Mali ljudje in vodni duhovi

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Mali ljudje in vodni duhovi

In the fourth year of Wang Mang’s Jianguo era, apparitions of tiny people appeared in Chiyang, each a little over a foot tall. Some rode in carriages, others went on foot, and all the things they carried and used were proportioned to their size. The apparitions ceased only after three days. Wang Mang regarded this as a most ominous sign. Thereafter, banditry grew worse by the day, and in the end he was killed. The Guanzi says: “In marshes that have been dry for hundreds of years, where the valleys have not shifted and the waters have never ceased to flow, the ‘qingji’ is born. The qingji resembles a human being and stands four inches tall. It wears yellow robes and a yellow cap, rides a small horse beneath a yellow canopy, and delights in galloping at great speed. Call it by name, and you can send it a thousand li away and have it return with a report in a single day.” Could the apparitions at Chiyang have been qingji? The same work also says: “The essence of small, dried-up waters gives birth to the ‘chi.’” The chi has one head and two bodies, resembles a snake, and is eight feet long. Call it by name, and you can send it to catch fish and turtles.