82 



§ 8. Rearing and taming dragons. 



In Chapter II (pp. 50 sqq,) we have referred to the Historical 

 Records with regard to the Emperor ICuDg Kiah of the Hia 

 dynasty^ in whose service Liu Lei tamed two dragons, sent down 

 by Heaven. This Liu L6i had learned the art from the Dragon-: 

 rearer family, and he himself obtained the family name Qi YU 

 lung, "Dragon-ruler". 



_ The Tso chvfen^ gives the same legend in the following 

 passage : "In autumn (of the 29th year of Chao kung, i. e. Chao, 

 duke of Lu, who reigned B. C. 541—509) a dragon appeared in 

 the suburbs of Kiang. Wei Hien tsze asked Ts'ai Mih saying: ^ 

 have hea,rd that none of the animals is the dragon's equal in 

 "kno wledge, and that for this reason the drago n cann ot be caugh t 

 'al im Can we believe th at it is right to ascnbeThis (his not 

 ^^g, caught alive) to his~knowtedge?' lIil~^eplied-r-'Men~ really 

 do not know; it is not that the dragon is really knowing. The 

 ancients kept dragons; therefore the State had a Dragon-rearer 

 family {Hwan-lurig sW^) and a Dragon-ruler family (Tw-^Mn^sAi^)'. 

 Hien tsze said : 'I too have heard about those two families, but 

 I do not know their origin; w;hat is it said to be?' The answer 

 was: 'In olden times there was Shuh Ngan of Liu, who had a 

 distant descendant called Tung Fu, very fond of dragons and able 

 to find out ' their tastes and likings, so as to supply them with 

 drink and meat. Many dragons sought refuge with him and he 

 reared the dragons according to their nature in order to serve 

 the Emperor Shun, who gave him the surname of Tung, and the 

 family name of Hwan-lung (Dragon-rearer). He was [also] invested 

 with [the principality of] Tsung-chw^en, and the family of 

 Tsung I is of his posterity. Thus in the time of the Ernperor 

 Shun, and for generations after, dragons were reared. We come 

 [then] to K^ung Kiah of the Hia dynasty, who was so obedient 

 •4 and acceptable to the Emperor of Heaven, that the latter gave 

 him riding dragons, two, a male and a female, from the Hwang-ho, 

 and two from the Han river. K'ung Kiah could not feed them, 

 and had not yet found [members of the] Hwan lung family. 

 T'^ao T^ang (Yao)'s family having declined, one of his descendants 

 was Liu Lei, who learned the art of rearing dragons from the 

 'Dragon-rearer' family. With this he undertook to serve Kiting 



1 LeGQE, Chinese Classics, Vol. V, pp. .729 sqq.; Bdok X, year XXIX, par. 4. 



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