Note 109 — LXXXVIII. SPIRITUALISTIC SÉANCES.
Herbert Allen Giles translation
It is related in the Family Sayings, an apocryphal work which professes to give conversations of Confucius, that a number of one-legged birds having suddenly appeared in Ch‘i, the Duke of Ch‘i sent off to ask the Sage what was the meaning of this strange phenomenon. Confucius replied, “The bird is the shang-yang, and portends beneficial rain.” And formerly the boys and girls in Shantung would hop about on one leg, crying, “The shang-yang has come;” after which rain would be sure to follow. return to text