100 



SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 12^ 



you gave me with your own hands. I have 

 thought of coming to you, but there are many 

 roads, and I have considered coming, but 

 there have been important affairs to hinder. 

 I got a lazy wife, a lazy daughter of a lazy 

 Miao. She sleeps all day and all night until 

 daylight, from morning till night, and from 

 evening until morning. The ornaments on 

 my fine clothing I sold and ate it all up. That 

 black garment and tliat gray cloth (which 

 5'ou gave me) I put in a dark place and 

 they are gone. Now I the lover hide and do 



not dare to meet her (you), and it makes 

 me weep tears like sprinkling water or like 

 running water." The girl, his sweetheart, 

 said, "You must not be disturbed now. Go 

 home and prepare a small rake and plant 

 trees, and prepare a plow, and go and plow 

 the ground and farm and raise domestic 

 animals. You can again get the golden and 

 the silver clothing you had before. Your gray 

 cloth and dark-blue clothing can be recovered 

 (found)." 



Lovers Parting 



A So?ig of Lovers Parting (455) 



If I make the field larger, then ducks can be 

 raised in the field. If the bend is long, it can 

 nourish birds. Bo Na's daughter Nts'ai Bang 

 Mao arose and went. She went as far as Nong 

 (older brother) Yang Bang's flat. The flat 

 was broad. 



Je Ji's Nts'ai Bang Mao went far away to 

 be a bride at the place of Nong Yang Bang. 

 When she left her lover was looking like a 



yellow rat wantonly looking about when it 

 is dark. He was truly like the long field 

 when the ducks depart and like a long bend 

 which is able to nourish wild pigeons. 



She said, "My mother married her daugh- 

 ter Nts'ai Bang Mao to the edge of the sky. 

 My father married me to a great plain under 

 the sky. Ah, I am leaving my lover like a 

 pine squirrel climbing up into a cloud. How 

 can my heart and liver bear to separate from 

 you?" 



An Unloved Girl 



A Love Song (72) 



At night one walks until the people present 

 walk. Then he goes to Len Go Len Er's 

 (Un go* lAn er, a young able boy) play 

 stronghold.^^ He first came to his home. His 

 relatives and friends came with a woman 

 named Niang Bang. Among his relatives and 

 friends was an old brother who played a 

 flute. His flute had engraved ornamentations. 

 The sound of the flute resounded to the edge 

 of Ntzi's wood. The songs sung and the 

 flutes played by friends and relatives all had 

 definite tunes. The older brother played on 

 the flute and it resounded to the land below 

 the starlit earth. The older brother's flute re- 

 sounded loudly. The relatives, friends, and 

 cousins all played regular tunes. The older 



brother's flute resounded until midnight and 

 made it impossible for the little girls to sleep. 

 The cousins' flute resounded until daylight 

 and the prettj' girls were unable to dream. 

 The older brother's flute was clear. The 

 cousins' and brothers' flutes determined a time 

 for meeting again.^^ 



The older brother's music echoes in my 

 dreams and was played clearly so that I, this 

 pretty young girl, understood.**^ I, the pretty 

 young unmarried girl said, "I am not very 

 old. My form is young and pretty. I still 

 use combs, and my combs have not fallen 

 down.®^ Have my cousins and brothers lost 

 their affection for me? Are their children 

 now sold to Chinese girls? Have the cousins' 

 flutes been sold to the Lolo girls?" ^'^ 



A Common Love Song 



A Love Song ^ (383) 



Tao Gai Lan Dang (mountain frog young 

 man) lived on the side of a steep mountain. 



^^ The stronghold where he was accustomed to 

 visit. 



^^ The kind of music determined the time for 

 meeting again. 



^^ By his music he made love to her in ways 

 she could understand. 



He went and slept in a grove of l{_i(ci hwa 

 trees. He walked slowly until he was behind 

 Nts'ai Ngeo Niang's house. He did not know 

 whether Nts'ai Ngeo Niang was at home. 

 Then he took out his mouth-harp and played 



^^ A Ch'uan Miao girl wears combs until she 

 is married and gives birth to a child. 



99 Why do you not come and make love to me, 

 a Miao girl pretty and unmarried? 



1 Sung at any convenient time. 



