^O. I 



CH UAN MIAO SONGS AND STORIES — GRAHAM 



43 



iVe will ride the horses and go back again. 

 Dn all sides, lighten up with the lanterns and 

 torches. We have gone out of one of the 

 Dalace doors and closed the first palace door. 

 We have gone out of the second palace door 

 ind closed the second palace door. We have 

 jone out of the third palace door and closed 

 he third palace door. We have gone out of 

 he fourth palace door and closed the fourth 

 palace door. We have gone out of the fifth 

 palace door and closed the fifth palace door. 



"On the left is a person (general) who 

 keeps the gate. On the right is a demon gate- 

 keeper. Thank you, thank you. I will ride 

 the horses back to earth." 



From this point the tuan kjing must cer- 

 tainly speak the Miao language. Previous to 

 this he might sometimes use Chinese. 



Going into Paradise (729) 



"Hun (XAn,) hun, hun, whip the mules. 

 Let the big horses go very quickly. Raise the 

 lanterns and the torches higher. Duv, duv, 

 duv. We are going up to Ntzi's sky above. 

 We will go and dance at the flowery altar. 

 The hua fan (flowery altar) is in Ntzi's 

 heaven above. We will see whether his flow- 

 ery altar has come out. We will see if the 

 time for using the flowery altar and the 

 flowery drum has come. We are going to 

 climb Ntzi's heavenly ladder. One section, 

 two sections, three sections, (four sections), 

 five sections, six sections, seven sections, eight 

 sections, nine sections, ten sections, eleven sec- 

 tions, twelve sections. When you have 

 climbed the 12 sections, then you have reached 

 the house in heaven. We will see if Ntzi's //' 

 tsi flowers are blooming. We will see if the 

 pears are bearing fruit. I see, see, the pear 

 blossoms have dried up. The insects are eat- 

 ing the pear trees. They do not bloom or 

 bear fruit. Hun, hun, quickly take the brass 

 fan and fan it. (The tree is the souls of my 

 parents. Pear blossoms are daughters; pears 

 are sons. If the tree dries up, the parents 

 will suffer and there will be no descendants.) 

 Bring the iron and fan it (then the tree will 

 prosper). Quickly release the falcons (spar- 

 row hawks) to eat the insects. Ya, the tree 

 is clean and leaves are growing, and it is 

 blossoming. The blossoms are blooming all 

 over the tree. The fruit is growing all over 

 the tree. 



"We will see if the ricefield is full of water 

 and if the lake is dry. Ah, we will call Ntzi's 

 Mbao Do (To*) T'ao to come and repair it. 

 We will also call Ntzi's Mbao Do T'ong to 

 come and help dig the ditch deeper and 



repair the lake and dragon pool. I will also 

 see if the other family's flower tree has fallen. 

 We will also see if that family's young fruit 

 tree is crooked. We will call Ntzi's Mbao Do 

 Tsai to come to help lift it straight, to lift that 

 family's young flower tree until it stands firm. 

 We will go quickly and we will see whether 

 the flowery altar has many people and 

 the flowery drum has many people about it. 

 We will call Ntzi Mbao Do Yai (ntza mbao 

 nTo" jai) to come and help uncover it. We 

 will call Ntzi Mbao Do Yai to come and help 

 unbind it, to allow (the souls in) the flowery 

 altar to go away (in several directions) to un- 

 cover the flowery altar so that the souls can 

 fly off. Let us light the lanterns and lamps to 

 see whether that family's souls are complete 

 and to see where the hun 5^ and p'o of 

 that family have gone. Ah, ah, the souls of 

 the family of those people went early. The 

 hun and the p'o have all gone. Hun (XAn), 

 htm, lift the lanterns and the torches higher. 

 Drive the horses and pursue quickly. We 

 will call Ntzi Mbao To Ts'ai (god's sons who 

 are excellent pursuers) to follow you. You 

 must look after the souls of the old people 

 as they return home. You must look after 

 the hun and the p'o of the old people as they 

 return to the world. 



"Call this family's souls to come quickly. 

 Hun and p'o, come quickly. This is not 

 your sleeping place. This is not your dwell- 

 ing. This place is rotten like chicken manure 

 and rotten like duck manure. Come quickly, 

 let us go. Ah, ah, they have been caught 

 (the souls), they have been caught. We have 

 caught the souls of these old people (of this 

 family). Ai, I have caught them. I have 

 caught the hun and the p'o and they are in 

 my hands. Bring them and put them in my 

 hands. Bring the souls and put them on the 

 backs of the mules and bring the lanterns 

 and lamps to make light. They must show 

 if the souls are cleared or not (all present 

 or not) and the hun and the p'o are all here 

 or not. Give the souls to the leaders of the 

 troops to bring. Let the several generals catch 

 the souls. Catch them carefully; bring them 

 home and let them control their families. If 

 one is missing, I will call you to account. Let 

 us bring the lanterns and lamps and light 

 them. We are going home. Duv, duv, duv, the 

 horses come rapidly. We are going down the 

 ladder of heaven. We are going down the 

 first section, second section, third section, 

 fourth section, fifth section, sixth section, sev- 

 enth section, eighth section, ninth section, 

 tenth section, eleventh section, twelfth section. 



"I come to thank you, Ntzi, to give thanks 



