NO. I 



CHUAN MIAO SONGS AND STORIES — GRAHAM 



179 



He alone nailed the sky firm and the borders 

 of the sky could not wobble. 



He made the earth below firm and unmov- 

 able. 



The sky was very narrow and the earth was 

 very broad. 



The husband Yao Tsu Yin grasped nine ten- 

 dons of the earth and pulled them three 

 times (pulling the earth together until 

 there were) on the earth below 110-odd 

 bends on the mountains and 110-odd peaks. 



The rain fell from the sky unlike sky rain 

 (unceasingly and in great quantity). 



The water fell on the earth unlike sky water. 



First the dragon wife came down. 



She arose and built up her merit. 



The dragon husband when he first came 

 (fell) down arose and made himself an 

 immortal. 



Then the dragon wife came down to con- 

 trol the rain. 



The dragon husband came down to control 

 the water. 



Then the rain fell from the sky like sky rain 

 (appropriately) . 



In all the world everywhere the sky was clear 

 and bright. 



On the earth below all the people did their 

 farming well, then took their crops to nour- 

 ish life. 



They farmed and got grain with which to 

 feed their mouths. 



THE DELUGE AND AFTER 



The Flood (18) 



Before the flood had risen to the sky there 

 were two brothers who were hoeing the 

 ground. The two hoed one day, and the next 

 day again went to hoe. Every day when they 

 returned to the field they found that the 

 ground they had hoed the previous day had 

 been turned back as it had been before. They 

 I continued to hoe seven days, but they could 

 I not make any progress. The two brothers 

 ; then said, "Truly this ground is strange. To- 

 i night we will keep watch to see what it is." 

 That night the two brothers went and kept 

 watch over the ground. In the middle of 

 the night they saw an old man who came 

 i forward and turned back the soil. The two 

 ' brothers said, "Correct." The older brother 

 said, "Let us beat him." The younger brother 

 said, "We do not need to beat him. We had 

 better carefully interrogate him." The older 

 brother said, "All right." The two brothers 

 then went forward and asked the old man 

 who said, 'Tou ignorant men, why do you 

 hoe the ground? For the flood is going to 

 cover up all the world." The two men were 

 then frightened and said, "Old man, what 

 must we do to escape?" The old man said 

 to them, "You yourselves should make some- 

 thing to escape with." Then the two brothers 

 returned and made them. 

 I The older brother's plan was large, and he 

 I took iron and made an iron drum so that 

 '' when the water came he could take refuge 

 in the iron drum. The younger brother had 

 no money, so he took a wu-t'ong tree and 

 hollowed it out. When the water came he 

 could live in the wooden drum.^^ 



Just when the two brothers had finished 

 preparing, heavy rains fell from the skies. 

 Unexpectedly water also poured out of the 

 mountains. Water also poured out of the 

 rocks. Water also came out of the trees.^" 

 In a few days water covered all the world. 

 The older brother sat in the iron drum, 

 and the iron drum sank to the bottom of the 

 water. Only the wooden drum of the younger 

 brother was left, which floated on the sur- 

 face of the water. When the water had re- 

 ceded, there were no people on the earth, and 

 only the younger brother was left, who lived 

 alone in the world. 



After the Flood. A Brother Marries His 

 Sister (19) 



The people of the earth were all drowned 

 by the water, and there were left only Mi 

 Long (mi* loO) and T'u Nyi (T'u* nji*), a 

 brother and a sister. Mi Long came down and 

 rolled a cold rock. T'u Nyi came down and 

 rolled a black stone. Mi Long rolled the rock 

 on that side of the mountain. T'u Nyi rolled 

 the stone on this side of the mountain. The 

 two stones rolled down the mountain and 

 rolled into a heap together (it was in a 

 canyon) . When the brother and the sister saw 

 this they both marveled at it. The next day 

 the brother released a thread on the mountain 

 on that side. The sister threw away a needle 

 on the mountain on this side. To their sur- 

 prise the thread threaded the needle. Then 

 the brother and the sister reported to heaven 

 and earth and became husband and wife. 



^^ This might also be translated barrel, tub, 

 or boat. 



^0 During very heavy rains in West China, in 

 regions where there are rocky cliffs and large 

 trees, water actually seems to pour out of the 

 mountains, out of the rocks, and out of the forks 

 of trees. 



