Here is another Hmong folktale called Nraug Ntsuag and Ntxawm. There are many versions of stories about an orphan boy named Nraug Ntsuag and Ntxawm, the beautiful daughter of a wealthy village headman. This particular version tells the story of how Nraug Ntsuag loses his wife, only to use his cleverness and determination to win her back.
Nraug Ntsuag and Ntxawm have not been married for very long when the hemp harvest season arrives. Nraug Ntsuag sends Ntxawm to her parents' village to help them process hemp into thread and cloth.
Halfway through their journey, Ntxawm suddenly tells Nraug Ntsuag that she can see her parents' village in the distance. She says that she can even hear the familiar sounds of rice pounders clicking and clanking.
She tells Nraug Ntsuag that her parents must be nearby and that she can walk the remaining distance by herself. She tells him to turn around and return home.
Nraug Ntsuag, trusting his wife, does as she asks. He plays his qeej, a traditional Hmong bamboo reed instrument, as he makes his way home.
But when Ntxawm approaches the settlement she believes to be her parents' village, she discovers something horrifying.
She is surrounded by tigers.
The sounds she had heard were not the sounds of rice being pounded at all. They were the sounds of tigers striking their fangs against rocks.
Realizing that she has been deceived, Ntxawm cries out to Nraug Ntsuag for help.
But Nraug Ntsuag is already walking away, playing his qeej loudly. He cannot hear her clearly. Instead, he believes she is telling him to hurry home.
The tigers capture Ntxawm and carry her deep into their territory, where they imprison her inside a cave.
One day, a father and son named Ntseb Nraj Nraum and Moj Txiv Kuav are hunting in the forest when they encounter the tigers' fortress.
They discover Ntxawm and realize that she is a human woman rather than a tiger's captive by birth.
After learning that Ntxawm is willing to marry the son, Tub Hluav Ncuav, the father and son kill the tigers and rescue her.
However, they know that Ntxawm has already been married. They do not want anyone to accuse them of stealing another man's wife.
To prove that they rescued Ntxawm from the tigers and did not simply take another man's wife, Ntseb Nraj Nraum and Moj Txiv Kuav skin one of the tigers and preserve its hide as evidence of what happened.
Ntxawm then marries Tub Hluav Ncuav.
Three months later, Nraug Ntsuag travels to Ntxawm's parents' village to bring his wife home.
But when he arrives, he discovers that Ntxawm never made it there.
Her parents are furious.
They blame Nraug Ntsuag for being careless with their daughter and accuse him of failing to protect her. As punishment, they strip Nraug Ntsuag of his wealth and make him their servant.
Although he has become his parents-in-law's slave, Nraug Ntsuag works extremely hard. His diligence eventually earns the sympathy of his mother-in-law.
Not long afterward, an elderly Chinese man comes to the village looking for someone to watch over his herd of horses and cattle.
Nraug Ntsuag's mother-in-law decides to let him go.
Nraug Ntsuag leaves the household and begins working as a herdsman.
Every day, while watching the horses and cattle, Nraug Ntsuag mourns the loss of his wife. He spends his days crying and wondering whether Ntxawm is still alive.
One day, his grief attracts the attention of a demon.
The demon tells him that Ntxawm is not dead.
In fact, she is alive. She has remarried and now has a child with another man.
The demon tells Nraug Ntsuag that if he truly wishes to see his wife again, she can help him.
But the demon is hungry.
She tells Nraug Ntsuag to bring her a plump chicken and meet her the following day near the place where the cattle graze.
Nraug Ntsuag returns home that evening and lies to the elderly Chinese couple. He tells them that he needs a plump chicken.
The next day, he brings the chicken to the demon.
After eating the chicken, the demon makes a long rope ladder. Nraug Ntsuag climbs to the very top of the ladder.
The demon then swings the ladder upward, sending Nraug Ntsuag high into the sky.
Above the clouds, Nraug Ntsuag looks into the distance.
There, he sees Ntxawm.
At last, he knows that the demon has told him the truth.
Ntxawm is alive.
That evening, Nraug Ntsuag returns to his parents-in-law and tells them that he wishes to go hunting.
His parents-in-law, who have grown sympathetic toward him, give him permission to leave.
Nraug Ntsuag puts on his finest clothes and sets out to find Ntxawm.
Eventually, the two are reunited.
Ntxawm tells Nraug Ntsuag everything that has happened since the day she was captured by the tigers. She also tells him that Ntseb Nraj Nraum and Moj Txiv Kuav have kept the tiger skin as proof that they rescued her lawfully and that Tub Hluav Ncuav is now her husband.
Nraug Ntsuag thinks carefully.
He tells Ntxawm that he will return with the skin of a goat. He asks her to secretly exchange the goat skin for the tiger skin.
If they can make the tiger skin disappear, he believes that the elders will have no evidence that Ntxawm was lawfully taken from the tigers and given to Tub Hluav Ncuav.
Ntxawm agrees.
She is still attracted to Nraug Ntsuag's handsome appearance and would rather be with him than Tub Hluav Ncuav, whose face is covered with acne scars.
That night, Nraug Ntsuag returns to his parents-in-law and tells them that he has found Ntxawm.
But instead of telling them the truth, he invents a story.
He claims that Ntseb Nraj Nraum and Moj Txiv Kuav had lusted after Ntxawm and kidnapped her. He tells his parents-in-law that the two men had wrongfully taken his wife from him.
He asks them to help him seek justice.
His parents-in-law believe him.
They agree to help him recover Ntxawm.
Nraug Ntsuag then tells them that he is craving goat meat.
His parents-in-law slaughter a goat for him.
After eating the meat, Nraug Ntsuag carefully skins the goat and preserves its hide.
He dries the skin until it is ready.
Four or five days later, Ntxawm's parents gather a group of elders to help settle the dispute over who is Ntxawm's rightful husband.
They travel together to Ntxawm's village.
Before the elders begin their judgment, Nraug Ntsuag secretly meets with Ntxawm.
He gives her the dried goat skin.
Ntxawm then secretly exchanges it for the tiger skin that Ntseb Nraj Nraum and Moj Txiv Kuav have kept as evidence.
The elders gather to hear both sides.
Ntxawm's parents explain that their daughter was kidnapped by Ntseb Nraj Nraum and Moj Txiv Kuav and insist that Nraug Ntsuag is her rightful husband.
Ntseb Nraj Nraum and Moj Txiv Kuav deny the accusation.
They explain that they rescued Ntxawm from the tigers and that the tiger skin is their evidence. They insist that they did not steal another man's wife.
The elders demand to see the tiger skin.
But when Ntseb Nraj Nraum and Moj Txiv Kuav produce their evidence, the skin before the elders is not that of a tiger.
It is the skin of a goat.
The tiger skin is nowhere to be found.
Without the tiger skin to support their claim, Ntseb Nraj Nraum and Moj Txiv Kuav can no longer prove that they rescued Ntxawm from the tigers.
The elders therefore rule that Ntxawm must be returned to Nraug Ntsuag, her original husband.
Ntxawm leaves Tub Hluav Ncuav and returns to Nraug Ntsuag.
She leaves her son behind with Tub Hluav Ncuav.
Upon their reunion, Ntxawm's parents accept the two as husband and wife once again. They give their daughter and son-in-law a magnificent dowry, and Nraug Ntsuag and Ntxawm begin their life together anew.
And so the story ends.
The Cleverness of Nraug Ntsuag
Like many Hmong folktales, this story does not necessarily portray its male protagonist as the kindest or most morally upright person.
Instead, Nraug Ntsuag is often portrayed as clever, resourceful, and exceptionally skilled at outwitting others—even people far more powerful than himself.
His intelligence allows him to overcome circumstances that would otherwise seem impossible. His handsome appearance and the beauty of the woman he loves also become important elements in the story.
In many Hmong folktales, the hero's greatest weapon is not physical strength or wealth. It is his wit.
Nraug Ntsuag loses his wife, his wealth, and his freedom. He becomes a servant and spends his days mourning. Yet through determination, deception, and clever planning, he eventually finds Ntxawm and devises a way to reclaim her.
The story reflects a recurring theme in Hmong folklore: a clever person, even one who begins with nothing, can overcome powerful enemies, outwit authority, and change the course of his own fate.
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