NO. I 



CH'uAN MIAO songs and stories — GRAHAM 



251 



"I will give this blade of grass to you. You 

 put down a little every step." 



He did as directed, and went to the front 

 door of the landlord. He looked around and 

 saw that they (the pieces of grass) were all 

 stone steps. He went into the home of the 

 landlord and invited him. The landlord said 

 to him, "Formerly you lived with your uncle. 

 You had nothing. Have you anything now? 

 How can you invite me to eat dinner?" He 

 said, "You may go and look." He went and 

 looked and saw a big stone-step road right 

 to his own front door. Then die landlord 

 went with him. 



When they arrived at the house of the or- 

 phan, there were set out nine bowls of food 

 with good flavor. Then the landlord asked 

 him, "Who helped you prepare these nine 

 bowls of food?" He replied, "It was prepared 

 by my wife herself." Then the landlord said, 

 "You call your wife here so that I can see 

 her." His wife came out for the landlord to 

 see. 



Later the landlord wanted to exchange 

 wives with him. The landlord was willing to 

 give his wife, his houses, and his fields all in 

 exchange for the orphan's wife. The orphan 

 told his wife and she replied, "You may ex- 

 change with him. For he has seven wives, 

 and if you have me you have only one wife." 



When they had finished speaking, they got 

 a person to prepare the evidence. After it had 

 been written that day, the orphan went down 

 to receive the landlord's fields and his seven 

 wives. The landlord went up and lived a 

 day with the orphan's wife. When night came 

 the landlord went to sleep. Then the wife 

 of the orphan went and whistled several times, 

 and a great wind came and blew the house 

 all to pieces. Then the girl returned above 

 the sky. Next morning the landlord arose 

 and saw that he had been sitting on a big 

 yellow piece of soil and that he had no house. 



He wanted to go back and talk and to 

 discuss the rights of the case. But he could 

 not match that woman in speech, and his 

 wives also did not want him. He was then 

 helpless and went off as a beggar. 



The wife of the orphan went up to heaven 

 and gave birth to a baby. She brought tliis 

 baby down and left it in the eaves ditch. Be- 

 cause the seven wives had no sons, they took 

 the baby and nourished it. 



Later, when it had grown up, they sent hiin 

 off to study. He attained high rank in his 

 examinations. Although he was small, when 

 he went to study every student made fun of 

 him because he was a Miao, and they were 



in the habit of beating him and sneering at 

 him because he had no parents. 



He went and asked his teacher why tliey 

 talked about him in this way. The teacher 

 said to him, "Neither of these seven mothers 

 is your mother. Your mother is on the sky." 



After he had studied every kind of his 

 books well, he wanted to go up to the sky to 

 meet his mother. He went to a place where 

 there was a large tree which had fallen down 

 to the ground. Then he took out his book 

 and began to read it. This tree then stood up. 



He went to a great cave and could not find 

 his way. He again took out his book and read 

 it. Then on a great cliff a road appeared. He 

 then went to a great river. He again took out 

 his book and read it, and the water of the 

 river dried up. 



He went to Ntzi's sheep pasture. The sheep 

 herders asked him what he wanted to do. He 

 said that he wanted to go and find his mother. 

 They said, "Do you want to find your mother? 

 You must make a bracelet for each of us be- 

 fore we will tell you." 



Later he returned and had bracelets made, 

 and gave one to each of them. They then 

 said to him, "You go up on the high moun- 

 tain. You will see seven sisters leading some 

 horses to bathe. You will see one in the rear 

 leading a horse which is only as large as a 

 sow. That one is your mother." 



He then went onto the mountain and saw 

 the seven sisters come leading horses to bathe. 

 He saw one going behind leading a horse. 

 He ran and seized her and called her mother. 

 They asked him, "Who are you that you call 

 her your mother?" All six of them thought 

 of killing him. He said, 'Tou want to kill 

 me. Wait until I tell you about my past before 

 you kill me." 



When he had finished his mother helped 

 him, saying, "This child is probably the one 

 I gave birth to in the sky." Then the six 

 sisters did not kill him. 



The seven sisters all said, "You must not 

 go out to play lest you knock down the 

 flowery bamboo of your grandfather." At 

 midnight he went to relieve his bowels, and 

 came out and walked to the center of the par- 

 lor. He bumped against his father's flowery 

 bamboo so that it fell down. His grandfather 

 heard it and raised a row about it saying, 

 "What child is this who knocked down my 

 flowery bamboo? Kill him." The boy said, 

 "You must not kill me. Let me tell you about 

 the past events." When his grandfather heard 

 this he said that his mother was not truly a 

 big (good) person, and he intended to chase 

 her down into the world. He took a box and 



