NO. I 



Ch'uAN MIAO songs and stories — GRAHAM 



125 



animal was as great as the mountain. His 

 head was as big as a mountain peak. His 

 ears were like a big fan. His eyes were as big 

 as a brass soup bowl. His tusks were like a 

 plowshare. The teeth were like a yoke. He 

 ran over a pass and frightened Tsu Je Ntseo 

 Ni so that he was as if he had malaria. Then 

 the wild animal again climbed up a mountain 

 and frightened Je Tsu Sua so that he was as if 

 he had a severe illness. Then they came back. 

 They then thought out a good plan. They 

 sent word and hired blacksmiths and copper- 

 smidis, and next morning there came 99 

 blacksmiths and 80 coppersmiths. The copper- 

 smiths and the blacksmiths carried bellows on 

 their backs, and first beat the copper and 

 made it into a tube as thick as a man's arm, 

 and beat the iron into tubes as thick as one's 

 foot. Then they made the brass tubes into 

 cannon to shoot, and took the iron tubes and 

 made of them a big cannon and a small gun. 

 Then they again turned the hunting dogs 

 loose and followed them, and took the can- 

 non and placed them in front of the wild 

 animal. Then the hunting dogs were let loose 

 in the midst of the deep forest. 



The hunting dogs chased the animal bark- 

 ing. The great animal leaped out, and they 

 saw that his body was as big as a mountain. 

 It frightened them until they trembled. 



The wild animal ran in front of the mouth 

 of the big cannon. Then they used fire and 

 set off the big gun. The cannon resounded, 

 and the bullet entered the body of Tan Tsi 

 Ngao (To Tan, the big animal.) The wild 

 animal fell down and closed up a bend. If 

 that wild animal had fallen into the river, he 

 could have dammed up the water of the river. 



When they killed the great beast, who 

 heard about it.? The king heard about it. 

 Who could know about it? The king could 

 know about it. Then the emperor said, 

 "Among the animals of the world, the lion 

 is the greatest. What animals on the earth 

 are coarse? It is the body of the elephant 

 that is coarse. I do not know what strange 

 creature this is." Then the emperor mounted 

 a camel and came. He also bought a big 

 elephant. He compared the camel and found 

 that the camel was not as large as the baby of 

 the wild animal. Then he took an elephant 

 and compared them. The elephant was not 

 as large as the ear of the animal. 



PEOPLE WHO DIED AND BECAME ALIVE AGAIN 



A Wo7nan Thief Was Choked to Death by 

 Meat. A Thief Came to Rob Her Grave, 

 and She Came to Life Again (163) 



A woman had a daughter she could not 

 instruct. The daughter she brought up was 

 fond of stealing. The daughter was 18 years 

 old when she was given to a husband. 



A stronghold invited her father-in-law to 

 come and take charge of sacrificial offerings. 

 When it was finished, her father got a slice 

 of meat which he brought home and boiled 

 in an iron cooking vessel. His daughter-in- 

 law stole a piece of it and ate it. Her mother- 

 in-law saw it. She was ashamed and swal- 

 lowed the meat at one gulp, and the meat 

 choked her to death. 



Her husband was afraid that he would be 

 responsible for her life, so he quickly put 

 her into a coffin and put on her good cloth- 

 ing and ornaments, then invited her parents 

 to come, and conducted elaborate funeral 

 ceremonies for several days. 



One day they carried her out to bury her. 



That night a thief wanted to come and steal 

 her clothing. He had a custom of first beat- 

 ing a person before he robbed him. When he 

 came he raised the dead person up and beat 

 her three times with his fist. When he beat 

 her the meat that had choked her was shaken 



down into her stomach. She came to life 

 again and cried out, "Somebody is beating 

 me, somebody is beating me." When she 

 cried out the thief was frightened away. She 

 thought to herself, "How did I get here?" 

 Then she went back home. 



When she got home it was past midnight. 

 She called, "Open the door." Her family was 

 aroused and said, "Are you a person or a 

 demon?" She said, "My mother, I am your 

 daughter-in-law." Her mother-in-law said, 

 "What evidence have you that you are my 

 daughter-in-law?" Then she took the silver 

 bracelets off her wrist and gave them to her 

 mother. Her family opened the door and let 

 her come in and lighted a fire for her to 

 warm herself by. She became entirely con- 

 scious, and her family made up this song to 

 commemorate her. 



A Man Who Was Choosing a Wife Was 

 Killed and Later Became Alive. Why the 

 K'a Gei Uses a Rooster at Funerals (245) 



Formerly there was a man named }e 

 Hmong Lang.^^ He went away to select a 

 wife, and went into the home of a rich man. 



88 A Miao fond of wine who likes to control 

 affairs. 



