Page:Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills.djvu/178

 t‘ui cut off a piece of his own flesh and gave it to the prince to eat, and thus saved his life. When the prince got to the seat of power, he forgot his faithful henchman, whereupon he fled with his mother, having a willow twig stuck in his hat, to a certain Mien Shan 綿山. When the prince eventually recollected his friend and benefactor he sent men to seek him; Though it was reported that he was hidden on a certain mountain, they could not find him. So in desperation they set fire to the brushwood on the mountain to force him out, but he would not yield and was burned to death; and ever since that time some remembrance has been kept of him; though no one refrains from lighting a fire on that day as formerly, still many people wear a twig of the willow tree, either in the hat or hair, in remembrance of him.

Ku yü, rice rain. This is the time when the rice seed bed is sown. Rain and sunshine are both needed at this time.

Li hsia, beginning of summer. Summer is believed to come from the south.

Hsiao man, small fullness. That is, the hsiao ch‘un or spring crop is ready for reaping in order to clear the land for the summer crop.

Mang chung, hurrying to plant the rice crop. This is the busiest season of the year, with reaping and ploughing, harrowing and planting.

Hsia chih (夏至), the midsummer solstice. At this season the male and female principles are unequal and therefore have to be avoided.

The people now begin to count the days till the dog days or 三伏天 commence. If the three fu (伏) are complete, there will be 30 days, but they rarely are complete, the autumn coming in before these days have run through their course, but after autumn there are still twenty-four autumn tigers, 秋老虎, following on the san fu. In each Chinese moon there are three kêng (庚), that is, one in every ten days; after midsummer three of these kêng are counted and then the dog days begin, and may last from 21 to 29 days.

Hsiao shu, small heat, and ta shu, great heat; these two cover the period just spoken of as the dog days.