That the Golden Crow depicted on a silk painting unearthed from an early Han dynasty. (206 B.C.--219 A.D.) tomb near Changsha, Hunan, has but two legs reflects the kind of variation that may be produced in a legend during the course of its transmission across time and space.
長沙馬王堆西漢墓出土帛畫中的金烏，則作二足，反映了神話在傳承中因年代或地域性造成的差異。還有的日神作半人半龍形象的羲和，手捧太陽的樣子；半人半龍，顯示神人異形，不同於古希臘的「人神同形」觀念。