Huashe
Mythological Narrative
Mount Yang is stony and bare of vegetation; the Yang River flows from it north into the Yi. In its waters live the Huashe: creatures with a human face, a jackal's body, and bird's wings, yet moving with a serpent's crawl. Their voice sounds like a person shouting rebukes. Wherever one shows itself, that town will be flooded.
The Huashe is a specimen of the composite monster, four bodies stitched into one silhouette — human, jackal, bird and snake. Among the portent beasts of the classic it sits in the flood column beside the Fuzhu, the four-horned white deer of Mount Ao'an, while its neighbor in the same Yi basin, the Mingshe of Mount Xian, governs the opposite sign of drought. One serpent for deluge and one for drought make a matched pair of water omens in the second central sequence.
Academic Discussion & Critique
Exchange peer-reviewed hypotheses, comparative Indo-European etymologies, and archaeological field interpretations regarding Huashe.
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Fuzhu
A beast of Mount Ao'an shaped like a white deer but bearing four horns; wherever it appears, that town will be struck by a great flood.
Mafu
A man-eating beast of Mount Manqu with a human face on a tiger's body, whose cry mimics a wailing infant; the Yi River rises from its mountain.
Mingshe
A serpent of Mount Xian's waters with four wings and a call like a struck stone chime; wherever it appears, that town will suffer drought — counterpart to the flood-bringing Huashe.
Changyou
A beast of Mount Changyou shaped like a macaque but with four ears, its voice like a human groan; whichever district it appears in will suffer great floods.