NO. I 



CH UAN MIAO SONGS AND STORIES — GRAHAM 



271 



If it discolors you, then we will believe.^-'' 

 If it cannot discolor you, then we will kill 

 you." The magpie said, "Do as you wish." 



Then they dipped up a dipperful of dye 

 and poured it on the magpie's back, and all 

 the white feathers were dyed striped. Then 

 the family was agitated and called to the 

 magpie, "Lucky bird, brother, let us trouble 

 you to lead us. Where are they?" The mag- 

 pie then said, "You follow me." And the 

 magpie went leaping in front, and they fol- 

 lowed after him. Then the magpie leaped 

 into the forest, and when they reached the 

 water buffalo's house the magpie could not go 

 in but cried out "Cha, cha, cha." 



Then they went into the house and looked 

 and smelled the odor of fresh blood and torn 

 hair, and saw the footprints of a tiger all 

 over the terrace. Then the magpie flew upon 

 the housetop and they all looked after him. 

 There they saw the younger sister on top of 

 the house crying. Then they helped her down 

 and she told them everything. 



Then the older brothers said, "This tiger 

 is truly despicable. If we do not kill him 

 our minds cannot be content." The younger 

 sister said, "Although this is so, you must not 

 act hastily. You must make a plan before 

 you can kill him." The older brother said, 

 "Today we request the lucky bird brother to 

 go and spy out where he is so that we can 

 make a plan to catch him." The magpie said, 

 "I will go ahead," and they waited. 



Before long the magpie came back. He then 

 said, "This tiger is now living in a cave on a 

 high mountain." Then they all said, "Today 

 we will go and dig a pit behind that moun- 

 tain and put on top of it some limbs, and 

 spread tree leaves on top of that, and have 

 somebody go and disturb him, and wait until 

 he leaps into the pit, and we will go and 

 kill him." 



When they all had decided about it, they 

 went and dug the pit. In a short time they 

 had everything ready and requested the mag- 

 pie to go ahead and frighten the tiger. Then 

 the magpie said, "If you get him you must 

 give me some intestines to eat." They replied 

 to the magpie, "All right." 



Then the magpie flew to the cave where 

 the tiger was sleeping and cried out and 

 struck the tiger with his wings. The tiger 

 then got angry and leaped out to seize the 

 magpie. When he leaped he fell into the pit. 

 Then they took rocks and sticks and beat the 

 tiger, and beat the evil tiger down until he 

 was held by the soft mud. Then they let a 



^° It is believed that formerly tlie magpie was 

 white. 



man down and he bound up the tiger, and 

 they pulled and pushed him up to the mouth 

 of the cave. Then they skinned the tiger and 

 gave the tiger's skin to the younger sister to 

 sleep on, and the intestines to the magpie to 

 eat. Then they all returned home. They said, 

 "The magpie is very glad to bring good news. 

 After this we will not injure him.^^ 



One Who Pretended to Divine through 

 Dreams (107) 



In the middle ancient times there lived a 

 Miao husband and his wife. The wife was at 

 home cooking and the husband was outside 

 plowing. The wife was a woman who loved 

 to eat. On the one hand the husband went 

 out to plow and on the other hand he secretly 

 came home to watch (spy on) his wife. The 

 wife was boiling the rice and at the same time 

 she picked up some rice with her hands and 

 ate it. 



When breakfast was ready, the wife called 

 to her husband to come back and eat. The 

 husband pretended to be lying down asleep. 

 The wife shouted at him saying, "Why do 

 you need to sleep in the daytime?" The hus- 

 band then said, "There is reason for my sleep- 

 ing." The wife asked, "What reason it there?" 

 The husband ansv/ered, "When I am asleep 

 it is easy to dream." The wife asked, "What 

 did you dream? Tell me quickly. If you 

 don't I will not give you any food to eat." 

 Then he said, "I am afraid that you will 

 scold, so I will not tell you." His wife said, 

 "Why should I scold you for dreaming?" The 

 husband replied, "Then I will tell it." 



Then the husband said, "In my dream I 

 saw you picking up food with your hands 

 and eating it, and dipping food with a spoon 

 and drinking it, and pouring into the cooking 

 vessel what you could not drink up. I also 

 saw you, after going to the toilet, come and 

 eat up the meat and the vegetables without 

 washing your hands as though you were a 

 very dirty person. Therefore I did not tell 

 my dream." 



Then the woman did not dare to ask any- 

 thing else. From this time she did not dare 

 to secretly steal and eat food. Afterward the 

 wife returned to her father and her mother 

 and told them that her husband was a fine 

 dreamer. 



One day one of the pigs belonging to the 

 wife's father was missing. He came and asked 

 the husband to dream about it. The husband 



^^ The magpie is considered a lucky bird to 

 have around because he likes to bring good and 

 happy news. 



