Ye Gongwenlin said that in the capital he went to the house of a certain director of the ministry; no sooner had he knocked than a lion-furred fierce dog came roaring out, as if to bite, and Ye was terrified. The master came out and shouted it down, and the dog lay still. The master looked at his guest and could not stop laughing. Asked why, he said: “This is a wooden dog; it is covered outside with lion fur, and within is a mechanism, and so it can bark and run.”
Ye would not believe it; the master brought out another bird, a cock with yellow plumes and a crimson comb that stretched its neck and crowed the dawn. They parted the feathers and looked, and it too was made of wood.
