Gan Zong 甘宗

The Qin envoy Gan Zong reported from Xicheng that:

In foreign lands there are people who can summon deities by incantations. Approaching a river, adopting the ‘Yu walk’* and blowing, they cause a dragon to appear. On first emerging, it would be several tens of zhang** in length, but when the scholar blew again it would shrink, reaching only several cun,*** at which he would put it in a flask (rather teapot-shaped), feeding it with a little water. Foreign realms often suffer from severe drought, and when the scholar hears of a place with such as drought, he will send the dragon, taking it out to sell. One dragon is worth several catties of gold. The entire realm will gather to see it, and, once in place, he will open the pot and release the dragon. Placed in a deep pool, once the ‘Yu walk’* and blowing has been performed, it will grow to several zhang. In a moment rain will gather from the four directions.

From Baopuzi.

* The ‘Yu walk’ yubu 禹步 here refers to an imitation of the legendary Emperor Yu’s limp, reportedly employed as a magical technique. My thanks to the ever-helpful Ofer Waldman for bringing this to my attention and vastly improving this translation.

** A zhang 丈 is usually reckoned at about 3.3m in length.

*** A cun 寸 is usually reckoned at about 3.3cm in length.

Li Fang 李昉, et al., Taiping guangji 太平廣記 (Extensive Gleanings from the Era of Great Harmony), 10 vols (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961), ix, 418.3402:

甘宗

秦使者甘宗所奏西城事云。外國方土能神呪者。臨川禹步吹氣。龍卽浮出。初出。乃長數十丈。方士吹之。一吹則龍輒一縮。至長數寸。乃取置壺中。以少水養之。外國常苦旱災。於是方士聞有（有原作而。據明鈔本丶陳校本改。）旱處。便賚龍往。出賣之。一龍直金數十觔。擧國會歛以顧之。直畢。乃發壺出龍。置淵中。復禹步吹之。長數十丈。須臾雨四集矣。

出抱朴子

A Snake Steals Wine And Drinks 蛇竊酒飲

Zhou Bixian was supervisor of the Panfeng wine store in Wuxi County, Changzhou. He used fragrant medicinal material to produce his yeast, bringing forth a dense fragrant cloud. The flavour of his wine was pure and clear, and it was produced in top, middle and lower qualities. When distilling the wine, he made offerings to deities, slaughtering a sheep and a pig, carrying out the rite of the three offerings in his official robes, and when this was complete sending the wine out to all levels of officials at the court. One day, at the autumn offering, the storehouse clerk came reporting that there were holes in the clay of the highest grade wine flasks. When he was taken to see, several hundred flasks were indeed quite empty. The clerks thought it strange that those chosen and cleaned as offerings to the spirits had not been affected, and nobody knew the cause of it all. A month later, laughing voices were suddenly heard in the wine store, and when they peeped in they saw a crowd of children sucking from the mouths of the wine jars; when the doors were opened they all vanished into the earth. He hastily ordered that the floor be excavated, and at a depth of three chi (about 1m), they found a huge serpent lying drunk, with several dozen smaller snakes wound around beside it, and they realized that those spoiling the wine were snakes. His heart weighed down with doubt and bewilderment, gloomy and without joy, [lacuna] within two months he had resigned and returned to his home region.

Anon., Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi, 後2.258 (Tale 469):

蛇竊酒飲

周必先監無常州錫縣潘封酒庫，用香藥料造麯，香氣氤氳，酒味清洌，有上中下三等。酒熟祭神，刺羊刺豕，庫官展裹行三獻之禮，事畢分送朝官監司太守以下。一日秋祭，庫吏走報，謂上等酒瓶泥皆有孔，取而視之，則數百瓶皆空空如也。官吏以為怪，擇其潔者供祀神，不之顧，亦莫知所自也。越一月，忽聞酒庫有笑語聲，潛視之，則有羣小兒口吸瓶上，開門則失入地矣。急命掘地，深三尺，有巨蛇醉卧，數十小蛇旋繞其旁，始知壞酒者此蛇也。其心疑怪，鬱鬱不樂， [ ] 踰兩月以事罷歸。

Yuan Haowen 元好問, Chang Zhenguo 常振國 (ed), Xu Yijian zhi 續夷堅志 (Continued Records of the Listener), and Anon., Jin Xin 金心 (ed.), Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi 湖海新聞夷堅續志 (Continuation of Records of the Listener with New Items from the Lakes and Seas) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1986).