NO. I 



CH UAN MIAO SONGS AND STORIES — GRAHAM 



269 



said, "Your daughter became ill and was so 

 ill that she died." 



The mother arrived and did not ask how 

 she died. She only told this family to kill a 

 cow as an offering. But Nao daily boiled her 

 sister in the vessel and gave the soup to her 

 mother to eat. But she cut off the breasts 

 and kept diem. When the memorial cere- 

 monies were over and her mother was about 

 to go back, then the husband and the wife 

 prepared her dinner for her to eat on her way 

 home. When the dinner had been prepared, 

 then they escorted the mother-in-law out. 



Nao said, "Today when modier becomes 

 hungry on the way, you may eat your daugh- 

 ter's hornlike breasts." The mother-in-law 

 then saw that in the bag was one breast. The 

 mother then inquired how a person's breast 

 got into the bag. After a while the mother 

 knew that it was her daughter. She then 

 went home and told her father about it. The 

 grandfather then brought a large number of 

 people to manage this affair. Then Ntseo 

 Nang and Nao and their son were afraid and 

 each fled in a different direction. Ntseo Nang 

 turned into a great mountain. His wife 

 turned into a white cliff and the son changed 

 into a forest. Afterward the father said, "We 

 three people must manage not to separate 

 so that people on earth will forever be unable 

 to get along without us. We can turn into 

 a pair of scales." Ntseo Nang then turned 

 into the beam of the scales, Nao turned into 

 the weight of the scales, and the son turned 

 into the hook of the scales, and they will 

 endure forever. But the bad mother-in-law 

 and her father were separated from these 

 three and could not find their tracks.^^ 



A Water Bu^alo Got Rich and a Tiger Ate 

 Him. How the Magpie Became Blacky 

 and White {an Obstacle Story) (87) 



In very ancient times every kind of creature 

 was industrious. One day a water buffalo, 

 Ndseo Dii (ndsAu Ty), was plowing the 

 f^eld. 



There was a Miao who used unapproved 

 methods to get a wife. He was originally a 

 trapper. One day he went ahead and enticed 

 a family's two daughters to be his wives. 

 When they had come halfway, they met 

 Ndseo Dii. When the two women met 

 Ndseo Dii they said, "You dirty buffalo, you 



^3 The Ch'uan Miao do not allow people to 

 sing this song on respectable occasions, because 

 it is regarded as unlucky and likely to result in 

 pushing people into pits or injuring them in some 

 other way. 



are very filthy." The two sisters then spat on 

 his body. Ndseo Dii said nothing to them. 



The man then took the two girls into the 

 forest to live. The two girls thought only of 

 the fact that he was good looking. But he 

 was a poor man without even food to eat. 

 He daily trapped wild animals for them to 

 eat. But die meat of the animals he got was 

 not enough for them. He then went and 

 picked up chestnuts and wild leeks to nourish 

 them. He daily went like this to find things 

 to eat, and left his two wives in the forest. 



There were two days when he could not 

 find anything and they had nothing to eat, 

 which was very hard to bear. They suffered 

 great hardship for a year and a half. Then 

 the two daughters secretly talked the matter 

 over and made a scheme to run home. When 

 they had gone halfway they met Ndseo Dii 

 who was then reaping rice. The two girls 

 said, "We are going home now, and haven't 

 face to meet our older brothers. It will be 

 better for us to marry Ndseo Dii and so get 

 food to eat. How will that be.?" The two 

 sisters then said to Ndseo Dii, "Please give 

 us a little food to eat, and we will both be 

 your wives." Ndseo Dii then asked, "Where 

 have I any rice to eat.? Don't you know that 

 I am a dirty thing.? Moreover, I am a laborer. 

 How can I marry two nice girls like you.?" 

 But the two women very sincerely urged him, 

 and Ndseo Dii said, "The affair will be settled 

 as you wish." The two then asked, "Where 

 is your home?" He replied, "I have no good 

 home. I am only able, when plowing a rice 

 paddy, to sleep in the rice paddy, and when 

 plowing a field to sleep in the field." They 

 urged him very earnestly. He said, "My home 

 is in front in a little house below that moun- 

 tain. You two can go yourselves and hunt 

 for it. But when you go, you must look care- 

 fully. I have a big rat below in that pile of 

 straw. I am afraid that you two will step 

 on him." 



The two women went forward to find the 

 house. They looked for a long time and did 

 not find any straw house, and saw only a 

 big tile-roofed house on a large terrace. They 

 had no other resources, and went into the 

 tile-roofed house. When they had reached 

 the door, he had used an iron post to prop 

 the door. They both tried to push it open, 

 and then the iron post fell down and fright- 

 ened away the big pig. Then they went out 

 to chase the pig. They chased it one day but 

 could not catch it. Later he came back and 

 asked them and they said, "We frightened 

 away your fat pig. What shall we do?" 



The water buffalo said, "If you want to be 



