Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).
'Beautiful like silver hair,
Like a soaring white horse. [or one with feathers??]
Not a robber, but a marital ally.'
Then I realised that this line changes to 30, li x 2.
Then that the fan yao is,
'Sudden,
A dragon horse is the [qi 氣] vital spirit of Heaven and Earth. As a being its shape consists of a horse's body, yet it has dragon scales. Therefore it is called 'dragon horse'. Its height is eight ch'ih five ts'un. A true dragon horse has wings at its sides and walks upon the water without sinking. If a holy man is on the throne it comes out of the midst of the Ming river, carrying a map on its back. (tr. Visser 1913:58)
from here : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longma
Comet tails are extremely tenuous—giant volumes of practically nothing.
I read this blog post -
http://blog.prehistoricshamanism.com/507/hale-bopp-the-modern-discovery-of-an-ancient-comet/
- and started wondering.
The post is recommended anyway - wonderful stuff, about possible ancient references to the 'recently discovered' Hale Bopp comet. The imagery used - the star with hair, the unicorn and its tail - brought to mind,
'Beautiful like silver hair,
Like a soaring white horse. [or one with feathers??]
Not a robber, but a marital ally.'
Then I realised that this line changes to 30, li x 2.
Then that the fan yao is,
'Sudden,
It comes,
Burns,
Dies,
Thrown out.'
So I posted a comet-comment, and now the site owner is expressing polite interest, and I'm wondering how far up the garden path I've led him. Could there be a comet lurking behind these lines, do you think?
I know we have other explanations for the imagery in 22.4: the marriage procession, the poor-groom-as-robber custom (though it's a bit odd having the two together in one line, come to think of it). Only that doesn't quite explain the hair, the feathers, the silvery white. And the 'not a robber...' - could the idea be that a new, moving star would normally be a bad sign, but this one has an unusually positive significance?
I'm being more simple-minded than you, Bruce - just thinking about how the comet tail looks like a silvery horse's tail, or like feathers.
In a less serious manner, that guy appears to be the prince on the white horse , lol
PS: But please do indulge your own exotic imagination.
Easy access to read but to download papers you have to sign up via facebook.I am a little suspicious of this kind of sign up, in terms of the small-print access you are sometimes required to give to friends lists and so on.
Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).