124 



§ 5. Ming Hwang's vessel was moved forward by a dragon. 



Also in later times dragons were said to assist Emperors, as 

 was the case in the T'ien pao era (742 — 765), when a small 

 dragon arose from a pond the evening before the Emperor Ming 

 Hwang, conquered by the rebel Ngan Luh-shan, left the caplital 

 and fled to the South. The dragon went in the same direction 

 and, when the Emperor crossed a river, the animal appeared in 

 the water and carried the ship forward on its back. His Majesty, 

 deeply moved by the dragon's loyalty, thanked it and gave 

 it wine \ 



§ 6. Two yellow dragons threatened to upset Yu's vessel. 



Sometimes, however, the dragons of rivers and seas caused 

 trouble even to Emperors. Thus two yellow dragons threatened 

 to upset Til's vessel by taking it on its back, when His Majesty 

 crossed the Yang-tsze kiang; but Yii, not in the least frightened, 

 laughed and said: "I received my appointment from Heaven 

 and do my utmost to nourish men. To be born is the course of 

 nature; to die is by Heaven's decree. Why be troubled by the 

 dragons?" The dragons, on hearing these words, fled, dragging 

 their tails ^. 



§ 7. Shi Hwang died on account of having killed a dragon- 



Another Emperor was severely punished for having killed a 

 dragon. This was Shi Hwang, the founder of the Ts'^in dynasty 

 (246 — 210 B. C), who was so anxious to have a long life, that 

 he was highly rejoiced when two sien came, pretending to know 



1 Ta^ze-liu shi kiu wen, lAt Wl\ ^ ^ ft| , written in the T'ang dynasty by 

 Li TEH--VU, ^ ^^ *& . In the same way the vessel of Wu Suh, king of Wu and 

 Yueh (i.e. Tb'^ien Liu, A. D. 851 — 932), which in 909 ran on a rock and could not 

 advance, was carried forward by two dragons, amidst heavy rain, thunder and lightning 

 {Shih-kwoh Ch^un-tn'iu , -j-" 1^ ^^ ^^- written in the latter half of the 17th 



century by Wu JEy-CH'EN, .S- Y^ ff ; according to De Groot, Rel. Syst., Vol. IV, 

 p. 327, "a rathei' apocryphical history" (of ten small states which existed between the 

 Tang and Sung 'dynasties) (Wylie, p. 41). T. S., same section, Ch. 129, ^ ^ ~~'. ^ 

 p. 14a. 



2 Bamboo Annals, Ch, III, Legge, 1.1., p. 118; cf, Hwai nan tsze, Ch. VII, ^^ 

 Sill =trl r, Q 



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