re arose a pagoda, which rose and fell with the water, floating on
the top like a vessel; the spire thrusting itself far up into the sky,
and swaying about like the mast of a ship in a storm.

The Prince returned to the city filled with wonder at what he
had seen, and with joy at having so successfully carried out the
directions contained in the packet. On all sides he was greeted by
the acclamations of the people, who hailed him as the saviour of
Peking. Since that time Peking has never had the misfortune to be
without water.

The pagoda is called the Pagoda on the Hill of the Imperial Spring
(Yue Ch'uean Shan T'a; more commonly Chen-shui T'a, 'Water-repressing
Pagoda'). [27] The spring is still there, and day and night,
unceasingly, its clear waters bubble up and flow eastward to Peking,
which would now be a barren wilderness but for Yen Wang's pursuit of
the water.

CHAPTER VIII

Myths of Fire

The Ministry of Fire

The celestial organization of Fire is the fifth Ministry, and is
presided over by a President, Lo Hsuean, whose titular designation is
Huo-te Hsing-chuen, 'Stellar Sovereign of the Fire-virtue,' with five
subordinate ministers, four of whom are star-gods, and the fifth a
"celestial prince who receives fire": Chieh-huo T'ien-chuen. Like so
many other Chinese deities, the five were all ministers of the tyrant
emperor Chou.

It is related that Lo Hsuean was originally a Taoist priest known as
Yen-chung Hsien, of the island Huo-lung, 'Fire-dragon.' His face was
the colour of ripe fruit of the jujube-tree, his hair and beard red,
the former done up in the shape of a fish-tail, and he had three
eyes. He wore a red cloak ornamented with the _pa kua_; his horse
snorted flames from its nostrils and fire darted from its hoofs.

While fighting in the service of the son of the tyrant emperor,
Lo Hsuean suddenly changed himself into a giant with three heads and
six arms. In each of his hands he held a magic weapon. These were a
seal which reflected the heavens and the earth, a wheel of the five
fire-dragons, a gourd containing ten thousand fire-crows, and, in
the other hands, two swords which floated like smoke, and a column
of smoke several thousands of _li_ long enclosing swords of fire.

A Conflagration

Having arrived at the city of Hsi Ch'i, Lo Hsuean sent forth his
smoke-column, the air was filled with swords of fire, the ten thousand
fire-crows, emerging from the gourd, spread themselves o