Wen | Zhao Jinhou Editor| Swallow Picture | Network
When I was a child, my grandfather and I mowed grass in the fields, tasted sweet black Tianjin in secluded corners, sniffed fragrant horse bubbles, watched hares flash in front of my eyes, and listened to yellow warblers turning and chirping... The most interesting thing is to catch the grasshoppers, whose song constitutes the most exciting and romantic song in the country fields.
Grasshoppers, also known as grasshoppers, are similar in shape to crickets, with smaller wings than cicadas, slightly flattened heads, and thicker bodies. The cry of this grasshopper is very distinctive, and the hotter the day, the more joyful it is. In contrast, the sound of cicadas is very noisy, the sound of crickets is weak, and only the sound of grasshoppers is sonorous and pleasant, adding brilliant colors to the passionate summer.
At that time, I was only seven or eight years old, and I vaguely remembered that on the river beach was the melon field of the production team, and there was a hut on the south side of the road, and the production team arranged for my grandfather to watch the melon. The endless melon fields stretch out to the north of the road, and the breeze blows, like the blue waves of the sea rolling, and you are immersed in the beautiful field scenery, which is not enchanted by people.
Around half past eleven, the toiling villagers came home one after another, and the fields were unusually silent. Grandpa was napping in the melon shed, and I came alone to cool off under the poplar trees on the north side of the road, listen! The grasshoppers of the bean fields cry up and down, "needle-needle-needle..." Like Mr. Storyteller's strings, like the sound of mountain flowing water, like the crispness of pearls hitting jade plates. While admiring this beautiful song that nature has given me, I explored the source of the grasshopper's sound. Ignoring the beads of sweat running down my cheeks, I crept into the gap between the bean stalks, Ah! I could see clearly that a grasshopper was attached to the barley, and six paws grasped the bean pole, and the wings fluttered violently, and the cry of "needle-needle-needle" followed. Oh, my God! It was so fresh that this cry was not from the mouth, but from the vibration of the wings. My heart "bang bang" straight jumped, sweat came out of the palms of my hands, closer and closer to the grasshopper, saying that it was late and fast, I was a hungry tiger preying on the grasshopper, this guy was clever, did not wait for me to react, it stomped on the back of the thigh, ran away without a trace. I squatted there foolishly, frustrated by my incompetence and regretting the loss of a perfect opportunity.
That time, after the Second Brother finished his farm work and the people rested and drank tea in the melon shed, the sound of grasshoppers sounded in his ears again. Seeing my restless look, Brother Erjie immediately understood my heart. He glanced at me, and I suddenly realized. These two brothers fish, some of the ways to catch birds are, I see how he caught grasshoppers today. He found a long bamboo pole, rounded an iron bar, cut the urea bag, leaving a foot long horn, and then used a hemp rope to wear a tight seam on the iron bar, and the bamboo pole was connected to the woven bag, and a tool for catching grasshoppers was cleverly born.
Brother Erjie was not in a hurry, and lit a cigarette, as if he was thinking about where the grasshoppers went. After observing for about ten minutes, only to see him running a few steps in search of the sound, pressing the bamboo pole this side, the net pocket on the other side landed on the ground, I quickly looked, and found that there were grasshoppers struggling, I gently pressed this little wit with my hand, and the other hand caught the grasshopper from below very sharply. Subsequently, seven or eight more were caught in the same way, and I put them in canned bottles, only to see grasshoppers ramming the bottles, "the birds startled the old forest, and the pond fish thought about the past", and the little guy was imprisoned with impatience, which can be imagined.
My grandfather near the door specially made a small round cage for me with a sorghum stand, the cage has a door, can open and close, I put a happy grasshopper in, watch it jump, listen to it call, the fun is endless. After a while, the grasshopper adapted to the environment and the mentality was calm. In fine weather, I stopped on the street with a cage, and immediately many adults and children came to watch, listening to the songs played by the grasshoppers, and their faces were full of pity and joy. Some people say that its eyes are round and slippery like chicken eyes, and its two long whiskers are like pheasant feathers of the warrior's hat on the stage.
Winter came, I was afraid of the grasshopper cold, put it in the bed, listened to the sound of quiet sleep, life was given a different kind of fun.
Maybe I have a relationship with the grasshopper, maybe my mother takes care of it, gives it some cabbage leaves, licks some lake paint, eats some rice residue, the little guy eats a tasteful taste, listen carefully to its call is not like hardening in the field, but calling to stop, sometimes high, sometimes low, this little wit also figured out the law of music, played a game of depression.
This grasshopper has accompanied me from the hot summer to the beginning of the year - the Spring Festival. Whenever I came back from school, it immediately called out a few times to welcome me; when I was tired, its cry added strength to my life; and in the middle of the night, this little creature probably slept and fell into a sweet sleep with me.
I remember it was the second of February, the grasshopper was fine for breakfast, full of energy, and after lunch, it actually lay in the cage and did not move, no matter how I shook the cage, it was like a piece of wood and ignored. Father said its life was over. Just like the elderly old man, his body can withstand the severe cold of three or nine, but the oxygen rises in the spring, and the old and infirm people can't eat it, and they die.
Yes, man lives one life, and animals follow this natural law. The grasshopper left me, for a long time, my heart was full of sadness, in the dream I still heard the natural sound of the grasshopper, it made me haunt my soul, imagination...
Written late at night on January 25, 2022 at 23:44
About author:Zhao Jinhou, working at Nanzhaolou Town Center School in Yuncheng County, Shandong Province. He loves literature, loves the colorfulness and romance of life, and is willing to use words to thank the beauty of the world. He is the author of the novella "Choice". Some poems have appeared in many newspapers and periodicals and many online platforms such as "Learning to Strengthen the Country".
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