Pre-blog blog entry
Dec. 9th, 1997 02:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
artemisdart"Lord Ye, whose name was Zigao, was so fond of dragons that the pendant on his robe and his drinking cup both took the shape of a dragon, and even the decorations and carvings in his house all bore the design of this mythical animal. On learning all this, the Dragon of Heaven descended from on high to pay him a visit. It poked its head in at the window and swung its tail into the hall of the house of Lord Ye. At sight of the dragon, he immediately turned and took to his heels. He was scared out of his wits and turned quite pale and white-lipped.
"It was not that Lord Ye loved dragons; what he did love was something in the shape of a dragon-- all but a real one."
--Xin Xu (Writings of Shen Buhai), from Yang Liyi, 100 Chinese Idioms and Their Stories (1987, 1990), pp. 150-51.
