PLAYING SECOND FIDDLE: THE -BIRD IN EARLY AND MEDIEVAL

BY

JAMES M. HARGETT

University of Colorado, Boulder

"The Master said: 'Young children, why is it that none of you study the Odes? .... The Odes can extend your knowledge about the names of birds, beasts, plants, and trees'." Lunyu, XVII.9.

I. Introduction

Bird imagery is common lexical fare in texts dating from the traditional period in , especially literary works. One reason for this keen interest in avifauna is the influence of the Lunyu passage quoted in the vignette above. 's exhortation to his pupils could not have been stated in more explicit terms: study the Odes (that is, the Poetry Classic, or Shijing) because the verses in that anthology can teach you "about the names of birds, beasts, plants, and trees." Of course, Confucius did not merely require his students to be familiar with various plant and animal terms and the physical objects they denoted; his disciples also had to be mindful of the symbolic associations evoked by these same images. Without such knowledge, a young scholar's education would have been incom- plete. Several members of the first of the four groups that constitute Confucius's quadripartite curriculum of fauna and flora-the avian community-are associated with specific functions or tasks, such as hunting and fishing. Examples can be found among various species of raptorial birds ( j§) . Other denizens of China's feathery tribe are more often praised and admired for their beautiful plum- age, melodius song, or special talents. The halcyon kingfisher ( feicui #%§B ; Halcyon smyrnensis), the oriole (ying Oriolus chinensis), and the parrot (yingwu tq44) are three such cases that immediately come 236 to mind.' There are many others. We can also distinguish a third group in the ornithology of China's literary kingdom: the so-called legendary birds. Among these fabulous aviators, one unabashedly reigns supreme above all the others. I refer to the or fenghuang na (usually translated as ""). This divine and benevolent creature, which is said to alight only on the branch of a paulownia tree (wutong Paulownia imperialis), commands an extremely broad range of associations in Chinese art and literature.2 Like its quadrupedal counterpart the unicorn ( §fl#ji) , thefeng symbolizes all that is beautiful and good. Sovereigns were especially delighted to receive reports of "phoenix sightings" because the fabulous bird was said to appear only when the empire was secure and peaceful. The first such sighting supposedly occurred in remote antiquity, during the benevolent rcign of the legendary .3 Numerous other appearances are reported in later history, many of which were no doubt fabricated for the purpose of upholding a tottering throne or flattering the pride of a powerful monarch. Although literary and art historians have devoted considerable attention to the phoenix and certain other members of China's elite corps of wondrous birds,4 there is one member of this group that