NO. I 



CHUAN MIAO SONGS AND STORIES — GRAHAM 



55 



by name. This time he does not take hold of 

 the dead person's hand. He says — 



"Now I call you but you do not reply. I 

 cry to you, but you do not awake. Your 

 descendants are giving you an animal to take 

 with you to visit your ancestors for three 

 generations (including ancestors by mar- 

 riage). You take one with you and send back 

 thousands of hundreds to your descendants." 



When the priest has said this, he takes a 

 pair of divining sticks and gives the animal 

 to the dead person. After that the priest 

 pours out three cups of wine, then asks the 

 man who is to kill the animal to come and 

 kill it. Then the \'a gei (priest) says, "Please 

 take this animal and quickly give it to the 



dead person to take to Ntzi's level land to 

 see his ancestors for three generations." After 

 this he gives the wine to the person who is 

 to kill the animal. He drinks it and then 

 kills the animal. Then the /^'« gei pours 

 out a cup of wine for the man who plays the 

 liu sheng and one for the man who beats the 

 drum. He gives the wine to them and says, 

 "I request you to play three roads (as much 

 as can be played while going over three roads) 

 of the liu sheng for the dead person, so the 

 dead person can go to Ntzi's land and see 

 his departed ancestors for three generations." 



Opening the Road jor the Soul to Travel 

 to Paradise ^^ (663) 



na- 5ei, na- 3er, na'* 3ei , 

 aged rock, aged rock, aged rock, 

 (or great) 



mo'* xo-^ gao* bjei® Jwa*" 



priest call you three sound (times) 



jo-^ 

 talk 



gli-^ 

 false 



gao 

 you 



gao" 

 you 



mo-* 

 priest 



nTi-" 

 put on 



Ta-'' (or T3)' 

 dead 



gei 

 is 



tV" (or Ta-') 

 true 



noO^ mo-* |o-'' 



hear priest talk (words) 



Ta-^ nTaO" gei* ma-' 

 come half road have 



3waO* 

 clothes 



5ao 

 is 



Sao' 

 is 



gao 

 you 



gao' 

 you 



tj3^ 



not 



tswei 

 good 



5ao 

 is 



Ta-" 

 truly 



Ta-' 



come 



Un' 



one 



(dead person) 



TaO" 



nd^a- ^^ 



home 



(to the house of 



the dead person) 



tjai" 



^^ Sung on the evening of the day the person 

 dies, after the burial clothes have been put on. 

 The song is called k.'a gei, or open the road. The 

 name of the deceased is zei, or rock. The priest 

 calls him three times and takes his hand and 



pulls, trying to assist him to arise. The song was 

 obtained from Mr. Glao Ao, a Ch'uan Miao leader, 

 and written down in the international script, 

 after which it was translated. 



