127 



in the mountains in the shape of an old man with a yellow robe. 

 The Kwang-sin-fu chi^ contains a story about a ^iJM-sorcerer, who 

 in the beginning of the Sung dynasty was praying for rain above 

 a well, when he fell into it in trying to catch the white cow horn 

 on which he had blown and which suddenly dropped out of his 

 hands. At the bottom of the well he saw a majestic old man, 

 sitting in a tower in the water, with the horn in his hands. 

 This was the dragon of the well, who for this time allowed him 

 to return and gave him back the horn on condition that he 

 never should make noise near the well again. But at the next 

 drought the man forgot his promise and blew on the horn above 

 the well like before. This was too much for the dragon, who 

 made both horn and man tumble into the water, and this time 

 the sorcerer was drowned. Afterwards he appeared to one of the 

 villagers in a dream and at his advice a shrine was erected in honour 

 of the dragon, who thenceforward heard their prayers for rain. 

 Also the Yiu-yang tsah tsu ^ mentions dragons which assumed 

 the shapes of old men, as well as of beautiful women ^ Liu 

 TsuNG-TUEN * tells how a dragon which was punished by the 

 Emperor of Heaven fell down upon the earth in the shape of a 

 woman, spreading a brilliant light. She had to stay there for 

 seven days, and then, after having drunk some water, her breath 

 became a cloudy vapour, she changed into a white dragon, and 

 flew up to Heaven. 



§ 3. Appearing as fishes. 

 Transformations of dragons into fishes are to be found as well 



1 J@ ^ jjiyl ^, "Memoirs of the department of Kwang-sin (in Kiang-si pro- 

 vince)", quoted T. S. 1. 1., p. 16a. 



2 Ch. II and VI; T. S., same section, a.^lSI, f| i^^ ^|» |i^ - p. -'12a. 



3 Ch. VI. 



4 Mn ^ jrj (A. U. 773—819), one of the most celebrated poets and essayists of 

 the T'ang dynasty, f ^ ^t 1^' '^- ^■' ^^™^ section, Ch. 127, ^ ^ — 't P- ^b. 

 Another punishment of a dragon is mentioned -in the Yun sien tsah ki \ ^S '||lj ^ffi 

 gg) about which work De Geoot {Rel. Syst., Vol. IV, p. 289) says: "Ten chapters 



of miscellanies of doubtful authenticity, ascribed to one T'ung Chi, i^ ^ . of whom 

 nothing is known but the name. More likely, perhaps, the author was the learned 

 Wang Chih, ^ ^^, also named Sing-chi, *^ ^ , who flourished in the middle 

 part of the 12th century"), where a disobedient dragon is said to have had his ears cut 

 off by Heaven's punishment; the blood which dripped upon the earth produced a plum 

 tree with fleshy fruits without kernels. T. S., same section, Ch. 129, ^ ^ Zl-P^^a, 



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