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[ABSTRACT] This text is a partial translation of "Ordos Folklore Collections" (published by Inner Mongolia People's Press, 1999). The original title is "鄂尔多斯⺠间采风 (Eerduosi minjian caifeng)" in Chinese, and the text is edited by Jagas (Mongolian name) who went by the pseudonym of Qian Shiying. The original manuscript was written in Chinese. This book contains eighty-six folktales collected in the Ordos district of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China, and arranged by the editor. The prominent place of the collection is probably the author's hometown of Üüshin (Wushen) Banner in the Ordos district. The folktales fall into one of three categories: about animals and plants (28), about people (34), and about myths (24). I have translated three of the folktales about myths. The first story, "The Fortuitous Meeting of the Foolish Second Son," is about an unmarried second son who protects a small dragon from his vicious elder brother and sister-in-law; then, with the help of the small dragon, he goes to the Heavenly Palace. As the title suggests, the second son in the first folktale is characterized as foolish and not bright. Following the advice of the small dragon, the second son hides the scarf of the Dragon King's third daughter and gets together with her, as she cannot return home without the scarf. Three years later, he returns to his wife the scarf that he had hidden, and she then disappears and he searches for her. With the help of the small dragon, he visits the Dragon King's home to take her back. Overcoming various difficulties from the Dragon King with the help of the Dragon King's third daughter, he is officially recognized as married to her, becomes an official in the Heavenly Palace, and becomes the Dragon King. A similar story is "The Stag," which was collected and published by A. Mostaert. The difference between the two is that the bullying from the brother's wife is emphasized in "The Stag," whereas in the first tale, it is both the elder brother and the brother's wife. Also, a stag, instead of a small dragon, rescues the second son in "The Stag," Different from the happy ending with the Dragon King's daughter in the heavenly palace, in "The Stag," the hero lives happily with his many wives on earth after losing contact with his wife in heaven. The development of this story overlaps with "Urashima Taro," in which a rescued creature returns the favor, "Tennin-nyobo" (Celestial maiden wife), in which a man takes a maiden's scarf so she cannot return to the Heavenly Palace and so is wedded to the man, and "San-mai no O-fuda" ("The Three magic charms") a tale of escape in which a man casts a spell behind him when he runs away to fend off his pursuers. In "San-mai no O-fuda," a Yamauba (mountain witch) chased the man, but in "The Fortuitous Meeting of the Foolish Second Son," the temple monks chased the second son because he had stolen a treasure. In the second tale, "The Tale of Zhang and Duan," the good Zhang journeys to a new land with all his possessions and meets the wicked Duan, a beggar. Zhang and Duan become sworn brothers, but Zhang is tricked by Duan and is pushed off a cliff. Zhang survives but is blinded. A supposed celestial then guides Zhang to eavesdrop on the conversations between a tiger, wolf, and fox in a temple. Using the knowledge overheard from the conversations, he first cures the illness of a wealthy herdsman's daughter and becomes the herdman's son-in-law. He then cures his own blindness using divine water, discovers a water source near his home, and attains happiness. On the other hand, Duan quickly uses up the wealth from Zhang and returns to being a beggar. Later, when he learns of Zhang's success, he tries to do the same, but on the contrary, the animals eat him up. Similar stories are found in the folk tale "Two Brothers" by the Dungans and "The Beasts’ Secret Tale" by the Pumi people. The eavesdropping on the animals' stories and the characters' subsequent contrasting successes and failures are almost identical. The difference is that this story is based on the life of pastoralists. The water from the dug well is used as drinking water for livestock. Although they do not gain gold, silver, or treasure, they are wealthier because they no longer have to travel far to provide their livestock water to drink, and wolves and other predators no longer attack them. In addition, there are several differences in details. The story of the guidance by the celestial, the protagonist's blindness, and his recovery are missing in the two similar stories by the Dungans and Pumi people. In the third story, "The Gift of Khan," the first and second wives kill the third wife's baby son of the most favored Khan while Khan is on an expedition, replacing the baby son she gave birth to with a newborn canine. The story is that when Khan returns from his expedition, he is reunited with his killed son who is reborn as a talking baby cow and then overcomes difficult conditions to restore his son into a human. The story's development is similar to that of the "Hanasaka Jiisan” (Flowerblooming old man). The three stories are similar in that good deeds are rewarded, and bad people are punished. In the first story, we are impressed by the powerful and wise third princess who helps the foolish hero. This indicates the high social status of women in Mongolia and the bravery of women in heroic epics. All three stories are considered to reflect the life of Mongolian pastoralists, at least in the sense that sheep and cattle are used as metaphors for size in the first tale, and the second story is also based on the life of pastoralists. The listeners, as well as the narrator, may all be Mongols.
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