Another author amplifies the fancied resemblances of the Fung, for in the
_Lun Yü Tseh Shwai Shing_ we find it stated that it has six resemblances
and nine qualities. The former are: 1st, the head is like heaven; 2nd, the
eye like the sun; 3rd, the back is like the moon; 4th, the wings like the
wind; 5th, the foot is like the ground; 6th, the tail is like the woof.
The latter are: 1st, the mouth contains commands; 2nd, the heart is
conformable to regulations; 3rd, the ear is thoroughly acute in hearing;
4th, the tongue utters sincerity; 5th, the colour is luminous; 6th, the
comb resembles uprightness; 7th, the spur is sharp and curved; 8th, the
voice is sonorous; 9th, the belly is the treasure of literature.
When it crows, in walking, it utters "Quai she" [returning joyously]; when
it stops crowing, "T‘i fee" [I carry assistance?]; when it crows at night
it exclaims "Sin" [goodness]; when in the morning, "Ho si" [I congratulate
the world]; when during its flight, "Long Tu che wo" [Long Tu knows me]
and "Hwang che chu sz si" [truly Hwang has come with the Bamboos].[315]
Hence it was that Confucius wished to live among the nine I [barbarian
frontier countries] following the Fung's pleasure.
The Fung appears to have been fond of music, for, according to the _Shu
King_, when you play the flute, in nine cases out of ten the Fung Wang
comes to bear you company; while, according to the _Odes_, or Classic of
Poetry, the Fung, in flying, makes the sound _hwui hwui_, and its wings
carry it up to the heavens; and when it sings on the lofty mountain called
Kwang, the Wu Tung tree flourishes,[316] and its fame spreads over the
world.
The presence of the Fung was always an auspicious augury, and it was
supposed that when heaven showed its displeasure at the conduct of the
people during times of drought, of destruction of crops by insects
(locusts), of disastrous famines, and of pestilence, the Fung Wang retired
from the civilised country into the desert and forest regions.
It was classed with the dragon, the tortoise, and the unicorn as a
spiritual creature, and its appearance in the gardens and groves denoted
that the princes and monarch were equitable, and the people submissive and
obedient.
Its indigenous home is variously indicated. Thus, in the _Shan Hai King_,
it is stated to dwell in the Ta Hueh mountains, a range included in the
third list of the southern mountains; it is also, in the third portion of
the same work (treating of the Great Desert), placed in the south and in
the west of the Great Desert, and more specifically as west of Kwan Lun.
There is also a tradition that it came from Corea; and the celebrated
Chinese general, Sieh Jan Kwéi, who invaded and conquered that country in
A.D. 668, is said to have ascended the Fung Hwang mountain there and seen
the phœnix.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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