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Mythological Notices.
JUNE,
ART. III. Mythological account of some Chinese deities, chiefly those connected with the elements. Translated from the Siú Shin Kí.
The Wu Lui Shin五雷神 or Five Thunder Spirit.
The Temple of the Thunder Spirit is situated eight lí southwest of Luichau fú. Formerly, the villagers were accustomed to make a thun- der drum and a thunder chariot out of hempen cloth, and place them in the temple; and when they held festivals, and spread out fish and pork, loud reverberations like thunder would be heard. In the Old Re- cords it is said, at the beginning of the reign of Táikien of the Chin dynasty (A.D.578), a woman named Chin, a native of this region, dis- covered an egg when on the hills, a cubit or so in circumference, which she took home with her. One day, it suddenly burst open with a loud noise, and a boy came out, on whose hand were written the characters
Luichau i. e. “Thunder region.”
雷州 Thunder region." She brought him up, and
called him Wan-yuh, but the country people usually called him Lui Chung, or Thunder Boy. He also became the chief officer of his own district.
After his death he gave responses, and the people reared a temple and sacrificed to him. Whenever it was cloudy, rain, flashes of light- ning, and the noise of thunder, issued from the temple. The monarchs of the Sung and Yueu dynasties repeatedly conferred upon him the ti- tle of prince, and called the temple Hien-chinor Thunder Manifestation. During the reign of Tehyú of the Sung dynasty (A. D. 1277), it was changed to Wei-hwa
or Awful Changes. According to the Supplement to National History, there is thunder in Luichau during spring and summer; but during autumn, it enters the earth, in the form of a swine, and men catch and eat it. Moreover in Yácháu fú in Sz'chuen, on Ya-uh Shún, or Tiled-house Hill, there is the Lui-tung, or Thunder Cavern; into which if tiles or stones be thrown, a noise like thunder reëchoes.
It
The Lui Kung or Thunderer is usually represented by the Chinese as a human monster with a horned or peaked head, having a cock's bill, and hands and feet like a bird's; he has hold of a cord to which balls are attached, and is drawn in the act of striking with a bolt. There are temples erected to him in most of the large towns in the south of China, the number of persons destroyed by lightning being so great as to lead the people to worship at them frequently.
The Tien-mú Shin &
電母神
or Lightning Mother Spirit. According to the legend, Tung-wang-kung was playing at the