O'Dawn
replied: "My steed could take me to the place where it falls four
times in the course of a single day!"

And sure enough he came back by evening, and brought along dew of
every color in a crystal flask. The Emperor drank it and his hair grew
black again. He gave it to his highest officials to drink, and the old
grew young again and the sick became well.

Once, when a comet appeared in the heavens, Sky O'Dawn gave the
Emperor the astrologer's wand. The Emperor pointed it at the comet and
the comet was quenched.

Sky O'Dawn was an excellent whistler. And whenever he whistled in full
tones, long drawn out, the motes in the sunbeams danced to his music.

Once he said to a friend: "There is not a soul on earth who knows who
I am with the exception of the astrologer!"

When Sky O'Dawn had died, the Emperor called the astrologer to him
and asked: "Did you know Sky O'Dawn?"

He replied: "No!"

The Emperor said: "What do you know?"

The astrologer answered: "I know how to gaze on the stars."

"Are all the stars in their places?" asked the Emperor.

"Yes, but for eighteen years I have not seen the Star of the Great
Year. Now it is visible once more."

Then the Emperor looked up towards the skies and sighed: "For eighteen
years Sky O'Dawn kept me company, and I did not know that he was the
Star of the Great Year!"

Note: The mother of Sky O'Dawn, (Dung Fang So) who makes
so mysterious an appearance on earth, according to one
tradition, is the third daughter of the Lord of the
Heavens. (Comp. Note to No. 16). Dung Fang So is an
incarnation of the Wood Star or Star of the Great Year
(Jupiter). The King-Father of the East, one of the Five
Ancients, is the representative of wood (comp. No. 15).
Red chestnuts, like fire-dates, are fruits of the gods,
and bestow immortality. Sky O'Dawn was an excellent
whistler. Whistling is a famous means of magic among the
Taoists. The Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty, was a prince
who is reputed to have devoted much attention to the
magic arts. He reigned from 140 to 86 B.C. The
three-legged crow in the sun is the counterpart of the
three-legged ram-toad in the moon. The Red River recalls
the Weak River by the Castle of the Queen-Mother of the
West.

XXXV

KING MU OF DSCHOU

In the days of King Mu of Dschou a magician came out of the uttermost
West, who could walk through water and fire, and pass t