Four-Horned White Deer That Heralds Floods
Mount Ao'an, first peak of the third central sequence, stands near the Yellow River; ornamental jade veins its southern slope, ochre and gold its northern, and the god Xunchi dwells on it. Among its animals the classic records the Fuzhu, a beast shaped like a white deer but carrying four horns. The text adds only the formula of consequence: wherever it shows itself, that settlement will suffer a great flood.
A white deer was normally good news. Under Emperor Wu of the Han, foot-square pieces of white-deer hide served as ceremonial currency at court, and official histories logged each capture of a white deer among the auspicious omens. The Fuzhu wears that lucky shape with four extra horns and reverses the message. It belongs to the book's roster of portent beasts, each bound to a single calamity: the Huashe likewise signals flood, the Mingshe drought, the Zhuyan war.
