Chinese Symbolism and Art Motifs Fourth Revised Edition. Charles Alfred Speed Williams

represents, according to their idea, something heavy and hard to raise. The evil spirits would thus be unable to snatch from this world a beloved child, the weight attaching to the ground and riveting him to existence.”³³

      The Heavenly Dog (天狗), otherwise called the Child-stealing Devil (生鬼), is said to be the soul of a young girl who has died unmarried, and hopes, by killing a child who will take her own place as a spirit, that she will gain the privilege of reincarnation as a mortal. It is therefore considered necessary to protect a newborn infant— similia similibus curantur —by means of the “hair of the dog,” or a Dog’s Hair Talisman (狗毛符), i. e., a lock of the child’s hair is mixed with a dog’s hair, rolled into a ball, and sewn on to his clothes, after which he may be taken out for an airing with impunity.