36 



SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 12'^ 



The Chinese general Wang again said, 

 "Now let us find silver, but the road is wide. 

 All between the four seas have been united 

 and the great roads are open to travel on. 



The great seal and the jade seal are in th 

 control of the emperor. Those Chinese whc 

 have sons and daughters, most of them ar! 

 in Chengtu." 



The Pai Jen, "Short People" (T'ai People?) 



The Hero Ha Ta Wa (626) 



There were three brothers. The name of 

 the oldest was Ta Wa ~j^^.> great or oldest 

 Wa. The name of the second was Er Wa 

 ^4iJ' or second Wa, and the name of the 

 third was San Wa ^^.> or third Wa. They 

 were born at Chien Wu Ch'eng ^^^i in 

 the township of Hsing Wen, ^'^■ 



Their parents gsve birth to them. When 

 they had grown up, their parents died. Ta 

 Wa lived at Chiu Shih Ch'eng. It took nine 

 ounces of silk to go around that town, there- 

 fore the town was named after this (nine 

 ounces of) silk. When Ha Er Wa had 

 grown up he separated (from his brothers) 

 and lived at Kao Chai jJ^j^'S or High Forti- 

 fication. Ha San Wa separated from the 

 others and lived at Ho Chia Ai fpj^ii' > or 

 Ho Family Cliff. Each brother lived 30 li 

 from the others so that each could use the 

 possessions of the others (as in a family that 

 has not divided.) Although the three brothers 

 were separated and each lived in a separate 

 place, yet they had not divided up the tools 

 they used (to cut wood, farm, etc.). They 

 all used one ax and one sifter. But each had 

 two winnowing baskets and one broom. 

 When they wanted to use these implements, 

 they grasped their two winnowing baskets 

 under their armpits and used the broom for a 

 tail, and then through the power of the wind 

 they were able to fly. Therefore, although 

 these brothers were separated, their tools and 

 implements were not divided (each one could 

 use all the tools). 



Ha Ta Wa Rebelled (628) 



After Ha Ta Wa and his brothers had re- 

 turned they determined to become emperor. 

 The three brothers talked it over and estab- 

 lished a city at Chiu Shih Ch'eng. More- 

 over, their neighbors all saw that the broth- 

 ers could fly, and the people believed in them, 

 and so they actually rebelled against the em- 

 peror. Later the emperor sent government 

 troops to fight them, but the government 

 troops could not conquer them. One day, 

 still later, when it was the birthday of Ha 

 Ta Wa, he invited Chinese to go in and play 



the jointed bugles (sa la). When the broth 

 ers had become drunk with the wine thi 

 guests gave them, the Chinese played the sa It 

 and said, "You must not come from the front 

 you must not come from the left or the right 

 There is only the road from the rear on whicli 

 you may come." 



That night the Chinese government soldien 

 heard this, and they came from the rear o: 

 the mountain and entered Chiu Shih Ch'eng 

 Ha Er Wa was about to fly, and the Chinese 

 government soldiers killed him with arrows 

 Ha San Wa also died in this way. There wa: 

 left only Ha Ta Wa. At that tune he had no 

 recovered from his drunkenness, and the Chi 

 nese soldiers seized him and cut off his heac 

 with a sword. But still he did not die bu 

 took his own head and ran away. While he 

 was going away, he met a woman who wa; 

 planting red pepper. He asked the woman 

 "Can I live.?" The woman said, "I do no 

 know. But if my pepper has no head, it wil 

 certainly die. Probably you will be able tc 

 live." When he heard these words his mental 

 energy disappeared, and he died. 



The Memorials (Monuments) of Ha Ta Wc 

 (629) 



One time Ha Ta Wa was fighting a fierce 

 battle. One day he went up on a mountair 

 at Wang Wu Chai to fly to Chien Wu. Hd 

 flew with all his might, and in leaping up he 

 made two footprints on a flat rock. Hd 

 slipped and sat down on the rock and madd 

 a big round hole in it,^^ and now that moun- 

 tain is called Po Chi Hsia. 



Later they came to visit at Ho Chia Ai. The 

 brothers tried out their swords and spears 

 Ha Ta Wa threw a spear 15 li. It fell in a 

 field at Lo Hai. The spear broke that ground 

 up into a fall field ready for planting. Now 

 they call that field Ha Chien T'ien, or fields 

 of Ha's spear. Afterward he died, and the 

 people of his time carved his image to govern 

 the Chien Wu region, and then that place 

 was peaceful and free from demons. Other-, 

 wise the people of Chien Wu would all have 

 been choked to death by Ha Ta Wa's demon.i 



^s The depression in the rock that Ha Ta Wa 

 is supposed to have made at that time were ac-; 

 tually shown to the writer. 



