NO. I 



CH UAN MIAO SONGS AND STORIES — GRAHAM 



near relatives come to eat the new food with 

 them. There is nobody to eat the new crop 

 that we have planted." She said, "I will write 

 a letter for you, and you can take it and bring 

 your uncle to come and live with us." 



The orphan then took the letter and pasted 

 it on the door of his uncle's and aunt's house. 

 When his uncle came and saw the letter, he 

 could not help weeping every time he looked 

 at it. 



On the day when the orphan went to 

 market, he saw his uncle and invited him to 

 come the next day and "eat new" ^^ with 

 them. He said, "When I come to get you, I 

 will certainly be playing a jointed trumpet. 

 When you hear the sound of the trumpet, 

 you speak to my aunt and tell her to conceal 

 her head in a large jug." Indeed, on the next 

 day he had somebody play the jointed trum- 

 pet and went to the home of his uncle. When 

 his uncle heard it, he said to his aunt, "Old 

 woman, quickly hide your head in a large 

 jug until they are gone before you take your 

 head out." After they had gone away her 

 head was caught in the jug and could not 

 be gotten out. She then walked with the jug 

 on her head to the wall to beat the jug against 

 it. When the jug was broken and she had 

 taken her head out to see, her husband could 

 not be seen. She looked for him everywhere 

 and could not even find his tracks. She saw 

 only a band of monkeys eating fruit. 



The aunt went with the monkeys and ate 

 leaves with them, and gradually changed into 

 a monkey. The orphan took his uncle with 

 him and diey partook of the new crop and 

 tasted all the melons and fruit. 



When the crop had been reaped, the orphan 

 went with his uncle to hunt on the mountain. 

 They went to capture monkeys and caught a 

 female monkey. They carried her back and 

 skinned her and cut off all the remnants, and 

 put the meat of the monkey in the pot to 

 boil. When they had boiled it and eaten it 

 all up, the nephew took his chopsticks and 

 began to grasp inside the pot, and he picked 

 out the hand of the monkey. On her hand 

 was a bracelet. The nephew said, "Uncle, 

 this is the ivory bracelet my aunt formerly 

 wore on her wrist." The uncle said, "Eat 

 more quickly, don't talk, for now while people 

 eat if children talk older people may rebuke 

 them. (Eat more quickly and don't talk 

 lest you find some other such object.)" These 



11 Among tlie Chinese and the Ch'uan Miao 

 there is a ceremony called "eat new," which con- 

 sists mainly of a ceremonial feast. It is per- 

 formed each year before the new grain crop is 

 eaten. 



words recall the result of the recompense of 

 the bad aunt. 



A Mother and Her Son. Heaven Rewarded 

 the Son with a Wife (26) 



In ancient times there was an orphan. His 

 father had died early. Only his mother and 

 he were left. He spoke to his mother asking 

 her to make an engagement for him with 

 her brother's daughter. 



Her mother went to his uncle's home and 

 was afraid to open her mouth to ask for a 

 daughter-in-law until she had gone several 

 times. His uncle then opened his mouth and 

 asked, "Sister, what do you constantly come 

 to my home for.? Why do you not ask?" She 

 then said, "Your nephew, my son, asked me 

 to come and request one of your daughters 

 to be his wife." The uncle said, "Your family 

 is very poor, so I will not marry a daughter 

 into your family. My daughter must be mar- 

 ried into a family which has three pecks and 

 three quarts of gold nuggets and an animal 

 with a horn on its head pointing to the sky, 

 and one large red hair (on its head)." When 

 the mother had heard these words she said, 

 "Where are there such precious things.?" 



She came back home. Her son asked, "Is 

 uncle willing to marry a daughter to us?" 

 His mother said, "He will marry her, but we 

 must have three pecks and three quarts of 

 gold nuggets and a creature with a single 

 horn mounting to heaven, and one single red 

 hair on its head. These ceremonial objects 

 must be prepared before he will give his 

 daughter to any family in marriage." Her 

 son said, "What is there hard about this? 

 Let us go and find them. We certainly want 

 the girl." 



One day her son took a sickle and carried a 

 basket on his back. He went to hunt in the 

 grass but did not find them. The next day 

 he again went to hunt for them, and when 

 about halfway he met an old man. The old 

 man asked him, "Little boy, what are you 

 going to do?" He said, "I want to marry a 

 wife. I want to go and find three pecks and 

 three quarts of nugget gold and a creature 

 with one horn pointing toward heaven and 

 a single red hair on his head." The old man 

 said, "You want to find these things? Where 

 can there be such? You must go where the 

 sun sets and ask for this animal." 



When he heard these things the boy made 

 up his mind and daily proceeded forward. 

 One day he arrived at the door of a home. 

 The people in that home asked him, "Where 

 are you going?" He said, "I am going west- 

 ward to seek an animal." The people in that 



