NO. I 



CH UAN MIAO SONGS AND STORIES — GRAHAM 



21 



Thus six persons blew the bamboo tubes and 

 one beat the drum and walked around, and 

 they trod on the maggots until they were no 

 more. Otherv.'ise the seven days of sacrifice 

 could not have been finished. 



After three years the sons thought, "Since 

 father had maggots like this, we must still 

 find a way to do (an appropriate ceremony 

 to perform), now that three years have been 

 completed. It will be best if we can take 

 these tubes and bind them together and make 

 a hole in each as we did in the tubes we were 

 blowing, and use a hollow tube to put them 

 in and peach-tree bark to bind them together, 

 and let one person play it and one beat the 

 drum, one control the sacrifices, one cook the 



food, and three dance with the one who plays 

 the liu sheng, each calling out "Wu, wu,' as 

 though they were treading on maggots. This 

 custom we can pass on to the later generations 

 as a memorial service." 



The length of the liu sheng tubes differs 

 because the ages and sizes of the sons differ. 

 The drum's shape is long and round because 

 it illustrates the fact that the family will never 

 desert the ancestors. There is also a statement 

 which we will repeat forever, "Even if the 

 husband and the wife have quarreled, they 

 must not sleep in different beds. Even if 

 brothers have scolded each other, they will not 

 desert the ancestors. Therefore all must use 

 the Miao liu sheng." 



ORIGIN OF CUSTOMS AND THINGS 



Social Customs 



How People Came to Raise Chickens (2) 



One day, in ancient times, an old man went 

 forth to find something to eat. He saw a 

 pheasant fly out of the forest. It cackled as 

 it flew. The old man continued to search 

 until he found a nest. In the nest were several 

 chicks. When the old man saw them he was 

 truly very happy. He quickly caught the 

 chicks and carried them back to his cave. 

 When his little children saw them they too 

 were very glad, and loved them. They took 

 the chicks and raised them for two years. 

 The pheasants laid some eggs. The older 

 people were unwilling to eat the eggs and 

 permitted the pheasants to sit on them in 

 turn as they pleased until they had hatched 

 some chicks. From this time, year after year, 

 the older people and their children each took 

 a few chickens and raised them, and all were 

 much pleased. 



Testing an Emperor, or How There Came to 

 Be Emperors (40) 



In most ancient times there were no em- 

 perors. Each person looked after his own 

 affairs. Each person sought his own liveli- 

 hood. Sometimes all together went to capture 

 wild animals, and they gradually became able 

 to talk. Through talking they came to under- 

 stand matters. From affairs they came to 

 understand old and young, and from age 

 came to realize great and small (in human 

 affairs), and from great and small came to 

 realize high and low, and from high and low 

 learned to distinguish character. Then all 

 said, "We live on earth and the earth is com- 

 posed of yellow soil. We will see who among 



us has talents, and we will make him em- 

 peror." Because they were all listed as to tal- 

 ents, they discovered a person who understood 

 human affairs, and they made him emperor. 



Building a House, or Why the Miao Give 

 Away Daughters in Marriage Instead of 

 Sons^- (57) 



In the beginning the heaven and the earth 

 were established, and people divided up the 

 land. There was the woman Na Bo Tsai ^^ 

 who constantly traveled over the world. 



Speaking of the earth, I have traveled over 

 all tlie heavens and arrived at Tsu Jiai Tsai's 

 habitation. 2* Ni Lo Ntsi' Tsu -^ had an older 

 son who had been married into another 

 family. Only his older daughter Ngeo Dong 

 Glo 26 was left to wind flax threads. Nga Tsu 

 Yeh Tsu also had left in his home a girl called 

 Mi Nts'ai Bang Ma ^^ who could make strings 

 of fire hemp. 



Na Bo Tsai said, "I am not concerned with 

 anything else except to build a big house to 

 live in." Tsu Jiai Tsai said, "I do not want 

 anything else except a big tile-roofed house." 



22 The Ch'uan Miao tradition is that in ancient 

 times they gave sons away instead of daughters 

 and that later the parents built houses and that 

 the daughters could not carry the central beams, 

 so the mother called her son back, and after this 

 they gave away daughters instead of sons. 



-3 Na'^ bo'^ tsai** is said to mean big woman 

 bamboo. 



-* Pronounced tsu-^ dsai^ tsai^ 



25 Pronounced ni-^ lo*^ ntsa^ tsu•^ 



26 Oau^ Tong^ glo•^ girl brass black. 



27^ Mi'* nts'ai'^ baO^ ma•^ small girl as tender 

 as a flower. 



