The Second Daughter and the Tiger Clan
After the eldest daughter got married,the family had only four daughters left.
One day,Ayuetie and the second daughter went up the hill to cut wood.Just up the mountainside,they were greeted by a big tiger.The big tiger stopped them and said:“Ayuetie,Ayuetie!Marry your second daughter to me!Or I'll eat you!”
Ayuetie did not dare to answer it,but looked back at her daughter.The second daughter was shocked and scared.To save her mother,she had to agree.
After a year,the girl gave birth to two children who looked just like the ordinary people.
Ayuetie missed her second daughter very much and went to look for her in the mountains,but there was always a big tiger sleeping on the road.She was afraid and returned home.
The girl knew that her mother wanted to see her,so she made up a bag of grain flour,and spread it from the mouth of the cave to the crossing of the road at the foot of the hill.Ayuetie walked along the gain flour and went to the tiger cave directly.When Ayuetie went into the cave,she saw no tiger but a strong young man.What puzzled her was that no young man was seen but a big tiger from a distance.
The tiger asked Ayuetie what she wanted to eat,and she answered she wanted to eat meat.The tiger ran out,and in a short time,he came back with a lot of meats:the meat of deer,wild pork,goat,muntjac,and rabbit.
After dinner,Ayuetie wanted to go home.Carrying a deer and a rhinoceros,the tiger went home with her.Ayuetie treated the tiger a meal.When the tiger returned to the cave,the second daughter asked,“Did you have your meal at Ama's(Ama means mother)house?”
“No,no!”said the tiger,“I only ate a few of grasses!”
Once again,Ayuetie came to see the second daughter.The girl said to her,“Ama!The next time your second son-in-law goes to see you,you should put a pig and a sheep in the house for him to eat,but you should not look at him when he eats them.”
When the tiger went to his mother-in-law's house again,Ayuetie did as the second daughter had said.The tiger returned to the cave and said happily to the second daughter,“I was full this time,and even now,I am not hungry!”
When Abutie heard that his second son-in-law could hunt,he asked the tiger to go hunting with him.They made the plan:The son-in-law went to chase the animal out of his cave,and the father-in-law hid behind the large stone with a crossbow.As soon as the animal came out of the cave,Abutie would shoot it to death.
Abutie waited behind the big rock and soon a bear ran out of the cave.Abutie shot it but missed it.The bear ran away.Behind the bear came a big tiger.Abutie was so anxious that he hit the tiger with an arrow and killed the tiger.
Abutie dragged the dead tiger to the second daughter's house.The girl cried as soon as she saw the tiger,“Daddy!You shot my husband to death!”
Abutie was so regretful that he had to take the second daughter and the tiger's two sons home.Later,the two boys'descendants developed into a great clan—the Tiger Clan,and the present Lemo people in Bijiang are the descendants of the Tiger Clan.