The Folk-lore of China: And Its Affinities with that of the Aryan and Semitic Races |
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Common terms and phrases
alleged ancient animal Antiquities appearance Aryan races bird blood body bride Buddhist called Canton Canton province Cantonese ceremony character charms child China Chinese belief City of Silence clothes common Confucius crowing curious custom dead death demons devils divination door dragon dream Emperor evil spirits existence eyes fables fact fairy female fire first-foot folk-lore fylfot genii ghost hair hand head heaven human husband idea influence Kiang-si legend lived luck lucky lucky characters magic marriage matter Middle Kingdom moon mountain myth native night Notes and Queries omen paper Peking person popular belief portents possessed present priest proverbs Queries on China quote rain referred regarded relates river Royal Asiatic Society serpent shen similar snake stone story supernatural superstition supposed Taoist temple tiger tion unlucky Western wife woman words worship writer
Popular passages
Page 97 - Her waggon-spokes made of long spinners' legs, The cover of the wings of grasshoppers, <*> The traces of the smallest spider's web, The collars of the moonshine's...
Page 153 - Dont waste your time at family funerals grieving for your relatives: attend to life, not to death: there are as good fish in the sea as ever came out of it, and better.
Page 32 - St Swithin's Day, if thou dost rain. For forty days it will remain : St Swithin's Day, if thou be fair, For forty days 'twill rain nae mair.
Page 81 - Not tied or manacled with joint or limb, Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones, Like cumbrous flesh ; but in what shape they choose, Dilated or condensed, bright or obscure, Can execute their airy purposes, And works of love or enmity fulfil.
Page 35 - Some assert that if its cry is dull and indistinct, as though proceeding from a distant place, it betokens the death of a near neighbor; whereas, if its notes are clear and distinct, as if proceeding from a short distance, it is a sure harbinger of the death of a person in a remote...
Page 98 - It is long since you came here. You should go home now ! ' whereupon Wang Chih, proceeding to pick up his axe, found that its handle had mouldered into dust.
Page 34 - If the cock crows at a proper hour, they esteem it a good omen ; if at an improper season, they kill him. I am told that the favourable hours are at nine, both in the morning and in the evening, at noon, and at midnight.
Page 33 - I remember, as a child, sitting out of doors on an evening of a warm summer or autumn day, and repeating...
Page 6 - ... handed down from generation to generation by word of mouth. In the...