Zuo Ci was one of the many Fang Shih. When he was very young, he showed a connection with the spiritual way. Therefore, he became a member of the emperors court. However, he was treated as a more low-class member of the court, sitting with the unimportant people at banquets and such. He was treated as a sort of court jester, more than anything else. A cheap form of entertainment. This kind of treatment grows old after a while. He used magic in order to steal food from a vendor. When the guards attempted to catch him, he caused an illusion to make everyone in the town appear to have his face. He then ran. However, when the guards caught up to him, he turned into a ram and ran into a herd, never to be seen or heard from again.
“Doctors, Diviners and Magicians”. In An Anthology of Translations: Classical Chinese Literature, Vol. 1: From Antiquity to the Tang Dynasty. Edited by John Minford and Joseph S. M. Lau, 359-370. New York: Hong Kong: Columbia University Press; The Chinese University Press, 2000.
