h'ang O of the Lunar Palace.'

Ch'ih-chiang Tzu-yue lived in the reign of Hsien-yuean Huang-ti, who
appointed him Director of Construction and Furnishing.

When Hsien-yuean went on his visit to O-mei Shan, a mountain in
Ssuch'uan, Ch'ih-chiang Tzu-yue obtained permission to accompany
him. Their object was to be initiated into the doctrine of immortality.

The Emperor was instructed in the secrets of the doctrine by T'ai-i
Huang-jen, the spirit of this famous mountain, who, when he was about
to take his departure, begged him to allow Ch'ih-chiang Tzu-yue to
remain with him. The new hermit went out every day to gather the
flowering plants which formed the only food of his master, T'ai-i
Huang-jen, and he also took to eating these flowers, so that his body
gradually became spiritualized.

The Steep Summit

One day T'ai-i Huang-jen sent him to cut some bamboos on the summit of
O-mei Shan, distant more than three hundred _li_ from the place where
they lived. When he reached the base of the summit, all of a sudden
three giddy peaks confronted him, so dangerous that even the monkeys
and other animals dared not attempt to scale them. But he took his
courage in his hands, climbed the steep slope, and by sheer energy
reached the summit. Having cut the bamboos, he tried to descend, but
the rocks rose like a wall in sharp points all round him, and he could
not find a foothold anywhere. Then, though laden with the bamboos, he
threw himself into the air, and was borne on the wings of the wind. He
came to earth safe and sound at the foot of the mountain, and ran with
the bamboos to his master. On account of this feat he was considered
advanced enough to be admitted to instruction in the doctrine.

The Divine Archer

The Emperor Yao, in the twelfth year of his reign (2346 B.C.), one day,
while walking in the streets of Huai-yang, met a man carrying a bow
and arrows, the bow being bound round with a piece of red stuff. This
was Ch'ih-chiang Tzu-yue. He told the Emperor he was a skilful archer
and could fly in the air on the wings of the wind. Yao, to test his
skill, ordered him to shoot one of his arrows at a pine-tree on the
top of a neighbouring mountain. Ch'ih shot an arrow which transfixed
the tree, and then jumped on to a current of air to go and fetch
the arrow back. Because of this the Emperor named him Shen I, 'the
Divine Archer,' attached him to his suite, and appointed him Chief
Mechanician of all Works in Wood. He