NO. I 



CH UAN MIAO SONGS AND STORIES — GRAHAM 



145 



After a few days the cow died. Then Gai 

 Glo went and looked at his cow. He did not 

 know what illness the cow had but noticed 

 that a piece of the cow's tongue was missing. 

 Later he gradually found out that Bo Ts'eo 

 had cut it off. He therefore composed this 

 song to commemorate the fact that the cow's 

 tongue was cut off by the woman. 



A Mother and Her So?i Killed a Cow for 

 Food (544) 



Formerly there was a family named Hmong 

 Bla. The husband died and left a cow. The 

 family lived below a high mountain. But 

 the cow had a calf. When the calf was one 

 year old, the mother and her son at night 

 killed the mother cow. After she was killed 



they skinned the cow and hung up her skin. 

 Then they took off the meat and hung it up. 



Next morning the people in the neighbor- 

 hood came and saw it. It frightened them. 

 Later the mother and her son came back from 

 gathering wood and said, "This cow was 

 butchered by us last night." 



Later the son went and made an engage- 

 ment of marriage. But the bride had not yet 

 come to his home. The father of the bride 

 knew about the killing of the cow by the 

 mother and her son. He therefore would not 

 give the daughter to the son in marriage.* 

 The mother and her son did not dare to go 

 and reason with the girl's father. Therefore 

 the father of the girl wrote this song to com- 

 memorate it. 



EXPERIENCES WITH DEMONS 



The Demon of One Who Died by Hanging 

 Changed into a Fox (185) 



There was a demon who died by hanging. 

 His residence was in the deep forest. 



One day an old man went into the forest 

 to gather wood. When he had arrived there 

 he sighed and said, "I am old. Who wants 

 my life?" Suddenly the demon who died by 

 hanging answered him. "Old man, do you 

 really want to die? Then I will take your 

 life." The old man said, "How will you take 

 it?" The demon replied, 'Tou take a belt 

 and tie it around your neck, and I will take 

 your life." Then the old man took down his 

 belt and made a loop of it. Then he looped it 

 around his ankles. The demon said, "That 

 is not right." Then he stretched out his 

 wrists. The demon said, "That is still not 

 right." He said, "I still do not understand." 

 Then the demon put his neck into the loop. 

 Then the old man gave it a hard pull and 

 this changed the demon into a fox. Then he 

 led the demon into the village and a Chi- 

 nese came to buy it. He asked the Miao how 

 much money he wanted. 



Because the old man did not understand 

 the Chinese language he said, "I want to take 

 him and eat his flesh." The Chinese did not 

 understand him and thought he wanted 50 

 taels of silver. Later the Chinese led the fox 

 away. He noticed that it was tied by a belt 

 and thought, "Can it be that this belt is used 

 to tie him?" He went and prepared an iron 

 chain to tie it. 



* Among die Ch'uan Miao there is a strong 

 taboo against the killing of cattle by women. The 

 fact that the mother helped kill the cow was evi- 

 dence to other people that her heart was fierce. 



Unexpectedly, when the chain was being 

 changed for the belt, the fox was not to be 

 seen. Afterward the old man used up the 

 50 taels of silver. 



One day he again went into the forest, and 

 he sighed in a pitiful way. The demon cried 

 out in a loud voice, "Old man, is your silver 

 used up? This time I do not want you." 



A Miao Married a Demon and Went to 

 Live with Her, but Saw That She Was a 

 Demon and Returned Home (548) 



Formerly a Miao in the borderland of 

 Szechwan heard that in Kweichow there was 

 good land. He then moved to Kweichow to 

 live. When he arrived he saw a big tile- 

 roofed house and went inside to lodge. 



In a short time a beautiful widow came out 

 and requested him to live there as her hus- 

 band. The Miao lived there several years. 



Later a cousin of his who was a tuan \u7ig 

 came that way. At night he saw that the 

 wife was a demon. Next day the cousin went 

 with the husband upon the mountain for a 

 walk. Then the cousin said to him, "Your 

 wife is truly very pretty; but I see that she is 

 a demon. If you do not believe it, tomorrow 

 afternoon you pretend to go outside, and after 

 you have gone out a short time you come 

 back and look, and then you will believe my 

 words." 



The next day the Miao husband said he 

 was going outside. He secretly returned and 

 looked. He saw the woman in their bedroom 

 take off her head and then comb her hair. 

 When it was combed, she wound the turban 

 on well, then put the head on again. Then 

 she shook her shoulders and changed into a 

 beautiful woman. 



