In Mexico the colours white, red, and yellow were connected with different internal organs, and black with a disembowelled condition.
It is evident that the sea and land traders carried their strange stocks of medical knowledge over vast areas. It is not without significance to find in this connection that, [[63]]according to Chinese belief, there was an island on which dragons’ bones were found.
The dragons are not only rain-gods and gods of the four quarters and the seasons, but also “light-gods”, connected with sun and moon, day and night. In the Yih lin there is a reference to a black dragon which vomits light and causes darkness to turn into light. The mountain dragon of Mount Chung is called the “Enlightener of Darkness”. “When it opens its eyes it is day, when it shuts its eyes it is night. Blowing he makes winter, exhaling he makes summer. The wind is its breath.”[37]
In like manner the Egyptian Ra and Ptah are universal gods, the sun and moon being their “eyes”. Even Osiris, as far back as the Pyramid period, was the source of all life and a world-god. He was addressed: “The soil is on thy arm, its corners are upon thee as far as the four pillars of the sky. When thou movest the earth trembles.… As for thee, the Nile comes forth from the sweat of thy hands. Thou spewest out the wind.…”[38] Osiris sent water to bring fertility as do the dragons, air for the life-breath of man and beast, and also light, which was, of course, fire (the heat which is life).
The idea of the life-principle being in fire and water lies behind Wang Fu’s statement: “Dragon fire and human fire are opposite. If dragon fire comes into contact with wetness, it flames; and if it meets water, it burns. If one drives it (the dragon) away by means of fire, it stops burning and its flames are extinguished.”[39] Celestial fire is something different from ordinary fire. [[64]]The “vital spark” is of celestial origin—purer and holier than ordinary fire. Dragon skins, even when cast off, shine by night. So do pearls, coral, and precious stones “shine in darkness” in the Chinese myths.
One traces the influence of the solar cult in the idea that the dragon’s vital spirit is in its eyes. It is because iron blinds a dragon that it fears that metal. In Egypt the eye of Horus is blinded by Set, whose metal is iron.
There is a quaint mixture of religious ideas in the Chinese custom of carrying in procession through the streets, on the 15th of the first month, a dragon made of bamboo, linen, and paper. In front of it is borne a red ball. De Groot says that this is the azure dragon, the head of which rose as a star to usher in spring at the beginning.[40] In like manner the Egyptian “spring” is ushered in by the star Sirius, the mother of the sun, from which falls a tear that causes the inundation. But although the red ball may have been a solar symbol, it is also connected with the moon. The Chinese themselves call the ball “The Pearl of Heaven”—that is, “the moon”. An inscription on porcelain brings this out clearly. Mr. Blacker has translated the text below two dragons rushing towards a ball as “A couple of dragons facing the moon”.[41] The dragons were not only moon- and sun-“devourers” who caused eclipses, but guardians of these orbs in their capacities as gods of the four quarters.
The all-absorbing dragon appears even as a vampire. A tiger-headed dragon with the body of a snake seizes human beings, covers them with saliva, and sucks blood from under their armpits. “No blood is left when they stop sucking.”[42] In Japanese legends dragons as white [[65]]eels draw blood from the legs of horses that enter a river.[43] Evil or sick dragons send bad rain.
The gods ride on dragons, and therefore emperors and holy men can also use them as vehicles. Yu, the founder of the Hea Dynasty, had a carriage drawn by two dragons. Ghosts sometimes appear riding on dragons and wearing blue hats. The souls of the dead are conveyed to the Celestial regions by the winged gods. Dragons appear when great men are born.[44] Emperors had dragon ancestors. The Emperor Yaou was the son of a red dragon; one Japanese emperor had a dragon’s tail, being a descendant of the sea-god.[45]
In the next chapter it will be shown that in Chinese dragon-lore it is possible to detect with certainty the sources of certain “layers” that were superimposed on primitive conceptions regarding these deities. [[66]]