His fame rose thereafter to such heights that stage performers came to honor him as the patron god of theater. Another legend draws a different connection between Marshal Tiandu and the stage. As the story goes, uncivilized hordes were making trouble on China's borders, and the Marshal was dispatched to deal with them, whereupon he invented the art of shadow puppetry (some versions say it was marionettes).
有關田都元帥與戲曲的因緣，還有一個傳說是，番兵造反，田都元帥受封迎敵，發明了皮影戲（或說是傀儡戲），讓番兵看得入迷，再趁其不備一舉反攻，而大獲全勝。