Prevod

In the deep mountains of Yue there is a bird as large as a dove, blue-green in color, called the “ye bird.” It hollows out a great tree and builds a nest within, as large as a vessel holding five or six sheng, with an entrance several inches across. Around the opening it builds a rim of earth, patterned in alternating red and white like an archery target. When woodcutters see such a tree, they keep away from it. Sometimes, when night is dark and they cannot see the bird, it knows that it is unseen and calls out, “Tut, tut! Go up!” The next day they must make haste uphill. If it calls, “Tut, tut! Go down!” the next day they must make haste downhill. If it does not tell them to leave, but merely talks and laughs without cease, they may stay and cut wood. Should anyone foul or defile its dwelling, a tiger will come and keep watch all night; if the offender does not leave, it will attack him. Seen by daylight, this creature has the form of a bird; heard at night, its cry is also that of a bird. Yet at times, when there is merrymaking to watch, it takes human form, three feet tall, and goes into the mountain streams to catch stone crabs. It brings them to people’s fires to roast, and no one must molest it. The people of Yue say that this bird is the ancestor of their ritual priests.