Chapter 27 Scaled Sixth Devourer

October 29, 2008 at 22:42 Seeing gluttony as a symbol of greed is perhaps the deepest misunderstanding humans have about animals. In fact, Taotie is probably a kind of alien beast.According to researcher Zhu Changling's paper published in 1993, the image of gluttony may be related to the creation god in the middle period of Sumer.A clay tablet made in the 22nd century BC found in the ruins of Ur depicts the earliest known image of the god Ouroboros-a big snake with its tail in its mouth and its body formed into a ring.The Sumerians believed that the serpent was a servant of the Creator.The shape of the snake's head and snake's tail symbolizes the cycle of everything in the world.After the creation of the world was completed, this mythical beast migrated eastward and once settled in Elam in the eastern part of the Iranian plateau.The Elamites called it tud'ieh, which means "to reorganize".Zhu Changling said that the word "taotie" comes from the Elamite tud'ieh.He said that these mythical beasts gradually migrated eastward over the next thousand years, and finally moved to China, where they found their homes in the northern mountains.

The early Chinese didn't know the origin of the image of Taotie, and mistakenly believed that he held his own tail because he was so hungry that he ate himself.On this basis, Taotie is endowed with a greedy and delicious character. Point out that the habitat of Taotie in the northern mountains is barren.These half-snakes and half-gods are hundreds of miles long, and the parts below the neck are very similar to the legendary dragons, but they don't have the mane and golden scales like dragons.The biggest difference between Taotie and Dragon lies in the head.It has a cow-like head rather than a dragon's "hump-shaped" head.In addition, Taotie's horns are black and horny, called "Tuntu", instead of the yellow velvet "Chimu" like the dragon.The yellow chi wood is the abyss of spiritual energy, with it, the dragon can fly freely.And Tuntu is the root of all greed, so Taotie cannot fly and has an insatiable appetite.It will devour all edible things in its path.Sometimes, they even devour the softer limestone.When everything around it is swallowed by it, it will eat its own body.After hundreds of years of starvation, the Ouroboros migrated to northern China and finally consumed themselves from the neck down.The author finally stated that the book's description of Taotie was only based on legends and the author's imagination.Due to its amazing feeding habits, no one survived the sight of the glutton, and no one knew the current situation of this group of monsters.

Other records say that for some reason, a few gluttons did not completely eat themselves.They inadvertently looked up at the appearance of Zhu Xuan, the leader of the Chinese gods, and were overwhelmed by his grandeur, and devoted themselves to the world of gods.Zhu Xuan ordered Taotie to garrison the northern frontier and devour any northern monsters that tried to invade the Central Plains.After an unknown number of years, the title of King of the Gods was passed on to Emperor Hong.Because of the meritorious service of guarding the border, Emperor Hong ordered to change their name to "Zhuyin", change their duties, and be responsible for the migration and renewal of the material world.In this way, Taotie finally regained its original appearance after it migrated to China.

These gluttons hid in the dark and cold northern mountains, taking in a breath every five hundred years, and exhaling the breath after another five hundred years.The breath you breathe is the hurricane on earth.In the process of breathing, Taotie opened his mouth wide, swallowing all the substances brought by the hurricane.After precise decomposition and reorganization, Taotie released the matter and transported it back to this world.In this way, Taotie completes the work of renewing the world through two organs: the mouth and the anus.