NO. I 



CH UAN MIAO SONGS AND STORIES — GRAHAM 



187 



had gone up on the mountain. She immedi- 

 ately pursued them. 



She had not gone very long before she 

 overtook them on top of the mountain. On 

 the mountain was a big black rock. Bo 

 Ndzong asked the man, "Is this a servant of 

 yours? Let us transform her." Nong Shioh 

 said, "No, she is my little sister." Bo Ndzong 

 said, "If she is your little sister, we have a 

 stone that tests bones. You carry her up to 

 that black stone and go around it three times. 

 If she perspires, we will eat her. If she is not 

 your sister she certainly will not perspire." 



Nong Shioh did not dare to say much, and 

 he carried her back and forth around the 

 rock three times. The wife perspired on her 

 forehead, but her husband could not bear to 

 have her injured, and secretly used his sleeve 

 to wipe away the perspiration. Then he asked 

 Bo Ndzong to look. Of course, she did not 

 see any sweat. 



Then Bo Ndzong said, "You can bring her 

 along with us." They went along together 

 three days, and finally reached the place with 

 a great cliff below the mountain, called Ts'ao 

 T'ien Ma' (ts'ao^ t'ien^ ma*'). They all lived 

 in the cave in the mountain. 



A band of tigers carried Nong Shioh into 

 the forest to hunt animals to eat. His wife 

 Nts'ai Mi Ntsai then made an embroidered 

 cloth and sewed it onto his head. Then he 

 went with the tigers for several months. 



They started away on the first day of the 

 new year, and now it was already the tenth 

 month. Nts'ai Mi Ntsai lived alone in the 

 cave in the side of the mountain. One morn- 

 ing she climbed to the top of the mountain. 

 Then she sighed and said, "Yo, yo, (jo*, 

 jo'),^^ Nong Shioh has gone and has not 

 returned. The cow day of the cow month 

 will soon be here (the eleventh day of the 

 eleventh moon). He said he would take me 

 back home and make me a warm nest to 

 sleep in. But he has not returned, and I do 

 not know why." 



Just after she had said this a tiger came 

 out of a cave in the cliff and said, "Pretty girl, 

 who are you? Are you waiting for him? 

 What are you saying?" She replied, "I said 

 it will soon be the fifteenth of the eleventh 

 moon, and the moon will soon be full. My 

 mother-in-law will come and get me. But 

 she has not come to take me and give me to 

 another husband." The tiger said, "Then I 

 will call him here, but you must recognize 

 him. If you do not, then we will transform 

 you." When the tiger had finished speaking, 



^^ Yo, yo, expresses worry, distress, or sorrow. 



he picked up a pawful of earth and scattered 

 it on the mountain above. In a short time 

 tigers enough to cover three ridges came. The 

 woman said, "He is not among these." Then 

 the tiger again took a pawful of dirt and 

 threw it below, then a handful to the right, 

 then one to the left. Then all the tigers came 

 out so that there was hardly room for them 

 on die mountain. 



Then she saw a striped tiger that had been 

 scratched with thorns, with some hair on it. 

 On its head it wore her embroidered cloth. 

 She said, "That is my older brother." Then 

 Nong Shioh escorted her out of the mountains. 



When they had gone three days Nong 

 Shioh said, "Have you passed over this place?" 

 She said, "This is where I once carried wood." 

 He said, "You may go back. I will not escort 

 you further." On this hill there was a wild 

 bird calling, "Eo, eo" (au, au). The girl 

 said, "I am afraid. There is a demon. Hurry 

 and escort me." Then they went forv^^ard and 

 he escorted her. When they had gone a little 

 farther he said, "Have you been here?" She 

 replied, "Formerly I carried water here." He 

 said, "I will go no further." The wild bird 

 again cried three times, "Eo, eo, eo." She then 

 said, "I am afraid. There is a demon." He 

 again escorted her until they reached the rear 

 of their home. Then she said, "You and I 

 love each other as wife and husband. But 

 now you are going to part from me forever. 

 This time you have troubled your heart for 

 me. You may rest here a little while and let 

 me go home and roll a pipeful of tobacco for 

 you to smoke before you go." Then the hus- 

 band said, "Good." The vv'oman returned 

 home and rolled three catties of tobacco into 

 one pipeful, and put it into a big, sand- 

 tempered earthenware pot, and she took a 

 big bamboo tube for blowing the fire, and 

 carried them to him to smoke with. The 

 tiger smoked as he pleased. In a short time 

 the smoke smudged the tiger to sleep, and 

 he fell down on the ground and was uncon- 

 scious. Then the woman came back and took 

 the ax (wood knife) and cut off the tiger's 

 tail. Then she pushed him into the toilet. 



Soon all the maggots in the toilet crawled 

 onto the tiger's body. In a short time Na Bo 

 Ndzong came up behind the house and saw 

 Nong Shioh in the toilet with his whole body 

 covered with maggots. Na Bo Ndzong sighed 

 and said: 



"The mountain is black, the mountains are 

 red. Never fear if your flesh is rotten in 

 the ground. Never fear if your blood has 

 dyed three layers of the red sand soil, or if 

 your blood has fallen on the dwelling of 



