The Yellow Emperor’s Compass

The Yellow Emperor (Huángdì 黄帝, reign 01a-3) was the greatest of China’s emperors, and he governed the realms of spirits and demons as well as of men. But he was not without challenge, for a wicked and desperate creature called Chīyóu 蚩尤 sought to displace him. Chīyóu had a man’s body, but the head of an ox, and furthermore his head was made of iron. He ate sand and stone and metal, and could produce all manner of instruments of war. He also knew how to work powerful sorcery (mófǎ 魔法). And he had eighty-one brothers who were just like him.

Chīyóu and his brethren rallied some of the monsters of the mountains and demons of the waters (shānjīng-shuǐguài 山精水怪) from the south and launched an attack upon the earthly palace of the Yellow Emperor in the Kūnlún 昆仑山 mountains of the north. The large imperial forces naturally included many gods and men and loyal demons, and the wild animals of the earth. But Chīyóu was confident of his sorcery.

As the armies joined in battle, Chīyóu called up a great fog, and no-one could see what was going on. Fighting became random, and the Yellow Emperor was forced to withdraw with great numbers of casualties, many inflicted accidentally by his own troops upon each other.

Among the Yellow Emperor’s followers was a man named Fēng Hòu 风后, who presented him with an odd little chariot with a post in the middle. Mounted on the post was a small figure with one hand extended before it, and however the chariot was turned, the figure spun around so that the hand extended toward the south. The device was called a “south-pointing cart” (zhǐnán chē 指南车).

The next time his troops were confronted with the thick fog, they easily found their way using the south-pointing cart, and won the battle. To this day in China a “compass” is called a “south-pointing needle” (zhǐnánzhēn 指南针).

Next the wicked Chīyóu called up the masters of wind and the masters of rain (fēngbó-yǔshī 风伯雨师), who produced violent storms that nearly knocked down the armies of the Yellow Emperor, while Chīyóu’s forces waited to kill them.

But Chīyóu was not the only person who knew magic. The Yellow Emperor’s younger sister, named Bá 魃, had the ability to produce great heat, by which she made the storms dissipate, and Chīyóu’s troops suffered great losses.

The Yellow Emperor had some tricks of his own. He brought forth a huge drum, which was made with the skin of a fabulous, one-footed dragon called a kuí 夔 and which was beaten with drumsticks made from the skulls of thunder gods. At the sound of this great drum (which had magical power in addition to being very loud), all the troops of Chīyóu were filled with so much fear that they could only shake in terror, while all of the imperial troops were filled with careless courage that made it easy for them to attack ferociously.

In the end the forces of the wicked Chīyóu were destroyed, and the Yellow Emperor reigned supreme, as was right and good in every way.