Note 9 — Chapter IV · The World-wide Search for Wealth
Reading edition
The dragon-shaped sea-gods of India and the dragon-gods of China and Japan have close associations with pearls. In a sixth-century Chinese work,9 it is stated that pearls are spit out by dragons. Dragons have pearls “worth a hundred pieces of gold” in their mouths, under their throats, or in their pools. When dragons fight in the sky, pearls fall to the ground. De Groot10 makes reference to “thunder pearls” that dragons have dropped from their mouths. These illuminate a house by night. In Wang Fu’s description of the dragon it is stated that a dragon has “a bright pearl under its chin”.