The work features a poem by Frank Bolles – "The Crow". Bolles (1856-1894) was an American essayist and poet.
The book's title is given in three languages, all meaning the same thing. 'Tripod' in English, 'Dreifuss' in German, and 'SanZuWu' in Chinese.
The interest in this piece arises from mixing far-Eastern mythology with Western poetic sentiment and avoiding the Western notion of associating crows with bad tidings. The project combines a traditional dividing screen look with contemporary typography.
In Chinese mythology and culture, the three-legged crow is called the sanzuwu. Even though it is described as a crow or raven, it is usually colored red instead of black. It is also known as the 'golden crow' or the 'sun crow'.
According to folklore, there were originally ten sun crows that settled in 10 separate suns. They perched on a red mulberry tree in the East at the foot of the Valley of the Sun. The tree was said to have many mouths opening from its branches. Each day one of the sun crows would be rostered to travel around the world on a carriage, driven by Xihe the 'mother' of the suns. As soon as one sun crow returned, another one would set forth in its journey crossing the sky.
The sun crows would often descend from heaven onto the earth and feast on the grasses of immortality, but Xihe did not like this thus she covered their eyes to prevent them from doing so. One day, at around 2170 BC, all ten sun crows came out on the same day, causing the world to burn; Houyi the celestial archer saved the day by shooting down all but one of the sun crows.