Bo Yi 伯益, also written 伯夷, 伯翳 or 柏翳 and also called Yi 益 or Da Fei 大費, is a mythological person of ancient China. He is said to have been born out of an egg laid by a swallow (yan 燕) as representant of the realm of birds. He was therefore able to communicate with all animals. During the reign of the mythical emperor Shun 舜 he tought mankind hunting and cattle breeding, showed them how to construct traps and how to raise husbandry animals. He also invented the dugging of wells and by this activity repelled dragons and mystic animals from all waters. His connection to water can also be seen in the story how he tamed the floods and, together with Hou Ji 后稷 and Gao Yao 皋陶, supported the hydraulic works of Yu the Great 大禹. His epiteths are "leader of animals" or "general of the worms". Emperor Shun appointed him one of his ministers (yu 虞 "supervisor of forestry and hunting"), with the task of supervising mountains, swamps and forests, as well as the animals on earth. He was also bestowed the family name of Ying 嬴, so that he is seen as the ancestor of families with that surname, especially the house of Qin 秦. Yu the Great also entrusted him with important government tasks and later even handed over the throne to him as the most worthy of men, but Yu's son Qi 啓 usurped the throne and so founded the Xia dynasty 夏 (17th-15th cent. BCE). Bo Yi is said to have been chamberlain for ceremonials (zhizong 秩宗) and supervised the three ritual offices. He was the ancestor of Qi Taigong 齊太公, founder of the house of Qi 齊. He might also be identical to Da Fei 大費, ancestor of the house of Qin. Stories about Bo Yi can be found in the books Mengzi 孟子, Lüshi chunqiu 呂氏春秋, Shiji 史記, Hanshu 漢書 and Huainanzi 淮南子. There is another Bo Yi 伯夷 who was a hermit during the reign of King Wu 周武王 of the Zhou dynasty 周 (11th cent.-221 BC). Sources: Cang Xiuliang 倉修良 (ed. 1991). Shiji cidian 史記辭典, p. 223. Jinan: Shandong jiaoyu chubanshe. Li Jianping 李劍平 (ed. 1998). Zhongguo shenhua renwu cidian 中國神話人物辭典, p. 506. Xi'an: Shaanxi renmin chubanshe. Yi Xingguo 衣興國 (1988). Shiyong Zhongguo mingren cidian 實用中國名人辭典, p. 11. Changchun: Jilin wenshi chubanshe.