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SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 12^ 



J 



midnight, and then had a dream. In his 

 dream he saw a very large man outside who 

 said to him, "Miao older brother, you are a 

 good person. Tomorrow I request you to do 

 some good things. In my left eye I have a 

 thorn. I request you to take it out for me. 

 If you will, I will give the hat on my head 

 to you. You can then be an emperor." 



He slept all night, and next morning arose 

 and realized that last night's dream was 

 strange. Then he looked and saw that the 

 human skull in the grave had a wooden 

 splinter sticking into the hollow of its left 

 eye. Then he took a stone ax and cut the 

 wooden splinter in two and pulled it out. 

 Then he looked and saw an embroidered hat 

 in the grave. This he put on his head and 

 went home. 



When he arrived home he saw that the 

 people in his home were just eating breakfast. 

 Then he called to them, but the people in his 

 home could not see him. So he took his hat 

 off, and then they could see him. Then he 

 told the people in his home about the hat. 



Next day he went into the village. When 

 he wore the hat, people could not see him. 

 Then he went and picked up the biscuits of 

 the Chinese and ate them, but the people 

 could not see him. He then took people's 

 gold and silver, and still they could not see 

 him. 



Later he came home and talked over things 

 with the people in his home. Then he put 

 a sharp knife in his bosom and went to the 

 palace and killed the emperor. He put on 

 die emperor's clothes and became emperor. 



That night he slept with the queen. The 

 queen felt of his body, and it was not like 

 that of the emperor. Then the empress knew 

 that something was wrong. The Miao could 

 only think of being an emperor, but did not 

 understand an emperor's affairs. Later, when 

 he had sat on the throne several years, he was 

 dethroned by another. In this way he realized 

 that it is not easy to be an emperor. He only 

 knew that a stone tomb is a lucky place. 

 Later he told this to the Miao people. He said, 

 "If you travel until dark and cannot find a 

 home, just find an ancient tomb and sleep 

 inside, and you need not fear anything." 



A Woman Gave Birth to Octiiplets (604) 



In ancient times there was a husband and 

 his wife. The wife was unable to give birth 

 to a son, and the husband scolded her every 

 day. Daily she went to work beside the big 

 road. On the one hand she worked, and on 

 the other hand she wept. 



One day the bachelor of arts Lo Yin went 



past and asked her, "Why are you crying?" 

 She replied, "I am unable to give birth to a 

 son. My husband scolds me every day and 

 I can hardly stand it, so I cry." Lo Yin the 

 bachelor of arts said to her, "Today I will 

 give you eight pills. You take them home and 

 eat one pill each time." 



She took tlie pills home and ate all the 

 eight pills at once. Later, at the end of one 

 year, she gave birth to eight sons at once. 

 These eight sons would not grow, and she 

 put them all on one bed. Her husband again 

 scolded her saying, "When you are unable 

 to give birth to a son, you cannot bear a 

 single one. When you do give birth to sons, 

 in one litter you give birth to many." She 

 again went beside the road and wept. 



One day the bachelor of arts Lo Yin again 

 went past that place, and again he asked her 

 why she was crying. She replied, "Formerly 

 I did not have sons, and my husband scolded 

 me. Now I have eight sons, and they will 

 not grow. He again scolds me, so I am weep- 

 ing." Lo Yin the bachelor of arts said, "This 

 time you go back and name them. Name 

 the oldest Ta I, Big First (-born), the second 

 Er I, Second (-born), the third Shan T'ieh 

 Hing, Third Iron Layers, the fourth Po P'i, 

 Thin Skin, the fifth Lan (or Nan) Ze, Hard 

 to Make Hot, the sixth Shen Hsien, Immortal, 

 the seventh Ch'ang Chioh Kan, or Long Legs, 

 and the eighth Lao Pa Tso T'ien Hsia, Old 

 One Who Rules Over the World, and they 

 will be able to grow large." 



She returned home and changed their 

 names thus, and in a short time that group 

 of children grew up. Then they went and 

 found food for their parents to eat, and their 

 parents were no longer sad. But this news 

 spread to Peking, and the emperor sent mes- 

 sengers to find them. Lu Shen Hsien first 

 knew that the emperor was sending to arrest 

 them. Then Shan T'ieh Hing went to visit 

 those messengers. Then the emperor ordered 

 men to beat him a whole day, but they did 

 not strike him (for he had three layers of 

 metal on his outside). After they had beaten 

 him he still smiled. They were unable to hurt 

 him by beating, so they released him. 



A second time the emperor thought of 

 coming and seizing them. Luh (No. 6) Shen 

 Hsien first knew about this and said, "This 

 time he will take us and skin us." Then they 

 told Ssu (No. 4) Po P'i to go. But when they 

 took off one layer of skin, he again grew a 

 layer. Since they could not kill him, they 

 released huTi. 



Later the emperor came a third time to 

 seize them. Then they sent the fifth one. 



