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SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 123 



ward somebody called the poor boy. At first 

 when he came that family did not entertain 

 him, and he left without eating food. There- 

 fore some suspected that he could heal this 

 matter and requested somebody to go and 

 urge him. He then came and healed that 

 family. They agreed diat for every dead per- 

 son brought to life he would get 100 shoes 

 (ingots) of silver.^* 



In that family sooner or later eight had 

 died. When he went to heal them, he shot 

 his arrows, and the persons came to life, and 

 he got 800 shoes of silver. From this time on 

 the Miao used bows and arrows, and opened 

 the way by shooting arrows.^^ 



The Beginning of the Custom of Those 

 Nafned Yang Not Eating the Hearts of 

 Any Creatures (168) 



In ancient times there was a man named 

 Yang Lau (very aged Mr. Yang). He was a 

 very courageous man. He was also a very 

 good cook. 



That year the family of the Chinese official 

 was entertaining guests and came and asked 

 him to cook for them. He got every kind of 

 food ready. When the Chinese was worship- 

 ing his gods, he wanted to take the pig's 

 heart to use in worship. To their surprise, 

 the heart could not be found. Then the Chi- 

 nese official said that the Miao had certainly 

 secretly eaten it, and punished him very pain- 

 fully. Still the cook was unable to find it, 

 for it had been eaten by a cat. But the Chi- 

 nese would not accept this explanation, and 

 ordered his soldiers to take the cook and be- 

 head him, and cut his heart out and use it as 

 a substitute for the pig's heart in worshiping 

 the house gods. Because of this the descend- 

 ants of Yang were afraid that the Chinese 

 would come and behead them and cut out 

 their hearts to offer up to their gods. Some 

 of them did not dare to be named Yang, so 

 they changed their name. Some changed their 

 name to Ch'e (cart, wagon, chariot), some to 

 Han, some to Huei, some to Teng, and some 

 to Li. But every one of them, because of their 

 grief at this treatment, secretly used the cus- 

 tom of not eating hearts as commemorating 

 a very grievous affair. In addition they made 



^* One shoe or ingot contains 10 ounces of 

 silver. 



^^ The priest who performs the funeral and all 

 the other memorial ceremonies is called a mo. 

 During the funeral he performs a ceremony to 

 open the way of the dead to Hades. At this 

 time the mo is called a k.'a get, or one who opens 

 the way. The shooting of the arrows as above de- 

 scribed is part of the ceremony of opening the 

 way. 



an oath to the effect that afterward if any- 

 body having one of these names ate a heart, 

 he should become dumb (the gods would 

 cause him to become dumb). For this rea- 

 son anybody with one of these names will 

 not eat the heart of anything. 



Why It Is Dar\ at Night (94) 



Roaming over all the world, a person was 

 moved to go to the road of Ma Glo (black 

 sister). Speaking of the earth, when the day 

 was finished he went to the dwelling of 

 Ndseo Ge (a young and bright person). The 

 black sister awoke and cut off the life of the 

 sky. Ndseo Ge woke up and shut up the air 

 (breath) of the world. She finished cutting 

 off the life of the sky. In shutting ofT the air 

 of the earth, she left a small road. 



The sky came around back again like a 

 wheel to wind up thread. The earth also 

 turned around like the wheel winding up 

 thread. Then the darkness of the day (night) 

 retired into a house.®^''* When the place had 

 finished being darkness, the darkness retired 

 into the house. When the life of the sky is 

 cut off above, it returns into a level plain.^® 

 The life of the earth is shut in the Shan T'un 

 Ngai (or Ai), the cliff with three layers of 

 stratified rock. When the sky (or day) is 

 shut off, the blackness follows. When it has 

 reached the underside of the top of the roof 

 of Bo Na's house, and when the place is dark, 

 the darkness goes up into the loft of Bo Na's 

 house.®'^ 



When the sky is nearly dark, the blackness 

 travels on a level and goes to Bo Na's pig pen. 

 When the place is about to become dark, the 

 darkness goes into Bo' Na's chicken pen. The 

 darkness darkens the sky to the edge of the 

 sky and darkens the earth up to the top of 

 the mountains. When the sky is about to 

 darken, the darkness also goes down to Bo 

 Na's room where the liu sheng is played. 

 When the place below is about to become 

 dark, the darkness goes down to Je Gi's (Ss^ 

 dsi'^) room for welcoming brides (in mar- 

 riage ceremonies). 



Why Wildcats Eat Chickens (400) 



In most ancient times men changed from 

 monkeys who lost their tails and who could 

 secure food by planting. 



85^ It seems to the Ch'uan Miao that during the 

 day darkness retires into houses. Their houses 

 are dark inside. 



^•^ The sun seems to set in a level place or yard. 



®^ The Miao believe that at night day air or 

 life is present no more, and the Hghtness of the 

 sky is the life of the world. 



