faces, her countenance is radiant as gold, and gentle as the moon-beam; she draws near to the people and the people draw near to her.  Her throne is upon the Isle of Pootoo [P’u T’o], to which she came floating upon a water-lily.  She is the model of Chinese beauty, and to say a lady or a little girl is a ‘Kuan Yin’ is the highest compliment that can be paid to grace and loveliness.  She is fortunate in having three birthdays, the nineteenth of the second, sixth, and ninth moons.”  There are many metamorphoses of this goddess.

The Buddhist Saviour

“She is called Kuan Yin because at any cry of misery she ’hears the voice and removes the sorrow.’  Her appellation is ’Taking-away-fear Buddha,’ If in the midst of the fire the name of Kuan Yin is called, the fire cannot burn; if tossed by mountain billows, call her name, and shallow waters will be reached.  If merchants go across the sea seeking gold, silver, pearls, and precious stones, and a storm comes up and threatens to carry the crew to the evil devil’s kingdom, if one on board calls on the name of Kuan Yin, the ship will be saved.  If one goes into a conflict and calls on the name of Kuan Yin, the sword and spear of the enemy fall harmless.  If the three thousand great kingdoms are visited by demons, call on her name, and these demons cannot with an evil eye look on a man.  If, within, you have evil thoughts, only call on Kuan Yin, and your heart will be purified, Anger and wrath may be dispelled by calling on the name of Kuan Yin.  A lunatic who prays to Kuan Yin will become sane.  Kuan Yin gives sons to mothers, and if the mother asks for a daughter she will be beautiful.  Two men—­one chanting the names of the 6,200,000 Buddhas, in number like the sands of the Ganges, and the other simply calling on Kuan Yin—­have equal merit.  Kuan Yin may take the form of a Buddha, a prince, a priest, a nun, a scholar, any form or shape, go to any kingdom, and preach the law throughout the earth.”

Miao Chuang desires an Heir

In the twenty-first year of the reign of Ta Hao, the Great Great One, of the Golden Heavenly Dynasty, a man named P’o Chia, whose first name was Lo Yue, an enterprising kinglet of Hsi Yii, seized the throne for twenty years, after carrying on a war for a space of three years.  His kingdom was known as Hsing Lin, and the title of his reign as Miao Chuang.

The kingdom of Hsing Lin was, so says the Chinese writer, situated between India on the west, the kingdom of T’ien Cheng on the south, and the kingdom of Siam on the north, and was 3000 li in length.  The boundaries differ according to different authors.  Of this kingdom the two pillars of State were the Grand Minister Chao Chen and the General Ch’u Chieh.  The Queen Pao Te, whose maiden name was Po Ya, and the King Miao Chuang had lived nearly half a century without having any male issue to succeed to the throne.  This was a source of great grief to them.  Po Ya suggested to the King that the God of Hua Shan, the sacred mountain in the west, had the reputation of being always willing to help; and that if he prayed to him and asked his pardon for having shed so much blood during the wars which preceded his accession to the throne he might obtain an heir.