138 



SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 123 



A Miao Gave a Precious Gift and Became a 

 Pritne Minister (17^) 



There was a boy (son) who daily went 

 across a bridge. He saw a turtle playing with 

 a fox. so he went daily and played with diem. 

 The turtle was very friendly to this boy and 

 said to him, "Tomorrow night you go into 

 the temple opposite here and hide. When 

 the fox comes, he will spit a pearl out of 

 his mouth. You wait until he is not watching 

 and grab it with your hand and swallow it. 

 But you must not tell that I told you to do 

 this." 



That night the fox came and spit out a 

 pearl to frighten the boy. The boy then 

 grabbed the pearl with his hand and swal- 

 lowed it. The fox became frightened and 

 asked him, "How did you know about this.?" 

 He said, "I will not tell you. It was the 

 turtle who told me." The fox then sighed and 

 said, "Since he has treated me like this, I 



might better show you, and some day when 

 you are playing with him, and he now loses 

 and now wins, you simply take care to get 

 his object and never mind who loses or wins 

 until he draws back into his shell, and you 

 beat him. When you hit him, he will exude 

 some black water. You drmk this, and after- 

 ward good will certainly result." 



The boy did as he was instructed, and the 

 tortoise did not dare to blame him. He said, 

 "Since matters are this way, I had better tell 

 you, for the precious objects you have eaten 

 are tiuly the souls of us two (fox and turtle). 

 Now you spit out the pearl and give it to the 

 emperor, and he will certainly give you a 

 position as a great official." 



Later they showed him the way, and he 

 did as he was told, and the emperor gave him 

 a high official position and called him a Gin 

 (or Chin) Bao Chuang Yuen, a prime minis- 

 ter who presented a precious object. 



Miao Mistreat the Chinese 



Two Merchants Who Sold Cloth (248) 



Formerly there were two merchants who 

 sold cloth. One day, when they were halfway 

 along the road, night came. Then they went 

 into the home of a Miao family to spend the 

 night. The family said to the guests, "To- 

 night we are going to exorcise demons. You 

 must not sleep here." Then the two cloth- 

 merchants said, "Never mind. It does not con- 

 cern us if you exorcise your demons." The 

 family replied, "You must not laugh, dien. If 

 you laugh wc cannot exorcise our demons. 

 Then what will you do?" Then tiie two men 

 said, "If we laugh we will give our cloth to 

 you." The Miao family approved this. 



Then the Miao parents used a trick to make 

 the cloth merchants laugh. They had them 

 sleep near the door of the loft. 



That night when they had slept until mid- 

 night the parents arose and lighted die candles 

 in their guest room. They lighted one candle 

 in each of several places, and the whole room 

 was lighted up. Then the husband and his 

 wife stripped off all their garinents and stood 

 one on each side. Then the two walked about. 

 Each would bump into the other, then step 

 back. When the two cloth merchants saw it, 

 they broke out laughing. Then the parents 

 put on their clothing and went up and 

 dragged the cloth merchants down, ordering 

 them to give what they had promised. They 

 were helpless because they had given their 

 promise before they could lodge there. So 



they could only give their two loads of cloth 

 to the parents. 



Next morning the two guests went away 

 empty-handed. 



A Strange Thing (249) 



In ancient times there was a magistrate. He 

 v/ent out into the country. There he saw a 

 Miao cutting weeds. He said, "Miao Tzu, I 

 want you to braid for me one thing without 

 evidence." The Miao said, "How can that 

 thing be braided.-'" The official said, "Braid 

 it as you please." 



Then the Miao went and asked Je Seo, who 

 told him to go back and cut a bamboo and 

 braid it into the form of a basket. He told 

 him to buy several catties of powder and put 

 it inside and to paste paper on the outside to 

 cover it. After it was finished he sent it to 

 the official, who was very much pleased when 

 he saw it, for he thought that it was something 

 good. He said to the official, "I have made 

 this for you. You take it and put it in the 

 large parlor. Every day you have somebody 

 light a fire inside it once." 



The magistrate believed him and told a 

 man to light a fire inside it. It lighted the 

 powder which exploded and burned up the 

 big guest hall of the official. 



The official then became very angry and 

 sent runners to bring die Miao. When he 

 arrived the official talked to hun, and the 



