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SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 123 



Inside there were two girls. One was named 

 Nts'ai Bang and the other Nts'ai So. He lived 

 in that home and the two pretty girls both 

 wanted to be his wife. 



One day the two girls said to him, "We are 

 going to work. You remain in the house. 

 When our mother cooks rice, you must not 

 eat it lest you be injured." When they had 

 finished saying this the two pretty girls went 

 away. 



Later the mother cooked some good rice 

 and told him to eat, and he ate it. In it he 

 ate some poison, and then he realized that 

 the two pretty girls had spoken rightly. 



When the poison began to work, he went 

 and lay down, and he died. That night when 

 the two pretty girls came back they saw that 

 he was dead and they said sorrowfully, "You 

 did not believe what we told you. Now you 

 have been harmed." Then the two girls 

 bought a coffin for him and put him in it 

 and put him in the big river, and put a 

 rooster on top of the coffin. The coffin slowly 

 floated down the river. 



Je Hmong Lang's home was beside this 

 river. When the coffin arrived at his home, 

 the rooster began to crow and said, "Je 

 Hmong Lang went to choose a wife, and was 

 killed by somebody. Now he has arrived 

 here." 



When his father heard this he leaped down 

 to the shore and saw only a coffin and a 

 rooster. Then the father asked, "What medi- 

 cine can cure him?" The rooster said, "If 

 only the ants come, he can be cured." Then 

 the father caught an ant and placed it on the 

 coffin. When the ant had walked around 

 once, the boy became alive. Therefore the 

 Miao, when the K'a Gei opens the way of 

 the dead to heaven, uses a rooster and tells 

 the rooster to show the departed soul the 

 way to heaven, and ants come to be com- 

 panions to them. 



Ttt'o Men Went to Select Brides and Saved a 

 Fortified Place ^^ (300) 



In ancient times there were two Miao. One 

 was named Je Yao (old man final) and the 

 other Lang Yiu (small man). The two went 

 together to select brides and arrived at a forti- 

 es The frequent mention of fortified places 

 among the Ch'uan Miao may seem strange in 

 view of the fact there are no fortified places 

 among the Ch'uan Miao today. In former times 

 there were evidendy many fortified places or 

 villages among them. The Suifu history tells of 

 their destruction by the Chinese so that the Ch'uan 

 Miao would no longer be able to rebel. 



fied place. The people in the fortified place 

 were almost all eaten by tigers. Only two 

 pretty girls were left. 



The two pretty girls said to the two men, 

 "If you two will save us who live in this 

 fortified place, then we will go with you 

 (as brides)." The two men said, "Yes. To- 

 night you must not be afraid. Tonight we 

 can kill the tigers for you." 



That night they slept until midnight. Then 

 several tigers came roaring. The two men 

 prepared two carrying poles and went to fight 

 the tigers. Their strength was very great, 

 and at one blow of a carrying pole they killed 

 one tiger, and killed them all in succession. 

 Then they picked up two things like eggs. 



That night the two men had a dream. In 

 that dream they were told, "These things 

 which look like eggs are able to restore the 

 people of this fortified place to life." After 

 the two had awakened they found that both 

 had been told the same thing in their dreams. 

 Then they told the two women about it and 

 said, "If you go with us, we will restore them 

 to life for you." Then the two pretty women 

 agreed. 



Then the two men placed the objects on 

 the ground and called three times, and all the 

 people of that fortification came to life again. 

 Then the two pretty women went away with 

 Je Yao and Lang Yiu, and they left this 

 song to commemorate it. 



A Woman Was Restored to Life after She 

 Was Dead (539) 



In most ancient times, when the sky and 

 the earth had just appeared, and P'an Ku had 

 not done anything, there was one Tong Tsi 

 Tsu. He was able to bring dead people back 

 to life. People on the sky also came to re- 

 quest him to heal them. Moreover, when the 

 angleworms and ants had died he was able 

 to bring them back to life. 



At that time there was a Miao named Tii 

 Ts'o. He did not believe in demons. He had 

 a daughter called Mi Bang Ni Ntso who was 

 ill. Tii Ts'o said, "Although she is ill, I will 

 not heal her. I will see how she will die." 

 Not long after this his daughter died. Then 

 Tii Ts'o knocked a big hole in a rock, and 

 he put his daughter inside that rock. Then 

 he put this rock inside a cliff and sent some- 

 body to bring Tong Tsi Tsu. Then he said 

 to Tong Tsi Tsu, "You are an able tuan 

 kjing. Where do you think my daughter has 

 gone?" Tong Tsi Tsu said, "She has been 

 taken away by my soldiers. Now her body is 

 hidden in a rock cave." Tii Ts'o asked, "How 



