Chapter 49 fairy bug
Soldiers, fire and insects are considered to be the three main reasons for the loss of ancient books.For the first two reasons, the classics are destroyed by direct violence, but the harm of silverfish to books is slightly gentle.In the 7th century A.D., a wandering immortal poet said in a poem praising silverfish that the sage taught all things with virtue. Thanks to this enlightenment, even the insects knew how to read and write, and advanced and retreated according to the ritual.
The head of the National Library of the Han Empire, Liu Xiang, claimed in his bibliography compiled for the library that among all the works of predecessors, the work of a scholar named "Wen Zi" was the most suitable for silverfish.This work of the same name has been almost completely reduced to powder, and the remaining content happens to be related to silverfish.Wenzi put silverfish, rat, gray magpie and yellow dog together, calling them "four evils".He believed that each of the four animals possessed a bad quality.Wenzi explained that silverfish live among all kinds of vegetation, and the vegetation has the kindness of nurturing them like parents.But the silverfish shows no appreciation for this, and feeds on its parents instead.Therefore, silverfish should be promoted as a symbol of "unfilial piety".
People before the Tang Dynasty had special feelings for bookworms.They believe that bookworms travel between various classics and articles, and eat the contents of the book word by word. If they happen to eat the word "immortal", they will develop into "celestial fish insects" with supernatural powers. The whole body exudes colorful light.If someone catches them and swallows them in one gulp, he can ascend to heaven and become a member of the gods. "Northern Meng Suoyan" records that during the Qianfu period of Tang Dynasty, the military governor of Tianping Army was named Zhang Jian.In order to achieve the purpose of ascension in the daylight, his fifth son wrote "immortal" on a piece of white paper, crushed it and threw it into a porcelain bottle.He then used the bottle to raise a dozen bookworms.A year later, he ate these silverfish one after another.Who would have thought that Young Master Zhang hadn't ascended to the ascension, but suffered from stomach problems for several years because he ate too much unclean food.
Duan Chengshi also mentioned this matter in "Youyang Zazu".He quoted his friend He Xi's words and questioned Master Zhang's approach.He Xie believes that creating conditions for bookworms to eat more gods by self-made environment seems quite feasible, but it is futile.Because the acquisition of divinity cannot rely on the assistance of manpower, but can only be left to the will of heaven.If the silverfish can eat three groups of immortals in a row, they will completely break away from their original body and become a straight line four or five inches long and as thick as a hair.If someone finds this object and touches the two ends of the line together, it will automatically form a black circle.This is the legendary "Bound Immortal Rope", also known as "Mai Wang".Its power is so powerful that it can even trap star officials in the night sky and make them fall to the world.He Xie said that with this kind of treasure, mortals can drive the gods, and the fun in it far exceeds that of flying in the daytime.