The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-06-06
CONCERNING DRAGONS.
FROM LEGENDS OF OLD JAPAN
BIZ ROGER RIORDAN.

Copyright, 1897, by S. S. McClure.)
In the time OF the Tang dynasty GOO
to 900 A ID a big tree in the province
of Tai was struck by lightning and
partly rent asunder, but the two halves
sprung together again. and the thunder
Vas caught in the cleft. There he
spent the day, crying and groaning, but
nobody ventured near, until the gov
ernor Of the province went and asked:
What is the inatter?"
Said the Thunder: "A revolving
dragon was MD in this tree. Heaven
ordered me to strike him, but here have
l been caught, and cannot escape. If
your exceliency Will take measures to
liberate me you snail be repaid with
abundant hap Illness"
The governor ordered carpenter to
cut open the tree, but il is not upon
record in what manner the Thunder re-
warded his deliverers.
Nevertheless, on another such occa-
sion, certain scholar. one YeD-tchin
tcheon, while standing under a tree to
avoid shower. had the good fortune
TO perform for the thunder a similar
service. Next day the grateful thun-
der paid him visit and presented him
with "a magnificent writing set. 1t is
said that thunder never strikes a man
except by inadvertence. Usually he is
in pursuit of a dragon, and the unfor
tunate man happens to get in the way.
The dragon is the god of weather, of
clouds. rain and water There is a feud
between him and the thunder. He does
not fear to send down rain, because he
is commanded to do so by the superior
gods but, his duty performed, he is at
the thunder's mercy. and is frequently
reduced to hide himself in the most ex-
traordinary places. He has been known
to run into a cows horn, into a priests
ear, and he often takes refuge in the
waterspout of a house. The priest, Tao
tsen, once saw, to his surprise, a small
white spot in the shape of a dragon ap-
pear on his finger nail. 1t was thunder
ing heavily at the time, and there was
but little light in the room. He put
his hand out of the window. the better
to observe the strange looking spot
which had come so suddenly and in
stantly there was a flash and a crash.
and half the finger was taken clear
away. More lucky was the old woman
who, during a thunderstorm, afraid of
a leak i'll her bedroom, went to see. The
thunder, who mad been providing about
the house, followed, and what was the
good ladv'S establishment to see a
dragon emerge from under her pillow
and fly out of the door, the thunder
after him. There was a battle roval
between them in the street, but the old
woman escaped uninjured.
It thus appears that the dragon has
by no means an easy time of it, He
has other enemies besides the thunder.
Tigers and limos are his aversion. A
tame lion was once tied to the post of
a well, when a dragon, who had made
his home there, SDrang up in a great
fright and assembled into the clouds.
The phoenix, too, hunts dragons Tor
their brains, which he considers a great
delicacy. In the annals of the Tang
dynasty it appears that two of the
breed were once chased by a phoenix.
They dropped to the gronud at a place
called Kwa-in and became two streams.
The water OF one of the streams is red
in color, because the dragon was
scratched by the phoenix and blood ran
from the wound.
Harrassed in this way. it is not very
surprising that theI dragon should have
formed the habit of carrying his life
outside of his body. He usually put it
for safe keeping in a crystal ball or a
large pearl, which he carries ordinarily
between the scales under his chin.
Should he be attacked he may drop the
precious receptacle into deep pool,
and pearl fishers have been known to
leave an uncommonly fine pearl where
they found it, lest the dragon should
come to claim it and do them an in
jury.
The horn of the. dragon is like that
of the deer; its head is like that of a
camel; it has the eyes of a demon, the
neck and tail of aisnake. the belly of a
clam. the claw of a hawk, the ears of a
bull and the scales of a fish. But there
are many varieties and each has its
appropriate charges Some mount guard
over prisons. some live in water, some
in smoke, and among the dragon prog
eny are the patrons of singing and