Tiangu is an animal in Chinese folklore. It was first recorded in “Shan Hai Jing.” The original text is:.. “Three hundred miles west of the mountain, it is called Yinshan. Water flows out of Yan, while southward flows into Fanze. In that place there are many beasts and Tiangu. It is like a panda with a white head, its cry is like a grenade, which can protect against evil.
As mentioned in the article, Tiangu is also described as a fox-like creature with a white head. It is an auspicious beast that protects against evil. It is probably an ancient mammal. It did exist. However, later, the image of Tiangu was developed to describe comets and meteorites. The ancients considered the stars in the sky to be bad luck, so Tiangu became the name of the evil star.
The ancient Chinese believed that eclipses were caused by “Tiangu eating the sun”. When this phenomenon occurs, people will knock gongs, play drums and set firecrackers to scare away Tiangu.
The Chinese have a legend about Houyi, who shot down nine suns for the people, to reward him, the queen gave him a panacea, but Chang'e stole him and fly to the sky alone. Outside the door, Houyi’s black hound barked upon seeing this. It ran into the house, licked the leftover elixir, and then chased Chang'e into the sky. Chang'e heard the barking of the black hound and rushed to the moon. The black hound’s fur grew longer and longer and became jet-black. The body is getting bigger and bigger. Finally, after chasing the moon. It turned out to be huge. It jumped up and swallowed the whole moon.
When the Jade Emperor and the Empress Dowager learned that the moon had been swallowed by a black dog, they ordered heavenly soldiers to capture it. When they caught the black dog hunter, the Empress Dowager recognized it as Houyi’s hunting dog and ordered name it Tiangu and let it guard the Nantianmen. Tiangu was blessed and vomited up the moon and Chang’e, and Chang’e has lived on the moon ever since.
📚 Explore more of the Mystical Creatures series here: Dive into the Enchanted Realms of Mythology
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