[18] The Evolution of the Dragon, G. Elliot Smith, pp. 83 et seq. [↑]
[19] De Visser, The Dragon in China and Japan, p. 130. [↑]
[20] Westervelt’s Legends of Gods and Ghosts, p. 258. [↑]
[21] Buddhist India, pp. 224–5. [↑]
CHAPTER VII
Dragon Folk-stories
How Fish became Chinese Dragons—Fish forms of Teutonic and Celtic Gods—Dragon-slayers eat Dragons’ Hearts—The “Language of Birds”—Heart as Seat of Intelligence—Babylonian Dragon-Kupu—Polynesian Dragon-Kupua—Dragons and Medicinal Herbs—Story of Chinese Herbalist and “Red Cloud Herb”—“Boy Blue” and Red Carp as Forms of Black Dragon—Ignis Fatuus as “Dragon Lanterns”—“Heart Fire”—Story of Priest and Dragon-woman—The “Fire Nail” in Japan and Polynesia—The “Faith Cure” in Japan—The Magic Rush-mat—Grave Reed-mats, Skins, and Linen Wrappings—The Ephod—Melusina in Far East—Story of Wu and the Thunder Dragon.
In Chinese and Japanese folk-stories the dragons have fish forms or avatars. They may be eels, carps, or migratory fish like the salmon. It is believed that those fish that ascend a river’s “dragon gate” become dragons, while those that remain behind continue to be fish. Dragons are closely associated with waterfalls. They haunt in one or other of their forms the deep pools below them.