Yu

The Sand-Shooting Fox

Water creature that shoots sand at shadows to sicken people — origin of the slander idiom.

Yu, also called the short fox, was believed to lurk in the rivers of the south and spit sand at men’s shadows, striking them with sickness from a distance. The Odes already warn against “ghosts and Yu” who harm unseen, and the phrase “spitting sand at a shadow” still describes slander that wounds without ever facing its victim.