[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 storyteller is Ban Vwnvang from Bamian Village, Yuquan Township, Wuming County, Guangxi]

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How is it that a dog can plow? Well, long ago there were two brothers who divided up the family property and went to live separately. Among their possessions was one solitary water buffalo. Of course they couldn't split it down the middle, so what were they to do? The older brother said, "Both of us should go and try to lead the buffalo. Whichever one of us it follows after, that one can keep it."

Now the younger brother was quite young and naive; he wanted to lead the bull by his nose ring, but he was afraid of the buffalo's sharp, pointed horns. So he went round to the back and pulled it by the tail instead, and let the older brother pull it by the nose ring. Of course the buffalo followed after the older brother. The younger brother pulled and pulled, but all he got was a louse that fell into his hand as the tail slipped through his fingers. So in dividing up the family property, all he got was a single louse.

The younger brother took the louse home and made a little box to keep it in. He grew very fond of the louse and doted on it. He found things for it to eat each day, and raised it until it grew as large as a brass coin.

One day he went to his grandfather's house, and while he was there he knelt down on the ground and leaned over to feed his louse. But who would have thought, his uncle's rooster came over and pecked at the louse, swallowing it down on the very first peck!

When the boy had recovered from the initial shock, he cried and cried. The tears flowed without ceasing. He cried that he wanted to have his beloved louse back. So finally the uncle said that he would give the rooster to him to make up for his loss. The younger brother stopped crying and took the rooster home with him. He fed it and cared for it each day and grew to love it just as much as he had loved the louse.

Then one day the neighbor's yellow dog came into his yard and killed the rooster. The dog's owner also made good on the damages; he gave his dog to the younger brother. The boy took the dog home and raised it, and when it was all grown he taught it to pull a plow.

One day as he was taking the dog to the fields to plow, he passed a group of herdsmen driving some water buffalo to market. The herdsmen saw him taking his dog to go plowing. and they thought it was very strange. They did not believe that the dog could pull a plow, so they said, "Hey, if that dog of yours can plow well enough to help you raise your crops, then we'll give you our entire herd of buffalo. Go ahead, show us whether he can!"

So he harnessed up the dog and shouted "Giddap!" The dog started right in, and the plow cut through the ground. The dog even knew "gee" and "haw"! The herdsmen lost their bet, and they had to give all the water buffalo to the brother.

He brought the herd home with him, and when his older brother saw it he exclaimed, "What's this? How did you get all of these cattle?"

"I took my dog to go plow the field, and along the road there was a group of herdsmen driving their cattle to market. They made a bet with me that if my dog could really plow the field, they would give their herd to me. So, I just got all of the buffalo. Those fellows lost the bet and had to give them to me.

The older one said, "Hmm! I'm going to try that. On the next market day when the cattle come, I'm going to go and do that too!"

When the day came, the older brother ran off driving the dog to the field. Since it was market day, there was another group of herdsmen who came bringing their cattle. So the older brother did just as his younger brother had done, and he started to harness up the dog. These herdsmen did not believe that the dog could plow either, and they too said, "If your dog can pull a plow, we will give you our whole herd of cattle."

But after he got the plow set, the dog would not go forward. In fact, it turned around and started back towards the brother! He shouted "Giddap, giddap!" But the dog turned to bite him. No matter how many times he tried, the dog would not take even one step forward. The herdsmen stood looking on and laughing. Finally the older brother got very angry and he took out the plow shaft and beat the dog with it. He beat the dog to death.

The younger brother then took the dog and buried it. Before too much time had passed, some bamboo sprang up from the ground where the dog was buried. Every morning the brother went back to that same place to check on the bamboo, and to sweep the ground underneath the plant. After the bamboo had grown tall, he would go and shake the tree, and coins would fall down from its branches as gifts for him.

And so the younger brother became rich.

The older brother noticed and said, "What's this? How is it that you have so much money?" The younger brother answered tru hfully and told him all about the bamboo. Thent the older brother said, "Well, now it's my turn to give it a try."

The older brother went to the bamboo and shook it, but all that fell down frem the branches was dog droppings. Not even one coin fell when the older brother shook the bambxo. When that happened he got angry again, and he took a knife and hacked down the bamboo plant.

After the bamboo was cut down, the younger brother took it and shaved it into strips. Then he took the strips and wove them together to make a chicken roost and a fish trap. He put the chicken roost by the front gate of his house, and every morning the hens of the village would come and lay eggs in his roost. He set the fish trap down in the river, and every morning when he lifted it out of the waterthere was a catch of fish in it.

When the older brother saw this he said, "Here, let me borrow your things for a bit." He took the chicken roost and put it by his door, and he took the trap and set it in the river. But the next day when he lifted the trap up, all that was in it was a snake. As for the roost, in the morning a flock of hens did come by, but all they put in the roost was their droppings. When he went to look in it, there was not one single egg there. The older brother got so angry that he took the chicken roost and the fish trap and threw them in the fire.

After these things were burned up, the younger brother took the ashes to fertilize the soil. There he grew a pumpkin plant, which produced two huge pumpkins.

Now the apes who lived up in the mountains came every day to steal the pumpkins. They stole all the little pumpkins and took them up into their caves. The younger brother thought to himself, " This is no good. I'll have to go and keep watch over the pumpkin patch." So how did he keep watch? He hollowed out one of the big pumpkins, hid inside, and sealed it back up tight behind himself.

When the apes returned, several of them picked up the pumpkin and carried it between them. It was heavy, but they managed to carry it up to their cave. Later on when the apes went out to find something to eat, the younger brother wormed his way back out of the pumpkin and saw that the apes had a hoard of cotton in their cave that they had stolen from people's fields. The younger brother gathered up the cotton and brought it home.

His older brother saw that he had a lot of cotton, and asked him where he got it, so the younger brother told him. He also said that there was still one more big pumpkin. The older brother said, "Now it's my turn", and he went and did just as the younger brother had done.

After he had hidden inside the pumpkin, the apes came along and carried it away. As the apes walked along they said, "Whoa, this is so heavy! Where should we take it, to the mountain of gold, or to the mountain of silver?" Inside the pumpkin the brother heard them, and he answered, "Go to the mountain of gold."

When the apes heard the voice, they were so startled that they fumbled and dropped the pumpkin. Just then the apes had been walking along a cliff, so when they dropped the pumpkin, it fell all the way down to the bottom and was smashed to a pulp. And that was the end of the older brother.