Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 12 (Egyptian and Indo-Chinese).djvu/372

310 by the light of the candles sold by the custodians. This statue is coated with a bright black varnish, and to give impressiveness to the face the whites and the pupils of its eyes are painted, while tufts of hair are fixed to its jaws to represent a beard. Genuine prayer always meets with a favourable reply. Nothing having the breath of life may be given to Tran-vu as a sacrifice. Millet, glutinous rice, and rice which has been too much blanched may not be sacrificed, and the offerings must take the form of cakes. Only fragrant flowers may be presented at Tran-vu's shrine, and certain fruits, such as plums and pomegranates, are forbidden. There are special festival days in each of the twelve months, and sacrifice is a necessary part of the worship. Geese, ducks, cocks, and pigs are presented on stated days, but these are offerings to the spirits in the side chapels, and have nothing to do with Tran-vu. In the same vault as Tran-vu is the stone figure of a man seated on the ground, and tradition says that this is a representation of the artificer who presided over the casting of the bronze.

Tongkingese mythology, which is very largely borrowed from Chinese, has, like all other Indo-Chinese popular belief, many stories of our old friends, the dragons. The whole country is filled with tales of their hidden abodes and their terrifying appearances. The legends of Buddhism abound with them, and Taoist stories give circumstantial accounts of their doings. The Temple of Linh-lanh is believed to stand on the head of a dragon, and since a paved way, which runs from it, is regarded as a representation of its body, any interference with this, even the planting of trees on it, would, the people think, result in desperate disaster.

The Linh-lanh, which is better known to the French as the "Pagode Balny," is on the road to Son-tay, not far from the Pont de Papier. The temple is on the site of an old palace of the time of the first Ly Dynasty. The town of Hanoi at that period extended toward the Village du Papier, and the citadel and various public monuments covered much of the rising