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SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 12^ 



and hung it up beside the field and plowed 

 the field. He plowed straight across and as he 

 saw the picture he chuckled "Heh, heh, heh, 

 heh," and smiled at the picture of his wife. 

 He did this way every day. 



Unexpectedly there was a Chinese official 

 who passed one day and saw him laughing 

 and smiling. The official then asked him, 

 "Litde Miao, what are you smiling about?" 

 The Miao would not say anything, but smiled 

 at the picture. The official then looked up and 

 saw the picture. The official then asked him, 

 "Little Miao, why did you steal somebody's 

 picture?" He replied "Great old grandfather 

 (a term of respect), I, this litde Miao, cer- 

 tainly am not a thief. This picture was not 

 stolen. It is my wife's picture." The official 

 then told those following him to take the 

 picture and bring it away, and issued a com- 

 mand saying, "You quickly bring this spooky 

 woman here. I will punish her." 



When the servants of the official heard this, 

 they went at once to find the woman. When 

 they found her, they told her that the official 

 wished to see her. But when the husband 

 heard it, he wept very much. His wife then 

 said to him, "Things are this way. If I do 

 not go, you will be harmed. But if I go you 

 cannot bear being separated from me." Then 

 his wife said to him, "I will tell you. I am 

 not really your wife. I am one who came to 

 save you. Now, since the Chinese are so 

 wanton, I will cause them to perish. You, of 

 course, will have your pretty wife to live with 

 all your life." (You will marry another 

 pretty woman.) 



When she had finished speaking thus, the 

 soldiers of the Chinese official arrived. She 

 said, "These soldiers have come, but I will not 

 go. I want the official's wife and his gold and 

 silver to come here in exchange for me before 

 I will go with them." She said to her hus- 

 band, "When I have reached his big hall I 

 will use a trick he cannot escape (mo lai ho) 

 and cause him to perish, and then I will 

 return to the highest heaven. We can only 

 meet again in the heavenly palace." 



When she had finished speaking these 

 words, the officer who controlled the official's 

 home opened his mouth and said, "Young 

 woman, our official told me to come and wait 

 for you. Please go into the city and visit for a 

 day." The woman then said, "That will be 

 good. But now I cannot go. Please go 

 quickly. If your official loves me, you can re- 

 quest him to bring all his wives for me to 

 see. Then I will go at once with him. I am 

 sincere in this, and certainly am not deceiving 

 you." 



When die servants of the official heard these 

 words they were glad. But they were also 

 afraid that this woman was using a bad trick 

 so they said, "Young woman, it is this way. 

 We are all of one family (Chinese and Miao). 

 We will send a few soldiers to report to the 

 official, but we will leave a few here to stay 

 with you. Will that be all right?" The 

 woman understood their purpose and replied, 

 "All right, all right." Then die official's sol- 

 diers did not suspect her at all. 



It was thus for three days when the Chi- 

 nese official's banners, trumpets, umbrellas 

 (canopies), and many people came outside 

 her door to take her. She came out to wel- 

 come the official into her home. Then she 

 found tea and tobacco for the official. When 

 they had finished (drinking tea and smoking 

 tobacco) the Miao woman said to the official, 

 "Official, do not be provoked. Now if you 

 want yourself and me to become husband 

 and wife, you must act in accordance with 

 heaven before I will go with you. Otherwise 

 please take me and kill me." The Chinese 

 then said, "Why should you die? I am will- 

 ing to act in accordance with your wish." 

 The woman then said, "Has the sky two 

 moons?" The official replied, "It has not." 

 The woman again said, "Since you know that 

 there are not two moons, please reward this 

 Miao by giving him your wife. And the Miao 

 husband also needs gold and silver and pre- 

 cious things before he is willing to send me 

 away with you." So the official gave an order 

 to take his Chinese wife with gold and silver 

 and clothing and other things and give them 

 to the Miao husband, Ts'ao Men Shin, to con- 

 trol. When Ts'ao Men Shin got the official's 

 wife, his silver, and his clothing and things, 

 then he had ascended to official status. 



The official and the Miao woman began the 

 journey in sedan chairs. His attendants raised 

 a rumpus as they traveled. In a short time 

 they arrived at the Chinese market place. 



When they had arrived, the official had to 

 go and worship heaven and earth. The 

 woman then said, "You must worship in this 

 way. I have a small thing. I request my 

 husband to invite his subofficers to come and 

 I will try it to let these people see it, and this 

 is unavoidable this time because of the sin- 

 cere purpose of your heart." The official said, 

 "This way is truly very good." 



When they had finished, the official then 

 gave a command to invite all the great and 

 small literary and military officials to come 

 together to his dwelling and remain there. 



Then the woman took out of the chest of 

 drawers in the baggage a thing as large as a 



