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SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 123 



When he arrived, in the same way he had 

 the dog carry the baby to the parents work- 

 ing on the hill. When die parents saw it, 

 they said, "It is bad, it is bad. This demon 

 dog has truly had a recompense so that it has 

 carried the child. Quickly kill the dog." 



The dog was frightened and ran home. 

 The recompense then asked the dog, "When 

 you went today, what did they say?" The 

 dog said, "Don't mention it. Today I nearly 

 lost my life." The recompense said, "It is well. 

 A thousand taels cannot secure such talk. If 

 something is wrong with this family, it will 

 certainly invite somebody to exorcise demons. 

 At the time the tuan \ung comes and exor- 

 cises demons, he must certainly use wine and 

 meat. Won't we get some to eat?" 



The Origin of Set/en Great Demons (243) 



In ancient times there was a man and his 

 wife. The woman was 60 years old, and no 

 son had been born to them. Because of this 

 she was always sad. 



One year she met an old man who said to 

 her, "I have seven pills which I will give 

 you today. You take them home. Each year 

 you take one pill, and each year you can 

 give birth to a son." 



She took the pills home and swallowed 

 them all at once. That year she gave birth to 

 seven sons. The name of the oldest was 

 Great Strength. The name of the second 

 was Long Legs. The name of the third was 

 Big Feet. The name of the fourth was Big 

 Stomach. The fifth, sixth, and seventh had 

 no names. 



These seven brothers were entirely unable 

 to get others to work for them. Because he 

 was very strong, the oldest brother in all 

 matters asserted that he was the biggest. The 

 second brother, because his legs were long, 

 would wade into the river, no matter if the 

 river was big and the water high (deep) . The 

 third, because his feet were long (big), would 

 tread on whatever thing he saw, and the 

 thing would die. The fourth, because his 

 stomach was very large, would eat anything. 

 The rest of them were all able to do things, 

 but their mother, because she was old, was 

 constantly ill. 



The brothers asked their mother what she 

 wanted to eat. She said, "Because of my 

 illness, I ought to eat the liver of the thunder, 

 and then I could get well." The sons said, 

 "What is there hard about getting the thun- 

 der?" Then each of them provided a peck of 

 rice, and with the seven pecks of rice diey 

 cooked a meal. They poured it out on the 

 ground. Big Feet went and trod on it. 



When the thunder saw a person treading 

 on the rice, he came down roaring. Just as he 

 stuck into the rice die seven brothers caught 

 him and were about to kill him so that their 

 mother could eat his liver. The mother said, 

 "You mustn't kill him. Wait until my illness 

 has improved some before you kill him." 

 Then the sons obeyed their mother's words 

 and tied him up. They did not kill him, and 

 fed him. 



A robber wanted to rob the brothers. When 

 he arrived he did not recognize the thunder. 

 He thought it was a rooster and tried to 

 untie him but could not. Then the robber 

 used a flint stone and lighted a light to see 

 how it was tied. Then he went and dipped 

 up a dipper of water and poured it on the 

 thunder. Then the thunder resounded like 

 a bomb and fled. On account of this the 

 thunder is grateful to the robber, and will 

 never strike a robber. Afterward the thieves 

 and robbers received great benefits from the 

 thunder. 



The seven brothers, because they had great 

 ability, wanted to rule all the world. Later 

 the Chinese soldiers tied them up and killed 

 them all. Then the seven brothers changed 

 into seven big demons and came down to do 

 harm to the Chinese. Therefore the Miao 

 tuan \ungs, when they call the gods to come 

 and help, must certainly call these seven de- 

 mons to come and help diem. Then they 

 have great power, and a tuan ]{ung of the 

 Miao wrote this song to commemorate them. 



The Good Fortune of a hazy Wife. The 

 Beginning of Planting Rice Plants in Ter- 

 raced Rice Paddies (294) 



In ancient times a son was born in a family. 

 The parents secured a wife for him. His 

 family depended entirely on farming for a 

 livelihood, but the wife he married was a very 

 lazy person. 



One day the wife went with the husband 

 to plant rice. Other people, when they 

 planted rice, put the plants down slowly and 

 pressed them down hard. The lazy wife put 

 the sprouts down quickly in disorder and 

 pressed diem down lightly. Later the plants 

 that had been pressed down hard did not 

 grow well, but those that she put down care- 

 lessly were better than those they had planted 

 carefully, and the crop was bounteous. 



The husband said to his wife, "In past 

 years we did not plant the rice well. What 

 method did you use this year diat the rice 

 was so good?" Then she secretly told her 

 husband, "It isn't so. I am not naturally a 



