9

9

The red azalea in Luofeng Mountain blossomed with 72 pieces of flower as a cluster,competing for beauty and for colors.After leaving their parents,the children were like spring water in mountain flowing far away;like the wild geese in the sky flying very high.On the day when Ah Die(Laogu,the dad)drew a hundred lines on the trunk,and when Ah Ma(Laotai,the mom)filled the pit with one hundred stones,the children returned home one by one group.

The roads on which the children walked were like lines in the chamber of a stone mill,the rivers they crossed through were like the hair of an ox,the mountains they climbed over were like the leaves,and the difficulties they encountered were like endless clouds in the sky.Now,each child learned some kinds of skills to survive,which would make the parents happy.

The day when the children came back,Ah Die was happy enough to slap his hands,and Ah Ma was delighted enough to stamp her feet.The old couple kept asking the children questions,and the children were like a nest of magpies scrambling to speak and answer the questions.

Ciwu and Duosuo learned to use bows and arrows,buttons and traps to hunt animals and birds,and they became hunters.Shehuduo and Juluwang got the fire.Hainaoxie and Daogao learned logging,cutting bamboo,nesting,framing house,so they became carpenters.Guihu and Bishen learned how to draw silk and spin thread from wild silkworms,and they learned how to weave and cut clothes from katydid,so they became tailors.Hengzhuozhi and Banzhuozhi imitated ants crossing the river on wood,spiders weaving webs,they learned how to build boats and rafts,wave nets,catch fish and shrimps,and they became the fisherman and the fisherwoman.Wunu and Jijie were clever and skillful.They went to heaven with birds to find the five grain crops and learned how to hoe and make sickles from woodpeckers.They learned how to make plows from small earthworms and made friends with cows and golden pheasants.They burned grass and bushes,turned up the soil,sowed the seeds and harvested the crops together,and then they became farmers.With the help of squirrels and golden pheasants,Suoxu and Duozuokui found the seeds of melons and fruits,seedlings of plants,and learned the skill of planting flowers and fruits.Fuzheng and Henglao learned how to brew wine from butterflies and gather flowers and make honey from bees.Since then,they had let the family eat sweet sugar and drink delicious wine.Among them,Hete and Guzhuo walked the farthest and suffered the most.When they were thirsty,they mistook poison for water;when they were hungry,they mistook kusnezoff monkshood root for food.They ate ninety-nine kinds of poisonous herbs and tasted ninety-nine kinds of good medicines.So they could distinguish which kinds of herbs could not be eaten and which root seedlings could cure diseases,and later they became herbalists.Jimiran was just like a thrush bird,and Xiganpiao was better than a magpie.When they walked,they kept jumping;when they talked,they kept laughing.On their way,they learned to speak from imitating mynahs,to sing like warblers;they learned how to play strings like mountain springs,how to dance like a butterfly,and they also learned the bird's language,and make musical instruments.In this way,they brought great joy to life.