風神 The spirits of the wind. In a 博異志 Record of strange things, we read, that " 崔玄微 Tsuy- heuen-wei was sitting alone one night in spring, when sud- denly a number of female companions passed before him, who called themselves 楊氏 Yang-she, 李氏 Le-she, 陶氏 Taou-she, &c. There was also a crimson-robed dam- sel, who said that her surname was 石 Shih, and her name 阿措 A-tsoo. They had scarcely seated themselves, be- fore the aunts of the 封 Fung family were reported to have arrived ; wine was then ordered, and the 十八夷 eighteen aunts in holding the cup upset the wine, and soiled A-tsoo's clothes. A-tsoo whisked her sleeve in a pet, and got up. The eighteen aunts said, we are only young damsels, sporting with wine. Whereupon they all retired. The next night they came again : when A-tsoo said, all we female companions dwell in this garden, and every year it is injured by blasts of fierce winds. I have constantly besought the eighteen aunts to afford us some protection ; last night I did not make myself agreeable to them, and thus find some difficulty in obtaining their aid; but if the scholar who lives here wishes to obtain their protection, he must make for us a red flag, with the sun, moon, and five planets delineated upon it : let him set up this flag to the east of the garden, and he will escape farther calamity. The scholar complied with this direction, and when the east wind shook the earth, none of the flowers in the garden were moved. He then understood that all the females he bad seen were the 精 fairies of the various flowers, that A-tsoo was the celebrated pomegranate of 安州 Gnan-chow, and that the 十八夷 eighteen aunts of the 封 Fung family, were the 風神 spirits of the wind" |
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