NO. I 



CH UAN MIAO SONGS AND STORIES — GRAHAM 



253 



landlord replied, "I want to meet your wife." 

 The woman said, "The landlord wants to 

 meet me. I will give him a good chair to 

 sit in." Then she pointed at the door with 

 her finger, and the landlord fell down. 



When tlie landlord became conscious he 

 wanted to exchange his ricefields and land 

 and his wife with the orphan for the orphan's 

 wife. The woman said, "I will bring a big 

 sword weighing 100 catties to you (her hus- 

 band). You take it and strike that big tree 

 three times and as you strike you call, "Ji je 

 lu, ji je lu, my landlord wants my wife." 



That tree replied to him and dropped a 

 shoe down to him. He put it on and came 

 back. The landlord requested (wanted) his 

 wife as usual. He said, "If you don't give 

 me your wife, you must go and climb that 

 stone pillar. If you can climb it, I will not 

 take your wife." He put on that shoe and he 

 then climbed up the stone pillar. 



That landlord still tried to get his wife the 

 second time. He then went to talk it over 

 with that tree. That tree then dropped some 

 of its bark down to him. Then he came back 

 and said to the landlord, "If you want my 

 wife, we two can go down into the creek." 



They went to the creek, and then he picked 

 up the tree bark and set the creek on fire 

 and burnt up the creek. From this time the 

 landlord did not dare to want his wife, and 

 the husband and his wife lived happily to- 

 gedier all their lives. 



A Lazy Man Prospers (511) 



In most ancient times there was a lazy 

 man. He used up all that he had inherited 

 from his parents. His wife hated him greatly 

 and would not live with him, and went back 

 to her parents. She took back home with her 

 all the pigs and chickens her parents had 

 given to her. 



Her husband followed after her. His wife's 

 parents also hated him and told him to sleep 

 below die pigpen. 



One day he was sleeping on a big slab of 

 stone, and he had a dream. The big stone 

 slab said to him, "My master has come." 



Next day he turned over the big stone slab 

 and saw a large jar of silver under it. There 

 were three big jars of gold. 



One day the silversmiths passed his door, 

 and he hired die silversmith to make gold and 

 silver clodiing for him, and to make a gold 

 and silver horn to hold wine. He also made 

 a liu sheng of gold and silver. One day his 

 wife asked her parents, "What is this lazy 

 demon beating every day?" 



Later there was a family holding a me- 



morial service. He went there, and his father 

 also went there and saw him playing the liu 

 sheng and dancing. His mother-in-law also 

 went there, and his wife followed her. His 

 wife walked in front of him and looked a 

 hateful look at him, and told him to quickly 

 go back home. 



He then went back home and put on his 

 gold-and-silver clothing, and filled the gold- 

 and-silver horn with sweet wine and carried 

 it suspended on his back. He carried the 

 liu sheng he had made of gold and silver, 

 and ran to that house. 



When he arrived he took the horn and 

 hung it on a nail, and took die liu sheng 

 and played it. After he had played the liu 

 sheng he poured out some wine for his wife 

 to drink. His wife said, "This is actually like 

 honey." Her sister-in-law asked her, "Is it 

 good to drink?" Then he gave some to the 

 sister-in-law to drink. 



He played the liu sheng until daybreak. 

 Then he picked up all his things and went 

 out. When he returned home he sat down 

 as usual under the pigpen. 



His wife followed him back home, and also 

 followed him under the pigpen. When she 

 arrived she noticed tiiat he had plastered the 

 wall with biscuits. His wife took some of 

 them down and ate them. Her husband told 

 her not to eat them. "If you want to eat 

 anything, you can go to the cupboard and get 

 it." 



When his wife opened die cupboard, she 

 saw very white rice biscuits inside. His wife 

 said, "My father over there has an old mother. 

 I will bring her here, and we will feed her." 

 Her husband said, "That is your food. I have 

 mine." The wife said, "My father has a hen 

 over there. I will bring it and it will be ours." 

 He said, "That is also yours. I don't want 

 yours. We two can live harmoniously to- 

 gether (as husband and wife) and enjoy 

 happiness all our lives." 



His Wife Deserted the Orphan Because He 

 Was Young and Poor, but Later Re- 

 turned to Him (512) 



In ancient times there was a man whose 

 father and mother died when he was very 

 young. He was small (young). His wife 

 was unwilling to live with him, and returned 

 to the home of her parents. He then went 

 out to be a beggar. 



He went into a cave on a big cliff to live. 

 Every night he slept on a big rock. He said, 

 "Let me roll this stone away." When he 

 pushed, he noticed that it moved a little, but 

 he could not push it away. Then he went 



