Folklore is primarily passed down through oral storytelling, with tales often containing moral lessons about community, respect, and proper behavior.
This Story Cloth depicts 5 different stories, two of which are shared in great detail “The Flood and the Naming Story” and “The Brave Woman and the Tiger.” The other stories mentioned are “The King and His Seven Daughters,” “Naoanjua and Sheena Playing the Qeej,” and “Why Farmers Have to Work so Hard.”
The Flood and the Naming Story
Long ago, the whole universe was turned upside down, and the whole world was flooded. All living beings perished except one brother and his sister, who took refuge in a large wooden funeral drum. The brother and sister heard the drum land and emerged to find no other living beings. The brother wanted to marry his sister, but she resisted. She proposed, as a test, that they roll rocks down opposite slopes of a mountain. If they were found together at the summit the next day, she would marry him. The brother got up during the night and carried the two stones to the top of the mountain. The sister saw them together the next morning and concluded that they could be married. Later, they gave birth to a child like a round, smooth stone. They cut the egg-like creature into little pieces and threw them in different directions. Two pieces that landed on the goat house became the Lee clan. Two that fell in the pig pen became clan Moua. Two that landed in the garden became the clans Vang and Yang. Thus arose all the Hmong clans. The stone child also produced chickens, pigs, oxen, insects, birds, and all other living things, and the brother and sister were no longer alone.
Stitched and embroidered by an unknown Hmong artist.
