28 CHINESE METAPHORICAL ZOOLOGY 



A beautiful girl is often said to cause the fish to dive and 

 the geese to settle — from envy at her fairness ( #C J& t£ )H§), 

 while if she is the proud possessor of a head like a cicada and 

 moth-like eyebrows (if II), together with a wasp-like 

 waist and the lissom back of a gibbon ($&, Jg! !» If ), she is 

 considered fully up to the standard necessary to take a prize 

 in a beauty show. It would not, however, be fully in 

 accordance with the Book of Etiquette to compare a strictly 

 virtuous lady to a pheasant, as this bird is apt to fly rather 

 wild ! A young man fascinated by a charming woman is 

 certainly in the position of a moth caught by the lamp 

 ( H i§£ $£ ■%" ). Of a woman, who is trying in vain to get 

 married, it would be remarked that she was seeking for a 

 male phoenix without success' ($M^c^). A widow is 

 described as a mateless goose flying alone ( 3& M S M .) 

 To have only one wife is generally advised — though the 

 Chinese are polygamous — on the principle that one saddle is 

 sufficient for each horse ( — S ~* He). 



Birds in their little nests should agree, but unfortunately 

 they occasionally fall out ! Family characteristics vary, or, 

 as the Chinese express it, the dragon has nine kinds of 

 offspring (— fl % fl ), 2 and the members of a human family 

 cannot always be said to resemble the badgers of one mound 



2 According to the Ch'ien Ch'iieh Lei Shu ( ^ J|| ^ fl|), by Ch'en 

 Jen-hsi (g^ f" $fj,), the dragon has nine kinds of offspring, which are 

 not regular dragons, and each has its peculiarities. They are res- 

 pectively :— 



(1) The P'u-lao (|j|2£), carved on the tops of bells and 

 gongs, in token of its habit of crying out loudly when attacked 

 by its arch-enemy the whale ; 



(2) The Ch'iu-niu (UJ^f*), carved on the screws of fiddles, 

 owing; to its taste for music ; 



(3) The Pi-hsi (^ Jjfl[), carved on the top of stone tablets, 

 since it was fond of literature ; 



(4) The Pa-hsia (§§ "j*) 3 carved at the bottom of stone 

 monuments, as it was able to support heavy weights ; 



(5) The Ch'ao-feng (n§{j S5,), carved on the eaves of temples, 

 owing to its liking for danger ; 



(6) The Ch'ih-wen (BUfljJ), carved on the beams of bridges, 

 because of its fondness for water, and also placed on the roofs of 

 buildings as a charm to keep off fire. Sometimes symbolised by 

 the figure of a fish with uplifted tail ; 



(7) The Svan-ni (^§^), carved on Buddha's throne, on 

 account of its partiality for resting ; 



(8) The Yai-tzu (@ ftlfc), carved on sword-hilts, in memory 

 of its lust for slaughter ; 



(9) The Pi-han (^Jf), carved on prison gates, as it was 

 addicted to litigation and quarrelling. 



A slightly different collection of these nine monsters is given in the' 

 Sheng An Wai Chi (fV )& fc%). 



