Page 371 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols 364
‘tiger-caps’ to protect them. ‘White tiger’ is a rude expression for a woman. ‘Tiger step’
is one of the thirty positions in sexual intercourse, and ‘tiger’ (hu-z) is a chamber-pot, as
this is made of clay or porcelain in the form of a crouching tiger with its mouth open.
Tile Tile

wa

Kilns were usually sited outside towns because of the smoke. After a certain period of
use, kilns had to be shut down and started up somewhere else. Abandoned kilns were
often used as dwelling-places by very poor couples, or by people who for one reason or
another were not allowed to settle in a town. Thus, ‘tile-kiln’ (wa-zi) came to mean ‘place
of pleasure’, especially a brothel. But the word was also explained as referring to a place
where one could have sex by the hour as cheaply as buying tiles.
A ‘tile-man’ (wa-ren) was a middleman in country districts who estimated the likely
yield of a harvest from the standing ears. A wa-la (written in part with the character for
‘tile’) is supposed to be a fish found in the far-off western sea, whose eyes are dark as
long as it stays there, but bright if taken out of the water. Symbolically, this expression
has come to be used for someone who weeps crocodile tears. Singing girls are also
sometimes called wa-la, because the love they proffer is false.
Toad Toad

ha-ma

The three-legged toad is a moon symbol, just as the three-legged raven is a sun
symbol. And, because the toad lives to a considerable age, it is also a symbol of
longevity. People said that it could swallow the moon (in an eclipse); so it also stands for
unattainable wishes and desires. According to an ancient tradition, the toad is the
transformed Chang-e, the wife who stole the elixir of immortality from her husband,
and fled to the moon where she was turned into a toad.
Ordinary toads are, it was said, a cure for boils, and they should be eaten by sufferers.
A toad which is ten thousand years old (it is then known as ‘flesh-mushroom’)
should be caught on the 5th day of the 5th month, and then dried. If you scratch the earth
with a toad’s leg, a spring gushes from the spot. It was also believed that the toad could
make you invulnerable ( frog).
Among the Tanka, a South Chinese minority people who live on boats, the following
interesting ceremony is held on the 15th day of the 8th month (a full moon) in honour of
a newly-wed couple: a cinnamon tree is placed at the door of the bridal bedroom,
with a toad and a hare under it. The bridal bed is curtained off: candles burn beside