248 



SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 12^ 



purpose of the emperor in requesting him to 

 go and save the emperor. The orphan said, 

 "Then you come down and tell me clearly 

 before we go." The bird had the orphan first 

 tie up the cat before he flew down. 



He told all about the emperor's being beset 

 by brigands. Next day the bird went ahead, 

 and the orphan followed after him. When 

 they had traveled seven days and seven nights, 

 he entered the capital. The emperor first 

 gave his daughter to him for a wife. Then 

 next morning the orphan went up on the 

 city wall and looked. He saw very many 

 brigands surrounding the city. He did not 

 speak a single sentence, but on the watch- 

 towers of the city, on all sides, he piled up 

 some grass and took a cutting knife and cut 

 the grass up fine. Then he carried the grass 

 up onto the city wall, and with his lips he 

 whistled for a wind and blew on a ram's 

 horn. Then the grass that had been cut up 

 changed into a great many soldiers, and they 

 flew down from the city wall and killed some 

 of the brigands. In a short time they killed all 

 the brigands. Next morning there were no 

 more brigands. Then the emperor resigned 

 the throne in his favor and ruled no more. 



An Orphan Who Gathered Dog Manure for a 

 Livelihood (325) 



Once there was an orphan who daily gath- 

 ered dog manure to sell.-- One day he met 

 beside the road some men who sold pigs. 

 The hog merchant, who was resting there, 

 lost a bag of silver. The orphan went and 

 picked it up. But although he picked it up, 

 he did not keep it. He said to himself, "If I 

 keep it, it is not good. If I do not keep (take 

 care of) it, it is also not good. It will be 

 better if I watch it here until they come and 

 get it. Then I can go away." So he sat there 

 and waited a while. 



The hog merchant returned and called to 

 him, "Have you picked up our silver? If you 

 have seen it, we will give you half of it." The 

 orphan then stood up and said, "This silver 

 is yours. I will not keep what is yours." Then 

 he gave the silver to him, and went to pick 

 up the dog manure as usual. 



After three years the hog merchant was 

 about to give away a daughter in marriage. 

 On that day the orphan went again to gather 

 the dog manure. In that place there was a 

 big creek which was just rising. Those who 



22 In West China dog manure is used for 

 fertilizer, and very poor people gather it to sell 

 to the farmers. 



were escorting the bride were unable to cross 

 the creek. 



Then the pig merchant said, "Today this 

 daughter of mine cannot go. After today it 

 will be unlucky. It will be better if I marry 

 her to this orphan." -^ He also said, "This 

 is the person who picked up the silver when 

 we lost it. Today, when we cannot take the 

 bride across tlie river, we again meet him. 

 Should not this daughter of mine belong to 

 him? It will be well if they are united tonight 

 as an everlasting memorial." Later the father- 

 in-law gave him some land to live on, and 

 it was well with him. 



An Orphan Was Hunting for Medicine and 

 Secured Something Precious (397) 



In ancient times the wife of the emperor 

 was painfully ill, so the emperor sent abroad 

 a decree seeking a physician and had it pasted 

 up everywhere. 



At that time there was a Miao orphan. He 

 heard that the empress was very ill. Later 

 he wanted to tell Ye Seo about this and see 

 what plan Ye Seo would suggest to him. 



One day he started and walked below the 

 cliff. The hawk on the cliff asked him where 

 he was going. He said, "I am going to Ye 

 Seo to ask him for medicine to heal the 

 queen's illness." The hawk said, "When you 

 go, please ask for me when I can ascend to 

 heaven." He answered, "Yes." 



He again proceeded to the side of a river, 

 and the dragon king also requested him to ask 

 whether the dragon could ascend to heaven 

 or not. He again walked to the goddess 

 Kuanyin. The goddess Kuanyin requested 

 him to ask when she could ascend to heaven, 

 for she had already cultivated Tao ^^ a 

 thousand years. 



He remembered all that they had said and 

 again proceeded. One day he came to the 

 edge of the sky and walked beneath a big 

 cloud. Ye Seo was sitting in the cloud and 

 said to him, "Orphan, you have come over 

 there. The Kuanyin whom you saw cannot 

 become an immortal because beneath her feet 

 she is treading on gold and silver. You have 

 her take the gold and silver and give it to 

 orphans and poor people, and then she can 

 ascend to heaven. Return to the dragon king 

 over there and tell him to dig out six or seven 

 pearls in his head and leave only one, and he 



23 Marriages must be on lucky days. The sub- 

 sequent days were probably considered unlucky 

 days for marriage, and they probably considered 

 it unlucky not to consummate the marriage on 

 the date that had been decided upon. 



