i6 



SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. I2t 



Men are helpless and can ask only the tuan to control and imprison them. Therefore th 

 kjung, the goddess Bo Dii, and Je Dii the god Lord and Teacher is the Immortal Je Dii.^ , , 



THE FIRST PEOPLE WHO RAISED CATS 



The First Family That Raised Cats to Eat 

 Mice (551) 



The sky is in its place. The color of the 

 sky is like fine flour. The earth is in its 

 place. The earth is divided into four direc- 

 tions. 



That locality had a cave demon that lived 

 in a cliff. When the weather was clear there 

 was a cave demon that came out at the mouth 

 of the cave. When it rained there was also a 

 demon that stood beside a pit (perpendicular 

 cave). When the weather was clear and it 

 rained, then that cave demon stood up. When 

 he stood up he let the rats come out. Those 

 rats came out and gnawed Ntzi's skyline in 

 two. The cliff rats also went and bit the 

 sinews of the level flat in two. Then Ntzi's 

 bell in the sky was moved until it resounded. 

 When it resounded it disturbed the world in 

 all directions. Then Ntzi sent his silver cat 

 down below (into the world). Niong (the 

 same deity) also sent a golden cat down to 

 the earth. 



When the golden cat and the silver cat 

 arrived they were very tired. Then the rats 

 came out and fought with these two cats, 

 and the two cats bit them to death and piled 

 them up as numerous as the grains of corn- 

 meal from a grinder. 



When the weather was clear, there was a 

 colored hawk that flew around the deep forest 

 on the mountain. There was also a sparrow 

 hawk that flew around with the colored hawk. 

 Then the colored hawk struck the silver cat 

 and the silver cat fell down and could not 

 get up. The sparrow hawk struck the golden 

 cat with its claws, and the golden cat fell 

 down and could not move. Nto Ntz'i Niong 

 and Te Ntzi" Niong said, "The silver cat is 

 gone and the golden cat is gone." 



They waited until next morning and went 

 to Ntzi Geo Nto to buy one. Ntzi said, "The 

 silver cat is gone and the golden cat is also 

 gone. There is only a small dry-eared cat." 





I' 



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k 



Then they went and caught the dry-eared ca: 

 and returned home. 



When they arrived the clifJ rats and thi ^,\ 

 squirrels fought a fight with that dry-earec 

 cat and caused it to fall down helpless, and i 

 was carried off and eaten by the rats. 



The next morning Nto Ntzi Niong and Ti 

 Ntzi Niong ran and looked. They saw tha 

 the rats were eating their salt. They said, "Wt 

 cannot raise Ntzi's cats. We cannot destro]' 

 the rats." 



Braiding Heaven and Earth, or People Began 

 to Raise Cats ^^ (367) 



In former times there was a man and his 

 wife. The name of the husband was Ndc 

 Ntsa Ya Lo, and the name of the woman was; 

 Lo Ya Ntsa So. 



The two people slept until midnight. Thed 

 they awoke and climbed up to braid the sky 

 and the earth. After they had finished thej) 

 went walking everywhere. After they had 

 walked over all the world they returned, 

 their home they looked about everywhere, 

 They saw some rats that were eating the grain 

 all around in the corners of the house. 



The two people again slept until midnigM 

 and then arose and traveled. After traveling 

 about they returned. They saw that the rats 

 (having eaten up all the grain in the house] 

 had gone to eat other people's grain. Thi 

 husband and his wife were helpless, and s( 

 went up to the sky to ask Ntzi Niong Lee 

 to give them a golden and a silver cat t( 

 raise. Ntzi Niong Leo said, "I have no mori 

 golden or silver cats. If you want a cat, yoi 

 go back and get one from a tiger." Then the] 

 returned and got one-half of the tiger's liver 

 Then they took the half of the tiger's liv 

 home and it turned into a cat. This cat in 

 stantly went and ate rats. Because he ha£ 

 changed from liver into a cat, he wanted t( 

 eat meat to nourish his stomach. From thii 

 time on people had cats to raise. These cat! 

 ate up the rats. 



A SUPERNATURAL BIRTH 



One Who Was Born through a Wild Dove 

 Hatching a Tame Pigeon's Egg (174) 



A tame pigeon laid an egg and gave it to a 

 wild dove to hatch. She sat upon the egg 



^* It is the custom to worship Je Dii on a place 

 halfway up a cliff, and the tuan king's home 

 is also in a house halfway up a cliff. It is hard 



until Lan Lang's wing grew out. She hatched 

 out Man Yoh Men, who was very strong. She 

 sat upon the egg 12 days at one time and 30 

 days at another time. The pigeon egg was 



for a person to go there. The tuan k.ung draws 

 the image in black on the side of the cliff. 



^° Sung during the first three days of the New 

 Year. 



