岁己未，河朔大旱，远迩焦然无主赖。镇阳帅自言忧农，督下祈雨甚急。厌禳小数，靡不为之，竟无验。既久，怪诬之说兴。适民家有产白驴者，或指曰：“此旱之由也。云方兴，驴
辄仰号之，云辄散不留。是物不死，旱胡得止？”一人臆倡，众万以附。帅闻，以为然，命亟取，将焚之。
In the 4th year of the Cheng’an Reign (1199), during the Jin Dynasty, a severe drought hit the area north of the Yellow River. All the crops, far and near, were scorched and people had no food on which to live. The commander in chief of Zhenyang District, claiming that he was worried about the farmers, urged his subordinates to pray for rain. All sorts of witchcrafts which were supposed to have superpowers for vanquishing calamities had been tried out but without any success. Before long, groundless assumptions and ridiculous theories followed. A white donkey happened to be born in the stable of an ordinary household. After this someone conjectured about the abnormal donkey by saying: “This animal is the cause of the drought. Look, whenever clouds gathered in the sky, this white donkey would raise its head and bray loudly. Every time it brayed, the clouds would immediately disperse. If this animal is not killed, how can we expect this drought to subside?” One man proclaimed this absurd proposition, thousands of people blindly supported it. The commander heard this story and believed it. He ordered his subordinates to find the donkey and burn it.
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