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SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 123 



When the three daughters heard these 

 words, all began to cry because they did not 

 know how many days it was. On that morn- 

 ing the third son's wife went out to carry 

 water, and was crying. A girl beside her 

 asked her what she was crying about. She 

 then told the girl the length of time deter- 

 mined by her father-in-law. The girl said, 

 "What is hard about this.? After all you go 

 on the day when no moon is visible and re- 

 turn on the day when the moon is full. That 

 will be 15 days." 



When they heard this explanation they 

 ceased to worry and went on their visits. 

 Afterward, when half a month had passed, 

 the daughters-in-law all came back. The fa- 

 ther said, "People say that you three are all 

 stupid women. As I see it, you three are not 

 stupid at all." The three daughters-in-law 

 said, "Father, this is not our ability. It is all 

 what the Lin family's daughter told us." 

 Then the father thought to himself, "This 

 girl is bright. I will certainly send go-be- 

 tweens to engage her to my youngest son." 



Afterward he sent go-betweens to make an 

 engagement of marriage with that girl, and 

 the girl's parents promised her as a wife to 

 his son. Not long afterward the father had 

 them married. 



After the girl had come, the family was 

 better than before. But the girl had somebody 

 write a few words on the door. In a few 

 days an official passed by their house and saw 

 that they had pasted up outside the door 

 "Don't ask people for anything." The official 

 asked, "What kind of people are in this 

 house? Why did they write these words?" 

 Somebody said to the official, "This is an old 

 Miao family." The official said, "I will ex- 

 amine this family. If they can answer, all 

 right. If not, I will take them as my servants." 

 Then he told the father of this family to go 

 with him to the yamen. The official said to 

 the Miao, "Miao person, I want you to make 

 a piece of cloth as long as this river and 

 raise a pig as big as this mountain. Quickly 

 do this and bring them here. If you cannot 

 do it I will confiscate your home." 



When the father heard this hard problem, 

 he went home weeping. When the youngest 

 daughter-in-law saw it she asked her father- 

 in-law, "Why are you crying today after re- 

 turning from meeting the official?" The fa- 

 ther then told her what the official had said 

 and done. She said, "Please, father, eat your 

 food. Tomorrow I will go and answer him." 



Next day the daughter put a small pair of 

 scales in her bosom and took a ruler in her 

 hand and went to the official's yamen. Then 



the official asked, "What has this woman come 

 here for?" She replied, "Today my father 

 will prepare cloth and the pig for the great 

 old parent (the official). I have come first 

 to ask the great person (you) to tell me how 

 long the river is and how heavy the mountain 

 is. You take this pair of scales to weigh the 

 mountain with and this ruler to measure the 

 river. Then our family will go and do it." 

 The official said, "How do you expect me to 

 weigh and measure them? These are hard 

 things to do." When the girl heard this she 

 said, "For our family to prepare the cloth 

 and the pig are harder to do. This thing is 

 hard for the official to do, and it is hard for 

 us common people to do. Then we will not 

 do it." Then the official said, "Never mind 

 doing it." 



Later the official again said, "I ask your 

 family to prepare a steer that can have calves 

 and a rooster that can lay eggs." When the 

 father heard these words, he was in greater 

 difficulties. Later his youngest son's wife said 

 to the official, "Today my father has given 

 birth to a son." The official said, "How can 

 a man give birth to a son?" The girl said, 

 "Since a man cannot give birth to a son, how 

 can a steer have calves or a rooster lay eggs?" 

 Then the official had nothing to say. 



Again the official said, "Now I certainly 

 want you to get for me the liver of the 

 thunder and a dragon's heart." The girl 

 answered him, "That is not strange. I can 

 certainly do it." He said, "If this is not re- 

 markable, today I certainly want you to do 

 something wonderful for me. If you do not, 

 I will certainly punish you for your sins." 

 Then the woman said, "I ask your highness 

 to pay attention. I set three days as the time 

 in which I will help your greatness accomplish 

 it." Then the woman returned home. She 

 used sulphur and saltpeter and powder and 

 filled up a big box. In the center she placed 

 a fire umbrella. Then she told her brothers 

 to quickly take it to the yamen. She said to 

 her brothers, "You take it straight into the 

 yamen and quickly come out. If you do not 

 I fear it will explode and injure you." She 

 called four men to carry it. Those four men 

 carried it and quickly gave it to the official 

 and then quickly came out. 



The official opened it at once and looked 

 at it. He did not think that when the fire 

 was blown by the wind things would happen 

 quickly. In a moment the fire burned to the 

 powder, and it exploded and blew the official 

 so that he could not be found. Then that 

 Miao family moved to a distant forest and 

 lived there. Later that woman made this 

 song to pass on (to future generations). 



