CHAPTER XII
The Guardian of the Gate of Heaven
Li, the Pagoda-bearer
In Buddhist temples there is to be seen a richly attired figure of a man holding in his hand a model of a pagoda. He is Li, the Prime Minister of Heaven and father of No-cha.
He was a general under the tyrant Chou and commander of Ch'ên-t'ang Kuan at the time when the bloody war was being waged which resulted in the extinction of the Yin dynasty.
No-cha is one of the most frequently mentioned heroes in Chinese romance; he is represented in one account as being Yü Huang's shield-bearer, sixty feet in height, his three heads with nine eyes crowned by a golden wheel, his eight hands each holding a magic weapon, and his mouth vomiting blue clouds. At the sound of his Voice, we are told, the heavens shook and the foundati
