This explanation is probably erroneous and due to a misunderstanding of the signs for flames. In my opinion, another explanation, that the pearl is not really a pearl but a spider, is nearer to the truth. As an argument in favor of this theory the following sentence may be quoted from an encyclopedia of the eleventh century (“Pieu-tzi-lei,” chap. 223): “The pearl of a fish is its eye, the pearl of a tortoise is its foot, the pearl of the spider is its belly.” Pearl, as well as spider, are both called in Chinese by the same word but are written in a different way.
I, for my part, believe that the pearl is the belly not indeed of a spider, but of Garuda, the eagle of Vishnu, known in the old Hindu mythology as the foe of the Vagas, beings with human bodies and the tails of serpents. At least, I found on an old Chinese gateway, dating back to the times of the Mongol emperors, a sculpture showing the contest between Garuda and the Vagas. On another sculpture of the late King epoch the Vagas are already changed into dragons, and the wings, the limbs and the head of Garuda have become quite insignificant, while his belly is prominent like a ball.
A beautiful metaphor occurs in ancient Chinese writings, in the Book of the Later Han,[[344]] for instance, which regards this gem as the hidden soul of the oyster.
There is no end of legends and myths regarding the pearl in oriental literature. One fable credits it with a peculiar magical power: by speaking the right word, a spirit can be called therefrom which makes the owner a possessor of all the happiness of the earth. Browning notes this in two exquisite stanzas, “A Pearl, a Girl,” published on the day of his death in 1889, in which he compares this characteristic with a woman’s love called forth by the mystic word.
A simple ring with a single stone.
To the vulgar eye no stone of price;
Whisper the right word, that alone—
Forth starts a sprite, like fire from ice,
And lo, you are lord (says an Eastern scroll)
Of heaven and earth, lord whole and sole,