“Tie each piece of the green jade high in the bamboo,” the king directed. “With the golden cords, hang the white jade a bit longer; the yellow jade a bit shorter; the blue and the pink at different heights, too.

“And for the Royal Mother’s joy, bring golden earrings to hang with the jade necklaces.” Working together, the servants bent each bamboo toward the ground, where they could easily reach the highest stalks to do the king’s bidding.

“Ha!” shouted the monarch. “The grove is decorated like a woman. Give each of the bamboo stalks a small fan. Hang it in the middle of the necklaces. There they will catch the Tiger God’s breezes and cause the jades to dance.”

As each stalk was released, it sprang upward, jingling the melodious jewelry. The king folded his arms and stopped to listen. From then on, whenever the breeze caught the fans, the jades clinked in harmony and bamboo clacked in rhythm. As the golden earrings tinkled, the leaves rustled. The grove resounded with their gentle music.

The nesting birds with feathers of pearly blue raised their family in the nest surrounded by fung-ling. The king often visited this special grove. He could tell by listening to the fung-ling what kind of winds were blowing and when the next rain would come.

“Perhaps,” he said one day, “I should simplify this way to predict rain. All our people who need to know the weather should have their own forecaster.”

That very day, the king sent for the ceramics maker. “Make a vessel for anyone in the land who wants one,” he instructed. “Shape it like a temple bell. Put a clapper in the bell and, instead of a fan, hang a piece of good paper from it. The winds will move the paper, and the paper will move the clapper. We will call it a wind-telling bell. It will be a comfort and a joy to everyone.”

Spreading popularity

It is not known when the fung-ling traveled to Japan, They are said to have been present in the Kamakura and Muromachi periods (1192-1333 and 1338-1573, respectively).