When they were young, they were very poor. As they grew older and each started a family of his own, they remained poor. No matter how hard they worked, they never seemed to have enough.
One day, the two brothers decided to seek help from Suav Xeeb Xeeb. They went to him and asked him to read their fortunes and explain why their lives had been so difficult.
Suav Xeeb Xeeb read their fortunes carefully. Then he told them, “If you both wish to live a better life, you must travel to China. Go there and find an old Chinese woman who can return with you and grind your rice. She is the one who will help improve your lives.”
The two brothers returned home, took their horses, and set out on their journey to China.
When they arrived, they came upon an old woman sitting beside a house, slowly and weakly grinding rice. The brothers approached the owner of the house and asked, “Brother, may we take that old woman with us? We would like her to grind our rice and help look after our home.”
The brothers looked at one another.
“Perhaps she will not die so quickly,” they said. “How much do you want for her?”
The Chinese man shook his head.
“She is old and will soon die. Even if she remains here, I am tired of feeding her. If you truly want her, I will let her go for free.”
So Ntshiab and Ntshaus took the old Chinese woman with them and began the long journey home.
Halfway through their journey, the old woman could no longer walk very well. She moved slowly, step by step. But the brothers were callous toward her. They forced the old woman to walk ahead of them while they rode behind her, whipping their horses so that the horses' hooves repeatedly struck her heels.
They continued this until the woman's heels were badly bruised.
The old woman cried out, “Sons! Please do not let your horses keep stepping on my heels. If you do, then when we reach your home, I will not be able to grind rice for either of you to eat.”
“Keep going, you old woman!” they shouted. “Why do you walk as though your bones have not yet matured? If you are going to die, then die! Once you are dead, we can leave you beside the road and return home without you.”
The group continued traveling until lunchtime.
Ntshiab and Ntshaus stopped and said to the old woman, “Old woman! Go fetch some water so that we can eat lunch. Afterward, we will continue our journey.”
The old woman went to fetch water, but she took a very long time to return.
Ntshiab looked at Ntshaus and asked, “Why don't you follow her, brother? Perhaps she has died beside the stream.”
Ntshaus nodded and went after her.
After walking a short distance, he picked up a rock. He intended to strike the old woman with it so that, if she had not already died, the blow would finish her.
But before he could carry out his wicked plan, he heard the old woman moaning to herself:
“The sun shines so beautifully upon this place where Muam Nkauj Ntuas and Txiv Nraug Xib Qhoo once gathered stones and made stone grinders, where my little Ntshiab and Ntshaus were fed. Now that I have returned, where have my little Ntshiab and Ntshaus gone?”
Ntshaus stopped.
He wondered to himself, “Why is this old Chinese woman crying?”
He quietly placed the rock back on the ground and called to her.
“Chinese woman! Hurry and fetch the water so that we can eat. If we do not eat, we will not have the strength to continue our journey home.”
While the old woman went to fetch the water, Ntshaus returned to Ntshiab and told him what she had said.
Then Ntshaus said, “I have heard people say that our father was named Ntaj Xib Qhoo, and that the Chinese killed him and enslaved our mother. If that is true, perhaps we should stop allowing our horses to step on her heels.”
Soon, the old Chinese woman returned with a bucket of water, and the three of them ate their lunch.
Afterward, they continued their journey.
After traveling for some time, they reached a place where there was plenty of food for pigs. The old woman looked around and said to the brothers, “Sons, you two go ahead. Let me stay here for a while. I will follow you afterward.”
The brothers agreed and rode ahead.
But after traveling for some distance, they realized that the old woman had not followed them.
Ntshaus said to Ntshiab, “Brother, go back and see what happened to her.”
Ntshiab returned to the place where they had left the old woman.
There, he heard her moaning once again:
“The sun shines so beautifully upon this place where Txiv Ntaj Xib Qhoo and I, Muam Nkauj Ntaj Ntuas, once came to gather food for our pigs, where my little Ntshiab and Ntshaus were fed.
“After my Txiv Ntaj Xib Qhoo died, I became a slave. Where have my little Ntshiab and Ntshaus gone?”
The old woman began to cry, and tears streamed endlessly down her face.
Ntshiab called to her.
“Come, old woman. We must continue our journey before darkness falls.”
The old woman followed him, and together they continued down the road.
After a while, they reached a place where wood was abundant and woodcutters often came to gather it.
Again, the old woman became nostalgic. She looked around and began to moan in the same sorrowful way.
The two brothers could no longer keep their questions to themselves.
They asked her, “Chinese woman, you keep moaning about these places and speaking as though you have been here before. Are you Chinese or Hmong?”
The old woman answered, “I am Hmong.”
The brothers looked at each other.
“If you are Hmong,” they asked, “then what was your husband's name? And what is your name?”
The old woman answered, “My husband's name is Ntaj Xib Qhoo, and my name is Nkauj Ntaj Ntuas.
“We had not been married for very long when the Chinese soldiers killed my husband and enslaved me. They took me with them to China. But before that happened, I left two children here in Laos.
“I do not know where they have gone.
“Now that I have returned to these places, memories of my children keep coming back to me. That is why I cannot stop crying.
“Tell me, sons. Who are your parents?”
The two brothers were silent for a moment.
Then they answered, “We have heard people say that our parents were called Nkauj Ntaj Ntuas and Txiv Nraug Xib Qhoo, and that we are Ntshiab and Ntshaus.
“But we have never seen our parents. We have been poor since we were young, so we went to ask Saub for help. Saub told us to find an old woman and bring her home with us so that our lives would improve.
“That is why we came to find you."
“Of your two sons, who is the older one?”
The old woman answered without hesitation.
“Ntshiab is the older one. Ntshaus is the younger one.”
When the brothers heard her answer, they knew that she was telling the truth.
At last, they had found their mother.
The three embraced one another and cried together for a long time.
After the old woman finally stopped crying, a smile came to her face. She gently stroked her sons' heads and told them, “My sons, let us go home.”
When they neared their home, Ntshiab and Ntshaus' wives came outside to see who was approaching.
When they saw the old woman, they cried out, “Heaven, oh heaven! Why have Ntshiab and Ntshaus brought such a dirty old Chinese woman home?”
The brothers immediately told them, “This woman is our mother. Please do not speak about her that way.”
Ntshiab and Ntshaus brought their mother into the house.
Once inside, their mother removed her old, worn-out clothes. The clothes were old and covered with many knots. She placed them on a table and changed into a new set of clothes.
Then she called to her daughters-in-law.
“My two daughters-in-law, take these clothes and wash them for me. No matter how many knots you find, untie every one of them.”
The younger daughter-in-law looked at the filthy old clothes with disgust.
“Those clothes are too filthy!” she shouted. “I will not wash them!”
But the elder daughter-in-law answered, “No matter how dirty they are, these are Mother's clothes. I will wash them.”
So the elder daughter-in-law took the clothes down to the stream.
As she washed them, her hands came upon a knot.
She carefully untied it.
Inside the knot, she found small silver coins.
She continued washing.
Then she came upon another knot.
She untied it and found medium-sized silver coins.
She continued, knot after knot, until she had gathered a great pile of silver coins.
Before long, the younger daughter-in-law came to the stream to fetch water.
When she saw the pile of silver coins, she stared in amazement.
“Sister Ntshiab, where did you get all that money?”
The elder daughter-in-law answered, “Earlier, when Mother asked us to wash her clothes, you said they were too filthy for you to touch. So I brought them here myself.
“Mother told us to untie every knot, so I did. And inside the knots, I found all of these silver coins.”
“If that is true, then let me untie the knots!” the younger daughter-in-law demanded.
She took the clothes from the elder daughter-in-law and began untying the remaining knots.
But when she finished, she found only a handful of silver coins.
When the rice-planting season arrived, the mother gave her sons some important advice.
“Little Ntshiab and Ntshaus, do not allow your rice to become fully ripe before you harvest it. Harvest the rice while the stalks are still standing tall, even though the grains are still a little green. Then heaven will give you a good price.
“But if you allow your rice to become completely ripe until the stalks turn yellow and bend over, heaven will not give you a good price.”
Ntshiab listened carefully to his mother and followed her instructions.
Ntshaus, however, did not listen.
Ntshiab waited only until the rice grains had formed, and then he harvested his rice.
Ntshaus waited until his rice had completely ripened. The stalks turned yellow, dried, and bent over before he finally harvested them.
In the end, both brothers filled an entire barn with rice.
That night, a great thunderstorm roared across the sky.
When the first golden rays of sunlight appeared on the eastern horizon the following morning, Ntshiab went to look at his barn.
He could hardly believe his eyes.
His barn, which had been filled with rice the night before, was now filled from floor to ceiling with silver.
Ntshaus hurried to his own barn.
But when he looked inside, he found only a few pieces of silver lying at the bottom.
Ntshaus' mother looked at him and said, “Son, you did not listen to me, and this is your punishment.
“From now on, whatever I tell you, you must listen carefully and follow my teachings.
“One day, when I am no longer here, there will be no one left to teach you how to live a good life.”
From that day forward, Ntshaus remembered his mother's teachings and followed her advice.
Many years passed.
Eventually, Ntshiab and Ntshaus' mother grew old and frail.
One day, she called her sons to her side.
“My sons,” she said, “you must love one another.
“Do not start trouble, and do not involve yourselves in trouble. Do not become thieves, and do not commit adultery.
“Live according to justice and righteousness, and you will both live good lives until you reach old age.
“As for me, I am old now. I have already given you life and helped establish wealth for both of you.
“My work here is finished.
“It is time for me to go and live with your father in heaven.”
Ntshiab and Ntshaus began to cry. They stayed beside their mother, holding her and speaking to her as they wept.
Then, as they were still crying and talking with her, a cloud descended from the sky.
The cloud swept their mother upward and carried her away to heaven.
From that day forward, Ntshiab and Ntshaus lived together as loving brothers.
They followed their mother's teachings, cared for one another, and lived prosperous lives like the people around them.
And so, the two brothers learned that wealth may come and go, but the teachings of a good mother, the love between brothers, and a life guided by justice and righteousness are treasures that remain forever.
What really stands out to me in this old Hmong story is how harsh the characters can be toward one another. The brothers are incredibly cruel to the old woman before realizing she is their mother, and even the daughters-in-law judge her by her appearance. Yet, underneath all that harshness, the story is really teaching the importance of kindness, not judging others by their appearance, listening to elders, valuing family, and living with justice and righteousness. It’s interesting how these old stories could portray people as so mean, while still carrying such meaningful lessons about how we should treat one another.
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Original Source: Dab Neeg, Phau Ib (Hmong Folktales, Vol. 1, 1986), documented under the historical cultural preservation initiative Khaws Hmoob Txuj Sib Qhia Los ("Gathering Hmong Arts to Teach Each Other").
- Original Storyteller: [Insert Name if known, or "Hmong Oral Tradition"]
- RPA Transcription & Editing: Yaj Vam Thaiv, Hawj Nyiaj Nkaub, and Hawj Tsav Xyooj
- Project Director & Archival Publisher: Txiv Plig Nyiaj Pov (Father Yves Bertrais) via Koom Haum Txoos Hmoob Guyane (Association of Hmong Communities in French Guiana).
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