A Funny Story About Song Thrush

The Four Seals Miao is a small tribe of the Miao minority group who inhabit the mountainous area of southwestern China. Although they don’t have silver jewelry like other Miao tribes, they attract tourists home and abroad with their unique and ethnic culture. They got their name Four Seals from women’s garments sporting four bright square designs embroidered on the front, back, and sleeves, which are exactly like four large seals.

Maige, a beautiful village, is their hometown. It boasts numbers of thrush that are noted for their intoxicating songs. Every morning you can hear the birds singing excitedly like a symphony in the forest. So the village got a nickname home of thrushes.

Lots of thrushes have brown or yellow plumage and lovely spotted breasts. But some thrushes are distinguished by their white or red plumage. These beautiful birds not only sing sweet songs, but imitate the sounds of other animals and birds. In the forest, you can always hear the sound of a goose, a hen, or a cat. These strange sounds are in fact created by a thrush.

Thrushes like to fight. In the mountains, they have their own territories. If one thrushs territory is invaded by another thrush, a fight will ensue.

Almost every Miao family raise thrushes at home. They put the birds into a cage, listening to the birds singing, and watching them fighting.

Thrush fighting competition is held from time to time. A thrush raised for one year with good care can be a great fighter, which can sell for a good price. Bird trade flourishes in the Miao area with businessmen from other areas in China and overseas coming to buy birds. In 2007, a thrush raised by a villager in Maige was sold to a man from Hong Kong at the price of RMB 280,000.

Artists get inspiration from the thrush, and have created lots of beautiful songs and dances about the bird.

Why do the local people enjoy raising thrushes? And why do thrushes always like to fight with each other? Here is a story:

A long time ago, an old couple lived peacefully in a village with their ten sons. When they grew up, all ten of them were married. With ten more women in the family, the peaceful life of the old couple was ruined. Everyday the women quarreled with one another, which ultimately destroyed the good relationships among the sons. After deciding to break up with the big family and live apart from one another, the sons divided the land and property given to them by the old couple, who chose to live with their youngest son and his wife.

Of the ten wives of their sons, nine were lazy and stupid. Only the one with the youngest son was smart and diligent. This diligent couple worked hard on their farmland, and began to live a prosperous life. Lazy and poor, all other sons and wives eventually had to start borrowing money from them. But the endless borrowing caused the young couple to run out all of their money and became impoverished themselves. To continue to live, the old couple had to go to the mountains to gather wild fruits for food.

One day when the old couple were in the mountain, an elderly man appeared and asked them why they had to eat wild fruits. And the couple told the man their sad story. After which he said, Just go back to your home, and you will have food.

When the old couple got home, they found many birds chirming around their house. Nine sons and their wives disappeared. Only the youngest couple were cooking in the kitchen.

The elderly man that they saw in the mountain was the Bodhisattva, who made their nine sons and daughters-in-law into eighteen thrushes.

Since then, the eighteen thrushes dwelled around the house, warbling and fighting everyday. Feeling sorry for these birds, the old couple made bird cages for them to stay. This is the reason why the Miao people like to raise thrushes at home.

Once in Maige, you will like this beautiful ethnic village and want to visit other Miao tribes to see their extraordinary silver jewelry.