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Chu Kung with his feet stretched out under the pan and flames leaping up from them boiling the rice and, being frightened, she screamed. Fa Chu Kung transformed himself into a god, flew up the chimney and thus became black on the way.
e. In the An Chi area of Fukien province there was a very large snake which required one youth or maiden to be fed to it annually. Chang (3), a common straw sandal maker, and two men who had been chased from the An Chi area to a cave in Ying Ch'üen, fought and killed the snake after a battle lasting three days. Chang was so exhausted that he turned black. He was deified Fa Chu Kung and the two men who had helped him were deified with him as his foster brothers, for ridding the place of the nightmare.
f. In a Singapore Hainanese temple a variation of e. above tells that Fa Chu Kung met an old man weeping. He told Fa Chu Kung that his grandchild had to be sacrificed to the big snake. Fa Chu Kung told the old man not to worry and went out and strangled the big snake; but, because he was bitten so badly, he turned black, his eyes became staring and he died.
g. Fa Chu Kung was originally called Chang Kung (2) but later, after he had cured the Empress's boils which had been pronounced incurable by all the other physicians and magicians, he was given the title of Shen Chün (#).
h. Fa Chu Kung was an Indian sailor or trader who settled in Fukien and helped the poor and the sick.
These various tales tell of Fa Chu Kung's ability to do magic, give a reason for his blackness and several explain why he has a snake wrapped round his arm. The snake is reminiscent of other sacrificial stories and may well be a story dating back to one of the early local cultures in Fukien. There is no indication of what era Fa Chu Kung is supposed to have lived—if, of course, he ever did. Temple dates in South East Asia and Taiwan are of little assistance here and the only dating the temple keepers suggested was the usual "several hundreds of years ago" or "during the T'ang or Sung Dynasties" (650-1100 A.D.).
There are at least two other major legends of people who use their legs as fuel for the stove. The first, in Ch'üan Chow, is the monk I Po who gave great assistance during the construction of the famous bridge there. He caused great astonishment when, because
THREE CHINESE DEITIES
191
Chu Kung with his feet stretched out under the pan and flames leaping up from them boiling the rice and, being frightened, she screamed. Fa Chu Kung transformed himself into a god. flew up the chimney and thus became black on the way.
e. In the An Chi area of Fukien province there was a very large snake which required one youth or maiden to be fed to it annually. Chang (3), a common straw sandal maker, and two men who had been chased from the An Chi area to a cave in Ying Ch'üen, fought and killed the snake after a battle lasting three days. Chang was so exhausted that he turned black. He was deified Fa Chu Kung and the two men who had helped him were deified with him as his foster brothers, for ridding the place of the nightmare.
f. In a Singapore Hainanese temple a variation of e. above tells that Fa Chu Kung met an old man weeping. He told Fa Chu Kung that his grandchild had to be sacrificed to the big snake. Fa Chu Kung told the old man not to worry and went out and strangled the big snake; but, because he was bitten so badly, he turned black, his eyes became staring and he died. g. Fa Chu Kung was originally called Chang Kung (2) but later, after he had cured the Empress's boils which had been pronounced incurable by all the other physicians and magicians, he was given the title of Shen Chün (# ).
h. Fa Chu Kung was an Indian sailor or trader who settled in Fukien and helped the poor and the sick.
These various tales tell of Fa Chu Kung's ability to do magic, give a reason for his blackness and several explain why he has a snake wrapped round his arm. The snake is reminiscent of other sacrificial stories and may well be a story dating back to one of the early local cultures in Fukien. There is no indication of what era Fa Chu Kung is supposed to have lived-if, of course, he ever did. Temple dates in South East Asia and Taiwan are of little assistance here and the only dating the temple keepers suggested was the usual "several hundreds of years ago” or “during the T'ang or Sung Dynasties" (650-1100 A.D.).
There are at least two other major legends of people who use their legs as fuel for the stove. The first, in Ch’üan Chow, is the monk I Po who gave great assistance during the construction of the famous bridge there. He caused great astonishment when, because
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