80 



troubled by the him. When they see a man, they first surround 

 him with stinlsing saliva, and after having made him tumble 

 into the water they suck his blood under his armpits. When he 

 has no blood left, they stop sucking". 

 / In the Pen-ts'ao hang-muh ' Li Shi-chen quotes the following 

 passage from the P^ii yuen kwang cheu ki'^: "The kiao is over a 

 chang long. It resembles a snake but has four feet and its shape 

 is broader, resembling the beam of a railing. It has a small head 

 and a thin neck. At its neck it has white tassels (a white 

 necklace ^). The upper part of its breast is reddish brown, the 

 upper part of its back is spotted with blue, the sides of its ribs 

 (flanks) are like brocade. Its tail has a fleshy ring. Big kiao are 

 several span thick, and their eggs are also larger (than those of 

 other kiao). They can lead fishes anfl fly. If people catch turtles, 

 the kiao can escape". 



As messengers from the River Lord (^Rf'fQ), the god of the 

 Yellow River, the kiao are mentioned in a story to be found in 

 the Poh wuh clii (3rd century) *. This god wished to deprive an 

 oflBcial, who crossed the river with a jade badge of ofiBce, of" 

 this precious object, and sent two kiao to seize the vessel. But 

 both were killed by the audacious man, who after having thrice 

 crossed the river threw the badge into the water as a present 

 to the River Lord, who danced with joy and took it home. 

 / Transformations of kiao into human shapes are the subjects of 

 several tales. The Wu ki'" tells the following: "Under the Emperor 

 Ta Ti of the Wu dynasty (A. D. 228—251), in the seventh month 

 of the third year of the Ch'ih-wu era (A. D. 240), there was a 

 certain Wang Shuh who gathered medicinal herbs on T'ieu Tai 

 mountain. At the hottest time of the day he took a rest under 

 a bridge, when suddenly he saw a little blue boy, over a foot 

 long, in the brook. The boy held a blue rush in his hand and 

 rode on a red carp. The fish straightly entered a cloud and 

 disappeared little by little. After a good while Shuh climbed 

 upon a high mountain top and looked to all four sides. He saw 

 wind and clouds arising above the sea, and in a moment a 

 thunderstorm broke forth. Suddenly it was about to reach Shuh, 

 who terrified hid himself in a hollow tree. When the sky cleared 

 up, he again saw the red carp on which the boy rode and the 



3 .ffl , probably the same as jfflM or jffi , 4 Ch. VII, p. 3a. 



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