THE RAINMAKER
There was a great drought. For months there had not been a drop of rain and the situation became catastrophic. The Catholics made processions, the Protestants made prayers and the Chinese burned joss-sticks and shot off guns to frighten away the demons of the drought, but with no result. Finally the Chinese said: “We will fetch the rainmaker”. And from another province a dried-up old man appeared. The only thing he asked for was a quiet little house somewhere, and there he locked himself up for three days. On the fourth day the clouds gathered and there was a great snow storm at the time of year when no snow was expected, an unusual amount, and the town was so full of rumours about the wonderful rainmaker that Richard Wilhelm went to ask the man how he did it.
In true European fashion he said: “They call you the rainmaker. Will you tell me how you made the snow?” And the little Chinese man said: “I did not make the snow; I am not responsible.” “But what have you done these three days?” “Oh, I can explain that. I come from another country where things are in order. Here, they are out of order; they are not as they should be by the ordinance of heaven. Therefore, the whole country is not in Tao, and I also am not in the natural order of things because I am in a disordered country. So I had to wait three days until I was back in Tao and then naturally the rain came”.
Jung’s account of a story related to him by Richard Wilhelm,
who had lived in China (in C.G. Jung: “Mysterium Coniunctionis”).