Miao Women Casting Gu Poison
Miao Women Casting Gu Poison. The so-called "gu" first appears in historical records in the Rites of Zhou: "in charge of eliminating poisonous gu." Wang Chong's Lunheng held that "beneficial insects are called gu, gu are like moths." By the Han Dynasty, shamanic gu was flourishing. In the Miao language gu is called "qid," commonly known as "grass ghost." A gu-casting woman is called a "grass ghost woman." Mr. Shen Congwen wrote: "Xiangxi women..."
This article has been compiled from historical materials on 'Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network' (33519.com · Specialty Foods / Cuisine / Customs section). Prices, business hours, administrative divisions, and statistical data mentioned in the text may already be outdated. Before traveling, please refer to the latest announcements from merchants, scenic areas, and local competent authorities; the parts involving folk legends and folk customs are local historical and cultural anecdotes, provided for cultural reference.
The Miao Woman's Gu-Poisoning
The so-called "gu" first appears in historical records in the Rites of Zhou, Office of the Common People: "To take charge of eliminating poisonous gu." The Lunheng, in the chapter "Shang Chong," holds that "beneficial insects are called gu, and gu is like a moth." By the Han dynasty, shamanic gu was flourishing. In the Miao language, gu is called "qid," commonly known as "grass ghost." A gu woman is called a "grass ghost woman." Mr. Shen Congwen wrote: "Among the three stages of Xiangxi women's lives arise the gu woman, the witch, and the cave-dwelling woman. The hysteria of these three kinds of women forms part of the mystery of Xiangxi. Behind this mystery lies hidden a moving tragedy, and at the same time a moving poem."
On the mountainside opposite Heishe Village stood a stone house with walls and roof of stone slabs, where lived a grandmother and her granddaughter. The grandmother was extraordinarily ugly, yet her granddaughter Yanxiang was a pretty girl who drove young men to distraction, unable to live or die in peace.
Yanxiang often went to the back mountain to gather pine mushrooms. One day, she heard someone singing a "gou gou song" at her:
Sing a song, sing a gou gou song,
Pull medicine, pull the gou gou herb;
Casually pull a hook vine strand,
Hook a sweetheart so she can't get free.
The middle-aged man singing was a purchasing agent for the county native products company, who came into the mountains specifically to tap pine resin. Eventually one day, the pine-oil man forcibly tore off Yanxiang's clothes on the pine-needle ground. Yanxiang did not refuse, did not cry, did not make a fuss. She went home and told the ghost woman: "I am his woman now." The ghost woman let out a long sigh, unloading the heavy burden from her heart. That day the whole village went to drink the wedding wine, and heard the bride and groom sing a "lia lia song" together (lia, pronounced like "lia," meaning to stick to each other):
Sticky rice sticks together and rolls into a ball,
Rice straw twists together into a rope;
Brother and sister stick together as one,
Stuck together till hair turns white and teeth fall out.
But not long after the marriage, Yanxiang gradually sensed that in the pine-oil man's drifting, unsettled eyes floated something like a wisp of cloud. One day, the pine-oil man said he was going down the mountain to deliver pine oil and would not return for some time. Yanxiang already realized this man was going to cast her off, but she already carried his child in her belly! She groped her way to the ghost woman's bedside. The ghost woman sighed, a cold smile appearing on her face, and handed her a key. From that old toothless chest, Yanxiang felt out a paper packet.
The next day, Yanxiang saw the man down the mountain. At the foot of the mountain, by the Cold Water Pool, Yanxiang folded a bababa leaf into a water ladle, scooped a full ladle of water, and offered it to her husband, saying: "Brother Oil Man, once you leave this mountain, you won't get to drink such good spring water again." The man drank it in one gulp. The woman urged again: "Brother Oil Man, if you get any illness or pain, come back early. There are divine medicines in the mountains. Whatever you do, don't delay..." Before long, a passing traveler brought word: "The pine-oil man is sick." Yanxiang cursed: "Let him die of sickness! Who told him not to come back!" But afterward she could not help crying. Later still, someone else brought word: "The pine-oil man is dead. That illness was strange—Jishou and Changsha both could not cure it." Yanxiang began to wail: "You skull-splitter, why didn't you come back to be treated? I told you not to delay, but you delayed!" The person said: "How would he dare come back? He's a married man. They'd charge him with bigamy!" Yanxiang sought out the ghost woman on her sickbed
and cried and made a scene: "Why did you give that medicine? Why? Why?!"
The ghost woman sighed and said haltingly: "This medicine is called gu. It is handed down from the Miao ancestors... passed from generation to generation... only to... women. When a man goes on a long journey... if he eats it... he will fall ill... no matter how far he goes... even to the edge of the sky, he, he, he will still come back..."
Naturally, there were also those who fell ill after taking the gu poison and were revived when the poisoner administered the antidote. Back then, Xiao Tao, a Shanghai educated youth sent down to the Miao village of Tianlangpo, became the live-in son-in-law of Ma Shen's family. Later, when the educated youths began returning to the city, Xiao Tao wanted his wife Gou Mei to leave with him, but Gou Mei said: "The family door is never closed, the incense fire never ceases. This is the ancient custom of the Miao."
Xiao Tao, eager to see his father, came up with a compromise: he would return to Shanghai first, and once he had arranged the household registration papers for A Ma and Gou Mei, he would bring them to Shanghai to settle.
That night, Ma Shen could not sleep at all. That year, Ma Laoguan had rafted logs from the Bai River to Chenzhou (present-day Yuanling). A lawsuit dragged on for half a month. When the matter was settled, he fell ill. Ma Laoguan suddenly remembered his wife's words and, despite his illness, hurried back day and night, but before he could enter the house, he died on the towpath beneath Xiangzi Rock. Ma Shen found her man's grave mound and wept herself half dead:
My man has died, bury him slow,
Carry him to the main hall and wait for your sister to come;
Three slaps on the coffin top,
I would rather die and have you come back.
She said she regretted it so much—she should never have given her man the poison. Decades had passed, yet Ma Shen still felt it to the bone. And so, not long after Xiao Tao went down the mountain, after many twists and turns, he finally completed all the procedures that needed to be done—but illness had taken hold of him. First came bloating, then emaciation, and no medicine could cure it. Just then, he received several urgent letters from Gou Mei, urging him to return to the mountain village quickly, saying there was a miraculous medicine in the mountains that could cure him. Xiao Tao, knowing there was no hope of recovery, also wanted to return to the village to see his wife and children one last time, so accompanied by his cousin, he climbed Tianlangpo. Seeing his condition, Ma Shen truly wanted to administer the "antidote" right then. Administering the antidote is called "shouyi" by the Miao people. The records say: "One who has been poisoned will either go mad or die; only the one who tied the bell can untie it." But Ma Shen gritted her teeth and held back the antidote. She still wanted to find out: was Xiao Tao back this time to stay for good, or just to make a brief appearance? If the latter, then don't blame mother for being ruthless! Two days later, she never would have imagined: Gou Mei, after negotiating with her husband all night, found that neither could convince the other. Better to each go their own way. So Gou Mei secretly took the antidote and saw her husband down the mountain early in the morning. It is said that many years later, Ma Gou Mei led her son into the great city of Shanghai. Ma Shen said to her daughter with tears: "You did the right thing. Love cannot be tethered. Go on, Xiao Tao is still waiting for you..."
Regarding the practice of placing gu poison in Xiangxi, there are records in classical texts and oral traditions among the people. Mr. Shen Congwen was born in the Miao city of Fenghuang, and through constant exposure to the mysterious culture of Xiangxi, he gained deep insight into its essence, and wrote about the origins of gu poison in many of his works. However, some people deny that Miao women place gu poison, believing it to be "merely the erroneous transmission of gu women," or that it is entirely fictitious. But whether affirmed or denied, the practice of gu poison has been passed down endlessly, and like the Yao women's script, it has become one of the world's great ancient mysteries of women.