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SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 123 



him, "What Niang Yao Ni have you?" He 

 replied, "Don't you know? Her home is in a 

 stone cross outside our door. Please quickly 

 call her here for me. Otherwise I shall die." 

 Then they went out and looked, and there 



were seven banana trees, and in their midst 

 one very small one. Then they knew that this 

 girl was the small banana tree, and they cut 

 it down with an ax and made soup of it and 

 gave it to their son, and he got well. 



STORIES THAT TEACH 



You Cannot Travel over All the World (222) 



In ancient times there was a Miao. He 

 heard that the world was a large land. Then 

 he made up his mind that he would travel 

 all over the world. When he started, he was 

 young. He took a great deal of silver with 

 him, and carried an iron cane in his hand. 

 As he walked, he used the cane. In a few 

 years his silver was used up. Then he begged 

 for food, for he wanted to roam all over the 

 world. 



He traveled several tens of years, then he 

 returned to his home. But then the iron 

 cane he had in his hand was gone, and there 

 was left only about as much as there is in a 

 fisherman's hook. But he had not gone all 

 over the world. He said, "The life of the 

 sky (or heaven) is certainly very long, since 

 it cannot become old. Why am I not like a 

 young man any more?" 



(A story, not a song.) 



Old Graves Should Not Be Despoiled (634) 



In ancient times there was an old family of 

 Miao. They built a big house and dug up an 

 old grave to make a toilet. But one night one 

 of them went to relieve his bowels, and sud- 

 denly there was a person bathing in the 

 toilet. 



He realized that this was night time and 

 also that this was a toilet pit. How could 

 there be anybody taking a bath in this place? 

 He asked, "Who are you that you should 

 still be here in the dead of the night?" The 

 demon replied, "I am the ancient man of this 

 place. Because you have come to relieve your 

 bowels on my house and you have defiled my 

 garments and body, so I have come to bathe." 

 He replied, "If I do not come here again to 

 relieve my bowels, will you still bathe?" The 

 demon replied, "If I am clean, why should I 

 bathe?" 



Next day he filled up that pit. Then the 

 demon of that old grave was not to be seen. 

 He therefore made up this song to teach 

 people of future generations that they should 

 not go and wantonly dig up old graves. 



Avoid Ta\ing the Lives of Dumb Creatures 

 in Order to Save Yourself (401) 



In former times there was a Miao. One 

 day he went to the home of his cousin (his 



mother's older brother's son). His cousin and 

 his wife decided to kill a chicken to entertain 

 him with. When they were discussing it he 

 did not hear them. 



At midnight the chicken house said to the 

 chicken, "If the guest does not eat us to- 

 morrow, he can escape danger. If he eats us, 

 he will certainly die." While they were talk- 

 ing, the guest overheard it plainly. 



Next morning the guest got up and said to 

 his cousin that he was going to leave. They 

 were unwilling for him to go. He said, "If you 

 are unwilling, you can just boil a little rice 

 for me to eat." The cousin and his wife said, 

 "The water for cooking the chicken is already 

 boiling." He said, "If you kill the chicken I 

 will not eat it, for I do not eat meat." 



When they heard this they did not kill the 

 chicken, but merely boiled some rice for him 

 to eat. When he had eaten he started off. 

 When he reached the shore of the great river, 

 at the ferry in a cloud there was one wearing 

 white clothing who called to him, "Whoever 

 falsely pretends to be a vegetarian cannot get 

 onto the boat." He called out thus three 

 times. 



The people on the boat and the boat cap- 

 tain were all unwilling for him to get onto 

 the boat, so he did not dare to do so. The 

 boat was poled to the middle of the river, 

 and suddenly a big wave arose and sub- 

 merged the boat, and all who were on the 

 boat were drowned. Then he knew that 

 one who does not take life (by killing dumb 

 creatures, in other words, a vegetarian) is 

 truly able to save himself, and he left this 

 song to teach future generations that they 

 should not take life. 



A Father Rewarded His Son for Being Pa- 

 tient (411) 



Formerly there was a rich Miao family. 

 The father said, "The Chinese have books, 

 so they can teach my sons. We have no books, 

 so how can we teach them?" 



That year, in the eleventh moon, his fadier- 

 in-law gave a daughter-in-law away in mar- 

 riage. That day the father told his son to go 

 as a guest. He had new embroidered garments 

 made especially for his son. 



The son put his garments on and went into 

 the Chinese settlement on the other side. 



