Chapter XXXII: Appendix: To the Chapter on the Sea-Serpent

THE SHAN.[331]

"The _Shăn_ belongs to the snake species."

"The _Tsah Ping Shu_ (Work on Military Science) says: 'In drilling an army,[332] when you arrange it like the _Shăn_ expelling its breath, its appearance is like that of a snake, but the waist is large; below there are scales, running backwards.'

"One says that its form is like that of the Ch‘i-lung, which has ears and horns and a mane of a red colour. When it exhales its breath, it forms a cloud just like a palace or tower, looking as if its walls are moving in a cloud of mist, or like a weary bird flying above. This makes everyone feel very happy until the exhalation or snorting of the breath is finished.

"There is a popular saying about building a _Shăn_ tower. When the sky appears to rain you can see a resemblance of it.

"The _Shi-Ki_ (Book of Odes or Classical Poetry) uses the expression, 'The _Shăn's_ breath forms a tower'; it is in allusion to this.

"At the present day it is said that the _Chi_ (a pheasant or francolin[333]) and the snake copulate and produce the _Shăn_.

"The oily substance of _Shăn_ combined with wax makes the Chinese wax candles, the fragrance of which, when burning, can be recognized for one hundred feet in all directions; and the smoke emitted from the flame forms the appearance of a tower."

"The _Pih T‘an_ (Familiar Stories) says that at Tang-cheu (in Shantung), in the midst of the sea, there are often clouds arise and appear like the imperial palace, or towers of the city walls, and there is also an appearance of people, carriages, and horses busily engaged [mirage?]. They call this phenomenon 'the market of the sea,' while others say it is but the breath of the _Shăn Kiao_.

"The _Wu Léi Siang Kan Chi_ says the _Shăn_ is but another sort of dragon, and can be found in some of the ponds and wells. They throw out the air, forming rain as in the locality of Wu San Yin.

"The _P‘i Ya Kwang Yao_ says, when a snake transforms it becomes a _shăn_, in the likeness of the _Kiao_, but without paws."