NO. I 



CH UAN MIAO SONGS AND STORIES — GRAHAM 



283 



They went, but could not find a house to 

 Hve in. So they went and hved in a cave. The 

 husband begged food to give to his wife. 



They lived there several months. One day 

 the woman saw three rocks used to set the 

 kettle on (when cooking) which were very 

 heavy. Then she used a curved knife and 

 scraped those stones. All three stones were 

 silver. 



That night when her husband returned she 

 said to her husband, "These pot holders are 

 silver." Her husband said, "Is this silver? 

 Then in the cave there is a great deal more." 

 The woman said, "You may lead me to look 

 at it." 



The two of them went and looked, and 

 actually the cave in the cliff was full of silver. 

 Then they picked up the silver and came 

 home. They took some of the silver and 

 rented a piece of land to live on. 



After a few years a son was born to them. 

 They bought a place, and became rich. 



At that time their father's old landlord died. 

 Then the son of the landlord ceased renting 

 the place to him. Every year food was not 

 enough to eat, and his son died. Only the 

 father was left, and he went to be a beggar. 



One day the daughter was going to wel- 

 come a bride for her small son. She killed 

 several cattle and several large pigs. Their 

 father heard it said that a rich Miao family 

 was having a feast, so he went to their home. 



When the father arrived, the daughter 

 could not recognize the father, and the father 

 could not recognize the daughter. Then the 

 daughter said, "Don't let that old beggar out 

 there eat with the other beggars." At night 

 the daughter went outside the house and 

 called the old beggar to come inside the house. 

 She gave him wine and meat. Then she asked 

 him, and he weeping said to his daughter, 

 "I thank you for entertaining me. I will go 

 and find a place to sleep." Then the daughter 

 said, "Old man, do you know the old man 

 who wanted a good husband for his daughter, 

 or not? Think again. Do you know whether 

 you should act according to your own ideas 

 or the decrees of heaven?" The old man said, 

 "I do not know." Then the daughter called 

 out, "My father, I am the one you gave to 

 the beggar for a reward (punishment)." 



When the daughter had finished saying 

 this she called to a person to go and warm 

 some water for him to bathe with. When he 

 had bathed she gave him good clothes to 

 wear. Then the daughter kept him to live 

 with her all his life. Therefore they made up 

 these words to pass the story on to future 

 generations. 



The Marriage of a Girl Who Was as Beautiful 

 as a Flower (493) 



There was a girl like a mustard flower who 

 lived near the muddy-water creek. She could 

 sew nine garments at one time with one 

 needle. There was a man named Ndan 

 (nTan) Giang. He lived in Ntzi Ni Di (Ti). 

 He could play nine liu shengs with his mouth 

 at one time. He wanted to go and choose the 

 mustard-flower girl who lived on the muddy 

 creek. Ndan Giang walked half the way and 

 met some litde boys who cared for the sheep 

 of the father of the mustard-flower girl. He 

 asked, "I want to go and get engaged to the 

 mustard-flower girl at the muddy-water creek. 

 How shall I go on that road, friends?" They 

 said, "Do you want to go and get engaged 

 to the mustard-flower girl at the muddy-water 

 creek? Go back and make for us three brace- 

 lets and give them to us." 



Ndan Giang went back and had them 

 made, one for each of them. The little boy 

 who cared for die sheep of the girl's father 

 led diem to the house. Then he got to see 

 the mustard-flower girl. He said to her, "It 

 is well." The father of the girl said to him, 

 'You go back and buy a half-catty of beef 

 and a half-jug of wine, and also bring them 

 as a marriage present." 



Then he went back home and prepared 

 everything and took them with him to make 

 the engagement. The guests of the father-in- 

 law were very numerous. In all there were 

 300 tables of guests. They could not eat up 

 the beef or drink up the wine he gave. They 

 could not use them up. The engagement 

 ceremony was carried out well. 



Ndan Giang was a poor man. After the 

 engagement was made he was unable to 

 marry her. So he went to live with his father- 

 in-law, and ate with his fadier-in-law. He 

 was a very lazy man. Later his father-in-law 

 did not like him, and would not give him 

 food to eat. Then he had nothing to eat 

 or wear. His wife also hated him. He said, 

 "Now I have no way to manage. I will go 

 anywhere to live in any house. There is 

 a large stone slab on my father-in-law's land. 

 I will go there and build a house to live in." 



He saw that that stone was very long. So 

 he went and borrowed the stonemason's iron 

 bar and pried on the stone. When he had 

 shoved it aside, he looked below it. Inside 

 was everything. There was a big house, wine, 

 meat, silver, gold, and clothing. There were 

 a gold and a silver liu sheng. There was 

 every kind of thing. 



He came out and closed the door. He then 

 went and bought the iron lever from the 



