NO. I 



CHUAN MIAO SONGS AND STORIES — GRAHAM 



217 



One day the people went and planted a 

 small seed. The monkeys came constantly to 

 eat their small grain when it became ripe. 

 They went and asked Ye Seo who said to 

 them, "You go home and use a peck and a 

 quart of small grain and beat it into moist 

 rolls and paste it all over your body. Then 

 you go and lie in the creek near the field 

 where the small grain is planted. Wait until 

 the monkeys come, and you will be rewarded 

 by them." 



He believed Ye Seo's words, and one day 

 he prepared the small grain and made rolls. 

 He ate one meal himself and smeared the rest 

 all over his body. Then he went and lay 

 down in the dry creek bed. In a short time 

 the monkeys came and saw him and said, 

 "Come quickly. Here is a seven-year-old cow 

 that is dead. Let us drag him away." Then 

 the monkeys came and dragged him into a 

 cave in a cliff and let him lie still there. 



Then the monkeys brought the gold and 

 the silver cups in the cliff and spread them 

 out. Then they said, "Rlom net bu se bu so ve 

 ndang ve thlo,." meaning "Give you, given, 

 older sister, sword, older sister great." 



He lay still and said nothing. Later he 

 cried out loudly and frightened all that band 

 of monkeys down the cliff. Then he picked 

 up the gold and the silver cups and brought 

 them home. After this the monkeys did not 

 dare to come and eat his small grain. 



After a few days there was one Ndzang Do 

 Seo who came and saw his gold and silver 

 cups on the table. Then the owner repeated, 

 "Bu se, bu so, vi ntsang, vi thlo." When he 

 had finished repeating this, there was wine 

 and meat in the golden and silver cups. He 

 brought it and gave it to Ndzang Do Seo to 

 eat and drink. When he had finished eating 

 he asked the poor man, "Where did you get 

 these precious things?" Then he told the 

 visitor about the monkeys eating his grain, 

 and the visitor secretly thought of getting 

 this kind of a recompense. 



Next year, in the autumn, Ndzang Do Seo 

 also in the same way planted some small 

 grain on the cliff. Then he went and made 

 some of the pille (biscuits) and ate them. 

 When he had finished, he took some and 

 smeared it all over his body and lay down in 

 the creek bed near the field of grain. 



In a short time the monkeys came. They 

 all said, "Come, a cow seven years old has 

 died here. Let us drag him off and throw 

 him away." Then the monkeys dragged him, 

 and he emitted some air from his anus and 

 it stunk. The monkeys said, "This is wrong. 

 The belly of the old cow has broken." Then 



they threw him down the cliff, and he fell 

 onto the lair (nest) where the old black bear 

 had her cubs. The old bear was going to 

 bite him. Then the wildcats on the cliffs 

 called out to the old mother bear, "You 

 mustn't eat him. Wait until later when the 

 hunters come, and you have him speak to 

 them lest they shoot us." The old mother 

 bear then went and found fruit for him 

 to eat. 



After he had eaten thus for several days, 

 those wildcats secretly said to him, "Tomor- 

 row we will kill the mother bear and eat 

 her." Next day the wildcats imitated the 

 hunters sending out dogs barking and biting. 

 Then Ndzang Do Seo said to the mother 

 bear, "The hunters and the wolf packs (dogs) 

 have come. What shall we do?" The mother 

 bear said, "You may take our big stone ax 

 in your hands." In a little while the wildcats 

 came saying, "So, so," and the foxes imitated 

 the dogs. 



Then the man said to the bear, "Listen 

 carefully." Then the old bear raised her ears 

 to listen. He waited until the old mother 

 bear was off guard, and with one blow of 

 the stone ax he struck the old mother bear 

 beside her ear and killed her. Then he pushed 

 her down the cliff and went and called the 

 people in his house to come and divide up 

 the old bear's meat. 



When the meat was divided up, there was 

 no meat for the wildcats. Only some blood 

 was left, and the wildcats could only use their 

 tongues to lick up the blood. Since there was 

 not enough for the wildcats to eat, the wild- 

 cats scratched him with their claws. Then he 

 took the strike-a-light from his pocket and 

 the flint and struck, and fire Hew forth. 



The wildcats asked him, "What is this 

 thing?" He said, "This is called mo do (To) 

 ble (flee bite wildcats) ." Then he again struck 

 and again the fire flew out and burnt the 

 eyes of the wildcats. Then the wildcats cried 

 out, "Do not strike. We don't want your 

 meat." The wildcats ran outside the door. 

 Then they said, "If you don't give us some 

 meat now, in the future we will certainly 

 catch your chickens and eat them." 



From the time of Ndzang Do Seo to the 

 present time, wildcats have been in the habit 

 of coming and eating chickens. 



In Marriages the Soil Must Be Worshiped 

 (61) 



Hmong Bu Ha ^^ roamed all over the 

 world and saw the cause of the first Miao. 



88 XmoO' bu-^ Xa•^ the first Miao. 



