中文

The Puyuma

The Puyuma Maiden and the Deer Youth

On the plains of Nanwang in Eastern Taiwan, the following story is still told:
There was a couple who, after having given birth to four sons one after another,
Were eager to also have a daughter to love and cherish.
The four sons felt the same way.
When they heard that their mother was pregnant again,
The whole family prayed, day in, day out,
For a darling daughter and sister.
The mother’s belly grew larger and larger with every day,
And it seemed to everyone that she would indeed have a girl this time.
One early morning,
When the sun had just come up,
There was a loud cry, and the mother had given birth to a healthy baby girl.
The baby cried with the same force and resonant voice as a boy.
All the elders of the tribe came running to pray for blessings for the child.
The little girl grew very quickly
And turned into a hardworking young woman who was loved by everyone.
She would fetch water from the river and gather firewood in the mountains,
And in her leisure time she’d weave flower garlands in the yard of their home
And help her mother with her embroidery.
But the favorite pastime of this lovely girl was to roam through the wild mountains
And pick daisies to make garlands.
Whenever a celebration or ceremony was held,
She would present the elders with her beautiful garlands made from fresh flowers
And the elders would wear them on their heads:
“Yee-dee-ya-goo-wua!”
There came a day in May
When deep, deep in the mountains the girl discovered a sea of yellow daisies.
She could smell their soft fragrance from far away,
And following that pleasant scent she happily walked towards them,
Deeper and deeper into the mountains, all the while humming a little tune to herself.
Then she saw a beautiful male deer prancing about in the middle of the daisies—
But as soon as she had espied the young stag, it vanished completely.
“What did you come here for?”
A boy had suddenly appeared right behind her. She was startled,
But she asked him in return,
“What are you doing here?”
The boy answered, “I came to watch you pick flowers.”
The girl asked, “How did you know I came to pick flowers?”
“Of course I know that,” said the boy. “And I also know that you completely forgot about it as soon as you saw the deer, hahaha…!”
From that day on, the girl went up the mountains every day,
And she wove her garlands ever more swiftly.
One day, the boy took out a beautiful pearl necklace
And gave it to the girl as a gift, “Always wear this around your neck,
And every time you see the necklace, you’ll think of me.”
As soon as he had finished talking,
The handsome boy turned into a beautiful deer and sprang away.
Now the girl’s father was a fierce hunter,
And he invited all the tribe’s strong young men
To go hunting in the mountains with him.
When the father and the brothers returned from the hunt,
The girl and her mother came running out of the house
To see what they were bringing home.
When the father put down the prey he was carrying on his shoulder,
The girl’s eyes caught sight of the beautiful horn of a deer.
The girl let out a terrified scream and fainted.
She knew that her father’s trophy meant that her beloved boy was dead,
And she refused to participate in the ceremony
That was held to celebrate the hunters’ triumphant return.
She was so heartbroken that she became very ill and was confined to bed.
They made warm winter clothes from the deer’s hide,
And they shared the deer’s meat generously with the other tribespeople.
The deer horn they had firmly attached to a stone pillar in front of the house
In commemoration of the successful hunt.
The sight of the horn rising against the sky
Only made the girl sadder and sadder.
Then one day, when everybody else was asleep,
The girl silently climbed up the roof of the house
And threw herself off the roof onto the deer’s horn.
The horn pierced her heart and she died, just like the deer youth had.
But the story doesn’t die, and the Puyuma remember it
And pass it on from one generation to the next.
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