NO. I 



CHUAN MIAO SONGS AND STORIES — GRAHAM 



71 



gwa- 

 crow 



ntsAu 



ntJ'aO' 

 blood 



ntJ'aO^ = =^ 



blood rotten fragments come down mixed dirt (earth) 



gla-' tsa' OGai ' 

 what 



ntjAu* gaO« d"u-^ 

 ant come 



come down 



OGai 



nao 

 eat 



OGa- 

 flesh 



nao' OGa- 



eat flesh 



gla-'ts9' OGai' ntsai' ntJ'aO" 



what come down suck up blood 



down 

 ntsai' 



ntjAu* gaO" 

 ant insect 



d^'u-'^ 

 come 



OGai' 

 down 



ntsai 

 suck up 



ntJ'aO" 

 blood 



gla • ' tsa' nTo • ' (or nTu • ') gao' Ti^ n An' 



what with you intimate person 



ntjAu' GaO« 

 ant 



d5oO' njaO' 

 finished 



d'^u-' (nTu-^) ndV gao' Ti-' 

 with you intimate 



Ti-" tJaO^ 



intimate love 



i-'doi-' Tu-Msi-' na-" 



all entire complete 



(all body) 



nAn" Ti- 

 person 



Translation 



Aged Rock, aged Rock, aged Rock,i* 



I, the priest have called you three times. 



You are unable to answer my words. 



Are you dead or not? 



You are truly dead. 



You hear the words of the priest. 



When the priest came halfway there was one at 



home wearing good clothes. ^^ 

 Is it you or not.'' 

 It is truly you. 

 I the priest came to the flat below carrying meat 



on my back. 



^* Rock is the name of the person who has 

 died. The Ch'uan Miao said that here the adjec- 

 tive na meant aged, but it generally means great. 



^^ This refers to the dead person. 



I the priest came to the half bend carrying on 



my back cooked corn meal. 

 You are truly dead. 

 You (first) receive the meat and corn meal from 



the priest to eat and then you go. 

 Formerly people did not engage in agriculture. 

 The woman Ma came down to do farming. 

 Who came down to husk rice? 

 The woman Ma came down to husk rice. 

 She husked three handfuls of rice and cooked 



corn meal and put it in the food bowl. 

 If it is edible, eat three spoonfuls. 

 You are truly dead. 

 Formerly your mother came down and did farm 



work. 

 Your father came down and made clearings. 



