132 



SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 123 



Stood that last night's dream was actually this 

 matter. 



He loaded his gun and aimed at the toads 

 and shot them. Then the group of warty 

 toads went back into the cave. The clouds 

 and the fog opened up and the rain ceased, 

 and the thunder did not resound. In a 

 moment the sky was again clear. Then he 

 felt tired and leaned against the cliff and 

 went to sleep. Suddenly he dreamed that the 

 old man with gray hair came and said to him, 

 "Hunter, diank you. Today you helped me 

 by one shot. If not, the five grains of this 

 locality would have been injured by this band, 

 and they would have spit out hail and 

 destroyed the grains. You must remember it. 

 Quickly spread forth a report of this affair 

 and afterward, in whatever place this calamity 

 comes, and there is thunder and a strong wind 

 and the sky is dark, quickly shoot with a gun 

 or cannon lest people should be injured." 



Because of the story of this man, to this 

 day all will shoot off guns and shoot the rain 

 to frighten the spooks that are causing the 

 rain and hail. 



An Ignorant Woman Killed Somebody (540) 



In ancient times Tong Tsi Tsu married a 



wife named Na Bo Ntsai. She came and 



remained many years, and gave birth to three 

 daughters and one son. 



That year the sky above let down a pesti- 

 lence. That pestilence then went everywhere 

 and captured people. At that time Tong Tsi 

 Tsu went to help people by healing their dis- 

 eases. While Tong Tsi' Tsu was not at home, 

 the pestilence seized the daughters and took 

 them away, and the three daughters died. 

 Then the woman sent her son to call her hus- 

 band back. But the small son went for half 

 a year and did not find his fadier. 



The bodies of the three daughters were as 

 rotten as chicken manure. When the woman 

 saw such circumstances, she took her hus- 

 band's god-bamboo stick and threw it below 

 the cliff. Then the god-soldiers beat the hus- 

 band's heart, and the blood from the hus- 

 band's heart gushed out. Then he quickly 

 left the fortified place and returned to his 

 home. He saw that his god-bamboo stick was 

 gone, and his god-drum was broken. He then 

 cried loudly, "Now you have done me harm. 

 I cannot bring back my own daughters. 

 Death from the present has been caused by 

 you." Now when the Miao tuan \ungs call 

 their gods, they all go to the cliffs to call, and 

 they are good gods. 



MISTREATMENT OF THE POOR BY THE RICH 



The Younger Sister Coo\ed Biscuits to Eat, 

 and Later Died of Anger.^^ (468) 



In former times there was a brother and his 

 younger sister. Their parents died early, but 

 the sister married into a rich family. She 

 then had food to eat, but her brother had no 

 rice to eat. 



One year the (older) brother went to his 

 sister's home. When he arrived his sister was 

 just cooking biscuits. The brother asked her, 

 "Sister, what are you cooking (steaming).?" 

 The younger sister replied, "We haven't any- 

 thing to eat. We are boiling a snake to eat." 

 But the older brother sat down and did not 

 go. She steamed them a long time, and the 

 water in the pot dried up. Then the younger 

 sister went to carry water to put into the 

 pot. Then the older brother secretly opened 

 the pot. He saw that she was steaming a ves- 

 selful of biscuits. Then he secretly took a bis- 

 cuit and departed. He did not eat it but 

 dried it in the sun. When it was dry he took 

 the biscuit and put it away. Then he care- 

 fully went to make a clearing to live in by 



93 It is not uncommon for people to die of anger 

 in West China. 



using the ax. Next year die older brother 

 had rice to eat. In this way year by year he 

 became a rich man. 



Later the Chinese made trouble for the 

 sister's family so that her family had no rice 

 to eat. After this the sister returned to her 

 brother's family. Then the brother killed a 

 chicken and boiled pork and rice for her to 

 eat. 



The brother said, "That time when I went 

 to your home, alas, you were boiling a snake. 

 If it had been a biscuit and you had given me 

 a little to satisfy my hunger, that would have 

 been good." The sister said, "Older brother, 

 I did not cook a snake." The older brother 

 said, "Now I have here a sample of a dry 

 snake. Please look at it." When she had seen 

 it, she could not say anything. 



Next day when she went back home she 

 was so angry (or vexed) about this that she 

 died. Others wrote this song to commemo- 

 rate it. 



A Poor Man Who Picl{ed up Dog Manure to 

 Eat (475) 



Formerly there was a very evil Miao man. 

 He lived in the midst of the fortified place. 



