The Origin of the Tiger Clan
In ancient times，there was a big flood.Before the flood，the god Abel told people to hide quickly.Nobody followed his suggestion except one brother and one sister.The brother's name was Ah Shidi，and the sister's name was Ah Yidi.They hid in the big gourd that fell from the sky，floating with the water，and survived at last.When the flood subsided，there was no other human in the world.In order to produce offsprings，the brother and the sister had to get married.
After their marriage，their first child was a girl，the second was also a girl，and Ah Yidi gave birth to seven girls in row.After the seventh girl was born，Ah Shidi，the father，died.Ah Yidi had to take care of the seven daughters alone.Suffering from a lot of hardships，she finally brought up the seven girls.But there was not a male in the world.How can they have offspring？And where to find males？These questions troubled Ah Yidi day and night.
One day，a white-flowered tiger suddenly came to their home to make an offer of marriage.The whole family were frightened.The girls cried and screamed in fright.The tiger threatened them，“If you refuse my propose，I will kill your whole family.”In order to save the family，Sister Seven，the seventh daughter，said to her mother and her elder sisters，“Let me marry the tiger for saving you！”Her mother and her elder sisters cried and said，“Sister Seven，how can we let you marry a ferocious tiger？”
When the tiger heard this，he transformed into a handsome young man.He came to propose again the next day.Sister Seven knew that he was the tiger but she had no choice but followed him to go home and became his wife.
Once，Sister Seven went to visit her mother and her sisters.She said to her mother，“Mom，your life is tough，while there are a lot of meats in my family.Please go to my home to get some meats.”A month later，the son-in-law personally invited Ah Yidi to fetch the meat，and Ah Yidi agreed.The son-in-law walked in front of Ah Yidi，who just saw the footprints of a tiger.She was frightened and returned home.She did it like this for many times.
Two years passed，Sister Seven did not see her mother，so she visited her with carrying a wild boar's foot.Sister Seven asked，“Mom，I've been waiting for you for such a long time that the meat of wild animals has rotted.Why didn't you come？”The mother replied，“I went to your home with your husband several times，but I only saw the footprints of a tiger on the way.I didn't dare to go any further and returned home each time.”
Sister Seven asked her mother to go to her home with her together.They walked into the deep mountains and forests，and then climbed to the top of the mountain.Outside a cave，they saw a big white-flowered tiger playing with two little tigers.The mother was scared and asked her daughter，“Where is your house？”Sister Seven said，“Right here.”The mother said，“It was just a tiger's cave！”Hearing it，the tiger immediately put down the children and went up to meet his mother-in-law.At this moment，the tiger turned into a man，the two little tigers turned into two lively children，and the tiger's cave turned into a wooden house.
The tiger entertained Ah Yidi with animal meat，but she refused to eat the raw meat.So he cut a piece of flesh as big as a finger off all the wild animals'legs and gave it to her in a large basket.Then he walked her to return home.Ah Yidi entertained the tiger with oatmeal noodles，but he could not swallow them.Ah Yidi had to give the tiger the only pig in her family，which was only enough for the tiger to be full.
Several years later，Sister Seven and the tiger's two sons grew up and became hunters.They often went hunting in the forest.There was a very deep black hole in the forest.One day，they determined to see how deep the hole was.Unfortunately，the elder brother fell into the hole.And he reached to a bright world with a sky and an earth，where he saw many dwarfs.They were shocked to see the elder brother，who was much bigger than them.The elder brother asked for some meat to eat.They did what he had asked，and brought to him everything they caught，such as rats，fish，frogs，snakes，finches，etc.After living there for several years，the elder brother ate this world's everything and even licked all the flour pulp on their walls.The dwarfs were afraid he would eat them after eating up all the food.So they asked an eagle to send the tiger out of the hole.The eagle agreed but said，“You must offer me two dustpans of rat meat first，or I will not and will not be able to fly.”The dwarfs got three dustpans of meat to feed the eagle.In mid-air，the eagle felt hungry and wanted to throw the tiger down.So the tiger had to let the eagle peck the meat on his leg to fly out of the hole.Now when people stand up，there are small holes on both sides of the joint between thighs and knees，which are the marks left by the eagle's peck.
After the elder brother fell into the hole，the younger brother took advantage of his brother's absence to seize his sister-in-law.The sister-in-law said，“I haven't seen your elder brother in my dream，which means your brother is still alive（Lemo people thought it was unlucky to dream of relatives who went out in the distance）.”However，the younger brother forced the sister-in-law to marry him.It turned out that it was the younger brother's plot that made his elder brother fall into the hole.After the elder brother returned back，his wife saw him and asked the younger brother，“Who is he？”But the younger brother pretended not to know him.
Then she said to the younger brother，“Please go to tell him，if he's the member of our family，he should sit on my bed；if he is not，he should live in the cattle pen.”The elder brother came to sit on her bed and then she knew he was her husband indeed.So the couple reunited.Later，the younger brother was single and drifted around and died.
In this way，the tiger's offsprings multiplied from generation to generation and became the Tiger Clan.
Many years passed，one of the descendants of the Tiger Clan was a man named La Xiu，who had a magic coat.Wearing the coat，he could transform into a tiger.And in this way，he could steal other people's pigs，cattle and sheep at his will.One day，one of his friends stole his magic coat，and he could not transform into a tiger.So he was caught and locked up by people.Jia Wu（the ghost who is offered sacrifices by the Tiger Clan）rescued him and gave him a knife.He dug through the wall with the knife，and fled to the Nujiang River.This was the reason why the Tiger Clan spread in the Nujiang River.