. In order to be able
to leave at once he cremated the body forthwith, and when the soul
returned it found only a heap of ashes. Some say the body was not
cremated, but only became devitalized through neglect or through
being uninhabited for so long a time. The object of the setting of
the watch was not only to prevent injury to or theft of the body,
but also to prevent any other soul from taking up its abode in it.

In a forest near by a beggar had just died of hunger. Finding this
corpse untenanted, the wandering spirit entered it through the
temples, and made off. When he found that his head was long and
pointed, his face black, his beard and hair woolly and dishevelled,
his eyes of gigantic size, and one of his legs lame, he wished to
get out of this vile body; but Lao Tzu advised him not to make the
attempt and gave him a gold band to keep his hair in order, and an
iron crutch to help his lame leg. On lifting his hand to his eyes,
he found they were as large as buckles. That is why he was called Li
K'ung-mu, 'Li Hollow Eyes.' Popularly he is known as Li T'ieh-kuai,
'Li with the Iron Crutch.' No precise period seems to be assigned
to his career on earth, though one tradition places him in the Yuean
dynasty. Another account says that he was changed into a dragon,
and in that form ascended to Heaven.

Elsewhere it is related that T'ieh-kuai, after entering the body of
the lame beggar, benevolently proceeded to revive the mother of Yang,
his negligent disciple. Leaning on his iron staff and carrying a gourd
of medicines on his back he went to Yang's house, where preparations
were being made for the funeral. The contents of the gourd, poured
into the mouth, revived the dead woman. He then made himself known,
and, giving Yang another pill, vanished in a gust of wind. Two hundred
years later he effected the immortalization of his disciple.

During his peregrinations on earth he would hang a bottle on the
wall at night and jump into it, emerging on the following morning. He
frequently returned to earth, and at times tried to bring about the
transmigration of others.

An example is the case of Ch'ao Tu, the watchman. T'ieh-kuai walked
into a fiery furnace and bade Ch'ao follow. The latter, being afraid
of imitating an act evidently associated with the supernatural world
of evil spirits, refused to do so. T'ieh-kuai then told Ch'ao to step
on to a leaf floating on the surface of the river, saying that it was
a boat that