Boyi, the Nine-Tailed Goat with Eyes on Its Back

What the Shan Hai Jing says

Mount Ji is in the first book of the Southern Mountains, the range that opens the whole Shan Hai Jing. The beast that lives there is shaped like a goat but has nine tails and four ears, and its eyes are on its back. It is called the Boyi. The name is written with rare characters and can be read more than one way; Boyi is the reading our translation follows, and you will also see it written Boshi or Bo Yi.

The text gives a single use: whoever wears it will not be afraid. The Shan Hai Jing often says that wearing part of a creature, most likely its hide or feathers, passes a quality to the wearer. On the same mountain lives a bird like a rooster with three heads, six eyes, six legs and three wings, called the changfu; eating it is said to keep you from sleep.

A watchful body and a charm

Why eyes on its back? The book never explains, but many of its beasts have extra or misplaced eyes, like the Paoxiao, whose eyes are under its arms and which later writers linked to the Taotie. A goat that can see behind itself is hard to surprise, and it is easy to imagine a charm of fearlessness growing from such a watchful body. That reading is ours; the text only gives the shape and the use, and leaves the reason to the reader.

Neighbors in the first Southern range

The first book of the Southern Mountains is also home to the Nine-Tailed Fox of Mount Qingqiu and to the Chiru, the human-faced fish of the Ying River. So the boyi is not the only nine-tailed creature of this range. Many entries here share the same pattern: a strange animal paired with a charm against a human trouble, whether fear, curses, confusion or skin disease. Read together, they look like a traveler's guide to the dangers and remedies of the southern hills.

Boyi in Beasts of Shanhai

In Beasts of Shanhai, our browser game built on these creatures, the boyi turns its fearlessness into a job on the battlefield. It is a cheap Earth beast with Guard, which means foes must attack it before anyone else, so it stands at the front and takes the blows meant for weaker allies. At two and three stars it also begins each battle with a shield. It is often the first beast a new player buys to protect a fragile team.

Fearless Goat in Beasts of Shanhai

In our free browser game Beasts of Shanhai, Fearless Goat is a Earth beast that costs 1 Gold. Its skill is Stand Guard. Guard: foes must attack it first. At two stars it also starts each battle with 2 Shield, and at three stars with 4.

Play Beasts of Shanhai free