NO. I 



Ch'uAN MIAO songs and stories — GRAHAM 



127 



can you call her back?" Tong Ts'i Tsu said, 

 "Quickly prepare some beeswax and I will 

 call her back (to life)." 



Tii Ts'o prepared the beeswax as he di- 

 rected. Then Tong Tsi Tsu set this bees- 

 wax on fire and called, "The bamboo whistle 

 blows as I ascend the skyladder. When the 

 beeswax takes fire, quickly pursue after. Bring 

 the parents' daughter back home, back into 

 her body." Then he took a mouthful of cold 

 water and spurted it out of his mouth, and 

 shouted loudly, "T'ai, t'ai, t'ai (the chief god 



of the tuan J{ung), my soldiers of 3,000 caves 

 and my soldiers of 300 fortified places, quickly 

 go forward and bring the girl's soul back 

 to her body." He shouted loudly, and the big 

 stone fell down. Then the girl's teeth moved, 

 and the red color spread over her face, and 

 her eyes moved about. Immediately she arose 

 and said to her mother, "I want to eat bis- 

 cuits." 



Tii Ts'o was dien very grateful to Tong 

 Tsi Tsu. From this time Tong Tsi Tsu's 

 reputation spread among all the Miao people. 



EXPLANATION OF THE ORIGIN OF CUSTOMS AND THINGS 



A Man Gave Two Different Names to the 

 Children of His Two Wives (194) 



In ancient times there was a man named 

 Hsiung "feto. He married a wife and a con- 

 cubine. 



He went out to trap wild animals. He 

 stayed three years before returning. When he 

 arrived home it had already become dark. He 

 went into the house and asked the children 

 of his wife, "What are you eating today?" 

 "Our mother has boiled yU t'o (a vegetable) 

 for us to eat." He also asked the children of 

 his concubine. They replied, "We are eating 

 the stalks of the yii t'o." (These are not good 

 to eat.) Then he knew that they were not 

 harmonious. 



Next day he called his two wives to him 

 and said to them, "I am old and I cannot 

 live with you very long. Therefore I will 

 divide this home between you. Because yes- 

 terday you ate the yil t'o and some ate the 

 vegetable heads and some ate the stalks, I 

 will make a memorial about this. I will name 

 the children of the wife Yii indicating that it 

 means yii t'o. The concubine's children I will 

 name Hsiung, indicating that it refers to the 

 st?.lks.^° But you are brothers and sisters 

 forever, and you must not intermarry." 



"When a Haw\ Is Catching Anybody's Live- 

 stock, You Should Not Drive Him away 

 (212) 



Formerly there was a man and his wife. 

 They were old and were farmers. They saw 

 a hawk catch a live animal. Then they cried 

 out, "Eo, eo," and the hawk was frightened 

 away, leaving the live animal. Then the two 

 old people picked it up and ate it. 



^° The word Hsiung in Chinese means bear, 

 and the stalks are supposed to resemble the body 

 of the bear. This is a legend or story, not a 

 song. 



Later, when they had finished eating the 

 meat, they left their baby sleeping and went 

 out to work. In the afternoon they saw a 

 hawk come flying, carrying something big. 

 They shouted and threw at it, but the hawk 

 did not drop it. They were then very sorry. 



At night, when it was dark, they came back 

 home and saw that their baby was gone. 

 Then they knew that the hawk had carried 

 the baby away. Therefore, today when the 

 Miao see a hawk flying over carrying some- 

 thing, they do not frighten it. 



Why, When a Thing Is Bad, You Must Not 

 Say It Is Bad (213) 



In ancient times there was a strange thing 

 called recompense. One day it went to the 

 home of a man and his wife. Because diey 

 were not at home, they had tied their child 

 and laid it on the bed, and they had gone 

 up on the hill to hoe the ground. Then the 

 recompense came and said to the family dog, 

 "Today I will put their baby on your back 

 for you to carry. If you carry it to the parents, 

 then see what they will say." 



The dog carried the child on its back to 

 where the parents were working. When the 

 husband saw it he said, "Good, good. Now 

 it will be well with us. Even the dog can 

 help us carry the baby." His wife said nothing 

 but gave her milk as usual for the baby to 

 drink. When it was through drinking, they 

 tied the baby on the dog's back so he could 

 carry the baby back home. 



When the dog had carried the baby back 

 home the recompense asked the dog, "When 

 you carried the baby to them, what did the 

 parents say?" The dog said, "They said, 

 'Good, good, it is truly well with us.* " The 

 recompense said, "In this family we can get 

 meat to eat (as a reward). I had better go 

 to another home." When he had said this, 

 the recompense went to another home. 



