70 



legend to be found in the THen chung ki ', where we read the 

 following. In A. D. 762 the dike of a river was broken, and 

 each time when the repairs were nearly finished, it broke again. 

 At last somebody told that in the time of the Emperor Wu of 

 the Liang dynastj'^ (who reigned from A. D. 502 to 549) in a 

 similar case thousands of pounds of iron were buried under the 

 dike, whereupon the work could be completed. On hearing these 

 words the superintendent of the work ordered to do the same, 

 and lo! the thundering noise under the ground was no longer 

 heard on the spot where the iron was laid, but gradually went 

 away, and the dike was soon repaired. "The reason may be", 

 says the author, "that the eyes of the dragons are hurt by the 

 pungent nature (litt. taste) of iron or gold, and that they flee 

 to protect their eyes". —-"' 



§ 4. Shape of the dragons- 



Wang Tu ' says : "The people paint the dragon's shape with a 

 horse's head and a snake's tail. Further, there are expressions as 

 'three joints' and 'nine resemblances' (of the dragon), to wit: 

 from head to shoulder, from shoulder to breast, from breast to 

 tail. T hese are the j oints ; as to the nine-resemblans es, they a re 



lead that. 



the fo llowing : his horns resemble those of a. sta.c 



of^arSjnaL, his eve§ those of ^a^d emon. his neck that oLa-snaJ^T' 



l ii^ belly th at~~of a clam (gAgw,~\^), his sca les those of a, carp ^, 

 TngLjsla-wg--SigsB---eJ^=: aj3^caglc, his so tes tho se of a ti ger ^ iis ea rs 



^^se__Qf_a_cow. U pon'"hir'iTC gdl.M-Jmi^^^^a--thin g like a broa d 

 em inence (ar b ig~Titm p), called chHh _m.u/^-j^--^|^).-I£-a-dEagQn 



The PH ya^ states that "the dragon's 81 scales form a number 



1 See above, p. 57, note 8; Ch. LVI. 



2 About this author see above, p. 66, note 3; this passage, quoted in the 'Rh ya 

 ijih, Sect. ^ f I (T. S., Ch. 127, f| ^ ^ :% , P- 6b), is not to be found in 



^Nx^o Fv's n^ien fu lun. j& j^ ^ M Z ^ M t ^t M . X^^ 



if m. Ati##tij^. mmm^ mm^. mia^'^. 



3 Ch. I (^ ^), „r 1 (f|), p. la: ft A + - ^ ^ ;/L ;^ :^ 



wt^.r I. ttpt .1. ^ti 



A^\U t^ m 



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