Note 2 — VIII.—WITCHCRAFT AND DEMONOLOGY.

In Kwan-tzu, sec. 14, we find this definition:—“That which when it would be small becomes like a moth or a grub, when it would be large fills the world, when it would ascend mounts the cloudy air, when it would descend enters the deep—whose transformations are not limited by days, nor its mounting or falling by seasons, is called Shên (or spirit).”—The agreement of this with the description of genii given in the Arabian Nights is too obvious to need insisting on. Taoist genii (仙人) are thus described: “The genie is a man who had a former existence in the world of spirits, is born into the world either on account of some indiscretion or for some benevolent object, or simply by way of amusement—usually in some lowly situation. He early begins to shew a predilection for things mysterious, to receive visitors from the unseen world, to practice Alchemy and the healing art, to prepare and use certain drugs and charms of which no one knows the use or the virtue but himself, and the more advanced genii from whom he gets from time to time instruction and assistance; and then to give up human food and all ordinary human occupation.” After this there is scarcely any marvellous thing which the human mind can fancy that he will not be found doing. One of the most celebrated genii alluded to in Chinese history is Chang Kwoh, who possessed a white mule which could transport him if required thousands of miles in a single day, and which when he halted he folded up and hid away in his wallet.2 Another was Hu Kung, 壺公 a magician who effected wonderful cures and was accustomed to retire at sunset to the interior of a gourd hung up at his own doorpost. (See Ch. Readers’ Manual, sect. v.) Many females also are numbered in the list of such beings, one of the most celebrated being Ma Ku 麻姑. The seeds of the Che 芝 plant were reputed by the Tauist mystics to be the food of the genii, as were also the leaves of the Yoh Wang 藥王 tree which grows in the moon. The result of using this food is that the bodies of those who eat of it become pellucid as crystal.3 As with the Westerns the genii possess the secret of a magic powder. They use the yellow heron (Hwang Kuh Ko) as an aërial courser.