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SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 



123 



peach branches were very efficient in exorcis- 

 ing demons, and to this day this custom 

 persists. 



The Reason That the Five Grains Differ (224) 



In ancient times the five grains were aUke. 

 They yielded a great deal every year. 



In those days people were very lazy and 

 were unwilling to exert their strength to do 

 much work. Later Ntzi's Do Jin ^^ came out 

 to investigate, and saw that people were un- 

 willing to work much. Then he went back 

 and reported to Ntzi'. Ntzi' told him to come 

 and take away the five grains. So he came 

 and snatched the corn and started upward. 

 Because his hand was small he could not take 

 away the corn. He grasped the stalk in the 

 middle, and it broke in two. For this reason 

 corn now yields in the middle. 



Then he went to take the millet. He 

 moved about pulling. His hand slid to the 

 very top of the millet, and it cut his hand. 

 Then he stopped pulling. Therefore there 

 is red blood on top of the millet. 



At the same time he went to get the rice. 

 At that time there was a woman just giving 

 birth to a child. The woman entreated him 

 to pity her because if she did not have good 

 rice to eat just at the time when bearing a 

 child, she could not bear it. She asked him 

 to leave some uncooked rice for her to eat. 

 Because of this he left a great deal of rice 

 for people to e.it. 



Then he went to get the beans. Because 

 it was a clear (dry) day, the husks of the 

 beans stung his hand, and it pained him. He 

 therefore did not twist off the beans, and so 

 the beans yield all over the stalk. 



He then saw that die stalks of the wheat 

 and the buckwheat were weak and he said, 

 "Mei Tzu (wheat) is the little sister. The 

 little sister cannot come back in one year ^'^ 

 to celebrate the New Year. Buckwheat is the 

 older brother. The older brother is a male. 

 Because men must suffer more hardship, 

 buckwheat must bear twice a year." And he 

 permitted the buckwheat to come back and 

 celebrate the New Year (because it yields in 

 the fall). 



The Reason Evil Wives Are Called Bo (143) 



In ancient times there were two brothers. 

 They had an intimate friend. That friend 



^® A son or person who moves about a great 

 deal while sitting. 



^"^ Wheat is planted in the fall and harvested 

 in the following spring, so it does not yield or 

 come back die same year it is planted. 



was one who greatly esteemed wealth but 

 lightly esteemed goodness. He acted as a go- 

 between for the two brothers and went about 

 everywhere to choose wives for diem. He 

 came and said to them, "There is a family 

 that has two daughters. One is 35 years old, 

 and the other 25. Do you want them?" They 

 said, "Since their ages, older and younger, 

 are appropriate, we will depend upon your 

 friendship to help us." He said, "For these 

 women you will only need to pay four strings 

 of cash." 



One day they gave the money (for the 

 daughters) to the go-betweens and went to 

 bring back the wives. To their surprise one 

 whom they married was an old woman 60 

 years old. They thought of sending her back 

 but could not. Then the brothers said, "Since 

 we do not want her for a wife we can call 

 her mother." So they served her as they 

 would a mother. 



One day die two brothers went to carry 

 water and broke a stone slab by stepping on 

 it. From inside the stone there leaped out a 

 horse the color of yellow gold. They brought 

 the horse back and put it in their rice gran- 

 ary. Then the rice in the granary grew thick 

 and high (much). They hid the horse in the 

 heap of coins. Then the coins grew a great 

 deal (into a great heap of money). After- 

 ward other people saw that they were rich 

 and envied and hated diem. 



Somebody secretly accused them at court. 

 The officials sent runners to bring them. The 

 two did not make excuses, but told the official 

 all they had experienced. The official was 

 amazed and reported their affairs to die em- 

 peror. The emperor determined that since 

 Heaven gave them a precious horse because 

 diey treated another person's mother like a 

 mother, he would elevate them to the posi- 

 tion of prime minister {chuang yuen). 



Now when somebody marries a bad wife 

 and others see it, we call her "old mother" 

 (ho),^^ and call our own wives bo na. 



A Dragon Who Ate People for his Rent (223) 



In most ancient times kings would collect 

 rents from people. There was an ancient Miao 

 family. That year the demon king was going 

 to come to their home. For in that family 

 there had just been born a small child. But 

 that family was very unwilling to have the 

 dragon eat this son, and their parents could 

 only cry every day. 



To their surprise Lo Ts'f (a man who could 



93 The word ^o°'^ means wife or mother, and 

 ;2rf* means great or honorable, and sometimes can 

 mean mother. 



