Qiguai — Marvels and Oddities奇怪篇
儒者稱聖人之生，不因人氣，更稟精於天。禹母吞薏苡而生禹，故夏姓曰姒。母吞燕卵而生，故殷姓曰子。
The scholars say that when a sage is born it is not through the breath of man, but that he receives his essence anew from Heaven. The mother of Yu swallowed a Job's tears seed and gave birth to Yu, and so the surname of Xia is Si (姒). The mother of Xie swallowed a swallow's egg and gave birth to Xie, and so the surname of Yin is Zi (子).
后稷母履大人跡而生后稷，故周姓曰姬。《詩》曰：「不坼不副，是生后稷。」說者又曰：「禹、逆生，母背而出。」
The mother of Houji trod on the footprint of a big man and gave birth to Houji, and so the surname of Zhou is Ji (姬). The Shi says, "Without bursting, without splitting, she gave birth to Houji." Those who speak of it say further, "Yu and Xie were born the wrong way round; they split their mothers' backs and came out."
后稷順生，不坼不副。不感動母體，故曰「不坼不副」。逆生者子孫逆死，順生者子孫順亡。故桀、紂誅死，赧王奪邑。言之有頭足，故人信其說；明事以驗証，故人然其文。讖書又言：堯母慶都野出，赤龍感己，遂生堯。《高祖本紀》言：劉媼嘗息大澤之陂，夢與神遇。是時，雷電晦冥，太公往視，見蛟龍於上。
Houji was born the right way round, without bursting and without splitting. He did not stir his mother's body, and so it is said, "without bursting, without splitting." One born the wrong way round has descendants who die the wrong way round, and one born the right way round has descendants who perish in the right way. So Jie and Zhou were put to death, and King Nan was stripped of his towns. The saying has a head and feet, and so men believe it; the matter is made clear with proofs, and so men take the writing for true.
The prophecy books say further that Qingdu, the mother of Yao, went out into the fields, and a red dragon moved upon her, and at last she gave birth to Yao. The Gaozu benji says that Dame Liu once rested on the bank of a great marsh and in a dream met with a god. At that time there was thunder and lightning and the sky went dark, and Taigong went to look and saw a scaly dragon above her.
已而有身，遂生高祖。其言神驗，文又明著，世儒學者，莫謂不然。如實論之，虛妄言也。
Thereupon she was with child, and at last gave birth to Gaozu. The words were proved by a spirit, and the writing is plain and clear, and among the learned men of the age there is none who says it was not so. Argued as it really is, it is an empty and false saying.
彼《詩》言「不坼不副」，言其不感動母體，可也；言其母背而出，妄也。夫蟬之生育也，背而出。天之生聖子，與復育同道乎？兔吮毫而懷子，及其子生，從口而出。案禹母吞薏苡，母咽燕卵，與兔吮毫同實也。禹、之母生，宜皆從口，不當背。夫如是，背之說，竟虛妄也。世間血刃死者多，未必其先祖初為人者生時逆也。秦失天下，閻樂斬胡亥，項羽誅子嬰。秦之先祖伯翳，豈逆生乎？如是為順逆之說，以驗三家之祖，誤矣。
Where the Shi says "without bursting, without splitting," it says that he did not stir his mother's body, and that is right. To say that he split his mother's back and came out is false. Now the cicada, when it is born and grows, splits the back and comes out. Is Heaven's giving birth to a sage son of the same way as the cicada grub? The hare licks its fur and conceives young, and when its young are born they come out by the mouth. Consider that the mother of Yu swallowed a Job's tears seed and the mother of Xie swallowed a swallow's egg; this is the same thing as the hare licking its fur. When the mothers of Yu and Xie gave birth, all of it should have come out by the mouth, and not by the back. Being so, the saying about splitting the back is in the end empty and false.
In the world many die bleeding on a blade, but it is not that their forefathers, the first of them who became men, were born the wrong way round. When Qin lost the empire, Yan Le cut down Huhai and Xiang Yu put Ziying to death. Was Bo Yi (伯翳), the forefather of Qin, born the wrong way round? To make a saying of the right way round and the wrong way round like this, and to prove by it the forefathers of the three houses, is a mistake.
且夫薏苡，草也；燕卵，鳥也；大人跡，土也。三者皆形，非氣也，安能生人？說聖者以為稟天精微之氣，故其為有殊絕之知。今三家之生，以草、以鳥、以土，可謂精微乎？天地之性，唯人為貴，則物賤矣。今貴人之氣，更稟賤物之精，安能精微乎？夫令鳩雀施氣於雁鵠，終不成子者，何也？鳩雀之身小，雁鵠之形大也。今燕之身不過五寸，薏苡之莖不過數尺，二女吞其卵實，安能成七尺之形乎？爍一鼎之銅，以灌一錢之形，不能成一鼎，明矣。今謂大人天神，故其跡巨。巨跡之人，一鼎之爍銅也；姜原之身，一錢之形也。使大人施氣於姜原，姜原之身小，安能盡得其精？不能盡得其精，則后稷不能成人。堯、高祖審龍之子，子性類父，龍能乘雲，堯與高祖亦宜能焉。萬物生於土，各似本種；不類土者，生不出於土，土徒養育之也。母之懷子，猶土之育物也。堯、高祖之母，受龍之施，猶土受物之播也。物生自類本種，夫二帝宜似龍也。且夫含血之類，相與為牝牡；牝牡之會，皆見同類之物。精感欲動，乃能授施。若夫牡馬見雌牛，（雀見雄）〔雄雀見〕牝雞，不相與合者，異類故也。今龍與人異類，何能感於人而施氣？或曰：夏之衰，二龍斗於庭，吐於地。龍亡在，櫝而藏之。至周幽王發出龍，化為玄黿，入於後宮，與處女交，遂生褒姒。玄黿與人異類，何以感於處女而施氣乎？夫玄黿所交非正，故褒姒為禍，周國以亡。以非類妄交，則有非道妄亂之子。今堯、高祖之母不以道接會，何故二帝賢聖，與褒姒異乎？
Moreover, Job's tears is a plant, a swallow's egg is a bird, and the footprint of a big man is earth. All three are shapes and not breath. How could they give birth to a man? Those who speak of sages hold that a sage receives the fine and subtle breath of Heaven, and so has knowledge that stands far apart from the rest. Now if the birth of the three houses was by a plant, by a bird and by earth, can that be called fine and subtle? Of the natures of Heaven and earth man alone is honored, and things are lowly. Now if the breath of an honored man received anew the essence of a lowly thing, how could it be fine and subtle?
Let a dove or a sparrow give its breath to a wild goose or a swan, and in the end no young are made. Why? The body of the dove and the sparrow is small, and the shape of the goose and the swan is large. Now the body of a swallow is no more than five inches, and the stalk of Job's tears no more than a few feet. When the two women swallowed that egg and that seed, how could a body of seven feet be made? Melt a cauldron of copper and pour it into the mold of a single coin, and it cannot make a cauldron. That is clear. Now it is said that the big man was a god of Heaven, and so his footprint was huge. The man of the huge footprint is the melted copper of a whole cauldron, and the body of Jiang Yuan is the mold of a single coin. Suppose the big man gave his breath to Jiang Yuan. The body of Jiang Yuan is small, so how could she get all of his essence? If she could not get all of his essence, then Houji could not be made a man.
If Yao and Gaozu were truly the sons of a dragon, then, since a son's nature is like his father's and a dragon can ride on the clouds, Yao and Gaozu too ought to have been able to do it. All things are born from the earth, and each is like its own seed. What is not like the earth was not born out of the earth; the earth only reared it. A mother carrying a child is like the earth rearing a thing. When the mothers of Yao and Gaozu received the giving of the dragon, it was like the earth receiving the sowing of a thing. A thing is born of itself like its own seed, and so the two rulers ought to have been like dragons.
Moreover, the kinds that hold blood become male and female to one another, and in the meeting of male and female each looks upon a thing of its own kind. The essence is moved and desire is stirred, and only then can the giving be made. A stallion looks upon a cow, and a cock sparrow looks upon a hen, and they do not come together, because they are of different kinds. Now the dragon and man are of different kinds. How could it be moved by a man and give its breath?
Some say: when Xia was declining, two dragons fought in the courtyard and spat their slaver on the ground. The dragons went away and the slaver stayed, and it was put in a chest and kept. When it came to King You of Zhou it was opened and taken out, and the dragons' slaver turned into a black turtle, which went into the rear palace and joined with a young girl, and at last Bao Si was born. The black turtle and man are of different kinds. How could it be moved by a young girl and give its breath? What the black turtle joined with, it joined with not uprightly, and so Bao Si became a disaster and the state of Zhou perished by it. Join wildly with what is not your kind, and there is a child of no way, wild and disordered. Now the mothers of Yao and Gaozu did not come together by the way. Why then were the two rulers worthy and sagely, unlike Bao Si?
或曰：「趙簡子病，五日不知人。覺言，我之帝所，有熊來，帝命我射之，中，熊死；有羆來，我又射之，中羆，羆死。後問當道之鬼，鬼曰：熊羆，晉二卿之先祖也。」熊羆物也，與人異類，何以施類於人，而為二卿祖？夫簡子所射熊羆，二卿祖當亡，簡子當昌之（秋）〔祆〕也。簡子見之，若寢夢矣。空虛之象，不必有實。假令有之，或時熊羆先化為人。乃生二卿。魯公牛哀病化為虎。人化為獸，亦如獸為人。玄黿入後宮，殆先化為人。天地之間，異類之物，相與交接，未之有也。
Some say, "Jian Zi of Zhao fell ill, and for five days he did not know men. When he woke he said, 'I went to the place of the Lord on High. A bear came, and the Lord commanded me to shoot it, and I hit it and the bear died. A brown bear came, and I shot it too, and I hit the brown bear and the brown bear died.' Afterward he asked the spirit that stood in the road, and the spirit said, 'The bear and the brown bear are the forefathers of the two high ministers of Jin.'" The bear and the brown bear are creatures, of a different kind from man. How could they give their kind to men and become the forefathers of the two ministers? The bear and the brown bear that Jian Zi shot were an uncanny sign that the forefathers of the two ministers were to perish and that Jian Zi was to flourish. What Jian Zi saw was like a dream in sleep. An empty image need not have anything real in it. Suppose there was something in it: it may be that the bear and the brown bear first turned into men, and then gave birth to the two ministers. Gongniu Ai of Lu fell ill and turned into a tiger. A man turning into a beast is just like a beast becoming a man. When the black turtle went into the rear palace, it very likely first turned into a man. Between Heaven and earth, that things of different kinds should couple with one another has never been.
天人同道，好惡均心。人不好異類，則天亦不與通。人雖生於天，猶虮虱生於人也。人不好虮虱，天無故欲生於人。何則？異類殊性，情欲不相得也。天地，夫婦也，天施氣於地以生物。人轉相生，精微為聖，皆因父氣，不更稟取。
Heaven and man have the same way, and in liking and disliking their minds are even. Man does not like a different kind, and Heaven too does not join with one. Though man is born of Heaven, it is as nits and lice are born of man. Man does not like nits and lice, and Heaven has no reason to wish to give birth out of man. Why? The kinds are different and the natures are unlike, and their feelings and desires do not suit one another. Heaven and earth are husband and wife, and Heaven gives its breath to earth and so things are born. Men in turn give birth to one another, and the fine and subtle among them become sages, and all of this is by the father's breath, and nothing is received anew from elsewhere.
如更稟者為聖，后稷不聖。如聖人皆當更稟，十二聖不皆然也。黃帝、帝嚳、帝顓頊、帝舜之母，何所受氣？文王、武王、周公、孔子之母，何所感吞？
If one who receives anew is a sage, then Houji was not a sage. If sages must all receive anew, then the twelve sages were not all so. From what did the mothers of the Yellow Emperor, of Emperor Ku, of Emperor Zhuanxu and of Emperor Shun receive breath? By what were the mothers of King Wen, King Wu, the Duke of Zhou and Confucius moved, and what did they swallow?
此或時見三家之姓，曰姒氏、子氏、姬氏，則因依放，空生怪說，猶見鼎湖之地，而著黃帝升天之說矣。失道之意，還反其字。蒼頡作書，與事相連。姜原履大人跡。跡者基也，姓當為其下土，乃為女旁（巨）〔臣〕，非基跡之字，不合本事，疑非實也。以周姬況夏殷，亦知子之與姒，非燕子、薏苡也。或時禹、契、後稽之母適欲懷妊，遭吞薏苡、燕卵，履大人跡也。世好奇怪，古今同情。不見奇怪，謂德不異，故因以為姓。世間誠信，因以為然。聖人重疑，因不復定。世士淺論，因不復辨。儒生是古，因生其說。彼《詩》言「不坼不副」者，言後稽之生不感動母身也。儒生穿鑿，因造禹、契生之說。感於龍，夢與神遇，猶此率也。堯、高祖之母適欲懷妊，遭逢雷龍載雲雨而行，人見其形，遂謂之然。夢與神遇，得聖子之象也。夢見鬼合之，非夢與神遇乎，安得其實！野出感龍，及蛟龍居上，或堯、高祖受富貴之命。龍為吉物，遭加其上，吉祥之瑞，受命之証也。光武皇帝產於濟陽宮，鳳皇集於地，嘉禾生於屋。聖人之生，齊鳥吉物之為瑞應。必以奇吉之物見而子生謂之物之子，是則光武皇帝嘉禾之精，鳳皇之氣歟？案《帝系》之篇及《三代世表》，禹，鯀之子也；卨、稷皆帝嚳之子，其母皆帝嚳之妃也，及堯亦嚳之子。帝王之妃，何為適草野？古時雖質，禮已設制，帝王之妃，何為浴於水？夫如是，言聖人更稟氣於天，母有感吞者，虛妄之言也。實者，聖人自有種（世）族，（仁）如文、武各有類。孔子吹律，自知殷後；項羽重瞳，自知虞舜苗裔也。五帝、三王皆祖黃帝。黃帝聖人，本稟貴命，故其子孫皆為帝王。帝王之生，必有怪奇，不見於物，則效於夢矣。
This may be that men saw the surnames of the three houses, Si, Zi and Ji, and leaned on them and copied them and made up strange sayings out of nothing, just as men saw the place called Dinghu and set down the saying that the Yellow Emperor went up to Heaven. They lost the meaning of the way and turned back instead to the written graph. When Cang Jie made writing, he joined it to things. Jiang Yuan trod on the footprint of a big man. A footprint is a foundation, and the surname ought to have below it the graph for earth, tu (土); but it is the graph for woman, nü (女), with chen (臣) beside it, which is not the graph for a foundation or a footprint. It does not fit the matter itself, and one may doubt that it is real. Set the Ji of Zhou beside Xia and Yin, and one may know that Zi and Si too are not a swallow's young and Job's tears.
It may be that when the mothers of Yu, Xie and Houji were just about to conceive, they happened to swallow Job's tears and a swallow's egg and to tread on the footprint of a big man. The world loves the strange and the wonderful, and old times and new are of one mind in this. Where men see nothing strange and wonderful, they say the virtue was not different, and so they took these things for the surnames. The world in its honest trust took them for true. The sages made much of doubt, and so did not settle it again. The gentlemen of the age argued shallowly, and so did not sift it again. The students of the classics held the old to be right, and so gave birth to the saying.
Where the Shi says "without bursting, without splitting," it says that at the birth of Houji the mother's body was not stirred. The students of the classics bored a hole through it, and so made up the saying about the birth of Yu and Xie. Being moved by a dragon, and meeting a god in a dream, are of this same run. When the mothers of Yao and Gaozu were just about to conceive, they happened upon thunder and dragons going along carrying cloud and rain, and men saw the shape of it and so said it was as they said. To meet a god in a dream is a sign of getting a sage son. To dream that one sees a ghost and joins with it, is that not meeting a god in a dream? How is the truth of it to be had! Going out into the fields and being moved by a dragon, and the scaly dragon staying above her, may be that Yao and Gaozu received a destiny of wealth and honor. The dragon is a lucky creature, and to happen to have it added above one is a sign of good fortune and a proof of receiving destiny.
Emperor Guangwu was born in the palace at Jiyang, and phoenixes gathered on the ground and fine grain grew on the house. When a sage is born, birds and lucky things answer together as signs. If it must be that where a strange and lucky thing appears and a son is born, the son is called the child of that thing, then was Emperor Guangwu the essence of fine grain and the breath of a phoenix?
Look at the chapter Dixi and at the Sandai shibiao. Yu was the son of Gun; Xie and Ji were both sons of Emperor Ku, and their mothers were both consorts of Emperor Ku; and Yao too was a son of Ku. Why would the consort of an emperor go off into the grass and the fields? Old times were plain, yet the rites had already set their rules; why would the consort of an emperor bathe in a river? Being so, to say that a sage receives breath anew from Heaven, and that his mother was moved by something or swallowed something, is an empty and false saying. In truth the sages have their own stock and line, as King Wen and King Wu each had their kind. Confucius blew the pitch pipe and knew of himself that he was of the line of Yin; Xiang Yu had double pupils and knew of himself that he was a far descendant of Shun of Yu. The Five Emperors and the Three Kings all take the Yellow Emperor for their ancestor. The Yellow Emperor was a sage, and from the first he received an honored destiny, and so his sons and grandsons all became emperors and kings. When an emperor or a king is born there is always something strange and wonderful; if it does not show in a thing, then it shows itself in a dream.