鸓

The Classic of Western Mountains: two hundred li west is Mount Cui. Palms and nanmu on top, bamboo groves below. Gold on its sunny side; yak, antelope, and musk deer on its shaded side. The mountain is full of lei birds — magpie-shaped, red and black, two heads and four feet. They ward off fire. Mount Cui is one of the few genuinely rich mountains in the western range: timber above, bamboo below, gold on one slope, grazing animals on the other. Trees, water, ore, game. A place you could live. The lei lives there. Like a magpie, red and black, two heads, four feet. Its function is yu huo — to ward off fire. Two heads and four feet on a bird does not work biologically. But two heads does occur: conjoined twins. Snakes, turtles, and occasionally birds are born that way. Someone saw a two-headed bird, wrote it down, and it entered the bestiary. Four feet is more likely observation error. A bird's folded wings trail their primaries behind like an extra pair of legs; or it stands with wings half-open, tips touching the ground. Mistakes like that are everywhere in this text. What matters is "wards off fire." Chinese buildings were timber, and fire was routine. A single blaze could take a street, a palace complex. The histories are full of them. So fire prevention was an obsession: ridge ornaments that supposedly swallow flame, water beasts painted on doors, vats kept in courtyards. Against that background, "a bird that prevents fire" is not a fantasy. It is a practical demand. Mount Cui is dense with bamboo and timber — exactly the kind of place that burns. And the lei's plumage is red and black: red like flame, black like char. It looks like fire and claims to stop it. This is standard sympathetic magic: fight fire with the image of fire. The more it resembles something born in a blaze, the more power it has over one. Cui yields gold and bamboo. Gold survives fire; bamboo does not. A red-black two-headed bird standing in a bamboo grove, said to prevent fire — probably the most useful promise anyone in those hills could ask for.

เขาฉุยอุดมไปด้วยไม้ไผ่ ทองคำ และสัตว์ป่า มีนกเหลยมาก รูปร่างเหมือนนกกางเขน สีแดงดำ สองหัวสี่ขา "กันไฟได้" บ้านเมืองจีนโบราณสร้างด้วยไม้ ไฟไหม้เป็นเรื่องปกติ นกที่กันไฟได้จึงไม่ใช่เรื่องเพ้อฝัน แต่เป็นความต้องการจริง ๆ

Gunung Cui kaya buluh, emas dan binatang. Banyak burung Lei — macam murai, merah hitam, dua kepala empat kaki. "Boleh halau api." Rumah lama Cina diperbuat daripada kayu; kebakaran biasa. Burung penangkal api bukan fantasi, tapi keperluan sebenar.

Núi Thúy nhiều tre, vàng và thú rừng. Có nhiều chim Lôi — hình bồ câu ác, đỏ đen, hai đầu bốn chân. "Trừ được lửa." Nhà cổ Trung Hoa làm bằng gỗ; hỏa hoạn thường xuyên. Chim trừ lửa không phải ảo tưởng mà là nhu cầu thật.

Gunung Cui kaya bambu, emas, dan satwa. Banyak burung Lei — mirip murai, merah hitam, dua kepala empat kaki. "Bisa menangkal api." Rumah kuno Tiongkok dari kayu; kebakaran biasa. Burung penangkal api bukan fantasi, tapi kebutuhan nyata.