NO. I 



CH UAN MIAO SONGS AND STORIES — GRAHAM 



153 



lent. I said I wanted to leave. My husband, 

 Yang San, who abuses me, said his farm was 

 hard to divide." 



I went and stayed there three years before 

 I have been able to come back home to visit. 

 It was three years and six months before I 

 got home once. My mother who bore me 

 came to the kitchen door to welcome me. My 

 father came to the guest room. My mother 

 said, "My daughter, now you have gone to a 

 good family. It is a family that has food and 

 clothing. Couldn't you remember us?" My 

 father also said, "Now my daughter is mar- 

 ried into a family that has food and clothes, 

 so you didn't come to see us?" When I heard 

 mother say this, it shocked my mind, and I 

 covered my eyes and ears and wept. "You 

 only thought about the fact that your daugh- 

 ter had clothes and food. You did not know 

 that your daughter was beaten and was 

 hungry; that my mother-in-law scolded me 

 saying diat I did not carry enough water for 

 her to drink. I was certainly scolded enough 

 by them. My husband Yang San scolded me 

 saying that I did not gather enough wood 

 for him to burn. Mother, my mother who 

 bore me, your daughter was born wrong and 

 did not live with you long enough. See, my 

 mother-in-law has come again. E, my father, 

 when your daughter comes back she cannot 

 live with you long enough. My husband, 

 Yang San, has already come." 



The next morning, while the sky was still 

 yellow, my mother (-in-law) said to me, "You 

 must go back with us, daughter-in-law, my 

 daughter." My husband said, "You must go 

 home with me, my wife, my servant." My 

 mother, your daughter has arisen and has 

 talked reason with the mother-in-law three 

 times. My real parents arise, and three times 

 talk reason with my parent-in-law. 



Your daughter weeps. "You say that I do 

 not carry enough water for you to drink, 

 and that I do not gather enough wood for 

 you to burn. I have truly been oppressed 

 enough by you. But I cannot escape it. My 

 own mother and father urged me saying, 

 'My daughter, my heart and my liver (most 

 endearing expressions), because your mother 

 and father formerly ate their meat and spoiled 

 their wine by drinking it, it cannot be 

 avoided.' Your daughter covers her eyes and 

 ears and weeps, and tears flow like water. 

 My father and my mother told me to put my 

 clothes on and go home with my mother-in- 

 law and my husband, Yang San." 



I went back halfway and thought and 

 thought. I have no older or younger brothers. 

 It is truly hard for me to leave (my parents). 



I again think that there is no road, and the 

 best thing is to pick up a vine and hide it in 

 my breast, tie a belt about my neck, and go 

 to a dogwood tree and pretend to be filial 

 to my mother-in-law, and say to my husband 

 that I want to go and urinate. When they 

 have gone ahead I will take the dogwood 

 branch and tie it to my neck, then let loose. 

 Then I will hang above the great cliff. This 

 will complete my sufferings, and put a stop 

 to my sorrowful voice. I die in this way. 

 Let him be unable to find a daughter-in-law 

 to scold, and let my husband Yang San be 

 unable to find a good wife. From this time 

 my father and my mother will be grieved 

 until their hearts are broken. It will also 

 end their going by the creek to bleach white 

 cloth. The creek is still there. I am dead. 

 The song is ended. 



A Daughter-'m-Law Who Was Mistreated 

 Committed Suicide (310) 



At that time the Yang family had a daugh- 

 ter named Bang Gen whom they gave in 

 marriage to the Li family. When she had 

 arrived there her mother-in-law and her 

 father-in-law treated her badly. Then she 

 came back and told the Yang family, but her 

 parents did not believe it and scolded her, 

 and she went back. When she reached home 

 again she went and carried clear water, and 

 her mother-in-law scolded her and said it was 

 water out of the rice paddies. She again 

 went and carried on her back clean water, 

 and her father-in-law and her mother-in-law 

 scolded her and said she was carrying muddy 

 water. They all said she was not a good 

 worker and beat her. Then she went back 

 to her mother's home. 



Her mother said, "You go back quickly. 

 Although they are wicked, they cannot live 

 with you all your life." She then went back 

 home again. She went to gather firewood, 

 and her mother-in-law scolded her and said 

 she was not good at gathering wood and said, 

 "This time you brought back some vines." 

 She went to gather grass for the pigs, and her 

 mother-in-law said that the pig grass she had 

 gathered had dirt on it. Later she cooked 

 the rice, and the old woman secretly put some 

 chicken droppings in the rice and said that 

 she couldn't cook rice. Then her mother-in- 

 law and her father-in-law beat her and re- 

 buked their son saying he was not good at 

 teaching his wife. Then her husband beat 

 her some, and she again ran to the home of 

 her parents. 



Then her parents sent her older brothers 



