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SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 



123 



thought to himself, how is it possible for me 

 to have this dream (and see the thief)?" 

 Nevertheless he could not easily refuse, so he 

 thought he had better diink out a method 

 so as to escape trouble. So he said, "You need 

 not look for diis pig. After three days I will 

 certainly dream the matter clear." 



After they had gone he secretly went to 

 find die pig. He found the sow, which had 

 given birth to a litter of pigs, in a grave. 

 There were seven little pigs. Then he re- 

 turned to the home of his father-in-law and 

 said to him, "You may prepare a bed for me 

 and let me sleep on the bed." Then the 

 family prepared the bed and requested him 

 to sleep on it. 



Next morning he said to his father-in-law, 

 "It is all right. Last night I saw the pig in 

 an old grave and she had given birth to 

 seven little pigs. They are all in the grave. 

 I urge my father-in-law to go quickly and 

 drive them back." Then the father-in-law 

 went and drove the pigs back according to 

 the son-in-law's instructions. In this way his 

 reputation for dreaming spread afar so diat 

 it reached the district magistrate's office. 



One day the official's seal was secretly stolen 

 by one of the official's servants. The official 

 then sent messengers to ask him to dream. 

 When he saw die runners coming to call him, 

 he did not say whether he could do it or 

 not. He only concerned himself to say a few 

 words at random (it may be here, it may be 

 there, etc.), to deceive the runners. He then 

 said to his wife, "When I go with the runners 

 you just take the treading beam for husking 

 rice and hang it up on top of the house, 

 and I can manage die affair." When he had 

 said this, he went along with the runners. 



When he had gone a little while he said, 

 "Things are bad, things are bad." The run- 

 ners asked him, "Why are they bad.''" He 

 then said, "The treading beam in my home 

 has climbed up onto my house." Then the 

 runners said, "We can go back and take it 

 down." Then they went back with him and 

 took down the treading beam. 



Again he said to his wife, "This time when 

 we have gone out of the door you set fire to 

 the house." Just as they had gone out of the 

 door she actually set fire to the house. In a 

 litde while he said, "Things are wrong. Fire 

 from the sky is burning my house." Then 

 they came back together and put out the fire. 



It was now already dark. Next morning 

 he had no way to deceive them, so they again 

 started. When they had gone halfway, in a 

 rice paddy they saw a yellow bird fighting 

 with a white crane. He repeated an incanta- 

 tion and then said, "Last night I had a bad 



dream. The yellow bird and the white crane 

 were having a fight. When I have said this, 

 if you will not believe it I do not know 

 whether you will die or I, or whedier the 

 white crane or the yellow bird will die. 

 Probably we will all die." When he had said 

 this, he began to weep loudly. 



By chance one of these runners was named 

 white and one yellow. The official's seal had 

 been stolen by them. They did not under- 

 stand what he was saying, and so they were 

 afraid that later when the stealing of the seal 

 was revealed the official would execute them. 

 They both knelt down in front of him and 

 said, "Sir, forgive our sin." He replied, "What 

 is your sin. Tell me quickly lest in my dream 

 I find it out." They replied, "Because die 

 Lolos gave us money to steal the seal and give 

 it to them so they could come and rule, and 

 promised us a great deal of silver, we stole 

 the official's seal. But we have not yet given 

 the seal to the Lolos. We will put the seal in ; 

 a magpie's nest in a tree outside the yamen, 

 and we hope you will diink out a way to get 

 it and return it." He said, "All right, Heaven 

 has the virtue of loving to save life. Should 

 I be unable to forgive your sin?" 



When he heard diese words, he was happy 

 in his heart. So he went that day into the 

 yamen and he said, "The official shall not be 

 without his seal an hour. Quickly prepare a 

 bed for me so that I can dream." 



In a short time, after he had met the offi- 

 cial, he lay down on the bed to sleep. Next 

 morning he came out and said, "I request the 

 great old official to receive the seal." The 

 official asked, "Where is the seal?" He replied, 

 "This seal has climbed a tree and has been 

 the companion of magpies for several days. 

 Send someone quickly to bring it down." 



Then the official sent two of his soldiers to 

 climb the tree, and they actually brought 

 down the seal. After this he had an even 

 greater reputation. But die official wanted 

 to test him, and he took a small boy and 

 wrapped him in paper and gave it to him, 

 asking him to guess what it was. When he 

 saw diat it was wrapped in red and blue 

 paper he broke out laughing, "He (xe^), he, 

 he, he." Then the official's servants who were 

 standing by said, "This gendeman says 'Hai, 

 hai, hai, hai' (boy, boy, boy, boy). Then the 

 official had no further doubt about him. 



Now some of the Miao still believe in 

 dreams (as a means of telling the future). 

 Sing this song to teach them.^'^ 



57 This is an old song that aims to teach people 

 not to be superstitious. It was composed by a 

 Miao without Christian influence. 



