Tradition: Chinese mythology
Alternative names: Humped-Neck, Linghu (陵胡)
Category: Cow
The Myth
Three hundred li east of the previous region stands Bright Mountain, a place rich in jade, metal, and copper.
There lives a strange beast called the Linghu. Its body resembles an ox, but it has a red tail and a remarkable hump rising from its neck, shaped like an overturned dipper. Its cry sounds like its own name.
The Linghu possesses an unusual medicinal property: eating its flesh is said to cure insanity.
The text also compares it with the Bo-Ox, another ox-like creature recorded in an ancient glossary, which was reputed to be capable of traveling three hundred li in a single day.
Sources
Strassberg, Richard E., ed. and trans. A Chinese Bestiary: Strange Creatures from the Guideways Through Mountains and Seas. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002.