67 



rains, and those who speak about these rains say : 'Fine moistening 

 rain is heavenly i-ain, violent rain is dragon rain'. Dragon fire 

 and human fire are opposite. If dragon fire comes into contact 

 with wetness it flames, and if it meets water it burns. If one 

 drives it away by means of fire, it stops burning and its flames 

 are extinguished". 



The PH ya ' states the same fact with regard to the dragon 

 fire, referring to the Nei tien, and in the same passage says the 

 following ^ : "The dragons are also born from e ggs. When they 

 intend ^ to ha tch, th e male dragon's_cry^jnak es the w in d rise, an d ^ 

 tEe fem ale Hragon^ cry mak es^jthe w ind abate. and_ the_wind_ 

 ~T;KangejT._..^ . . Acjiojrding to popuiar_beHef^the Jragon's vital 

 Spirit l ies in his eyes, for this is the case becaus e he is deaf. 

 The 'Discussions "onthe^spoifEatreous— phenomena "of Yin and 

 Yang" ^ say : 'The li-Iung's * pupils see a mustard plant or a straw 

 at a distance of a hundred miles'. Further they say 'A dragon 

 ca n make ( l itt. change) water, a man can ma.ke fire' . Further: 

 'A dragon does not see stones, a man does not see the wind, 

 fishes d o not_ see the_3ai£Ey--de»eB3 d o— a &fr— see— the— earibl— 

 " ISuN Uh^oh tsze ^ saysT "Kao Tsu (probably the Emperor of the Han 

 dynasty, who reigned B. C. 206 — 159) drove in a dragon carriage, 

 Kwang Wu (who reigned A. D. 685 — 717) drove in a tiger 

 carriage' ". 



§ 3. What dragons like and dislike. 



The 'Rh ya yih, iu the passage of Wang Fp above mentioned, 

 says: "As to his character as a being the dragon's nature is 

 rough and fierce; yet he is afraid of iron and likes precious 



1 Ch. I (^ J|), nr 1 (f|), p. 2b: ^ ^^ ^ , %% 'K % :^M ^ . 



2 Ibidem, p. ia, 2a: f| :^> ^^ ^ ^ .© ft 11 Hi ± M. . ll^ Rl T 



nrfiiiii^o -^^.fi^i^s. m.m%^m^ 



^ o X . f i bM ;^ > A bM ;^ . X . f i T> ^:S . 



3 The same work is quoted in the Pen-Wao kang-muh, Ch. 43, p. 40, with the 

 title: Yin-yang pien-kwa lun, "Discussions on the phenomena of Yin and Yang". The 

 fact that it is quoted in the PS ya proves that it dates from the eleventh century or earlier. 



' §g , 5 A famous poet of the 4th century A. D. 



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