ns, his skin and hair
the herbs and trees, his teeth, bones, and marrow the metals, rocks,
and precious stones, his sweat the rain, and the insects creeping
over his body human beings, who thus had a lowlier origin even than
the tears of Khepera in Egyptian cosmology. [3]

This account of P'an Ku and his achievements is of Taoist origin. The
Buddhists have given a somewhat different account of him, which is
a late adaptation from the Taoist myth, and must not be mistaken for
Buddhist cosmogony proper. [4]

The Sun and the Moon

In some of the pictures of P'an Ku he is represented, as already noted,
as holding the sun in one hand and the moon in the other. Sometimes
they are in the form of those bodies, sometimes in the classic
character. The legend says that when P'an Ku put things in order in
the lower world, he did not put these two luminaries in their proper
courses, so they retired into the Han Sea, and the people dwelt in
darkness. The Terrestrial Emperor sent an officer, Terrestrial Time,
with orders that they should come forth and take their places in
the heavens and give the world day and night. They refused to obey
the order. They were reported to Ju Lai; P'an Ku was called, and,
at the divine direction of Buddha, wrote the character for 'sun'
in his left hand, and that for 'moon' in his right hand; and went to
the Han Sea, and stretched forth his left hand and called the sun,
and then stretched forth his right hand and called the moon, at the
same time repeating a charm devoutly seven times; and they forthwith
ascended on high, and separated time into day and night. [5]

Other legends recount that P'an Ku had the head of a dragon and
the body of a serpent; and that by breathing he caused the wind,
by opening his eyes he created day, his voice made the thunder, etc.

P'an Ku and Ymer

Thus we have the heavens and the earth fashioned by this wonderful
being in eighteen thousand years. With regard to him we may adapt
the Scandinavian ballad:

It was Time's morning
When P'an Ku lived;
There was no sand, no sea,
Nor cooling billows;

Earth there was none,
No lofty Heaven;
No spot of living green;
Only a deep profound.

And it is interesting to note, in passing, the similarity between this
Chinese artificer of the universe and Ymer, the giant, who discharges
the same functions in Scandinavian mythology. Though P'an Ku did not
have the same kind of birth nor