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Living in the mountains of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand, the Hmong are a distributed population. They are also called the Miao, Hmung or Hmu, and there are 70 to 80 different groups, each with distinct traditions, dialects, and customs. As the story "Why Farmers Have to Work So Hard" suggests, agriculture is the primary activity for all of these groups. In their homeland, they grow corn, rice and opium. This Hmong folk tale tells the story of why "Hmong farmers have to walk long distances to the fields and carry their harvests on their backs." It is an instructive tale, in the tradition of a people without a written form of language.

The Hmong first came to the United States after the American withdrawal of troops from South Vietnam. During the Vietnam war, the Hmong served for the United States Central Intelligence Agency as a "secret army" in Laos, fighting against Vietnamese and Laotian forces....