Hsue, the Dragon-slayer

Hsue Chen-chuen was a native either of Ju-ning Fu in Honan, or of Nan-ch’ang Fu in Kiangsi.  His father was Hsue Su.  His personal name was Ching-chih, and his ordinary name Sun.

At forty-one years of age, when he was Magistrate of Ching-yang, near the modern Chih-chiang Hsien, in Hupei, during times of drought he had only to touch a piece of tile to turn it into gold, and thus relieve the people of their distress.  He also saved many lives by curing sickness through the use of talismans and magic formulae.

During the period of the dynastic troubles he resigned and joined the famous magician Kuo P’o.  Together they proceeded to the minister Wang Tun, who had risen against the Eastern Chin dynasty.  Kuo P’o’s remonstrances only irritated the minister, who cut off his head.

Hsue Sun then threw his chalice on the ridgepole of the room, causing it to be whirled into the air.  As Wang Tun was watching the career of the chalice, Hsue disappeared and escaped.  When he reached Lu-chiang K’ou, in Anhui, he boarded a boat, which two dragons towed into the offing and then raised into the air.  In an instant they had borne it to the Lue Shan Mountains, to the south of Kiukiang, in Kiangsi.  The perplexed boatman opened the window of his boat and took a furtive look out.  Thereupon the dragons, finding themselves discovered by an infidel, set the boat down on the top of the mountain and fled.

The Spiritual Alligator

In this country was a dragon, or spiritual alligator, which transformed itself into a young man named Shen Lang, and married Chia Yue, daughter of the Chief Judge of T’an Chou (Ch’ang-sha Fu, capital of Hunan).  The young people lived in rooms below the official apartments.  During spring and summer Shen Lang, as dragons are wont to do, roamed in the rivers and lakes.  One day Hsue Chen-chuen met him, recognized him as a dragon, and knew that he was the cause of the numerous floods which were devastating Kiangsi Province.  He determined to find a means of getting rid of him.

Shen Lang, aware of the steps being taken against him, changed himself into a yellow ox and fled.  Hsue Chen-chuen at once transformed himself into a black ox and started in pursuit.  The yellow ox jumped down a well to hide, but the black ox followed suit.  The yellow ox then jumped out again, and escaped to Ch’ang-sha, where he reassumed a human form and lived with Ms wife in the home of his father-in-law, Hsue Sun, returning to the town, hastened to the yamen, and called to Shen Lang to come out and show himself, addressing him in a severe tone of voice as follows:  “Dragon, how dare you hide yourself there under a borrowed form?” Shen Lang then reassumed the form of a spiritual alligator, and Hsue Sun ordered the spiritual soldiers to kill him.  He then commanded his two sons to come out of their abode.  By merely spurting a mouthful of water on them he transformed them into young dragons.  Chia Yue was told to vacate the rooms with all speed, and in the twinkling of an eye the whole yamen sank beneath the earth, and there remained nothing but a lake where it had been.