Page:Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills.djvu/69

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CHINESE LIFE ON THE TIBETAN FOOTHILLS
57

The unkempt queue of the novice who has not entered the society is called k‘ung tzŭ 空子 pien tzŭ.

A few hairs on the back of the head is called yü mei sui 御麥穗 pien tzŭ or a hao-tzŭ wei pa 耗子尾巴, a rat's tail.

A nice-looking queue of a youth with a long red cord attached to it is called kua tao pa 銙刀杷 the sword-handle queue.

The cow's head, niu t‘ou 牛頭 queue is worn by women of the aboriginal tribes to the west of Kuan Hsien.

A common proverb is shên hsien yang chih-chia, hsin hsien yang t‘ou-fa 身閑養指甲,心閑養頭髮; an idle body grows finger nails; an idle head grows hair.

The Kitan tribes, ta-ta 韃韃, probably the ancestors of the Mongols, have the following slang names for the queue:

The hairy lid, mao kai-tzŭ 毛葢子; Tartar hair, ta-ta mao; the hairy tassel, mao t‘ou tzŭ 毛頭子; the horse-bucket cover, ma t‘ung kai 馬桶葢; the magpie's nest, ya ch‘iao wo 鴉鵲窩; the tadpole's tail, ting ting wei 丁丁尾.