CHAPTER XI

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SUPERSTITIONS REGARDING THE POWERS OF NATURE.

The Sun, Moon and Stars, and Beliefs regarding them—The Lunar Goddess, Frog, Toad, Hare, &c.—Planetary Influences—Cosmical Phenomena and Native Records—The “Old Man of the Moon”—The Goddess of the Moon—The Lunar Hare and its Legend—The Moon and Tides—The Sun and Chinese Beliefs regarding it—Stars and Planets, Chinese Legends respecting them—The Mirage—Meteors and their Portentous Attributes—Thunder and Lightning—The God of Fire—A Peking Legend—“Fire Pigeons”—Mountains and their Presiding Divinities—Legends respecting the Formation of Islands—The Rain God and his Misdeeds—A would-be “Rain-priest”—Superstitions as to Tides—Earthquakes—Natural Hairs—Blood from the Sky—The Legend of Lake Man—Emission of the Chiao—Blood from the Earth—Dragons and Waterspouts—Human Beings Transformed into Stone—A Fall of Chinese Manna, pp. 115–128.

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