or a sensible,
concrete representation of this star-god: a simple character did not
satisfy the popular taste. But it was no easy matter to comply with the
demand. Eventually, guided doubtless by the community of pronunciation,
they substituted for the star or group of stars K'uei (1),
venerated in ancient times, a new star or group of stars K'uei (2),
forming the square part of the Bushel, Dipper, or Great Bear. But for
this again no bodily image could be found, so the form of the written
character itself was taken, and so drawn as to represent a _kuei_
(3) (disembodied spirit, or ghost) with its foot raised, and bearing
aloft a _tou_ (4) (bushel-measure). The adoration was thus misplaced,
for the constellation K'uei (2) was mistaken for K'uei (1), the proper
object of worship. It was due to this confusion by the scholars that
the Northern Bushel came to be worshipped as the God of Literature.

Wen Ch'ang and Tzu T'ung

This worship had nothing whatever to do with the Spirit of Tzu T'ung,
but the Taoists have connected Chang Ya with the constellation in
another way by saying that Shang Ti, the Supreme Ruler, entrusted Chang
Ya's son with the management of the palace of Wen Ch'ang. And scholars
gradually acquired the habit of saying that they owed their success
to the Spirit of Tzu T'ung, which they falsely represented as being an
incarnation of the star Wen Ch'ang. This is how Chang Ya came to have
the honorific title of Wen Ch'ang, but, as a Chinese author points
out, Chang belonged properly to Ssuch'uan, and his worship should
be confined to that province. The _literati_ there venerated him as
their master, and as a mark of affection and gratitude built a temple
to him; but in doing so they had no intention of making him the God of
Literature. "There being no real connexion between Chang Ya and K'uei,
the worship should be stopped." The device of combining the personality
of the patron of literature enthroned among the stars with that of the
deified mortal canonized as the Spirit of Tzu T'ung was essentially a
Taoist trick. "The thaumaturgic reputation assigned to the Spirit of
Chang Ya Tzu was confined for centuries to the valleys of Ssuch'uan,
until at some period antecedent to the reign Yen Yu, in A.D. 1314,
a combination was arranged between the functions of the local god
and those of the stellar patron of literature. Imperial sanction
was obtained for this stroke of priestly cunning; and notwithstanding
prot