Embroidery needle
Long time ago, there was a beautiful and clever girl in a village and her name was called Jyesa.
On morning when the sun was just risen, Jyesa went to work in the field carrying a little pannier. She heard the sound of a horse coming while she was walking along the road, and she saw a knowledgeable man riding on the horse. The man’s name was called Smart. Smart asked Jyesa: “Little sister, what’s your name? Where are you going and what are you going to do?” She answered: “My name is Jyesa, and I am going to work.” Smart heard such a saying: “Putting ten smart men together, can’t be as smart as the one person named Jyesa.” So, he got very angry.
Today he met her, so he wanted to compete with Jyesa. So, he asked Jyesa: “You dig the soil all day long, how many hoes can you dig a day?” She answered: “Smart man, you ride a horse all day long, how many steps does your horse walk a day?” Smart couldn’t answer her question. “Smart man, I’d like to ask you a question: ‘What is the sweetest thing in the world?’” He said: “Honey.” Jyesa answered: “I think it’s not correct, the sweetest thing in the world is mother’s milk. Honey is sweet, but it can’t help a child grow up, but mother’s milk does.” Smart said: “You are right.” Jyesa asked him again: “What is the longest thing in the world?” He said: “I know that answer, the longest thing in the world is a river.” Jyesa laughed at him and said: “The longest thing in the world is the thought in people’s heart; things that we think can’t be seen, although the rivers are long, they still have heads and tails.” Smart couldn’t win Jyesa, so he said again: “Little sister, I can’t win you, so you come here and I’d like to give an embroidery needle to you as a gift. I won’t forget you from now on.” Jyesa was very happy, and she took the embroidery needle, pinned it on her cloth in front of her chest, and Smart left.
From then on, in order to remember the little girl Jyesa, Hani women all like to pin an embroidery needle in front of the chest on clothe, and they also circle some thread on the embroidery needle.
