236 



SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 



123 



Truly it is hard for me to be your wife." At 

 that time his small brother was there and he 

 said, "Sister-in-law, you can beat the door and 

 shake that piece of meat, and it will fall 

 down." She then went and beat die door, 

 and the meat fell down. 



The husband said again, "Since you have 

 secured the meat, I want you at one stroke of 

 the knife to cut it into four pieces, and then 

 I will want you. If you cannot, I will not 

 have you." She said, "How can one stroke of 

 the knife cut off four pieces of meat? It is 

 truly hard." The little brother-in-law again 

 said to her, "Sister-in-law, this is also easy. 

 My older brother has a knife with four blades 

 beside his pillovv'. I will secretly take it and 

 give it to you, and you can take it and cut, 

 and at one stroke get four pieces of meat." 

 The little brother stole the knife and gave it 

 to her. She took it and cut, and got four 

 pieces of meat. After this they had no diffi- 

 culty as husband and wife, and became a 

 family.^ 



An Orphan Killed a Tiger and Got a Wife. 

 The Bad Aunt Came to a Bad End (24) 



In ancient times there was an orphan. He 

 had nothing to eat or wear. His mother and 

 father were dead. He arose and went and 

 lived with his uncle and his aunt. 



His uncle went away to do business selling 

 cattle and hogs. His aunt stayed at home. 

 She had a bad disposition. Daily she herself 

 ate a little good food and used only a little 

 buckwheat meal and rice and husks to make 

 food for him to eat. It was indeed bad to eat. 



One morning she told her nephew to go 

 and plow the field. She cooked breakfast at 

 home and carried it to him to eat. She carried 

 the food to the edge of the field and called 

 her nephew to come and eat breakfast. The 

 nephew said, "Aunt, you go back and I will 

 come and eat, lest a wildcat come and eat 

 the chickens, and the little girls cry." 



He waited until his aunt had gone back and 

 he said, "Cows, lift up your ears and with 

 them strike the flies. Why do I have to suffer 

 so?" He wept bitterly and said, "Yo, my 

 uncle has gone into the town to do business. 

 He has gone onto the street to sell pigs. He 

 thinks only of making money for his descen- 

 dants and of making a bagful of gold. The 

 orphan eats bitter buckwheat food and bitter 

 vegetable soup, as the cow eats stalks of course 



8 The Ch'uan Miao may or may not form a 

 new family when a marriage takes place. Many 

 are married young and do not form a family until 

 later in life. 



reeds and leaves of wild grass. When these 

 are eaten it is truly hard (bitter)." 



At that time there was a young woman 

 named Nts'ai Ngeo Nya ^ who answered hiin, 

 "Are you sad? Yo,^*' you go back quickly and 

 bring your sword. When you have killed the 

 striped tiger, we will take a large jar filled 

 with gold and one filled with silver and buy 

 a street in Ch'ang Ling and a big yard in 

 Kung Hsien, and will buy white rice to eat, 

 and then we will not suffer any more." 



When the orphan heard these words, he 

 was very happy in his heart, and let the cow 

 loose and carried the plow home on his 

 shoulders and laid it down beside the door. 

 He picked up the sword he constantly played 

 with, placed it on a grindstone and sharpened 

 it well, and then he carried it. He walked 

 alone to the top of the great white cliff and 

 sought her. 



When he arrived he opened his mouth and 

 asked, "Are you really a person, or are you 

 a demon? Ha." To his surprise there was an 

 eighteen-year-old young woman who an- 

 swered him in a fine tone of voice, "Have 

 you come? I am not a demon. I am truly a 

 human being. My name is Nts'ai Ngeo Nya. 

 Come quickly and kill the tigers and we will 

 depart." Then he saw the wicked tigers sleep- 

 ing beside the girl. 



With a flying stroke of the sword he killed 

 a striped tiger, and with another stroke he 

 killed a black-and-yellow striped tiger. With 

 another stroke he killed the baby tiger. Nts'ai 

 Ngeo Nya said to him, "I have been fright- 

 ened by these tigers several years. Today I 

 am happy." 



She stood up and led him to a place where 

 they saw three large bowls of gold and three 

 of silver v/hich they brought back to his home. 

 They bought a street in Ch'ang Ling and a 

 field in Kung Hsien and planted a crop. 

 When harvest came they had white rice which 

 they boiled to eat. Then they no longer suf- 

 fered hardship, but the farming they did was 

 very good. They climbed up a large banyon 

 tree and looked and saw that the rice heads 

 were really yellow like gold. He said, "Birds 

 come when plants become yellow and ripe. 

 Above there are parents who taste it with us. 

 Above there are brothers and sisters who eat 

 it with us. Why are we poor orphans with 

 nobody to eat the new crop with us?" His 

 wife said, "What are you saying?" He replied, 

 "When people have planted a crop, then the 



9 nts'ai Oau^ Jia**, girl young silver. 



10 Yo indicates sorrow or unhappiness, or hatred 

 or serious intent, or purpose to kill somebody or 

 something. 



