252 



SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL, 12^ 



closed the mother and her child inside and 

 threw them into a river. 



The boy took out his book and read it. 

 Suddenly the water was not to be seen, and 

 the big road became invisible. The mother 

 and her son returned to his home. In the 

 house Vv'as a soldier watcliing the door. The 

 soldier was unwilling to open the door. They 

 forced their way inside. Her husband saw her 

 and she said to her husband, "Formerly I saw 

 (took notice of) you. Do you want to kill 

 me now.?" 



Then the people inside welcomed them 

 into the house. The woman lived with them 

 all her life. The mother had a box (used in 

 fortunetelling) which had one hundred and 

 twenty-four characters inside. The mother 

 took out sixty of these characters and burnt 

 them. Therefore people of the present time 

 cannot reckon all the one hundred and 

 twenty-four characters (in divining) and so 

 they cannot go up to the sky. 



Afterward that woman returned to the sky, 

 and she entered the sky and returned to her 

 place as a star. Because she came down to 

 the earth and gave birth to a son, her light 

 is not very bright.-^ 



A Poor Orphan Became Wealthy (508) 



Formerly there was a boy who had neither 

 father nor mother. His father and his mother 

 were dead. He had neither clothing nor food. 

 He lived with his uncle, and his uncle daily 

 caught small birds for him to eat. 



One day his uncle went to market and then 

 returned home. He asked the orphan, "Did 

 your aunt give you anything to eat today?" 

 He replied, "She gave me the head of a bird 

 to eat." His uncle said, 'Tou go and bring 

 it and show it to me." When he saw it he 

 sighed and said, "Ah, this is bitter grass. It 

 is not a bird's head. Your aunt can't treat 

 you right. Tomorrow I will take you widi 

 me into the great old forest to trap wild 

 animals." 



Next morning, when they had eaten their 

 breakfast, he took the nephew up on die 

 mountain. Then he said to his small nephew, 

 "You trap on the mountain on this side, and 

 I will trap on the mountain on that side. If 

 you reach the top of the mountain first, you 

 call me. If I arrive first, I will call you." His 

 purpose was to take his small nephew into 

 the forest and run away and leave him there. 



When it became dark the boy arrived at 

 the top of the mountain, but he called for his 



25 She is one of the seven stars in the big 

 dipper. 



uncle in vain. Then the boy gathered some 

 v\'ood and put it down below a big tree and 

 slept there. 



He slept until it was midnight, and it was 

 very cold. So he built a fire below the tree, 

 and the smoke went up to the top of the 

 tree. It seemed as though somebody on top 

 of the tree were saying, "Do not smoke (me), 

 do not smoke (me). If you smoke me I will 

 fall down and I will be your wife." 



When daylight came he ran and asked Ye 

 Seo. Ye Seo said to him, "Do not be afraid. 

 Your wife has come. You go back and gather 

 a great deal of wood and set it afire, and 

 tomorrow you will see her." 



He came back and did as he was told. 

 The next morning a pretty woman dropped 

 down out of that tree. She said to him, "I 

 told you not to smoke (me). If you smoke 

 me and I fall down, I will be your wife." 

 But he did not dare to want her. He said, 

 "If I want you, I have no food for you to 

 eat." The woman said, "If you have no food, 

 I will go and find some." Then she took a 

 grain of rice out of her shoe and boiled a big 

 kettle of rice from it, and they both ate. 



Then the woman asked him where he had 

 been born. He replied, "I was born in a great 

 bend." Then they both went to that great 

 bend. Then the woman said, "Today I will 

 cook breakfast for you to eat. You go and 

 rent a place to live in." 



He went to rent a place, and the landlord 

 agreed. His wife then said to him, "You 

 return to my father's house and borrow a 

 big knife and a big chisel." He then went to 

 the big tree and borrowed a big knife and 

 a big chisel and came back. Then the woman 

 said, "You go into the woods and wantonly 

 cut as you please." He went and did so and 

 returned home. His wife poured out water 

 for him to wash his feet with, and told him 

 to go and sleep. The woman took her skirt 

 and covered him with it, and he slept. 



When he awoke he saw that the house was 

 different from the former one. So he said 

 to his wife, "We have gone into somebody's 

 house to live." His wife said, "Last night 

 your small uncles came and built a large 

 house for us. Your older brother-in-law is 

 nailing a door in the parlor. Go quickly and 

 thank him." 



Just as he went the older brother-in-law 

 was not to be seen. Then his wife told him 

 to go and invite the landlord to come and 

 eat food. The food that die woman cooked 

 had a remarkably good flavor. So the land- 

 lord said to the orphan, "How was this flavor 

 secured.?" He said, "My wife did it." The 



