To few mortals comes the privilege of setting eyes on a dragon, and to fewer is the vision followed by good fortune.
In this quaint story the Red Cloud herb is evidently [[83]]a kupua of the thunder-dragon. It had “soul substance” (the vital essence). Another kupua or avatar was the carp.
In China and Japan there are references in dragon stories to pine trees being forms assumed by dragons. The connection between the tree and dragon is emphasized by the explanation that when a pine becomes very old it is covered with scales of bark, and ultimately changes into a dragon. By night “dragon lanterns” (ignis fatuus) are seen on pine trees in marshy places, and on the masts of ships at sea.
The pine trees at Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines are said to be regularly illuminated by these “supernatural” lights. The “lanterns” are supposed to come from the sea. Japanese stories tell that when a lantern appears on a pine, a little boy, known as the “Heavenly Boy”, is to be seen sitting on the topmost branch. Some lights were supposed to be the souls of holy men. In Gaelic stories are told about little men being seen in these wandering lights.
There is an evil form of the fire which is supposed to rise from the blood of a suicide or of a murderer’s victim. The “heart fire” (the “vital spark”) in the blood is supposed to rise as a flame from the ground. A similar superstition prevailed in England. If lights made their appearance above a prison on the night before the arrival of the judges of assize, the omen was regarded as a fatal one for the prisoners. The belief is widespread in the British Isles that lights (usually greenish lights) appear before a sudden death takes place.
Wandering lights seen on mountains were supposed by the Chinese and Japanese to be caused by dragons. A Japanese legend associates them with a dragon woman, named Zennyo, who appears to have the attributes of a [[84]]fire-goddess. It is told regarding a Buddhist priest who lived beside a dragon hole on Mount Murōbu. One day, as he was about to cross a river, a lady wearing rich and dazzling attire came up to him and made request for a magic charm he possessed. She spoke with averted face, telling who she was. The priest repeated the charm to her and then said: “Permit me to look upon your face”.
Said the dragon woman: “It is very terrible to behold. No man dare gaze on my face. But I cannot refuse your request.”
The priest had his curiosity satisfied, but apparently without coming to harm. Priestly prestige was maintained by stories of this kind.
As soon as the priest looked in her face the dragon woman rose in the air, and stretched out the small finger of her right hand. It was not, however, of human shape, but a claw that suddenly extended a great length and flashed lights of five colours. The “five colours” indicate that the woman was a deity. Kwan Chung, in his work Kwantsze, says: “A dragon in the water covers himself with five colours. Therefore, he is a god (shin).”[13]
The “fire nail” figures prominently in Polynesian mythology. In the legend of Maui, that hero-god goes to the old woman (the goddess), his grandmother, to obtain fire for mankind. “Then the aged woman pulled out her nail; and as she pulled it out fire flowed from it, and she gave it to him. And when Maui saw she had drawn out her nail to produce fire for him, he thought it a most wonderful thing.”[14]