Page:Folklore1919.djvu/57

Rh they are usually spoken of as the "Three Hsien Islands" or "Hills," or simply the "Three Islands," by which is meant the three best known, namely, P‘êng-lai, Fang-chang and Ying Chou. P‘êng-lai is the most famous of all, and it is often used alone to represent the group. Horaizan, its equivalent, is the name under which the Chinese conception has been adopted into Japanese legend.

All that I have so far said has been derived from written sources, yet no study of the subject would be complete without taking into account the productions of countless artists and craftsmen, to whose genius must be largely attributed the persistence and popularity of the island Elysium tradition. To them this and kindred themes have been a never-failing inspiration. Their work shows joy in a congenial subject, and the joy shines forth whether the treatment is marked by reverential fervour or by a spirit of half-humorous antiquarianism. Every one of China's millions is familiar with the pictured forms of certain of the hsien, and in the world's history probably no object has been represented more often than the magic fungus, standing as it does the emblem par excellence for Taoist longevity.

To Chinese artistry add the floating folk-lore of the country and we have the chief machinery through which belief in the Isles of the Blest and their immortal inhabitants has been kept alive in the fancies and affections of the