NO. I 



Ch'uAN MIAO songs and stories — GRAHAM 



121 



When they bend their hands, they have no 

 sickles. 



I have not begged a bowl of rice from one 

 who owns land. 



I have not been near a guest that has 

 money. 



I only love to be a friend to those people 

 with the whole face. 



I will only be a bride to one whose heart 

 is good (that is, his heart and his bowels). 



I have nothing to do with anybody who 

 falsely pretends that he has money, and cer- 

 tainly avoid contact with those who are rich. 



Planting Tobacco with Which to Entertain 

 Guests (227) 



Roaming all over the world stirs my mind. 

 I roamed to the road of Yen Mu (the to- 

 bacco mother). Speaking of the earth, I have 

 roamed all over the sky. I roamed as far as 

 the dwelling of the tobacco father. Where 

 does the tobacco mother come from? Her 

 leaves are colored. Where does the tobacco 

 father come from.? His leaves and stalks are 

 striped. 



Wait until the winter comes, when two 

 months are cold. The place is cold in the 

 winter. The tobacco mother folds her arms 

 and sleeps. The tobacco father folds his hands 

 and feet, and disregards the rain. Wait until 

 the springtime when the weather is mild and 

 the place is also good and mild. The Miao 

 Hmong Gii (the Miao Gii) sprinkled the 

 smoke on the ground that had been fertilized 

 with husks. Then the ancient Miao sowed the 

 tobacco seed in the yellow soil. Then the 

 tobacco sons developed leaves. The tobacco 

 fathers also developed green leaves. Then the 

 tobacco mother grew well.'^^ 



Wait a day and the tobacco will grow well. 

 The leaves of the tobacco mothers grow until 

 they are like fans. The leaves of the tobacco 

 fathers are like palms. Hmong Gii then cuts 

 down the tobacco mothers and ties them onto 

 strings. Ye Gii Hmong Leo then cuts the 

 tobacco fathers and ties them onto the rice- 

 straw ropes. Then Hmong Gii dries the to- 

 bacco mothers in the sun. He also dries the 

 tobacco fathers in the sun. He sees that the 

 leaves of the tobacco mother are varicolored 

 and also sees that the leaves and stalks of the 

 tobacco father are varicolored. 



They gathered the tobacco mothers to enter- 

 tain guests with. Hmong Leo also collected 

 the tobacco fathers to keep, to entertain rela- 



■^^ The tobacco father and mother are stubs of 

 tobacco plants that have been cut down. Sons 

 are new stalks from the seed. 



tives with. They saw that the tobacco leaves 

 were varicolored. They gathered up all the 

 tobacco. Later they must use the tobacco to 

 entertain relatives with. 



One day Je Gi (or Ye Gi) Hmong Lan was 

 sitting down. Those who were escorting the 

 bride for her parents arrived. They were well 

 dressed. Then the hosts took the tobacco 

 mothers and went to welcome the bride, and 

 took the tobacco fathers to use in welcoming 

 the guests. They said, "We cannot sit and 

 entertain the guests. We can only take the 

 tobacco mothers and fathers to entertain the 

 guests with." 



A Song about Feeding Silkworms '''' (228) 



When a certain man died he went to 

 heaven. There he hoed. When the sky was all 

 hoed (dug to pieces) he hoed a new field 

 (not used before). He dug the place until 

 it was smooth. When a place is hoed smooth, 

 one can plant mulberries. When mulberries 

 are planted, then he roams all over the world. 

 When one roams all over the world, it stirs 

 his mind. He goes as far as Ngan Gang's 

 road. 



Speaking of the earth, I have roamed all 

 over the sky (heaven) . I went to Ngan Gang 

 Yo's dwelling. Where did cocoons come 

 from? When they came (in ancient times) 

 their bodies were varicolored because the silk- 

 worms that were fed were varicolored. The 

 silk cocoon developed into a moth and it laid 

 eggs on paper, on white paper. Ngan Niao 

 took the eggs and wrapped them in white 

 paper. Ngan Niao picked up the eggs. Later 

 the two cold winter months came. The coun- 

 try was cold during winter. When spring 

 came, Ngan Niao took the eggs and put them 

 inside her clothes on her breast (to keep them 

 warm). Ngan Niao then took her silkworms 

 and fed them in the large flat bamboo win- 

 nowing-basket. Ntseo Ji also took his silk- 

 worms and fed them in a big bamboo win- 

 nowing basket. Ngeo Gang Ni (a kind of 

 small black silkworm) then ate the mulberry 

 leaves. The small silkworms also ate the 

 green leaves. 



One day both kinds of silkworms had 

 grown up. Then they spit silk out upward 

 (they spun out the silk). They ran along the 

 edge of the bamboo mat. The small flowery 

 silkworms spun out silk. 



One day the small silkworms spun out silk 

 and wound it around the bamboo twigs. 



^^ The title "feeding silkworms" also means 

 raising silkworms, as it is customary in west 

 China to say feed when they mean raise. 



