- lost his body and had to borrow a
beggar’s.
- He was so famous
- that he was frequently summoned to the celestial regions
- to administer to the needs of the gods.
- During one such visit,
- leaving his body in the care of his faithful disciple, Lang
Ling,
- he was absent longer than usual,
- so Lang Lin burned his body,
- assuming that he was dead.
- On returning to earth,
- Li T’ieh-kuai was embarrassed and consternated
- that he had no body to enter.
- The only abandoned body that he could find
- was of a lame beggar in the nearby wood.
- He is represented as a beggar with an iron crutch
- carrying on his back an urn filled with magic medicine
