NO. I 



CH UAN MIAO SONGS AND STORIES — GRAHAM 



203 



coffin and I do not know whether it fits my 

 father's body or not, and so I am weeping." 

 The tiger asked, "How large is your father? 

 Let me help you by lying in the coffin awhile 

 to see. How will that be?" The echo replied, 

 "Good. I request you to do so." The tiger 

 then lay down in the coffin and the echo 

 nailed the lid on and used a big rope and 

 bound the boards tightly and hung the coffin 

 on the side of the cliff. 



When the coffin had hung there a few days, 

 a squirrel sat in a chestnut tree and picked 

 chestnuts to eat. The squirrel then ran onto 

 the coffin and scratched. The tiger inside 

 heard the sound and said, "Little brother 

 squirrel, please trouble your heart and scratch 

 a hole so I can see the light of the sky." The 

 squirrel then said, "Yes," and the squirrel 

 used his small claws and slowly scratched 

 until he had gradually scratched through the 

 coffin. The tiger then stuck his claws out 

 intending to grasp the squirrel and eat it. At 

 one grasp he hurt the squirrel and tore open 

 the skin on the squirrel's abdomen. The 

 squirrel then got angry and bit with all his 

 strength until the rope was gnawed in two. 

 The tiger then fell down the cliff and was 

 killed. Now some small squirrels have three 

 light lines on their hind legs near the ab- 

 domen. These are the wounds made by the 

 tiger. 



The Tiger Was Afraid of a Leali in the 

 House, and Later Was Killed (306) 



Formerly there was a family, and a tiger 

 was coming and eating their chickens. One 

 night it was raining and the people in that 

 family said, "Tonight the house will leak 

 some." When the tiger heard this, he would 

 not go in. 



Later the tiger went to the echo, and the 

 echo said, "I am not afraid of the lea (the 

 Chinese word for leak). I am afraid of the 

 seo (sAu, the Ch'uan Miao word for leak)." 

 Later the echo said to the tiger, "You go 

 below the great rock below the high moun- 

 tain and hide. When the seo comes I will see 

 if you are afraid or not." 



Then the echo went home and took some 

 knives and tied them onto a string. He then 

 took them and shook them above the rock 



where the tiger was sitting. When the knives 

 were shaken they resounded "Ding, ding, 

 dang, dang." Then the tiger said "The seo 

 (leak) has come," and he fled away. The 

 echo said, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid. 

 I will not shake it, and the seo will not come." 



Then the tiger was not afraid, and the echo 

 visited there with the tiger. The echo then 

 slapped his hips and shook out some things 

 to eat which were hidden there. He did this 

 way several times in succession. When the 

 tiger saw this he said, "Whence did you get 

 these things to eat?" The echo said, "When 

 I strike my anus, then I get things to eat." 

 The tiger said, "Please strike mine for me so 

 I can get some to eat." Then the echo went 

 and got a big knife for cutting wood and cut 

 a big sharp sliver and placed it at the open- 

 ing of the tiger's anus and drove it into the 

 rectum. 



The tiger roared loudly, and the echo got 

 up and ran away. Then the tiger quickly 

 chased him. The echo ran to where a man 

 was hoeing the ground and said "A tiger is 

 coming," and that man ran away. Then the 

 echo took the man's hoe and pretended to 

 hoe the ground. 



The tiger came pursuing to this spot and 

 said, "Older brother farmer, did you see the 

 echo?" The echo said, "I have not seen this 

 person." Then the tiger said, "He took a 

 wooden splinter and stuck it into my anus. 

 Please pull it out for me." Then the echo 

 took the hoe and again struck it. The tiger 

 roared loudly and the echo again ran off, 

 and the tiger again chased him. 



The echo ran to where a carpenter was 

 working. He said, "The tiger has come," 

 and the carpenter fled. 



Then the echo pretended to be a carpenter, 

 and the tiger came up. The tiger said, "What 

 are you doing?" The echo said, "I am mak- 

 ing a coffin for my mother. Mother is as 

 long and as big as you. Please lie in it so I 

 can measure it and see whether it is right." 

 Then the tiger crawled in and lay down. The 

 echo took the cover and covered the coffin up 

 and took iron hooks and fastened it together. 

 Then he threw the tiger down the cliff. 

 The tiger died, and the echo escaped from 

 the tiger. 



MEN CHANGED INTO MONKEYS AND MONKEYS INTO MEN 



A Man Changed into a Mon\ey (104) 



Na Bo Hmong (a Miao married woman 

 who has given birth to a child, na** bo'^ 

 XmoO"), although she had sons, was unable 



to care for them. The father, Ze Gi Hmong 



(Se* d5i-^ XmoO', the Miao old father), also 



had sons but was unable to care for them. 



That year the sky was unfriendly. It sent 



