[The story is taken from Goenggeq gangj gojgaeq Bwz Licuh, At Grand-father’s Knee - Zhuang Folk Tales from Wuming - 主編白丽珠 ; 副主編李作应. The story teller is from Deling Village, Fucheng Township, Wuming County, Guangxi]

---

Once upon a time there were two brothers whose mother and father both died when they were young, making them orphans. Their parents did not leave them much of an inheritance; they had no tools or household goods. Their parents left them just one water buffalo and a small plot of land.

Well, the older brother plotted against the younger one to get the buffalo for himself. He figured that the younger brother would want to discuss who should own the buffalo, so he spoke up with his own plan first. "Let's decide who will own the buffalo by doing this; I will take hold of the nose ring, and you take hold of the tail, and we'll both pull. Whoever the buffalo goes with, that's who will own him."

The little brother was still quite young; he didn't yet know how to think things through. After all, buffalo walk going forward. They don't ever walk backwards! So they did just as the older brother said. The elder grabbed the nose ring, and started leading the buffalo away. The younger grabbed the tail and pulled with all his might, but to no avail. The buffalo followed the older brother, and now it was all his

When the younger brother grabbed hold of the buffalo's tail, he found a centipede. In vying for the buffalo, all he got was a little centipede. In the future, how would he manage to plow his field? What would he do?

After he went back to the house, he took out the centipede and set it down. In a little while a chicken came over pecking about, and the chicken pecked at the centipede and swallowed it down. In trying to get the buffalo, all he got was the centipede, but now the chicken had gobbled it up. The little brother burst into tears, and he cried and cried. Finally the owner of the chicken said, "You just take my chicken, and we'll call it even." So the little brother got the chicken for himself.

One day when he let the chicken out, a dog suddenly rushed over and attacked it, killing it. Oh! Sorrow upon sorrow! He hoped that raising the chicken until it was big and plump would be a way out of his difficulties, but then the dog killed it. Now he cried even harder. He wanted the buffalo, but got only a centipede, and then the centipede got pecked by the chicken and the chicken got bitten to death by the dog. What could he do? He cried and cried and cried. Finally the owner of the dog took pity on him and said, "Why don't you just take my dog and we'll call it even." So he took the dog to his house and raised him as his own.

Soon it was time for plowing the fields. The older brother used the water buffalo to pull the plow, and the big beast plowed easily and quickly. But friends, the dog had never been taught to pull a plow, so how could he do it? The little brother thought of a way. He took sticky rice paste and rolled it into dumplings to entice the dog. They went out to the field to plow, and whenever the dog was hungry and weak and couldn't pull anymore, he took out a dumpling and threw it onto the ground several feet in front of the dog. The dog was so desperate to eat the dumplings that he leaped right across the paddy to get it, pulling the plow and completing another row as he went. With each toss of a dumpling the dog made one more pass with the plow. Row by row, the paddy was finally plowed.

When the older brother saw that his younger brother was able to plow his field with a dog, he was jealous. "Wow! A dog that can pull a plow! I think I'll try that out myself. " So he took the dog and went to plow with it.

The older brother didn't know about using dumplings to get the dog to pull the plow. He was all set to plow, but the dog didn't pull and the plow didn't budge. He was a very short tempered man, and when the dog didn't pull, he started beating the dog. He beat the dog to death. He had already cheated his brother out of his share of the buffalo, but as if that weren't enough, he now took the dog and beat it to death!

When Little Brother found out, this was the final, staggering blow. Like an ant in a hot wok, he was beside himself. At his wit's end, he ran away and became a vagrant, roaming about and crying all the while.

One day when it got dark he came to a shrine, and he went on in to spend the night. He was tired out, but he was so hungry that he couldn't get to sleep. In the middle of the night a group of fairies returned to the shrine. They all gathered around, took out a calabash, and started drawing in mid air with it. They outlined a table full of food, and a table full of food appeared, a table laden with all kinds of meat and vegetable dishes.

Little Brother was starving. He wanted desperately to eat that food. Without a care for what might happen, without even stopping to think, he suddenly shouted out in a loud voice, "Hey! Let me eat some too!" The fairies were startled out of their skins. They started scurrying about this way and that to get away, and in the confusion they dropped the calabash. Little Brother came out and ate until he was ready to burst. He also picked up the calabash. After that, he could draw things with the calabash too. Whatever he drew really appeared. It was marvelous!

Now when the older brother saw that his brother had gotten this calabash that was such a treasure, he became jealous again. He said to himself, "Hmm! Tonight it's my turn to hide in the shrine. I'll go and hide in there and wait for calabash. Once I get a magic calabash, I won't have to do any more work. I can just draw things and make them appear, and get whatever I want!"

That night he went out to the shrine and hid. After he had hidden himself, he saw the fairies come in carrying another calabash. When he saw that calabash, he was filled with greed.

The fairies were saying, "Tonight we haven't yet drawn any rice or dishes or wine or anything. Last night that fellow came and spied on us, and took away our calabash. Tonight let's look around very carefully to see if there is anyone hiding." So they looked around and they did indeed find the older brother. "Aha! It's you from last night, back again! You startled us and scared us away, and youtook away our calabash too, didn't you!"

The fairies grabbed his nose, and they pulled. One gave a tug and then another one gave a tug, and they tugged on his nose until it came all the way down to the ground. With a nose like that, even walking was hard!

He thought to himself, "Now those fairies have fixed me good, pulling on my nose until it's as long as an elephant's. And I didn't even get the calabash! I'll go back to Little Brother's house and get him to use his calabash to redraw my nose for me. I'll let him shrink my nose back to it's proper size."

When he got back, the younger brother took out the calיי abash and said, "Come on over here, I'll redraw it for you. He drew one stroke and the older brother's nose shortened one inch, and so inch by inch he made it shorter. He drew and drew until it was shortened to its original size, and then he shortened it again so that it didn't stick out at all. Then the older brother no longer had any nose! That's how he got his comeuppance in the end.