The Blue Dragon A Tale Of Recent Adventure In China

Excerpt from The Blue Dragon: A Tale of Recent Adventure in China The blue dragon, chosen as a title for this story, is the national emblem of China, adopted as such by a desire to atter and propitiate that spirit of evil considered to be the most powerful. As the dragon is believed 'to be big enough and strong enough to overcome and devour all the other Wicked genii who continually vex Chinese life, the Wise men of the Black - haired People thought it best to have him on their side, and consequently accorded him the highest honor in their power to bestow. As we of America chose the eagle, strong est of visible air spirits, for our national emblem, so the Chinese chose the most powerful of invisible spirits in whose existence they believe as firmly as we do in the existence of things that we can see, hear, or feel. In the story thus entitled, I have endeavored to give an idea. Of What China has been, is, and may become through education and development, how She is regarded, and how her people are being treated by other nations, and what causes She has for resentment against those Who are taking ad vantage of her feebleness to despoil her. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."

Reproduction of the original: The Blue Dragon by Kirck Munroe

Whatever disputes may have existed as to the mythology of other branches of the Teutonic subdivision of the Aryan race-whatever discussions may have arisen as to the position of this or that divinity among the Franks, the Anglo-Saxons, or the Goths-about the Norsemen there can be no dispute or doubt. From a variety of circumstances, but two before all the rest-the one their settlement in Iceland, which preserved their language and its literary treasures incorrupt; the other their late conversion to Christianity-their cosmogony and mythology stands before us in full flower, and we have not, as elsewhere, to pick up and piece together the wretched fragments of a faith, the articles of which its own priests had forgotten to commit to writing, and which those of another creed had dashed to pieces and destroyed, wherever their zealous hands could reach. In the two Eddas, therefore, in the early Sagas, in Saxo's stilted Latin, which barely conceals the popular songs and legends from which the historian drew his materials, we are enabled to form a perfect conception of the creed of the heathen Norsemen.

These epithets, and many others equally contemptuous, such as "Rat Eater!" and "Piggy Tail!" were gleefully shouted by a mob of young ragamuffins who crowded about a single youthful figure, early one summer morning, on the elm-shaded main street of Hatton. The lad thus hustled and insulted was a good-looking chap according to the standard of his own people; though his long-lashed, wide-set eyes were narrower than those of his tormentors, his clear complexion held a tint of yellow, the front half of his head was shaved, and the remaining luxuriant growth of jet-black hair, such as all Chinese have, and of which they are so proud that they call themselves "the black-haired people," hung in a thick, glossy braid down his back. He wore a blue gown that fastened closely about his neck and fell in severely simple lines, without belt or ornamentation, almost to his feet. Below it could be seen a pair of black silk trousers, tightly fastened over a narrow section of white stockings, that in turn were lost to view in black cloth shoes having embroidered tops and felt soles. He had worn a round, visorless cap of black silk, surmounted by a crimson knot, but this had been knocked off, and now was being ruthlessly kicked and trampled underfoot by the hoodlums who, having discovered a victim that could be abused with impunity, were making the most of the welcome chance.

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