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SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 123 



badly by her husband's family, so she went 

 and hanged herself in the deep forest. 



One day two brothers went to plow tlie 

 field. The soul of the girl called to them, 

 "Yo, yo, my older brother plows the field 

 with a spotted cow. My younger brother 

 plows the rice paddy with a water buffalo. 

 A family had a daughter who was married to 

 a family up above. She was treated meanly 

 by her husband's family. She hanged herself 

 on a tree in the deep forest. Yo, yo." Then 

 the soul of the girl again sang, "My older 

 brother uses a spotted cow, and my younger 

 uses a yellow cow. Nts'ai Ngeo Tso went 

 above to be a wife and was treated meanly 

 by people, and hanged herself in the deep 

 forest. Please go and tell my parents. Tell 

 them to take me and bury me peacefully 

 (so that my soul can be in peace and com- 

 fort)." 



The two who were plowing went and told 

 their parents. Then the parents came and saw 

 their daughter's body hanging on a tree. Her 

 flesh had decayed. All her bones and joints 

 had fallen in a heap on the ground. Only her 

 lower jaw was hanging on the belt. Then her 

 parents picked up her bones and buried them. 



Pretending to Pay a New Year Visit and 

 Secretly Burying a Father (404) 



In former times there was a Miao family 

 whose father had already died. Only the 

 mother and a son were left. 



At that time the mother and her son were 

 very poor. They had no food to eat. The 

 only thing they could do was for the mother 

 to go every day and work for somebody else 

 and bring a litde rice back to feed her son. 



One day the yinyang professor came and 

 sought to lodge in this home where the 

 mother was working. The master did not 

 want him to stay there. Then the yinyang 

 professor went to the home of the mother and 

 her son, and they entertained him in their 

 home. They had no rice to eat, but they gave 

 him what the mother had received that day 

 for helping the other family. 



When he had finished eating he said, 'Tou 

 are, mother and son, very hospitable. I think 

 that the grave of this boy's father is not good 

 (lucky). I will find a good place for you. 

 Take the bones of your dead father and burn 

 them to ashes. Also go and buy several cups 

 of wine and put them in this wine jar. On 

 New Year day you pretend to pay New Year 

 respects (to the landlord). When you have 

 come before his front door, pretend to fall 

 down and break that jug in front of the 



door. Then you will get that fine spot for a 

 grave. (The wine will wash the ashes into 

 the ground.) 



The mother and her son did as he directed, 

 and secured that fine burial place. Later that 

 landlord became poor and the mother and her 

 son became rich, so the landlord sold his land 

 to them. Afterward the son composed this 

 song to commemorate the fact that the 

 yinyang professor directed them well. 



A Monkey That Loo\ed at the Sun (408) 



In ancient times when the monkeys looked 

 at the sun they regarded the sun as precious. 

 Because the sun was round and bright, the 

 monkey daily went and looked. He watched 

 thus several hundred years, and got the sun's 

 light essence, and the monkey's eyes were 

 burnt into pearls. 



At that time there was an orphan in that 

 place who was very poor. He went and 

 asked Ye Seo, who said to him, "Tomorrow 

 morning you wait in the big cliff. When the 

 monkey comes out to look at the sun, you 

 go up behind him and shout at him with a 

 loud voice." 



He went behind the monkey as directed 

 and shouted loudly and frightened the mon- 

 key. Then the monkey spit the pearls in his 

 eyes out on one side, and the orphan went 

 and picked them up. Then he went and asked 

 Ye Seo what he should do. Ye Seo said, "You 

 take them and give them to the emperor, and 

 the emperor will make you a great official." 

 Later he gave them to the emperor, and the 

 emperor made him a high official over the 

 Miao. He could rule over the Miao, and 

 could also collect the taxes of the Miao to 

 eat. He left this song to commemorate it. 



A Song about Helping the Thunder (461) 



In former times there was a Miao. One 

 day he went into a high mountain with for- 

 ests and grass to shoot wild animals with his 

 bow and arrows. One day he went beneath 

 a great cliff and suddenly a dark cloud cov- 

 ered the aged forest. The thunder roared 

 and the rain was heavy. When he saw this 

 he did not dare to walk. He stood under the 

 cliff. Suddenly a flash of lightning came 

 down. After that he saw a big snake reach- 

 ing its head out of the cave. On the snake's 

 head there was a red crown and two horns. 

 It seemed that between the horns there was 

 a red pearl. Suddenly the lightning again 

 came down, and the snake crept back into the 

 cave. For half a day the thunder could not 

 strike the snake. 



