Sui People - Literature

Literature

Sui oral literature is rich in myths, songs, and folk tales. The list below is from Wei (2003:xxvi).

• Ancient myths and songs
  • The creation of heaven and earth
  • The origin of humanity
  • The song of creating humans - involving a fight among humans, dragons and tigers
  • The origin of new life - A brother and sister plant a pumpkin from which new life sprouts.
• Legends about individuals
  • The song of Pan Xinjian, a rich magnate
  • The story of Jingui
  • A man named Niu
  • A poor teacher
  • A stone horse who shot out the sun
• Legends about customs
  • Origin of the Duan festival - A brother marries his younger sister, giving rise to the Duan festival.
  • Origin of the Mao festival
  • The planting of the fir upside down
• Legends about scenery
  • Legends on the origins of the Duliujiang River
  • The legend of dinosaurs and the Yueliang (Moon) Mountain
• Folk tales
  • The origin of bronze drums
  • The grape girl
  • Why the tiger hates the buffalo and tiger
  • The eye and the foot
• Life-related songs
  • The song of creating cotton
  • The song of creating grain
  • The song of making wine
  • The song of planting trees
  • The song of suffering
• Custom-related songs
  • The song of the Duan festival
  • The song of mourning
• Love songs
  • The girl lovely as brocade
  • It is hard to miss you
  • Sister will go with the brother together
• Sayings and singing
  • The crane and the crow
  • The sparrow and the thrush

Excerpts of Sui songs can also be found in Fang-Kuei Li's 1977 book Shuihua yanjiu (Research on the Sui language).