[12] The odour of the herb was the body odour of the dragon. It helped to restore vitality, as did incense, when burned before an Egyptian mummy. Gods were similarly “fed” by offerings of incense. The Babylonian Noah burned incense, and the gods smelt the sweet savour. The gods gathered like flies about him that offered the sacrifice.—King, Babylonian Religion, p. 136. [↑]
[13] De Visser, The Dragon in China and Japan, p. 63. Kwan Chung died in 645 B.C. [↑]
[14] Polynesian Mythology, Sir George Grey, p. 33. [↑]
[15] De Visser, The Dragon in China and Japan, p. 174. [↑]
[16] A Galloway herbalist who was searching for herbs to cure a consumptive girl, named May, saw a mermaid rising in the sea. According to the folk-story, the mermaid recommended mugwort (southernwood) as a cure by singing:
Would you let bonnie May die in your hand,
And the mugwort flowering in the land?
[17] Jade disks, decorated with the rush pattern, were in China images of Heaven and badges of rank. The rain-dragon in human form carries in his right hand a blue rush. The rush was connected with water—the water below the firmament and the water above the firmament. Reeds were likewise connected with the deities. In Babylonia, priests had visions in reed huts and the dead lay on reed mats. The reed and river-mud were used by Marduk when he created man. Apparently, the reed was an [[86]]avatar of the water deity: it contained “soul substance”. Linen made from flax was sacred and inspiring. It was wrapped round the dead, instead of animal skins, in pre-Dynastic Egypt. The linen ephod was inspiring; like the “prophet’s mantle” it gave the wearer power to foretell events. [↑]
[18] S. Baring-Gould’s Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, pp. 471 et seq. [↑]