NO. I 



CH UAN MIAO SONGS AND STORIES — GRAHAM 



109 



Eat until you are drunk. Drink wine and 

 taste it with your tongue. When any get 

 drunk, let these above-mentioned lives lead 

 them off onto the roads away from the home 

 of the bride and the groom and prevent them 

 from coming into either house. When you 

 have drunk the wine, then you must go and 

 be our companions. When you have drunk 

 the wine, then you must go and be the com- 

 panions of our relatives. 



Hou lo hou. 



Next morning at daybreak you must be 

 our companions to the groom's house. 



Hou lo hou. 



I make offerings to these lives, but they 

 have no foundation. When we see die things 

 to eat come, we will reach our hands. We 

 have delayed you old people in satisfying the 

 hunger of your stomachs. 



Hou lo hou.-'* 



Securing Fish, Birds, and Animals with Which to Entertain Wedding Guests 



Catching Fish with the Hands with Which to 

 Entertain Wedding Guests (63) 



The day breaks over the mountains. Even 

 the sky lightens up, and all over the moun- 

 tains it is bright. The sun comes out as from 

 a cave. 



There was a man named Dong Ldi ^° who 

 was asleep. He awoke and went to catch fish 

 with his hands. A man named Dong Li ^^ 

 was also sleeping and also arose and went to 

 catch fish with his hands. Dong Ldi im- 

 mersed his body under the water. The water, 

 cold as ice, soaked him to the bones. Dong Li 

 at the mouth of the pool also went under the 

 water. The cold water of the pool soaked his 

 head. 



Dong Ldi came up to warm in the sun. 

 Dong Li also came up to warm in the sun. 

 Dong Ldi again went to the rear end of the 

 pool and went under and frightened the 

 schools of fish up to the falls above the pool. 

 Dong Li also at tlie rear of the pool went 

 under the water and frightened the big fish 

 so that they swam to the top of the pool. 

 Dong Li walked to the end of the pool and 

 grasped for the fish, and the fish ran into the 

 cliff. Dong Ldi again walked to the mouth 

 of the pool and caught fish with his hands. 

 The big fish then ran under some large stones. 

 Dong Li caught a fish as big as a mat. Dong 

 Ldi caught a big net full of small fish. Then 

 Dong Li carried his fish back home and 

 looked at it. He saw that there were flowers 

 on it like the leaves of a tree. Dong Ldi also 

 looked at his fish and saw that his fish had 

 colored streaks on them. Dong Li put down 

 the fish he had just caught. 



At the end of a year Dong Li took his 

 fish meat and placed it in a bowl to eat. 

 Dong Ldi also put down the fish he had 



-^ The above is sung at the time the engage- 

 ment presents are taken to the girl's home by a 

 person especially requested to do so. 



30T0O ITi-. 



31 ToO li'. The word It is spoken as if under- 

 scored. 



caught. At the end of a year when he, Dong 

 Li, was being married, he used them and put 

 the fish on a plate. When the guests escort- 

 ing the bride arrived, he used the fish meat 

 to entertain tlie guests beside the road. The 

 guests who wore new clothes and embroideries 

 were entertained by means of this fish meat. 

 He used the fish to entertain special guests 

 and also diose who escorted the bride. When 

 the guests who escorted the bride had eaten 

 the fish they said, "You must have tastes simi- 

 lar to ours," and sampled his three jars of 

 wine. Again they said, "We have both eaten 

 his flesh and tasted his three jars of wine." 

 When the relatives from afar had eaten, they 

 scattered and went away, and when the 

 guests from nearby had eaten they also de- 

 parted. All praised him saying, "Heaven has 

 eyes, and this year Dong Li's oldest son got 

 a good wife and they have become a fine 

 pair." 



The song is ended. 



Shooting Wild Diidis and Water Birds (6.5) 



Before daylight had brightened the earth, 

 two brothers arose. The older brother's name 

 was Leo Tsa (Uu tsa'). The younger broth- 

 er's name was Dao Seo (Tao sau). 



When the older brother had awakened, he 

 took a brass gun (tube) and went to shoot 

 ducks. When the younger brother had awak- 

 ened, he took an iron gun (tube) and went 

 to shoot water birds. The older brother car- 

 ried his gun on his shoulder to the clear-water 

 creek rapid. The younger brother leaped to 

 Chungking and watched for water birds. The 

 water birds were in the great river that comes 

 from the cold regions. When he saw the 

 water birds swimming along in flocks he said, 

 "See, the ducks do not divide up their flocks." 

 The younger brother then lifted his iron tube 

 (gun) to shoot them. He hunted as far as the 

 rapid on the Yangtse River. When he shot, 

 the water birds flew away and escaped. His 

 older brother then scolded him saying, "Have 



