1 62 



SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 123 



her father to live with her all her life. When 

 her father died she gave him a peaceful 

 burial.-° 



The Sorrow of a Bride Married into a Distant 

 Locality (108) 



On a clear day a crow came and ate wal- 

 nuts. The blujay and die magpie (lucky 

 bird) flew there and called. Bo Na's (wife 

 mother) Ngeo Mao Nyong (Oau^ Mao* JioO\ 

 a young pretty girl) was about to go but was 

 very sad. It would not do not to go. Ze Gi's 

 (32^ dji*^, the father) cows and horses were 

 mooing and whinnying in their pens. 



On another clear day the crows again came 

 flying to eat walnuts. The bluejay and the 

 magpie flew up and called. Bo Na's little girl 

 was very sad and could hardly go. When 

 she went she would not have a good house 

 to live in (her husband was a poor man). 

 Ze Gi's cows and horses called out as if to 

 urge her to go quickly. Bo Na had money, 

 and she wanted to find a good home for her 

 daughter to marry into. Ze Gi did not see 

 well (with his mind) and did not help the 

 girl find a good husband, and married his 

 daughter to a distant place.^^ He married her 

 off to a place where the mi \uei yang and the 

 cornbird (both hawk-cuckoos) and the great 

 cranes spend the winter. 



The daughter said, "The place where the 

 cornbird and the crane spend the winter is 

 very far away. The hawk cannot reach that 

 place by flying three whole days. The swal- 

 low also cannot arrive there by three days' 

 flight." Bo Na sent away her daughter and 

 the daughter said, "This time I am going 

 where I cannot hear the hunger-bird's call.^- 

 After I had gone a short distance, I saw the 

 hungerbird calling on the willow branches, 

 and also saw two on the cherry tree calling. 

 Their calls caused me likewise to call out in 

 sorrow, oh, oh, oh." ^^ 



-0 The conception is that when a person is 

 buried well and with fitting ceremonies the per- 

 son is well and rightly buried, and his soul 

 enjoys peace. 



21 Among the Ch'uan Miao to marry a daughter 

 into a distant locality is much disapproved, because 

 it puts her among strangers and far away from 

 her friends and relatives. 



22 The mi ktiei yang, the "cornbird," and the 

 "hungerbird" are probably three different species 

 of die hawk-cuckoo. The three names here used 

 are given the birds by the natives because of die 

 different cries of the birds. 



23 The call of the hungerbird is "oh, oh, oh," 

 which means in Chinese "hunger, hunger, hun- 

 ger." 



Bo Na escorted her daughter onward. 

 When they had gone three days the daughter's 

 feet were swollen. Her father's feet were also 

 swollen. When he had escorted her another 

 three days, they could not hear any hunger- 

 birds calling. They again traveled three days 

 and there was a hungerbird in a dogwood 

 tree calling. Then the girl said, "There is a 

 hungerbird calling on that chestnut tree that 

 seems to be very sorrowful." She said, "I 

 have traveled these few days, and I cannot see 

 my older brothers and my younger brothers." 



Bo Na then urged her to go quickly, saying 

 that they were about to reach the home, and 

 told her to take out her silk clothes and put 

 them on. She took out her silk garments and 

 they were covered with embroidery. 



When they were about to arrive, the girl 

 and her mother began to cry. The father then 

 urged them and the daughter said, "I only 

 spoil food by eating, and spoil clothes by wear- 

 ing them. Could I not be my father's older 

 son? Could I not go with my father and 

 draw bows and shoot arrows? Could I not 

 carry a sword? Could I not carry a spear on 

 my back?" She said, "Now I cannot hear the 

 small bird crying. I cannot see him but when 

 you go back home you can hear his sorrowful 

 call. You can see the woodpecker flying to the 

 steep hillside." 



The song about Ngeo Mao Nyong is fin- 

 ished.-* 



A Small Older Brother Married a Good Wife 

 (51) 



Roaming all over the world until we arrive 

 at the road of Na Bo Jin (na-* bo-^ doin', big 

 wife stubborn) . He walked over all the earth, 

 then arrived at the home of Yeh Jin (je'' 

 d5in^ the husband of Na Bo Jin). He arrived 

 in the year that Ba Na (meaning big wife) 

 was raising domestic animals, and at the same 

 time the father was raising animals in his pen. 

 The animals were kept in a pen built on the 

 ground. He was raising these animals in 

 order to stabilize the family. He fed the ani- 

 mals to use in making an engagement. 



Na Bo Jin used a great deal of silver money 

 to make an engagement, and tried to engage 

 to her son the good daughter of Deh Rang 

 Hmong Rang.2^ She took the animals they 

 had raised and gave them to Deh Rang 

 Hmong Rang for ceremonial presents. They 



"* This song shows the sorrow of a girl who is 

 married into a place far away from home. 



25 Deh Rang Hmong Rang is said to mean, 

 "Mr. Mule, the Miao who lives on the terrace 

 on the side of the mountain." 



