NO. I 



CHUAN MIAO SONGS AND STORIES — GRAHAM 



25 



ran quickly home to ask their mothers. The 

 industrious boy said, "This year it is not well 

 with us. I do not know what sin we have 

 committed. Today I saw a large snake and 

 the Dang boy saw a big tiger." His mother 

 immediately dished up a bowl of uncooked 

 rice and wrapped it in a cloth and gave it to 

 her son and told him to go and ask the tuan 

 kting to look over the rice. When the tuan 

 k,ung had looked at it he found no big demon. 

 He looked for the nine species and the three 

 genera of demons and did not find a single 

 one. He again looked once and saw the son's 

 wife Ma Mi Ngeo Tse revealed in the water in 

 the bowl. He again saw the Dang boy's wife 

 revealed in the bowl. He said, "Those two 

 women have no wisdom, for they took and 

 ate your sacrificial birds. Because of this the 

 aged ancestors have come to terrify you. Now 

 I want to send you into the dry stream and 

 entice small birds to the creek, and afterward 

 you each go and industriously plow, plant, 

 and reap, and afterward you need not use 

 birds to offer with the grains." 



So now when people observe the ceremony 

 of eating the new grain they do not use bird 

 flesh. 



In Former Times the Miao Played the Liu 

 Sheng When Welcoming Brides, but Be- 

 cause Some Chinese Stole It They now 

 No Longer Play It (703) 



The sky dwells in its dwelling place. The 

 horizon of the sky is at the edge of the sky. 



This happened to be the year for Do Ch'en 

 Tzu to marry off his daughter, and also for 

 Di Go to come and marry the bride. Do 

 Ch'en Tzu sent over his daughter Nts'ai Ngeo 

 Tsai. He secured two good players of the 

 liu sheng to escort her and also secured a 

 person good at beating the drum to go along. 



When they played the liu sheng the loud 

 noise vibrated in the sky. When the drum 

 was beaten, there was a vibrating noise in 

 the air. They went along together making 

 harmonious sounds of the liu sheng and the 

 drum. They went along happily escorting 

 Nts'ai Ngeo Tsai. 



When they were about to arrive they went 

 down over a hill and arrived at the home of 

 Di Go and entered the main gate of that 

 family, and through the main gate entered 

 their parlor. 



The guests of Do Ch'en Tzu, who escorted 

 the bride, ate Di Go's dinner and also drank 

 a jug of fine wine, and they all sat until 

 deep midnight and were conscious that they 

 could not keep their eyes open. Their minds 

 were no longer able to think. The group who 

 came from a distance to escort the bride then 

 sought beds to sleep on. 



Ai, while they were peacefully sleeping a 

 son of a Lolo determined on a bad thing, and 

 a Chinese determined on an even worse thing. 

 Since their hearts were evil the Lolo got up 

 and stole Do Ch'en Tzu's liu sheng with 

 which the bride had been escorted, and the 

 Chinese stole the big drum with which Do 

 Ch'en Tzu had escorted the girl. They stole 

 that liu sheng and went and hid it in a cave 

 in the middle of the hill. They stole that 

 drum and hid it in a big tree in the deep 

 forest. 



The next morning, when the guests that 

 escorted the bride got up, they saw that tlie 

 liti sheng was gone and that the drum was 

 also gone. They all searched for it but could 

 not find it, tried to find it but could not. 

 Then they all said, "We Miao from now on, 

 when marrying off a daughter, will neither 

 want to use the liu sheng nor to beat the 

 drum." 



Things 



Coal (118) 



Who came down and burnt coal.? Le Tse *° 

 came down and burnt coal. What kind of 

 coal is best? It is fragrant coal (soft, smoky 

 coal with oil in it) that is good. At what 

 time did the red tigers divide off into pairs 

 (mate) ? I do not understand the reasons 

 for repeating O-mi-t'o-fu (Amitabha, repeated 

 by the Chinese for protection from demons 

 before going down into a dark mine). The 



*" le^ means to investigate or look with the 

 eyes, tse^ to pick up, scratch, or investigate with 

 the fingers. 



Buddha lives somewhere else (he is not sup- 

 posed to be at home in the Miao country). 



You ask, "Who came and burnt coal?" It 

 was Le Tse who came down and burnt coal. 

 What kind of coal is good? The coal from 

 inside the mountain is good (coal not on the 

 surface, but that must be mined out). When 

 you talk about Buddha (as concerning coal), 

 I do not know about that. The Buddha lives 

 upstairs in a big temple. Heaven oil (possibly 

 crude oil in its natural state) is not burnt 

 for light by us (the Miao). The sharp iron 

 pick is eaten by the coal (gradually worn off, 

 therefore apparently eaten). The coal is in 



