A smart daughter-in-law———-a story of the Miao who are proud of their silver neckalces
Posted: January 1st, 2010 | Category: News and SocietyThe Miao minority group in southwestern China fascinates the world with its beautiful silver necklaces, embroidery, and batik art. With a history of more than 5,000 years, Miao people are proud of their rich culture and numerous interesting folktales and silver necklaces. A Smart Daughter-in-Law is one of the old stories that have been passed down for centuries.
An old man had three sons, and two of them was married. Living together with his sons, the old man was in charge of the family. As time went by, the old man felt himself too old to take care of everything. So he wanted one of his daughters-in-law to manage the family. But to find out which one was smarter, he would have to put them to some tests.
As the Miao new year was approaching, the old man told his two daughters-in-law: “We will need a few things to prepare our ancestor worship ceremony: two turtles without feet, two fishes without
scale, two pigs’ feet with black bones, and two white radishes which have red inside. You start looking for them now. Whoever finds them first will manage this family instead of me.
As they went out to look for those things, they wondered: “How could I possibly find things that don’t exist at all?” They got frustrated and started to cry. Their cry was heard by a girl close by, who came to ask what happened. After hearing the two women’s explanation, the girl said, ” All these things are at your home, so you don’t need to go out to look for them?” ” Are you serious?” the two women were puzzled, ” What? How do we have these at home.” The girl continued to say, ” The turtles without feet are actually sticky rice paste. The fishes without scale are actually new cloth shoes prepared for the new year. White radishes with red inside are eggs. And a piece of burning charcoal is a pig’s foot that has a black bone.”
Enlightened by what the girl told them, the two women went home. At home, they found all the items, and showed them to the old man. The old man was surprised, ” I feel happy that you have found these things. But did you find them by yourself, or did someone else help you? If you did it yourself, you will have more tests. If someone helped you, you should tell me who.”
The two daughters-in-law didn’t want any more test, so they told him the truth. The old man was excited and happy to know this, so he asked, ” How old is the girl? Please go and ask her whether or not she would like to marry my youngest son.” In the girl’s home, the two daughters-in-law told what the old man said to the girl, who then answered, ” I can marry his youngest son, but he must agree to let me manage the family.”
The old man agreed. Soon the girl brought her beautiful pure silver necklaces, and got married to the youngest son. She took the responsibility of managing the whole family. The family became prosperous under her management.
Seeing the family gained so much wealth in a short time, a local tyrant was jealous. He told the old man, ” I learnt that the wife of your youngest son is very clever, who can build wealth out of nothing. Now, I want you to give me a pig’s head which is just as big as a mountain. You must show me that in three days, otherwise I will confiscate all the things you have!”
The old man was very scared and asked his youngest daughter-in-law for help. The girl said, “Don’t be afraid of him. Tomorrow you go to ask him how much the mountain weighs, so we can give a pig’s head which weights as much as the mountain.”
The next day the old man went to the tyrant and asked him, “ I have many pig’s heads at home. You need to tell me how much your mountain weighs, so I will give you one with the same weight.”
The tyrant was dumbfounded by the question. Some time passed before he could reply, “OK, I give up the pig’s head. But now I want some wine, the same amount as that of the water in the river.” So the old man went home and repeated the question to his youngest daughter-in-law, who then said, “Ask him how many bowls of water there is in the river, so we can give him the same amount of wine.”
And the old man went to see the tyrant and told him what his daughter-in-law said. The tyrant was dumbfounded again. After a while he said, “OK, I give up the wine. But now I want you to show me a rooster that can lay eggs.” After getting this information from the old man, the girl said, ” Tomorrow you stay at home. I will go to see that bastard.”
The next day the girl went to the tyrant and said, “ Hey! About the rooster, my father-in-law haven’t started looking for it yet. Can you wait a few days?” The tyrant asked, ” Why didn’t he start searching for it yet?” The girl replied, ” Yesterday evening he gave birth to a baby. Now he needs to have some rest at home.” The tyrant yelled, ” Full of bullshit! How can a man have a baby?” The girl said, ” Good question! so, how can a rooster lay eggs?”
Embarrassed at the question, the tyrant stopped asking for things from the old man since then.
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