NO. 2 FOLK RELIGION IN SOUTHWEST CHINA — GRAHAM 85 



world will soon be flooded and every person drowned. You had better 

 make a plan to save yourselves." 



The older brother made a boat of metal, and the younger brother 

 made a boat of wood. When the flood came, the older brother was 

 drowned, and only the younger brother and his sister survived. Un- 

 less they married, the human race would become extinct. But the girl 

 was not willing to marry him, because it was not right for a girl to 

 marry her brother. They resolved to divine to learn whether it was 

 the will of the gods for them to marry. They therefore took two 

 parts of a stone grinder and rolled them down a hill. If they should 

 be together when they stopped rolling, the brother and sister should 

 marry; if apart, they should not marry. The two parts of the grind- 

 ing-mill were rolled down the hill, and they stopped together. There- 

 fore the brother and the sister got married, and the human race was 

 continued. 



2. The first human ancestors of mankind. — In ancient times there 

 was a family named Ch'iao-mu-chia, in which were three brothers. The 

 name of the first was Ch'iao-mu-shih-ch'i ; of the second, Ch'iao- 

 mu-shih-li; of the third, Ch'iao-mu-shih-ch'i or T'ao-mu-shih-liao. 

 Their profession was farming. 



Once the three brothers plowed a field continuously for three days. 

 They started work at daybreak and stopped at dusk. They worked 

 very hard to plow the dirt soft. Every morning they found the soil 

 turned back again and hard as though it had not been plowed. They 

 were astonished at this. On the fourtli night the three brothers 

 watched the field to see what would happen. At midnight there was a 

 sound as though somebody was plowing. The three brothers were 

 surprised and woke up. They saw an old man with a long white beard, 

 holding a big hoe. The two older brothers thought it might be a 

 demon. One jumped up and pulled out his sword. The other placed 

 his arrow on the bow. They intended to kill the old man, but the 

 younger brother came up and prevented them. He went to the old 

 man and asked the reason for what he was doing. The old man said, 

 "All creatures have offended the gods and the demons. Therefore 

 seven days after this there will be a great flood that will destroy all 

 the creatures on the earth." Then the younger brother knelt before 

 him and entreated him to save them. The old man said to the oldest 

 brother, "You make an iron boat and put all your possessions in it." 

 To the second oldest brother he said, "You make a brass boat and 

 put your food and other possessions in it." Finally he said to the 

 youngest, "You make a wooden boat of the wood of the zvii-t'ong 



