NO. I 



CHUAN MIAO SONGS AND STORIES — GRAHAM 



225 



several women came from a distant place 

 whence they had fled from their husbands. 

 Each of them carried on her back two 

 pumpkins. 



That day they walked into the forest and 

 the Miao came out and saw them. He asked 

 them, "What are these things.?" They said, 

 "These are eggs laid by elephants." The Miao 

 said, "Are they able to hatch out young ele- 

 phants.?" The women said, "How can it be 

 that eggs cannot hatch out young?" He asked, 

 "When there is no mother to sit on them, 

 how can they hatch young.?" They replied, 

 "People can sit on them, and they will hatch." 



Then he brought out many things to ex- 

 change with them for one of the pumpkins. 

 After this the two women lived in the forest 



and possessed many things. But although the 

 Miao sat on die pumpkin, it did not hatch. 

 Then he ran and asked them. They said, "It 

 takes a year to hatch elephants." He said, 

 "If I sit for a year to hatch out the young 

 elephant, during that time shall I neglect my 

 farm work?" 



When he came back, he took the egg and 

 threw it off the cliff. A takin came out and 

 leaped down the cliil. Then he shouted, "Let 

 everybody come and catch the baby elephant 

 for me." 



They ran after it several days, then he went 

 and asked the two women and they said, 

 "You have thrown away the elephant. How 

 can you have an elephant left?" Then he 

 could ask no more questions.* 



FATE 



Fated to Marry a Beggar Girl (708) 



Formerly there was a certain rich Miao 

 who had no son. He constantly went and 

 requested the ttian \tings to help him secure 

 (male) descendants. A certain tuan kjung 

 divined for him, and after looking at a bowl 

 of water said that later he would certainly 

 have a good son, but the good son should not 

 get engaged to a daughter of a rich man, 

 but should marry a beggar girl, and matters 

 would be all right. 



After a while a Miao mother who was in 

 distress and was pregnant actually came to 

 his home. The man's wife was also pregnant. 

 A boy was born in his family one month 

 earlier, and a month later the beggar woman 

 gave birth to a girl baby. They named their 

 son So Ch'e and gave the girl the name of 

 Mi Lo. Later they made an engagement for 

 Mi Lo to marry So Ch'e. 



When the children grew up, they were 

 married. But Mi Lo's personality was not 

 bad. She was diligent at work, and was able 

 to make all kinds of bamboo and wicker 

 objects. 



Afterward their parents died, and other 

 people ridiculed them saying, "So Ch'e was 

 originally a rich man's descendant, but mar- 

 ried a beggar girl for a wife. They are truly 

 not from families of equal rank (that are 

 matched)." When he first heard this talk, he 

 did not care, but others again said, "Do you 

 see? The things that Mi Lo has made, haven't 

 they been taught her by a beggar family?" 



After he heard this talk, he came back home 



* When he threw the pumpkin down, it scared 

 out a takin (a wild animal something like an 

 ox) and he thought it was a baby elephant 

 hatched out of the pumpkin. 



and told Mi Lo not to make these things any 

 more. Mi Lo replied, "When we are born in 

 this world, we should not live upon the in- 

 heritance of our parents. It is necessary to 

 have a trade to work at and secure food to 

 eat, and it will be well." 



He was constantly telling his wife to stop 

 working, but his wife was unwilling to do 

 so. He said, "You are truly of a beggar race. 

 I no longer want you." Mi Lo replied, "If 

 you do not want me, I do not care. But I 

 fear that later, if you are out of a job, I 

 cannot face your deceased parents." He said, 

 'Tou are truly a beggar girl. My parents do 

 not want me to keep you any more." She 

 replied, "Since we are married, please give 

 me a horse to ride, and my weaving imple- 

 ments, and also give me the money I have 

 earned. I want nothing else of yours." 



The husband was willing to part with her, 

 and gave her a horse. When she had gotten 

 her baggage ready, she mounted the horse, 

 and she made a resolution saying, "My horse, 

 I commit my life to you. Wherever you take 

 me, I will go. To whatever home you go, I 

 am willing to be the servant (wife) in that 

 home." She went away weeping for her 

 husband. 



On the first day they arrived at a dry cave 

 in a big grassy plain. They rested there one 

 night. The next day they came to a family 

 living in a grass hut at the foot of a forest- 

 covered mountain. In this family there were 

 only a mother and her son. She dismounted 

 from her horse and entered the hut of that 

 old woman, and told the old woman about 

 herself. The old mother said, "I would not 

 do anything to hinder you, but you are a 

 person with a handicraft. We will permit 



