Book VII (Li yun), Sect. , IV, nr 16, 

 p. 392. CouvREUR, Li ki, Vol. I, p. 536: ^gf Hi iH HI . 



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