NO. I 



CH UAN MIAO SONGS AND STORIES — GRAHAM 



i6i 



Her flesh was broken like dirt, and her blood 

 flowed out like water. Then she knew that 

 she should not have come to wash her cloth- 

 ing and that she should not have killed her 

 husband that night, for she received her 

 deserts. 



Shic Da Han Mistreated His Daughter. She 

 Became Wealthy and Treated Him 

 Kindly (507) 



In ancient times there was a family that had 

 two sons. The name of the older was Shie 

 Da Han. The name of the younger was Shie 

 Lao Er.^® The older was very lazy. In one 

 day he would eat a peck and two quarts of 

 rice before he had eaten enough. The second 

 son was a carpenter. 



On the opposite side was a very rich man 

 who was building a big house with nine 

 pillars. The younger brother went to help 

 him carry tlie wood. 



One day the older brother went and saw 

 that eight men were unable to carry a pillar. 

 He then ran and carried it alone. In one day 

 he carried all the lumber to the house. Then 

 he went and said to the rich man, "I want to 

 eat only one meal a day, and I will help you 

 until the house is finished." 



The wealthy man had much silver and also 

 much clothing. Da Han was a poor man and 

 had no clothes to wear. 



One day the rich man went to market. His 

 daughter saw that Da Han had no clothing 

 to wear, so took a coat and gave it to him. 

 When the father came back he said, "My 

 daughter is too bad. Tonight I will kill her." 

 The father then began to sharpen his knife.^^ 



When the daughter heard this, at midnight 

 she wrapped her father's silver up in two 

 packages and mounted her father's mule, and 

 hired a woman to go with her. They traveled 

 to a big cave in a big dry cliff. 



The mule refused to proceed farther so 

 they rested there for the night. The next 

 morning they were about to go, but the mule 

 still refused to proceed. In a short time Shie 

 Da Han arrived. She said to him, "Now I 

 will be your wife." Da Han said, "That is 

 not right. You only gave me one garment to 

 wear, and your father was going to kill you. 

 Is it right for you to be my wife today?" The 

 daughter then had the woman urge him, and 

 afterward he agreed. She said, "Tomorrow 



^^ These names are corruptions of the Chinese 

 terms meaning older Mr. Shie (Hsieh) and sec- 

 ond oldest son Mr. Shie. The word shie means 

 than\s. 



19 The father suspected sexual intercourse. 



you rent a house from the Chinese over there 

 for us to live in." Next day he went to the 

 home of the Chinese. The Chinese said, "On 

 the opposite side I have a house with nine 

 pillars. There are many demons in it. If you 

 are not afraid you can live in that house." He 

 replied, "Never fear," and they went into that 

 house to live. 



The wife said to him, "Today I will give 

 you a sychee of silver (ten taels). You go 

 and buy rice for us to eat." He took the silver 

 and looked at it and said, "Is this silver? I 

 have seen more than you have." The woman 

 asked, "Is that true? Where?" He replied, 

 "In that cave on the cliff where we stayed." 

 The woman said, "You take me there to 

 see it." 



She went and saw that there was actually a 

 big cave of silver. Da Han carried it on his 

 back and put it upstairs. Next day she said to 

 him, "You go and rent a place from the 

 Chinese." 



When he had gone the landlord said to 

 him, "You are a poor man and do you ac- 

 tually want to rent a place to live in? I will 

 sell it to you. If you haven't any money I will 

 accuse you at court." He then agreed, and 

 bought the place. 



His wife said to her husband, "You go and 

 give the money to the landlord." He then 

 took a bamboo dustpan and put the silver in 

 it, and poured it out in their parlor and let 

 the landlord pick what he wanted. The land- 

 lord picked out half the silver, and it was 

 enough. 



When the landlord went back home with 

 the silver he thought, "I am willing to sell 

 him all the land I own. If he does not want 

 it, I will certainly go to law against him." 

 Then he said to Da Han, "You must buy my 

 land, and if you do not I will go to law 

 against you." Then he bought the landlord's 

 property, and the Chinese had no land and 

 rented a place to live in from Da Han. 



After three years the Chinese and his wife 

 had no food to eat, so the Chinese and his 

 wife hired out as laborers. As they could not 

 do the work of a laborer, they went out as 

 beggars. Once they went to the home of 

 Da Han to beg for food, and the wife of 

 Da Han invited them to come in and sit 

 down. She called to them a long time before 

 the Chinese and his wife went in. Da Han 

 and his wife got warm water for them to 

 bathe with, then he gave them shoes to wear, 

 and afterward Da Han told the Chinese about 

 her father's trying to kill her. Then the Chi- 

 nese ran and told her father. Her father was 

 then very poor. Later the daughter brought 



