NO. I 



CH UAN MIAO SONGS AND STORIES — GRAHAM 



167 



Translation 



1. My soul has slipped along until the 

 present, but now I am happy as the kine, and 

 I am singing a new song (a sigh). 



2. So it is that the striped dragon is on one 

 side of the sky (a desirable thing). 



3. The striped dragon is on top of the sky 

 (also a happy circumstance). 



4. The year has come for the striped dragon 

 to give his daughter away in marriage. 



5. The year has come for the striped dragon 

 to welcome home the bride, 



6. The song is certainly new (a sigh). 



When he had finished singing, the dragon 

 king's woman servants who had come out to 

 cut grass for the pigs heard it. They im- 

 mediately went home and told the striped 

 dragon Rzuang Tsai. They said, "Old grand- 

 father, do you want to invite someone to sing 

 songs? Now outside is a person who is able 

 to sing songs. He sang a song very beautiful 

 to hear. Come quickly and listen." Then the 

 dragon king sent his maidservants out to 

 invite the singer into the house. 



But at that time the singers of songs near 

 the dragon king's palace were very numerous. 

 When they had finished singing, the dragon 

 king said, "Ah, although all of you guests 

 sing well, I have another able son here. Let 

 us all invite him to sing." Then they all widi 

 one voice said, "Please sing." Then he sang. 



He sang the song that is written above. 

 When the old dragon heard it, he laughed 

 loudly and said, "Ah, this is truly an able son 

 who is from Ntzi's Land above." At that 

 time all the people around the stove together 

 were amazed and praised him saying, "Good, 

 good." That night he sang all night. Next 

 morning the old dragon especially invited 

 him to sing three days and three nights. 



When he had finished and returned home, 

 the dragon rewarded him with three pecks 

 and three quarts of silver and gold orna- 

 ments. From that time he was a rich man.-^ 



A False Ttian Kung (272) 



There was a tuan l^ung who said that he 

 could capture demons. He also said that 

 demons had bodies. 



One day he went to control demons and 

 heal sicknesses for a family. He first cap- 

 tured a rat and tied it in the grass under the 

 trees in the forest. But some people saw him 



-^ The rzuang tsai is a dragon with stripes 

 horizontal. The rzuang ntseo is a dragon with 

 stripes perpendicular. 



go there, and when he went away they went 

 and looked. They saw that he had tied an 

 old rat there, and they set the rat free. 



The tuan \ung performed his ceremonies 

 until midnight when he turned loose the 

 ma gioh. But the rat had been released by 

 other people, so when the ma gioh came and 

 looked for it he could not find it. During 

 that whole night he could not find anything. 

 Later the people who let the rat loose said 

 to him, "You preach about your tuan \ung 

 being efficient in capturing demons. Why 

 couldn't you catch that rat that night?" The 

 tuan liung said, "Szechwan is a place full of 

 demons.-^ You should do false things instead 

 of true things." 



For this reason some of the Miao people 

 do not believe that there are any demons.^^ 



A Story Commemorating the Death of Chang 

 Tuan Kung (274) 



Formerly there was an old woman who was 

 60 years of age. She had no sons. Suddenly, 

 one day when she was in the forest, she heard 

 two newborn babes crying. Then she went 

 and picked them up. She wrapped them in 

 cloth and hired a wet nurse to come and feed 

 them. Daily the two children became larger, 

 and one day the two boys said to the old 

 woman, "Today we are going to eat you." 

 The old woman said, "Don't you understand? 

 In heaven and on earth only babies eat their 

 mothers (that is, drink their milk). When 

 the children grow up, the mothers eat their 

 babies (eat dieir food). Why do you, on the 

 contrary, want to eat me? You can go along 

 the big road and ask, and if others say that 

 children should eat their mothers, then you 

 may eat me." 



In the morning the two boys ran along the 

 big road and asked the people going back 

 and forth. The passers-by said, "Yes, children 

 should eat their mothers." So the two came 

 back and were about to bite their mother and 

 eat her. 



The mother said, "I have nourished you 

 from the time you were small, and today you 

 two want to bite and eat me. I am not will- 

 ing. We can now go together and ask people 

 along the road. Then if I am eaten by you 

 I shall be satisfied." 



That day they went along with the mother 

 on the big road. Fortunately they came to a 



29 This is a well-known proverb or saying 

 in Szechwan. 



30 It seems likely diat the unbelievers are few. 



