NO. I 



CH'uAN MIAO songs and stories — GRAHAM 



247 



So they called out, "Get ready. In a little 

 while the official's soldiers will come and 

 arrest us." 



In a little while, a band of little soldiers 

 came and there was an officer riding on a 

 rabbit. They carried some long needles and 

 knives on their shoulders. The orphan said 

 nothing, but took a club and ran and fought 

 them a while, and killed all the soldiers and 

 the officer. Then he killed the rabbit and 

 boiled it. When he had eaten it, he was no 

 longer hungry. Then he arose and went 

 forward. 



He went to the side of the river, and there 

 saw two people who had netted two fish. 

 Then he bought the two fish from them, and 

 he intended to take them home to look at. 

 He took them to a creek to wash them, but 

 when they reached the water they immedi- 

 ately slipped loose and swam away. In a 

 moment the two fish changed into two pretty 

 girls on the opposite side of the creek. Then 

 they sang, saying — 



"Ngeo sam p'an, ngeo sam p'an,^^ formerly 

 I suffered a calamity, and you came and 

 saved me. 



Hereafter when you are in trouble I will come 

 and save you. Is that not so?" 



When they had finished singing, a table ap- 

 peared. There was wine and meat arranged 

 on the table. The two women invited him to 

 eat. He alone ate up everything. Suddenly 

 he saw a big road, and he walked along the 

 big road until he arrived at a dark place. 

 There was not a bit of light. Then he thought 

 of the song the two fish had sung before. 

 Then he sang — 



"Ntse sam p'an, ntse sam p'an, formerly when 

 you were in trouble I rescued you. Now I 

 am in trouble. Please save me. Will that 

 do?" 



When he had finished singing it became 

 daylight. Then he again saw wine and meat 

 arranged neatly on a table, and he took it 

 and ate it. Then he knew that he had already 

 walked around in a circle three times there 

 under the earth, and three years had passed. 

 During those three years it had not rained 

 on earth, and the earth had dried up so that 

 a big crack in the earth opened up. He then 

 crawled up through that crack. 



He saw that on the earth the grass and 

 the trees had all dried up. 



21 The Ch'uan Miao realize that Ngeo Sam 

 P'an refers to a boat, although the words have 

 no meaning in the Ch'uan Miao language. The 

 words sam p'an are probably tlae Kwangtung word 



The Emperor Requested the Orphan to Go 

 and Save Them (324) 



When the orphan got the silver and had 

 married a wife he said, "The world is very 

 broad." Because for three years there had 

 been no rain, great bands of robbers arose in 

 all directions, robbing and killing people. The 

 emperor's soldiers could not defeat them. He 

 then employed a man who could divine by 

 the stars to look at the stars in the sky. He 

 studied the stars for one night and then he 

 said to the emperor, "Emperor, if you want 

 to subjugate these bandits, you must get the 

 orphan son-in-law to come and fight them 

 before you can conquer them." Then the 

 emperor said, "I am afraid this will be hard 

 to do because he fell into the ruang ntsa glang 

 region. I am afraid that he was devoured by 

 the broom people." Then the astrologer said, 

 "It seems to me that he is still alive. But the 

 place where he is is very far away. You must 

 certainly have the big sea bird (called lo hat, 

 big sea), go and bring him, before he can be 

 brought." 



That day the emperor prepared wine and 

 meat, and invited the big sea bird to eat and 

 drink. When he had finished, die great sea 

 bird flew to the outside of the door where that 

 orphan was staying, inside the garden. Then 

 the bird called, "Gi li, gu lu, the emperor 

 boiled meat for me to eat, and poured out 

 wine for me to drink, and told me to come 

 and get you, orphan, and to take you to the 

 emperor's place. Gi li, gu lu." 



When the orphan heard it he said, "The 

 calling of this bird is not good. Quickly bring 

 my bow and I will shoot it dead." Then the 

 bird was frightened and flew straight to the 

 home of the emperor. Then the emperor 

 said, "You are a useless bird. If you do not 

 bring him here, I will kill you." 



Then the bird snatched some food, and 

 again flew to the orphan's home. Again the 

 orphan tried to shoot it, and again the bird 

 flew back. The emperor said to him, "You 

 go again and cry very nicely until he hears 

 clearly. If again you cannot bring him back, 

 I will certainly first shoot you dead with an 

 arrow, and then I will give these regions to 

 the wicked brigands." 



This time the bird again flew on top of 

 the orphan's house, and first told plainly the 



for sampan which has been handed down with 

 little change. The Miao do not know whence 

 this word came, or why it is given this pro- 

 nunciation. It seems likely that it was arranged 

 between them that the words Ntse sam pan 

 should be a means of calling the girls to him 

 when he was in trouble. 



