YH-029

This is a personal narrative told by YZQ to Nathaniel Sims on May 3rd, 2012 in Ka’er Village, Yonghe Valley, Mao County, Rngaba Prefecture, Sichuan Province, China. An English translation of the narrative is as follows:

I went to Napu, to buy some gastrodia (a type of medicinal root). The sky became dark and when I was coming home. As I got to the bend in the road here, the wind began blowing (onomatopoeia) and there was the sound of a dog barking (onomatopoeia) that followed behind me. I didn’t see a dog. I didn’t see a person. I had encountered a demon. I became scared and picked up a white rock. I chased the demon away by throwing rocks. After I did this, it wasn’t there anymore. I slowly went on up the road. Having arrived at the bottom of my house, I was still scared. I looked back and couldn’t see anything. I had a cold sweat. My clothes were soaked. So I picked up a rock and called out to my spirit. By doing this I called my spirit back to myself. I took the rock out of my pocket and put it inside a pillow without my family knowing this. Seven days later, when making the bed, the rock fell out. They asked me why is there a rock in your pillow? I told them I went down to Napu that night and encountered a demon, got scared, picked up a rock and called my own spirit back to myself. If I had not done this I would go mad, and be violent. Because I brought my spirit back with this rock, I didn’t have any nightmares and have not encountered another demon. The demons are scared of me.

 The duration of the recording is: [00:01:54]