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SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 



123 



to look and saw that Ntsi Ndo Schwang's 

 escort and the bride were coming. They both 

 came out and arranged the tables and set in 

 place wine and meat. When the guests escort- 

 ing the bride arrived and had eaten the meat 

 and drunk the wine and entered the house, 

 those who escorted them visited the two 

 brides for one night. Next morning, before it 

 was dayhght or the cocks had crowed, the 

 guests who brought the brides arose and ate 

 breakfast and departed, and there were left 

 only the two girls sitting with the two bride- 

 grooms. From this time Na Bo Ngin ceased 

 to worry and her uncle also ceased to worry, 

 and the two sons were married and had occu- 

 pations. These are the ancestors who in the 

 beginning opened the sky and opened the 

 earth (put the universe into shape) and first 

 married. 



The Origin of the Nine-Headed Bird (155) 



In ancient times there was a very poor 

 Miao. Only the father and his son were still 

 living. He told his son to pick up sticks, but 

 his son was lazy, and in one day he would 

 gather only a small bundle of sticks. 



One day when the son went to gather 

 wood, he saw a striped tiger and carried it 

 home. The father saw that his load was very 

 heavy and said, "What have you done today 

 that your wood is so heavy.?" He replied, 

 "Father, today when I was gathering wood 

 on the cliff, I met a small mouse. I killed it 

 with two blows of the grass-cutting knife 

 (sickle). I carried it back here. Please, aged 

 father, boil it and eat it." 



When the father looked at it, he saw that 

 it was a big striped tiger. Later he went and 

 daily worked preparing a bellows. The son's 

 name was Do Ngo Bo. He carried the bel- 

 lows on his back, and carried it about every- 

 where. He met a man who was digging 

 ditches into rice paddies, whose name was 

 Do T'ao Gu La. The ditch digger asked 

 "Where are you going?" The son answered, 

 "I am going to trap wild animals." The other 

 said, "I will go with you." The son asked, 

 "How much talent have you?" The other 

 took his plow and dug it, and in a moment 

 he had finished a rice paddy. 



The two went along together and met a 

 grass cutter whose name was Do Glai Nyang 

 (To-^ glai^ JiaO^). He asked them what they 

 were going to do. They said, "We are going 

 to trap wild animals." Do Glai Nyang also 

 wanted to go with them. They asked, "What 

 talent have you?" He replied, "Please look." 

 Then he cut with the grass knife. At one 



stroke he cut all the grass so that tlie hill was 

 smooth. 



The three went together into the great for- 

 est and built a house to live in. Do Ngo Bo 

 (or Do* Tsi Bo*) and Do T'ao Gu La went 

 to trap wild animals. Do Glai Nyang cooked 

 the food at home, and when it was done he 

 called them back to eat. 



To his surprise, when he called there was 

 one Na Ma (or Lang) Bong Ntsong with red 

 eyes who replied to him, "Oh, I have come." 

 In a little while she came and asked him 

 "Food?" He did not dare to deceive her, and 

 told her to eat. When she had finished eat- 

 ing she went away. 



When the two trappers arrived, nothing was 

 left. Next day they changed and appointed 

 Do T'ao Gu La to cook breakfast. In the 

 same way Na Lang Bo (or Bong) Ntsong 

 came and ate the food. 



On the third day Do Tsi Bo cooked break- 

 fast. That morning he boiled the food and 

 at the same time was making a big bamboo 

 basket. When the basket was finished, he in 

 the usual way called the two trappers to 

 breakfast. When he called, that Na Lang Bo 

 Ntsong came again. When she saw the big 

 basket she asked, "What have you made this 

 for?" He replied, "Because my mother is old 

 and cannot walk. I made this to put her in 

 it." The visitor asked, "How big is your 

 mother?" He replied, "My mother is just as 

 big as you." The visitor asked, "Hadn't I 

 better try it a litde?" He replied, "You may 

 get inside and try it." When the visitor had 

 climbed in. Do Tsi Bo locked her inside and 

 hung her up on a big tree. 



In a little while the two trappers returned 

 and saw her hanging in the tree. They ate 

 their breakfast happily and when they had 

 finished each took a big club and beat the big 

 basket. In a little while they broke the basket 

 to pieces, and that thing leaped down and ate 

 Do T'ao Gu La and Do Glai Nyang up. 



Only Do Tsi Bo was left. He ran and asked 

 Ye Seo (Se' sau^). Ye Seo said, "This thing's 

 strength is very great. If you use force you 

 cannot defeat it. You can only kill it by 

 using a trick." Ye Seo also said, "You go and 

 dig a deep pit, and put some chaff in it, and 

 place a beam for husking rice above it, and 

 call her, and after she has come ask her to 

 help you by stirring the chaff. When she has 

 bent her back, then lift your foot aside and 

 let the hammer kill her." He came back and 

 did as Ye Seo told him to do. 



When the arrangements had been made, 

 he called Na Lang Bo Ntsong (nd^oO). 

 When she came, he asked her to help by stir- 



