Chapter XIII: Fables and Proverbial Lore (11)

[135] Do you remember the German story of the lad who travelled “um das gruseln zu lernen” (to learn how to tremble)? Well, I, who never gruselte (quaked) before, had a touch of it a few evenings ago. I was sitting here quietly drinking tea and four or five men were present, when a cat came to the door. I called “bis, bis,” and offered milk, but puss, after looking at us, ran away. “Well dost thou, lady,” said a quiet sensible man, a merchant here, “to be kind to the cat, for I dare say he gets little enough at home; his father, poor man, cannot cook for his children every day.” And then, in an explanatory tone to the company, “That is Alee Nasseeree’s boy Yussuf—it must be Yussuf, because his fellow twin Ismaeen is with his mule at Negadeh.” Mir gruselte (I shivered), I confess; not but what I have heard things almost as absurd from gentlemen and ladies in Europe; but an “extravagance” in a kuftan has quite a different effect from one in a tail-coat. “What! my butcher’s boy who brings the meat—a cat!” I gasped. “To be sure, and he knows well where to look for a bit of good cookery, you see. All twins go out as cats at night, if they go to sleep hungry; and their own bodies lie at home like dead meanwhile, but no one must touch them, or they would die. When they grow up to ten or twelve they leave it off. Why, your own boy Achmet does it. Oh, Achmet!” Achmet appears. “Boy, don’t you go out as a cat at night?” “No,” said Achmet, tranquilly, “I am not a twin—my sister’s sons do.” I inquired if people were not afraid of such cats. “No, there is no fear, they only eat a little of the cookery; but if you beat them they will tell their parents, next day, ‘So and so beat me in his house last night,’ and show their bruises. No, they are not Afreets; they are beni Adam; only twins do it, and if you give them a sort of onion broth and camel’s milk the first thing when they are born, they don’t do it at all.” Omar professed never to have heard it, but I am sure he had, only he dreads being laughed at. One of the American missionaries told me something like it, as belonging to the Copts, but it is entirely Egyptian, and common to both religions. I asked several Copts, who assured me it was true, and told it just the same. Is it a remnant of the doctrine of transmigration? However, the notion fully accounts for the horror the people feel at the idea of killing a cat.—Lady Duff Gordon’s Last Letters.

[136] Chalmers.

[137] 談徵 (tʻan chêng.) Sec. IV.

[138] 述異記 Shuh E Ké.

[139] Chinese Readers’ Manual, p. 61.

[140] A specimen of the still pervading superstition respecting the Fox, comes from Minatomura, in Ibaraki Ken, Japan. A man found a fox’s hole in his garden. At the same time his wife dreamt that she had seen a fox whom she was satisfied was none other than Inari-sama. Full of dread, the man put this and that together, and came to the conclusion that the hole must be the abode of Inari-sama, and he forthwith had a small temple put up over it. He then called for the Shinto priest; and after much ado, the matter got abroad, and crowds came to worship at this temple. At last the Saibansho officials of the Ken heard of what was going on, and sent for the man and his wife. The interview must have been somewhat disappointing to them, for the judges told them such superstitions now became criminal; and the punishment due for such follies was 40 days’ imprisonment. As, however, in this instance, it was clearly the result of extreme ignorance on the part of the interesting pair, they were let off with a fine of 3 yen.

[141] Brand’s Antiquities, Vol. II., p. 499, quoted from Randolph’s Amyntas.

[142] Mercutio’s speech, Romeo and Juliet.

[143] Brand’s Antiquities, Vol. II., p. 476.

[144] Quoted in Sir J. Bowring’s Flowery Scroll, p. 27.

[145] Ch. Reader’s Manual, p. 289.

[146] Ibid., p. 239.

[147] See Kitto’s Cyclopædia of Biblical Literature, Art. Serpents, too long for transcription in this place, but giving a most interesting sketch of serpent worship. Briefly summarized, it touches on the Naga Kings of Hinduism; the astronomical fables of the serpent Ananta, or the Milky Way, and the sun-and-moon-devouring dragons; the Scandinavian legend of the kater serpent of the deep; the Celtic, Basque and Asiatic legends of the dragon guardian of riches. “These fables were a residue of that antique dragon worship which had its temples from High Asia and Colchis to the North of Great Britain and once flourished both in Greece and Northern Africa—structures with avenues of upright stones of several miles in length whereof the ruins may still be traced at Carnak in Brittany, Abury in Wiltshire and Redruth in Cornwall.”... The author refers to the sect of Christian heretics known as Ophitæ or Ophiani, who were professed serpent worshippers; and he gives some curious details of the Egyptian Python worship, emblems of which have even been discovered in British Archæology.

[148] F. Porter Smith’s Chinese Materia Medica, Art. Snakes.

[149] Lei-fung-ta,—Chinese & Japanese Repository, Feb. 1864.

[150] Henderson’s Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties, p. 255.

[151] Ibid., p. 257.

[152] N. & Q. on C. & J., Vol. III., p. 74.

[153] Note on the San Chieh Miao: Notes & Queries on China & Japan, Vol. III., p. 76, by W. F. Mayers.

[154] Mr. Waring quotes from the “Plutus” of Aristophanes a passage which alludes to the keeping of tame snakes in the Greek temples. The author thinks that it “was regarded rather as a symbol of Power, Wisdom, and Life, than as an actual deity.”

[155] Notes and Queries on China and Japan, Vol. II., p. 130.

[156] Notes and Queries on China and Japan, Vol. III., p. 34.

[157] 龍從雲虎從風.

[158] Notes and Queries on China and Japan, Vol. I., p. 148.

[159] Middle Kingdom, I. p. 266.

[160] Whilst writing the above my attention has been directed to the following interesting paragraph in the Calcutta Englishman:—“A long discussion is being carried on in the last papers received from the Cape as to the existence or non-existence of the unicorn. Mr. G. R. Blanche, who has travelled extensively in Namaqualand, mentions that in some large stone-caves on the banks of a river called Makapwe, he saw pictures drawn by Bush-men, which included elephants, rhinoceroses, unicorns, and gemsboks, and one old Bushman told him that he had actually seen the animal alive, and that it was very fierce. None, however, had been seen for some years. The Macacas stated that to the north of their town, on the river Teoga, large numbers of unicorns are still to be seen, and Mr. Blanche considers that in the vast region of unexplored territory between the Zambesi and Lebaby’s country they may still be in existence. Mr. Thomas Baines, another well-known African traveller and naturalist, says that the existence of such an animal has never been disproved, and that it might be found in this unexplored country, for else where did the bush-men obtain the subject for the pictures they have drawn?”

[161] Dr. Legge’s Chinese Classics, Vol. III., pt. I. pref., p. 108.

[162] Transactions N. C. B. R. A. S., 1853, p. 36.

[163] N. &. Q. on C. & J., Vol. III., p. 123.

[164] Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, 1st Series, p. 191. Mayers’ Chinese Readers’ Manual, pp. 95, 219, 288. Eitel’s Handbook of Chinese Buddhism, Art. Sakchi.

[165] Chinese Readers’ Manual, p. 75.

[166] Percival’s Tamil Proverbs.

[167] Lei-chau, (thunder district) is a long mountainous peninsula in Canton province opposite the island of Hainan, and is celebrated throughout China for several myths respecting its thunder-storms, which doubtless reverberate through the alpine regions of that latitude in a manner which awakens awe and superstition. Standard Encyclopædias, quoting from various authors on the subject, inform us, that after thunder-storms black stones are found emitting light and a sonorous sound on being struck. At times, also, hatchet-shaped things are picked up which are useful amulets. The fields are often furrowed by thunder as if they had been ploughed. In a temple consecrated to the “Thunder Duke,” the people annually place a drum, drawn thither on a carriage purposely constructed, which it is supposed he beats during a storm; and it is said that since a drum covered with paper has been substituted for one covered with leather, the peals of thunder have been less severe. Formerly the drum was placed on the top of a mountain, and a boy left there as an attendant on the thunderer—a sort of sacrifice to him.—Dr. Macgowan, in Journal N. C. B. R. A. S., 1853.

[168] See Dr. Edkins’ “Taoist Mythology” in N. C. B. R. A. S. Journal for 1859, p. 311. A North American Indian superstition is to the effect that thunder is caused by an immense bird, whose outspread wings darken the heavens. It is named “Then-cloots.” The lightning is caused by a serpent-like fish of immense size, with head as sharp as a knife. When he puts out his tongue it makes the lightning. Its name is “Ha-hake-to-ak,” and the thunder-bird catches it for food. The bird is in shape like an Indian, but of great proportions and strength. It lives on the top of the mountains. An Indian once found the nest of a thunder-bird and got one of its feathers which was over 200 feet long!—American Magazine.

[169] Mayers’ Chinese Readers’ Manual, p. 283.

[170] “The Tidal King Temple is near Hangchow. Its shên (or god) was an official, who in 828 A.D. undertook the restoration of a dyke, which an Eagre of unusual violence had overthrown; and failing in the construction of the foundation, drowned himself from chagrin. He afterwards became a shên and three centuries later, on the occasion of a combat between the people and rebels, who were attempting to capture Hangchau, his name was seen inscribed on a streamer in the darkened sky, where also unearthly noises were heard. The enemy instantly succumbed.”

[171] See Dr. Macgowan’s article, before alluded to.

[172] Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, first series, p. 197.

[173] Indo-European Tradition and Folk-lore, p. 216.

[174] Legends of Iceland, p. 140.

[175] China Review, Vol. II., p. 226.

[176] Servian Folk-lore, p. 295.

[177] C. & J. Repository, Vol. I., p. 345.

[178] See N. & Q. on China & Japan, Vol. I., p. 140.

[179] Eitel’s Handbook of Buddhism, Art. Bodhidharma.

[180] Translated by G. Phillips, Esq., of H.B.M. Consular Service in China.

[181] Indo-European Traditions & Folk-lore, p. 158.

[182] Mr. T. Sampson in N. & Q. on China & Japan, Vol. III. p. 147.

[183] See Wylie’s Notes on Chinese Literature, p. 166.

[184] China Review, Vol. III., No. 3, p. 129.

[185] Dr. Williams renders Tʻien, “Providence Nature, Heaven, the overruling power; and though without definite personality, employed more than any other term to indicate God.”