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SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 



123 



clown from the top of the cliff and knocked 

 the jar of silver upside down. He first went 

 down and picked up the white silver, and 

 then he ran to the house of O Chih and said, 

 "Those Chinese did not have 1,000 piculs of 

 rice, so they could not get the silver. Today I 

 had only one carrying pole, and I got the 

 silver. How about this?" 



O Chih praised him and said, "Originally 

 I did not intend to give this silver of mine 

 to one who has money, but I intended to give 

 it to one who used his mind. Today you 

 showed ingenuity, and this silver belongs to 

 you." The Miao therefore became very 

 friendly to O Chih, and composed this song 

 to commemorate it. 



VI. FOLKTALES 

 TALES OF CREATION 



The Creation of the Sun and the Moon in 

 Ancient Times (69) 



The sky is in the edge of heaven. The bor- 

 derland of the sky is empty. The earth is in 

 its place, a great yang. 



One day the sky became firm. In the midst 

 of the firm was a woman called Na Bo Dang 

 (meaning a woman of courage), who stabbed 

 into the dark cloud. The earth also became 

 firm and when it became firm there was one 

 man named Lan Dang Li (meaning brave 

 man) who stood below the great sky. The sky 

 was in its place over there. The earth was in 

 its place, and the end of earth was on the edge 

 of heaven. 



One day when the sky was above there was 

 added a man Na Bo Dang Sa who arose to 

 change the color of the moon before the earth 

 was firm. When the earth became firm there, 

 an old man Lan Dang Li arose to separate 

 the sun. Na Bo Dang Sa tied the moon in a 

 wooden pen. Lan Dang Li traced out the 

 sun's path. He took the sun and tied it in a 

 stone corral. The woman returned to the 

 house and slept. The man also returned and 

 went to sleep. 



When the woman had slept until midnight 

 she arose and listened with her ears to learn 

 if the sun was coming or not. The man also 

 slept until midnight and arose and listened 

 to see if the moon was still in the pen or 

 not. The woman went out and looked. The 

 man also leaped out and looked. They saw 

 that the sun was standing on the edge of the 

 earth on a flat place (about to ascend to 

 heaven). The man also saw the moon's color 

 and the moon also appeared with its foot 

 standing on the earth (about to ascend into 

 heaven) . After this Na Bo Dang Sa (or Swa) 

 said, "We have eyes." ^^ 



2^ That is, "We can see that they can go them- 

 selves." This story means that the sun and the 

 moon had previously existed but had not mounted 

 into the sky and that the man and the woman 

 thought of telling them what to do but found 

 that they could direct themselves. 



The Creation of the Suns and the Moons 



The sky resided in its place. 



The sky got Gulo the first who came. 



The earth resided in its place. 



The earth got Gulong the first who arrived. 



Gulo slept away deeply. 



He industriously got a lump of iron. 



Gulong slept away deeply. 



He industriously searched out a lump of 



copper. 

 Gulo forged the brass until the sparks flew 



like flowers. 

 The sparks came forth from under the flat 



stone.^^ 

 The sparks of brass came forth as living 



moons. 

 Gulong forged forth flowery sparks of iron. 

 The sparks came forth from the bottom of the 



black stone. 

 The flowery iron sparks came out as living 



suns. 

 The female suns were very numerous. 

 The male moons were very many. 

 They shone everywhere until the earth was 



parched to dust and the sky was dry. 

 All the earth very deeply was dried to dust 



and the sky to particles. 

 Gulong could not stand it. 

 He took a message to Ndeo Mba (uTau^ 



mba^) . 

 Ndeo Mba saw there was left only one mul- 

 berry tree growing up in the sea. 

 Gulo cut the mulberry tree and brought it and 



put it in the crossbow. 

 He gave it to Yang Ya, that one. 

 He shot the crossbow three times to the top 



of the mountain. 

 The female suns died, and there was left one 



who was left as seed. 

 The male moons died leaving one as seed. 

 The female sun feared and feared. 

 The male moon trembled and trembled. 

 The cow spoke with a loud voice. 



36 The flat stone covered the fire which was 

 in a hole in the ground. 



