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SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 123 



and found an iron bar belonging to a car- 

 penter, and brought it to move this stone. 

 He shoved and pushed tlie stone away. 



When the stone had been rolled away, 

 under the earth there was a house that was 

 made entirely of gold and silver. Inside the 

 house everything was to be found. 



One day his wife's father and mother went 

 past. He said, "Do you want to go and have 

 a good tmie (play)?" They answered him, 

 "Get aside quickly. We want to proceed." 

 His wife was widi them, but she would not 

 speak a word to him, and they went along. 



Then he went into his house and put on 

 his gold and silver clothing, and pursued after 

 them. His wife saw that he was very good 

 looking and said to her sister-in-law, "Who 

 is he.?" Her sister-in-law said to her, "He is 

 your husband." His wife said, "I don't believe 

 it." Then her sister-in-law said, 'Tou follow 

 along behind and look." His wife said, "Is 

 it actually true? If he is my husband, you 

 help me by bringing him here." Her sister- 

 in-law said, "It is actually so." 



Then the wife took hold of her husband. 

 First she seized his tobacco pipe and his to- 

 bacco pouch. Then her husband took hold 

 of the mouthpiece of his pipe. He then paid 

 no attention to them and went back into his 

 cave. 



When he arrived at the cave, he took his 

 ragged clothes and put them on. Then he 

 took some smoke and blackened his face, and 

 sat down as usual in his cave. 



When he saw his father and mother-in-law 

 he said, "Have you come?" His wife's sister- 

 in-law and his wife followed along behind. 

 When they arrived at the mouth of the cave, 

 they looked about everywhere. They saw only 

 the mouthpiece of the pipe. Then the sister- 

 in-law said to the wife, "This is much like 

 the moudi of the pipe we got before." The 

 wife said, "How can that be? It is not." 

 Then he took the pipe and matched it to 

 the mouthpiece. The sister-in-law talked to 

 the wife, but she would not admit (that it 

 was her husband). Later the husband took 

 the iron bar and shoved the stone aside, then 

 the husband went into that very fine house. 

 The sister-in-law escorted the wife into the 

 house, where she lived all her life with her 

 husband. 



An Orphan Who Cut Grass for the Cows 

 Became 'Emperor (635) 



In ancient times there were a father and 

 his son. The father hired out his son to 

 another to care for the cows. One day he 

 went to look after the cows. He went to the 



middle of a large cliff and saw a geomancer 

 who had come to find a burial place for the 

 emperor. The geomancer pulled up a stalk 

 of tall grass, and with it he measured that 

 cliff. When he had finished measuring, in 

 that cliff he opened a door. The geomancer 

 went inside the cliff, and in a short time the 

 geomancer again came out of the cliff door. 



When the geomancer had gone, the orphan 

 went and looked. He also took a stalk of 

 grass to measure that cliff. Then the cliff 

 opened a door, and he went inside. He saw 

 that inside there were many stone implements. 

 There were also golden tables and silver chairs 

 and a stone coffin. He realized that this was 

 very strange, and returned home and told his 

 father about the door in the cliff. Then the 

 father went with him and looked at it, and 

 saw this cliff. 



The son went and pulled a grass stalk, and 

 a door opened into the cliff. Then the father 

 and the son went into the cliff and saw the 

 things which were in the cliff. 



They sat there a long time. The son said 

 to the father, "You sit here awhile and wait 

 for me. I will return and let the cattle out, 

 then I will come after you." The father 

 leaned on the silver chair and slept. 



The son went out and closed the door of 

 the cliff and went home. When it was nearly 

 dark the son came back and tried to open 

 the door in the cliff. But the cliff door would 

 not open. The son therefore was helpless, and 

 he walked about everywhere. 



One night he went into a home. That 

 family had a son who was ill. The son stayed 

 there that night. He slept undl midnight 

 when a man came and called to them to 

 open the door. The poles in his room, on 

 which the bed net was hung, replied, "To- 

 night you must not come. I have guests here." 

 The one who was outside said, 'Tou are just 

 a pair of bed-net poles. How dare you prevent 

 me?" The things in the home replied, "You 

 outside the house are an eel diat hides in the 

 ricefield. You come to injure people's things. 

 If people know about you, they will certainly 

 kill you and fry you." 



The orphan on the bed inside the net 

 heard these words clearly and plainly and paid 

 attention, and he intended to remove the 

 calamity. Next morning he said to that 

 family, "I am able to heal the disease that is 

 now in your family. Do you want me to 

 heal it?" Then that family requested him to 

 heal the sickness for them. He falsely imi- 

 tated a geomancer and leaped into the rice 

 paddy, and underneath a stone slab he seized 

 the big eel. He cut the eel open with his 



