SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 



123 



your wife and Bo Na Me's (me) dwelling. 

 Shioh, Shioh, (Jio"" Jjo'^), I call you, but 

 you will not listen to me. Now I do not 

 want you. I will leave you to live with 

 these maggots." 



When she had said this, Na Bo Ndzong ran 

 swiftly away. When his wife heard that she 

 did not want him, she went and lifted him 

 out. His eyes opened. Now he had no tail, 

 and he could no longer transform himself 

 into another creature. 



That night he shed his tiger skin, and the 

 next day he changed into a fine young man. 

 After this all their lives they lived together 

 as husband and wife. 



A Man Changed into a Tiger (115) 



In very ancient times there was a husband 

 and his wife. From the day they were mar- 

 ried it was actually true that the husband 

 would sing songs and his wife would sing in 

 accompaniment. They truly sang songs very 

 well, and it sounded as good as a flute. 



The despicable Na Bo Ntsong (or Ndzong) 

 came and deceived him. The man secretly 

 sighed to himself and shed tears, and on the 

 other hand laughed. In less than a year his 

 body turned yellow and dried up (and died). 

 His family and neighbors all came to help, 

 and intended to help carry him out and bury 

 him. The wife then said, "When he was alive, 

 he was my husband. When he is dead, I am 

 not afraid. Leave him here in the house." 

 Then all the neighbors went away. Only his 

 wife, carrying his baby in her arms, watched 

 over him. 



At the end of three days, in the morning, 

 his wife was carrying the babe and started a 

 fire beside the kitchen door to warm herself 

 by. Suddenly in the parlor she heard a noise 

 as though from the coffin. His wife then 

 quickly turned her head and looked. She 

 saw that the dead person was sitting up and 

 had already taken the silk cloth ofF his face 

 and was eating it. He called in a loud voice, 

 "My wife and child, come quickly and I will 

 change you (by killing, into a demon, a 

 tiger, etc.)." When he had said this, his head 

 wagged back and forth and his body moved 

 back and forth, and he displayed a pair of 

 tusks. He looked to the east and to the 

 west. 



Then the woman was afraid. She put her 

 arms around her baby and leaped out through 

 the window. She waited awhile. The hus- 

 band leaped through the door and shouted in 

 all directions, "My wife and my child." The 

 woman ran into the stronghold and hid. 



The husband called this way every day, and 

 other people saw him. When he had called 

 for a day, some hair would grow on his body, 

 and he would call for another day and grow 

 some more hair. When he had shouted for 

 over a half a year his whole body was cov- 

 ered with hair. Then, when his hair had 

 grown out, he did not call any longer but 

 only cried "Miao, Miao." He went into the 

 forest and the woman did not dare from that 

 time to speak of her husband, and others did 

 not hear anybody say that they would see 

 him again (afraid lest he should come). 



The Life of One Who Is Going to Change 

 into a Tiger Hides in His Armpit ^- (116) 



In ancient times there were two cousins. 

 Both were good in playing the lin sheng and 

 constantly went and helped people by playing 

 it during ceremonies. One day when they 

 were at leisure one said to the other, "When 

 you are dead I will come and play for you 

 and you go and see your ancestors." The 

 other said, "I cannot die. After all you come 

 and I will play with you." When the first 

 speaker heard this he did not know whether 

 it was true or false. 



One day the first speaker went to buy some 

 wine and put some honey into the wine. 

 Then when the other came he invited him to 

 drink wine. The second drank as he was able. 

 When he was drunk, the first one asked him, 

 "Cousin, where is your life hiding?" He said, 

 "My life is hiding in my armpit." Then the 

 first dare not ask again. 



In a short time the second turned yellow 

 and dried up and died. The family asked the 

 first one to come and play the liu sheng and 

 he went. On the one hand he played the 

 liu sheng and on the other hand he pointed 

 the liu sheng toward the dead man's armpits. 

 At midnight, when people were quiet, he 

 played the liu sheng and pointed it toward 

 the armpits of the other. Then the other 

 laughed out loud and arose and seized the 

 player. The player ran outside. He ran 

 along, and on the road was a pile of cow 

 manure, and the dead person stepped into 

 the manure and fell down, and his footcloths 

 (slippers made of cloths) fell off into the 



52 The title of this story was given by the 

 Ch'uan Miao themselves. The Ch'uan Miao, like 

 the Karens of Burma, strongly prefer to say that 

 inanimate things have lives ratlier than souls, 

 and sometimes this preference is manifested when 

 speaking of animals, birds, reptiles, insects, and 

 human beings. 



