In the twenty-sixth year of the Shaoxing reign the Huai and Song regions were about to harvest, the grain standing like cloud, when the locusts rose, flying so thick they pierced the sky. Whatever field they met was swept clean in a moment.
Before long there was a water bird called a qiu, shaped like a wild duck but taller and larger, with a broad neck and a long crop that could hold several pecks. Hundreds and thousands gathered in flocks, calling to one another, and pecked the locusts full in their crops — and did not eat them, but spat them out. Having spat they pecked again. For several tens of li of connected walled districts it was the same.
In ten days there was not a single locust left, and the year was a great harvest.
Xu of Si and Si reported the matter upwards to the Jin court, and an edict enfeoffed the qiu as Protector-General.
