Nraug Ntsuag & Ntxawm

 Here is another audio clip of a folktale called, Nraug Ntsuag and Ntxawm. There are many stories about an orphan boy, Nraug Ntsuag, and a wealthy village head's daughter, Ntxawm. Here's a summary of this particular story.

Nraug Ntsuag and Ntxawm have gotten married for not too long. When the hemp harvest season arrives, Nraug Ntsuag sends Ntxawm to her parents' village to help them make threads and cloths from hemp. Half way on their trip, Ntxawm says to Nraug Ntsuag that she can see her parents village in the distance and she can hear the sounds of the rice pounder clicking and clanking. She tells Nraug Ntsuag that her parents are near so she can walk the remaining distance by herself. Nraug Ntsuag can return home.

Playing his qeej, bamboo reed pipe, Nraug Ntsuag turns around to make his trip back home. When Ntxawm approaches the settlement she assumed to have belonged to her parents, she finds out that she was surrounded by tigers. The sounds that she heard earlier were not that of rice pounders, but the tigers banging their fangs against rocks. Ntxawm calls back to Nraug Ntsuag to help her, but playing his instrument loudly, he heard her telling him to travel home faster.

The tigers capture Ntxawm and take her deep into their fortress where they imprison her inside a cave.

One day, a pair of father and son named, Ntseb Nraj Nraum and Moj Txiv Kuav, are hunting in the forest and they stumble upon Ntxawm. After finding out that she is human and that she is willing to marry the son, Tub Hluav Ncuav, the father and son kill all the tigers and rescue Ntxawm. They know that Ntxawm has wed before so to prove that they did not steal another's wife and that they rescue Ntxawm from the mouths of dragons and tigers, Ntseb Nraj Nraum and Moj Txiv Kuav skin a tiger to keep the skin as evidence.

After three months, Nraug Ntsuag goes to Ntxawm's parents' village to retrieve his wife. But when he arrives, he finds out that Ntxawm never showed up. Angry at Nraug Ntsuag's carelessness towards their daughter, Ntxawm's parents strip Nraug Ntsuag of his wealth and turn him into their slave.

Although he becomes his parents-in-law's slave, he works very hard and often earns his mother-in-law's sympathy. Soon, when an old Chinese man comes to want to hire Nraug Ntsuag to go keep watch over his herd of horses and cows, the mother-in-law decide to let Nraug Ntsuag go.

Every day while he keeps watch over the horses and cows, Nraug Ntsuag weeps over his lost wife. He then attracts the attention of a demon, who tells Nraug Ntsuag that his wife is not yet dead. In fact, she is alive, has remarried and now has a child with another man. If Nraug Ntsuag wishes to see his wife, the demon can help. However, the demon is very hungry and if Nraug Ntsuag can bring a plump chicken and meet her the next day where the cow grazes the grass, then the demon will help Nraug Ntsuag to see his wife once more.

Nraug Nstuag comes home that night and lies to the old Chinese couple to give him a plump chicken. He meets the demon the next day and after feeding her, she weaves a rope latter. Then, Nraug Ntsuag climbs onto the tip of the rope latter and the demon swings Nraug Ntsuag into the sky. High up above the clouds, Nraug Ntsuag can see Ntxawm in the distance.

He comes home that night and tells his parents-in-law that he wants to go hunting. Pitying the son-in-law, the parents give him permission to leave. Nraug Ntsuag puts on his best clothes and sets out to find Ntxawm. When the two meet, Ntxawm reveals her story to Nraug Ntsuag as well as the fact that Ntseb Nraj Nraum and Moj Txiv Kuav have kept a tiger's skin as evidence that they have lawfully married Ntxawm to Tub Hluav Ncuav.

Nraug Ntsuag tells Ntxawm that he will go and retrieve the skin of a goat to bring back to Ntxawm. He then needs Ntxawm to swap the goat skin with the tiger skin so that they can be together again. Still attracted to the handsome Nraug Ntsuag over Tub Hluav Ncua, whose face is filled with acne scars, Ntxawm agrees. 

That night, Nraug Ntsuag lies to his parents-in-law that he has met Ntxawm and that it was Ntseb Nraj Nraum and Moj Txiv Kuav who lusted for his wife and kidnapped her. He asks his parents-in-law to help him seek justice. Buying into Nraug Ntsuag's accusations, the parents tell him that they will help him to get his wife back. Nraug Ntsuag then tells the couple that he is craving for goat meat, so they slaughter a goat for him to eat. He skins the goat and dries its skin.

After four to five days, Ntxawm's parents took a group of elders to help them settle the dispute about who Ntxawm's lawful husband. When they arrive at Ntxawm's village, Nraug Ntsuag sneaks to meet up with Ntxawm again. He gives her the dried goat skin and she switches it with the Ntseb Nraj Nraum and Moj Txiv Kuav's tiger skin. 

During the dispute between Ntxawm's parents and Ntseb Nraj Nraum and Moj Txiv Kuav, although they claim to have the skin of a tiger as proof of evidence of their rightful acquisition of Ntxawm, the only skin produce in front of the elders' eyes is that of a goat. Without the tiger skin to back their words, the elders agree that Ntxawm needs to be returned to Nraug Ntsuag.

Ntxawm then resumes to be Nraug Ntsuag's wife, leaving her son with Tub Hluav Ncuav. Upon their union, Ntxawm's parents give their daughter and son-in-law a grand dowry and the story ends.

In many Hmong folktales, the male protagonist is not always the most kind-heart, but he is often portrayed as someone who is smart and has the skills to even outwit a king. Furthermore, aided by his handsomeness and the beauty of a lovely maiden, he can achieve almost anything.

Here is the audio version of Nraug Ntsuag and Ntxawm.