an emissary, who was the colour of brass, and had the form of a dragon. There shone from him rays illuminating the sky. Prostrating myself twice I asked him, saying: What gifts would be acceptable to the Ocean Spirit? He answered: Well-born youths and young virgins, together with craftsmen of all kinds. Thus the herb may be obtained.'
This delighted the Ch‘in Emperor, who sent three thousand youths and maidens, as well as seeds of the five kinds of grain and artificers of all kinds. Then Hsü Fu set sail, and found a peaceful and fertile land. There he stopped and made himself king, and returned not."[1]This ending of the tale hardly tallies with that told much earlier in the Record. Apparently the event there described took place just before the Emperor's death, and nine years after he had despatched the great expedition. He is shown again skirting the sea-shore in the course of one of his frequent tours of the empire, still loth to abandon hope of meeting some sailor from whom he might gain possession of the magic plant of immortality. The passage runs thus:
"The magician Hsü Shih and others had sailed in quest of the herb of immortality, and several years had passed without their having found it. Because of the great wealth expended thereon, and their consequent fear of blame, they made the following false statement: 'It is possible to find the herb of P‘êng-lai, but we have always been prevented by the great shark, and that is why we have failed to reach it. We would propose that a good archer be added to our company, so that when the fish appears he will shoot arrows at it from a cross-bow so made that several can be discharged in quick succession.' "[2]
- ↑ Shih Chi, cxviii. p. 11.
- ↑ Shih Chi, vi. p. 27 r. In connection with the two foregoing passages, Laufer, Open Court, June 1913, interprets a scene in one of the famous Han sculptures as representing the envoy of the First Emperor requesting the magic fungus from the Ocean Spirit, who with his guards and marine monsters protect the sanctity of the Isles of the Blest. This view is not, however, shared by Chavannes, who sees in the bas-relief a picture of the Lord of the Yellow River surrounded by his aquatic subjects. Miss. Archéol, dans la Chine Sept. i. pp. 207, 208, 287.
