Lushu, the Singing Striped Horse of Mount Niuyang

What the Shan Hai Jing says

The Lushu lives on Mount Niuyang, in the first book of the Southern Mountains, the same book that begins the whole Shan Hai Jing and later reaches the Nine-Tailed Fox of Mount Qingqiu. The text says the sunny side of Mount Niuyang is rich in red metal and the shady side in white metal. The beast is shaped like a horse with a white head. It is striped like a tiger and has a red tail. Its voice is compared to yao, a song sung without accompaniment. Its name is Lushu. The last line gives its use: wearing it, that is, carrying its hide or a part of it, makes a family prosper with many children and grandchildren.

A charm for a large family

Many Shan Hai Jing creatures are useful as well as strange. Some are eaten to cure illness, some are worn to ward off harm, and a few, like the Lushu, are worn for fertility. Having many sons and grandsons was among the most important blessings in early Chinese life, because the family line and the care of ancestors depended on it. The same promise, "good for descendants", appears elsewhere in the mountain books, for example in a tree on Mount Chongwu in the Western Mountains whose fruit is said to help a family have children.

The river below and the zebra question

Mount Niuyang also has a famous river creature. The Guai River flows east from the mountain, and in it live black turtles with bird heads and snake tails, the Xuangui, whose cry sounds like splitting wood. Wearing a Xuangui is said to keep you from going deaf. Modern readers often notice that a white-headed horse covered in tiger stripes sounds a little like a zebra. There is no evidence that the compilers knew African animals, and the red tail and singing voice belong firmly to myth, but the resemblance is one reason the Lushu is so often drawn today.

The Lushu in our game

In Beasts of Shanhai we turned the blessing of descendants into a battle skill. The Lushu stands at the front and draws attacks, and when it falls, fawns appear in its place, so its line goes on even after it is gone. Its white head, tiger stripes and red tail come straight from the text. It is a wood beast costing just 1 Gold, which makes it an easy early guard for any team.

Luck Deer in Beasts of Shanhai

In our free browser game Beasts of Shanhai, Luck Deer is a Wood beast that costs 1 Gold. Its skill is Fawn Call. Guard. Last Breath: it summons a 1/1 Fawn in its place. At two stars the Fawn is 2/2, and at three stars it summons 2 Fawns at 3/3.

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