199
new to me when I recorded it at Kat O.
Subsequently, I was surprised to be able to note the following in a study on the minority Li people of Hainan Island:
The emperor's other daughter was married to someone and she gave birth to a son. One day, when she was working with her husband in the field, her son was nearby as the emperor came riding on a horse. When he saw his nephew, he was surprised, and asked him, "You know how to read. Can you count the number of paddy shoots your mother has transplanted?" The nephew said, "Uncle, can you count how many steps your horse has moved?" The emperor could not answer, and took away the book that was in his hands. Later, when the child was older (he was about twelve or thirteen years old), he was angry with the emperor for having taken his book away. So he asked his parents to make him a bow and an arrow. The mother thought he wanted them only as a toy. At night, the child asked his mother if the cockerel had crowed. He asked this question several times, and so the mother went outside the door, flapped her arms several times in the way a cockerel might flap its wings, and pretended to crow. Thereupon, the child rose, picked up the bow and arrow, and shot the arrow in the direction of the emperor's residence. The arrow flew away and hit the emperor's bed. After that, the child rode on a horse to see the emperor, to ask him what he could do. The emperor, however, asked the child what he, the child, could do. The child said there were things that he could do. He asked for five bowls of food and five bowls of rice to be put on the table. He hit the table with his hand, and the food and rice jumped into his mouth. He asked the emperor to do the same, but when the emperor hit the table, he could force no more than two grains of rice into his mouth. Insulted, the emperor became angry, and cut off the child's head with his knife. The child picked up the head, put it on his neck, and left. Halfway home, however, his horse died after it had eaten some rice. He had to walk home. When he saw his mother, he asked her, "Would a chicken head live if it was fixed