NO. I 



CH UAN MIAO SONGS AND STORIES — GRAHAM 



163 



settled on a lucky day to bring the bride home 

 for the marriage ceremony. 



When the bride had arrived she stood up 

 and wound hemp string on her fingers. She 

 sat down and continued to make it into 

 string. During the day she labored hard in 

 the wilderness. At night she helped in the 



house. When the guests came, there was food 

 to eat. When winter came, there were clothes 

 to wear. From this time her father (-in-law) 

 was without worry and her mother (-in-law) 

 was happy at home. All the old and young 

 depended on this good daughter-in-law for 

 their food.^^ 



MISCELLANEOUS STORIES 



A Woman and Her Daughter Deceived the 

 Emperor, or, the Origin of Bound Feet 

 among the Chinese (50) 



That year the Chinese women wore silk 

 clothing. Those silk clothes were very pretty. 

 There were also satin clothes with brass hooks 

 and eyes still prettier. This year was the year 

 for this woman to marry off her daughter, 

 who was to be married to the emperor. 

 When the Chinese mother escorted her daugh- 

 ter, her daughter's appearance was as beautiful 

 as silk and satin. The Chinese woman's 

 daughter was old, and her face was as white 

 as the powder of peaches. The emperor said, 

 "Are you old or young? I want to know be- 

 fore I give you fine clothes to wear." The fine 

 clothes had beautiful flowers on them. The 

 silk clothing had more beautiful (embroi- 

 dered) flowers on them. 



When the woman had put on her clothes 

 she was content, and she had an emperor's 

 servant to play the bugle and also to play the 

 flute. She had an escort of 3,000 beautiful 

 girls to go with her. These young women 

 were given to the emperor and the empress 

 by the people. She also wore clothing of 

 silver and used silver tables with precious 

 things in their drawers. There were 3,000 

 pairs of men to carry the sedan chairs. There 

 were 3,000 individuals to blow the bugles. 

 Three thousand others were called to carry 

 banners. A large bamboo tube was used as a 

 whistle. Bamboo tubes were used to make 

 flutes. All were prepared correctly, and they 

 resounded from all directions. 



Then they started to escort the bride. Ah, 

 is die girl old, or young.? After a short time 

 they reached the emperor's capital and passed 

 through the streets. After they had passed 

 through, they entered the palace. The em- 

 peror himself came out to see, and saw that 

 those who were escorting the bride were ob- 

 serving the right ceremonies. When those 

 escorting the bride saw the palace, they feared 

 to enter. Those in the palace observed proper 

 ceremonies. 



"''This is a picture of an ideal Ch'uan Miao 

 wife. 



In the palace cannon resounded. The gate- 

 keeper also shot off short ground guns. Their 

 arrangement in the palace was as though offi- 

 cials were to be entertained. In the hall lamps 

 and candles were lighted as though they were 

 worshiping the gods. 



The emperor came out to look and see if 

 the bride were young or old. The bride got 

 out of the sedan chair and bowed and knelt 

 to pay respects to the mother-in-law and the 

 kitchen and the guest room and the emperor's 

 palace and the central hall and the emperor's 

 house gods and the 3,000 distant relatives and 

 the 300 near neighbors. Then the emperor 

 opened his mouth and said, "Are you a fine 

 satin girl who can be the official of my 

 home.?" Her feet were very small. The 

 emperor said, "Since your feet are very small, 

 you can be the wife who controls my official 

 seals." ^'' 



A Girl Who Wore a Silver Ornament Was 

 Killed by Somebody (114) 



Once there was a poor man named Shioh. 

 In the evening and at night he was accus- 

 tomed to go out alone and play. He went 

 every night and danced the flower-altar dance. 



One day he climbed a high mountain and 

 he was saying, "Yo, yo, I cannot get enough 

 of dancing the flower dance and of beating 

 the flower drum." He spent the night on die 

 Yang family flat and went to the Three Inns. 

 He said, "I heard a rooster at Lu Wei (near 

 Hsin Wen Hsien, in southern Szechwan) , and 

 the iron gun 9 inches long resounded. What 

 shall I do?" Suddenly in the mountain there 

 was a woman who answered him, "Yo, yo, 

 Mr. Shioh, you cannot get enough of dancing 

 the flower-altar dance {hua t'an) or of beat- 

 ing the flower drum. You spent a night at 

 the Yang family flat, and you climbed up to 



-^ The singer of this song stated that it was 

 about an old woman who pretended to be young 

 and deceived the emperor. He said that she used 

 deceptive measures to cause the emperor to love 

 her. The small bound feet of Chinese women 

 are explained by the story — made small to deceive 

 the emperor as to age. 



