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).

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