Swiftlet love

novel

manor

1

The beautiful Guanyin Island in the South China Sea is an isolated island that is rarely visited. The island is steep and rugged, due to the perennial seawater collision and soaking, the bottom of the rock is black-brown, and piles of shells are embedded in the black-brown rock. When the sky is clear, the island is sparkling, shaking a white wave with folds, like thousands of flowers blooming on the blue sea. Although it is far from the land, it is a holy place for swiftlets to thrive, and Xiao Bai and Xiao Qing are a pair of swiftlets who fall in love on this island.

Xiaoqing is dignified and beautiful, gentle and generous, and is praised by young swiftlets as the queen of swallows; Xiaobai is intelligent and delicate, athletic and agile, and is the prince in the hearts of many female swiftlets. These two swiftlets are also considered to be green plum bamboo horses, they have liked to practice flying together since childhood, and they should have had a golden childhood, but misfortune fell from the sky. One day, Xiao Qingzheng and his sister were sleeping in the bird's nest, when a swallow picker named Ah Hu suddenly climbed up the cliff in the cave and reached out to take away Xiao Qing's home. Xiao Qing's parents were afraid that the yan people would hurt their children, so they desperately tried to peck Ah Hu's face. In a hurry, Ah Hu grabbed Xiao Qing's parents one after another, pinched them and threw them on the ground, and then slapped Xiao Qing's sister to death, and when she was about to shoot Xiao Qing, she flew away from between Ah Hu's fingers and escaped a disaster.

Disaster struck in an instant. Xiaoqing lost her parents and sister, and her own bird's nest was also taken away by Ah Hu, and she had nowhere to go, so she was adopted by Xiao Bai's parents. Since then, Xiao Qing has had more opportunities to get along with Xiao Bai, Xiao Bai is also like a big brother, very fond of Xiao Qing, whenever Xiao Qing misses her parents, Xiao Bai will try his best to comfort her; sometimes when he catches bugs, he always lets Xiao Qing eat first. In this way, over time, emotions that exceed the relationship between brothers and sisters will breed between them. By the time they reached the age of love and matching, they both began to love each other.

It was a clear evening, Xiao Bai took Xiao Qing to the top of the mountain, said that he wanted to perform flying technology to Show Xiao Qing, before Xiao Qing agreed, he shot straight into the sky dome, and then from a high place like a meteor across the steep cliff, landed near the sea surface, and then quickly rose, flew in front of Xiao Qing, while singing emotionally in the most beautiful voice, dancing, performing various flying skills. Until he was tired, he landed lightly in front of Xiao Qing, looked at her affectionately, and then used his beak to peck the most beautiful feather from the tail, took it in his mouth, and gently placed the feather on the grass in front of Xiao Qing. This is a unique way for swiftlets to court, if the female swallow agrees to the courtship of the male, the female swallow will pick up the feather and spread her wings and fly high, taking the male swallow to find a place to nest and live together. But for some reason, Xiao Qing did not go to the beautiful feather. Xiao Bai asked disappointedly, "Why don't you accept my courtship?" Don't you love me? ”

"Love, of course love." Xiao Qing said, "But you are the most dashing prince on this island, many Yan girls are secretly in love with you, I am afraid that you will spend your heart, and your love for me will not last long." ”

Xiao Bai jumped around in front of Xiao Qing in a hurry, shouting: "The blue sky can testify, my love for you is deeper than the sea, longer than the sun!" ”

Xiao Qing still couldn't believe Xiao Bai's sweet words, she thought about it and said, "Brother Xiao Bai, since you love me so much, then you will accept my test!" ”

"How to test?"

"Well, if you can stand guard at the gate of the bird's nest for 200 consecutive nights, I will accept your love!"

I still have to wait another 200 days, this test is really a bit long, but Xiao Bai still readily agreed. Therefore, from this night on, Xiao Bai no longer dared to sleep, he always lay at the door of the bird's nest, guarding the sleeping Xiaoqing and his parents. One day, two days, three days..., he finally survived 199 days. If he insisted on one more night, he would be able to win Xiao Qing's heart, but on the 200th day, he fell asleep in his nest.

At dawn, Xiao Qing woke up Xiao Bai and said regretfully: "There is still one last day left, you have not persevered, how can I fulfill my promise?" ”

Xiao Bai said seriously: "The protection of the 199th night has proved how sincere my love for you is; in the last night, I did not insist on it, but I wanted to leave a little dignity for myself." Because I also want you to know that love is mutual, and the efforts of a swallow alone will not last! ”

Xiao Qing felt that Xiao Bai's words made sense, and only then did she realize that it was too much for her to test Xiao Bai like this, so she whispered in shame: "Little White Brother, I'm sorry, I let you suffer, I will ... Compensate you well! ”

Xiao Bai heard from Xiao Qing's voice that she had accepted her love, and he pecked the most beautiful feather from the tail and placed it in front of Xiao Qing. Xiao Qing no longer hesitated, she quickly picked up the feather and flew out of the bird's nest like a bow and arrow off the string. Seeing this, Xiao Bai also flew out, flew around in the sky, and then went to find a place to nest together.

Two

Swiftlet nesting, generally choose in the cave cliff wall, so the swiftlet is also known as "cave swallow". The raw materials for the nesting of swiftlets are very special, do not use grass and trees, nor do they use mud, but throw out the mucus secreted in the body from the mouth, mix a small amount of feathers pecked from the body, and weave it in a circle. Because the nest of the cave swallow is rich in a variety of ingredients that are beneficial to the human body, the nest built by the swiftlet is often snatched by humans like robbers.

In order to prevent their nests from being picked up by the swallow pickers, Xiao Bai and Xiao Qing wanted to choose a cave that was difficult for humans to enter and build their own nest there. They flew around and circled around Guanyin Island a few times, and finally chose a nesting place in a cave south of the island. The cliffs here are as steep as a knife cut, and it is difficult for any reptile to climb up, and just close to the top of the cave, there is a groove that allows the sun to shine outside, there is enough room to nest, and there are hundreds of neighbors on the left and right. Xiao Bai and Xiao Qing jumped around on the grooves, both very satisfied with the place. After a burst of joy, their spring hearts began to beat wildly, and they involuntarily began to linger, interpreting a story of life. Aibi, Xiao Bai gasped and said, "You wait, I will build you the best home on the island!" ”

Xiao Qing said, "Relying on your own saliva alone, how long will it take to build our home?" Let's work together! ”

Therefore, from this day on, Xiao Bai and Xiao Qing would go to build a nest as long as they had saliva. They were busy for almost 30 days before they built their nests. On the day of the completion of the bird's nest, dozens of swiftlets in the cave came to congratulate, they saw Xiao Bai and Xiao Qing made the bird's nest exquisite, they all praised the small two mouths of the soul, saying that the whole cave was the most beautiful bird's nest. Xiao Bai saw that everyone praised the bird's nest for making it well, and he was a little proud. But turning his head to see Xiao Qing standing on the side and bowing his head, he walked over and asked with concern: "Xiao Qing, we finally have our own home, why are you still not happy?" ”

Xiao Qing said worriedly, "Little Brother Xiaobai, we have built this nest too well, and we will be targeted by the Swallow Pickers." ”

Xiao Bai felt that Xiao Qing's words made sense, but what could be done about it? No matter how clever the swiftlet, no one is shrewd, and although the place they choose is relatively safe, they do not dare to guarantee that the steep cave wall will stop the greedy swallow pickers, and they can only build a few more nests like most swiftlets, in case they are in urgent need. Therefore, he comforted Xiaoqing and said, "You can have a baby in our new home, and I will build a nest for backup." ”

Xiao Qing meekly agreed and flew into his new home with Xiao Bai. That night, Xiao Qing had a dream that Guanyin Bodhisattva had come to the island, and she found that humans often came to snatch bird's nests, causing many swiftlets to lose their homes. The compassionate Guanyin Bodhisattva folded his hands and recited a few mantras, and all the bird's nest was mixed with a toxin, and humans would vomit when they ate it, so no one came to pick bird's nest anymore. Since then, all the swiftlets on the island have had a warm home, while Xiao Bai and Xiao Qing have built a row of nests, raised a group of children, and lived a carefree and happy life... Xiao Qing shouted happily and woke herself up. She saw that Xiao Bai next to her was still asleep, so she moved her body a little, leaned close to Xiao Bai, and soon fell asleep again.

A few days later, Xiao Qing gave birth to two eggs, which were her and Xiao Bai's two little babies! In order to give birth to their child early, the couple took turns to lie on the egg and hatch it with body temperature. But just as the little swiftlet began to peck at the shell, the Ah Hu, who had killed Xiao Qing's parents and sister, came to the cave like a thief. He didn't go far after entering the cave, and the beam of the flashlight stopped at Xiao Bai and Xiao Qing's nest. Xiao Bai and Xiao Qing knew that things were not good, so they immediately flew out of the bird's nest and landed on the stalactites not far away, praying that Ah Hu could spare their nest and the two children in the nest who were about to come out of the shell. But Ah Hu encountered such a good bird's nest, how could he easily give up? He looked at the cliff wall and saw that he really couldn't climb up, and then he stretched the bamboo pole in his hand up a few times with his feet, and still couldn't catch the bird's nest, so he looked around and found that there was an upside-down stalactite not far away, like a monkey, quickly climbed to the top of the stalactite, and used the bamboo pole to pick up The nest of Xiao Bai and Xiao Qing, and the two eggs were also broken.

Xiao Qing watched as his nest was picked up by Ah Hu, and the two children who were about to be born were also thrown to death, and the "chirping" of pain screamed. Xiao Bai didn't say a word until Ah Hu left with a lot of bird's nest, and then he comforted his wife and said, "Don't be sad, let's start from the beginning, I will build you another home!" ”

Three

No matter how hard life is, life still has to go on.

Xiao Bai and Xiao Qingqiang endured the pain of losing their son and began to rebuild their homes. But this time, Xiao Bai did not let Xiao Qing participate in nest building again, he let her accumulate energy to have children, and he took over the task of nest building. However, because the time of nesting this time was too short from the last time, Xiao Bai's body had not yet recovered, so he had just laid the base of the nest, and the mucus he spit out was already bloody. Xiao Qing looked at the red blood and cried, she was afraid that her husband would not be able to save his life like this, so she resolutely prevented him from spitting out mucus to build a nest. But Xiao Bai was very stubborn, and he said to Xiao Qing: "There is no nest, not only do we have no place to live, but there is no way to give birth to a baby!" Our swiftlet's natural life is only 14 years, if we do not seize the time to have children, we will delay the big thing! ”

Xiao Qingmi could not persuade her husband, so she sighed helplessly and flew out of the cave. She was going to collect the freshest seaweed and bring it back to feed to her husband. In this way, they seem to have a division of labor, Xiao Bai is responsible for concentrating on nest building, and Xiao Qing is looking around every day for fresh and tender seaweed. After more than 20 days of hard work, they finally built a new nest. Although this bird's nest is not as beautiful as the first, it is neatly shaped, and when the sun shines into the cave, it will glow red like a red lantern, which is extremely beautiful. Xiao Bai and Xiao Qing were very satisfied with this new home, and they waited for the bird's nest to just solidify and lived in it. Soon, Xiao Qing laid two more eggs, and she and her husband seemed to see hope again, hoping that Xiao Yanzi could peck at the shell as soon as possible.

However, Xiao Bai and Xiao Qing would never have imagined that the tragedy would be repeated. That Ah Hu was an experienced bird's nest picker, he calculated that the second bird's nest should be built, so he went into the cave again, went straight to the nest of Xiao Bai and Xiao Qing, shined the bird's nest with a flashlight, climbed to the top of the stalactite again, and without hesitation, stabbed the bird's nest down with a bamboo pole...

This time, although Xiao Bai and Xiao Qing flew out of the nest, the two swallow eggs could not escape the disaster, and both fell on the rock and were smashed. In the face of the destruction of the homeland again, Xiao Bai and Xiao Qing were confused, they stood in the empty grooves, you look at me, I look at you, no one said a word.

The other swiftlets living in the cave were very sympathetic to Xiao Bai and Xiao Qing's plight, and they surrounded the little two mouths and talked about it, saying that the earth did not belong to humans, and that humans should not so mercilessly plunder the things of other animals. But in the final analysis, no one can come up with a good way to deal with the swallow pickers. Just when everyone didn't know how to comfort Xiao Bai and Xiao Qing, Xiao Bai's father came. When he saw that his son's home had been destroyed by the Yan pickers, he angrily shouted to the Qun Yan: "Fellow tribesmen, the bird's nest is our homeland, how can we let human beings destroy it at will?" I suggest that we set up a death squad to protect our homeland with our lives! I volunteered to be the captain, who wants to follow me to fight the swallow pickers? ”

As soon as Xiao Bai's father's voice fell, Xiao Bai shouted at Yan Qun: "Daddy, I signed up to participate!" ”

When the swallows saw that Xiao Bai took the lead in signing up, they all asked to participate in the war, and in a few moments, hundreds of swiftlets became glorious death squad fighters. Xiao Bai's father counted the number of team members and instructed everyone to always be vigilant, if the swallow pickers dare to grab the bird's nest again, then attack them in groups, and must not let the swallow pickers easily succeed. The daredevils all swore to obey the captain's orders and were willing to defend the homeland of the swallows with their lives. In the end, everyone said that they wanted to help Xiao Bai rebuild his home, and Xiao Bai's father did not express his attitude, but asked Xiao Bai and Xiao Qing: "What do you mean?" ”

Xiao Bai raised his spirits and said, "Dad, I don't want to trouble everyone." With Xiaoqing helping me, no matter how big the difficulties are, we can overcome them. Trust us that we will soon be building our new home! ”

"Yes, we will build a third home soon." Xiao Qing also said confidently.

Xiao Bai's father saw that his son and daughter-in-law were so ambitious, he was very satisfied, so he said to Qunyan: "I thank everyone for their hearts, but please believe my two children, they will definitely have the courage to build another home!" ”

Four

Swiftlets can only nest three times a year and lay eggs three times a year. If the nest built for the third time is picked by the swallow pickers, it will be difficult for them to survive the long winter. In order to build a home before the arrival of winter, Xiao Bai and Xiao Qing tried their best to build a nest day and night. However, due to the fact that the first two nesting times, the slime and feathers were almost used, so this nesting was very difficult, and finally had to be mixed with a small amount of grass blades, and the third nest was barely built.

When the third bird's nest was completed, it was already early autumn. Xiao Qing was very angry, and soon laid two eggs in the new nest, they wanted to hatch the little swallow as soon as possible, and spent the winter with the children, so they took turns lying on the egg to hatch, and insisted for up to three months before the little swallow came out of the shell. At this time, there were snowflakes floating outside the cave, although the cold weather was not conducive to the growth of the little swallows, but looking at the hole that was blocked by the snow, Xiao Bai and Xiao Qing's tight nerves began to relax, and they thought in their hearts: It is cold and frozen, and the swallow pickers will probably not come to harass them. As long as they survive the winter, the little swallows will fly, and then they will build a new nest and leave this old nest to the swallow pickers, after all, they are also for survival.

However, the kind swiftlet could not imagine how greedy people's hearts were, Ah Hu snatched Xiao Bai and Xiao Qing's nest and sold it for a big price, how could he give up to pick the third one? Therefore, the heavy snow blocked the road, and it did not stop his steps, he stepped into the cave again, saw that Xiao Bai and Xiao Qing's nest had been built, and said to himself triumphantly: "Silly swallow, won't you change places to make a nest?" After saying that, he climbed to the top of the stalactite again, hugged the stalactite with his left hand, and raised the bamboo pole with his right hand, intending to poke Xiao Bai and Xiao Qing's nest. But because the weather was too cold, his hand holding the bamboo pole had been frozen, and the bamboo pole was a little trembling when it reached out, and he couldn't aim at the bird's nest, so he had to take back the bamboo pole and wanted to rest for a while before shooting.

Xiao Bai and Xiao Qing, who were lying in the nest to warm the child, saw Ah Hu come to grab their nest again, they immediately flew out of the bird's nest, while "chirping" and shouting for the other swiftlets in the cave to come to the rescue, while flying around Ah Hu, trying to drive him away. But Ah Hu was willing to let go easily, he waved his hand to drive Xiao Bai and Xiao Qing away, and once again raised the bamboo pole to poke the bird's nest. Xiao Bai saw that the bamboo pole was about to poke into the bird's nest, he was both anxious and angry, shouted "I fought with you", and swooped down on Ah Hu's face, biting the tip of his nose and not letting go. Ah Hu seemed to be bitten and hurt, so he dropped the bamboo pole in his right hand, grabbed Xiao Bai's head, slammed Xiao Bai to death, and then threw him on the ground.

Xiao Qing watched her husband die to defend her homeland, she pounced on Xiao Bai's body like crazy, shouted desperately, touched Xiao Bai's head with her mouth, and saw that he did not respond; she jumped around Xiao Bai again, and then pulled his wings, but still did not see her husband wake up. This disaster came too suddenly, and the desperate Xiaoqing could only cry out in pain, not knowing what to do.

At this time, Xiao Bai's father rushed from other caves, and hundreds of swiftlets in the cave also gathered around Xiao Bai's corpse and "chirped" and prepared to avenge Xiao Bai. Xiao Bai's father circled around his son's corpse, and also touched his head with his mouth like Xiao Qing, confirming that his son did not have a trace of breath, so he looked at Ah Hu, who was still holding a stalactite, with a hateful look, and then said to Qun Yan: "Brothers and sisters, human beings are really selfish!" In order to live a more comfortable life, they do not hesitate to destroy all things, slaughter innocents, and how many homes have they robbed us of for thousands of years? How many of our brothers and sisters have been killed? Now, again and again, this swallow picker has destroyed my son's home and killed my son, and we can no longer tolerate it! ”

The swallows were all indignant and shouted in unison: "All things are equal, avenge Xiao Bai!" ”

Xiao Bai's father was already furious to the extreme, and he shouted, "Avenge Xiao Bai, they all rush after me!" Then, he rushed directly at Ah Hu. Seeing this, the group of swallows also rushed to Ah Hu and began to peck at various parts of his body. At first, Ah Hu also drove the swiftlet with one hand, but there were too many swiftlets, and the former servants followed him in droves, as if to fight him to the death, he killed dozens of them, and did not scare off these usually gentle little swallows. Finally, he finally couldn't resist the pecking of the swallows, and his hands were loose and fell from the stalactites...

Five

When Ah Hu woke up, the swallows had dispersed, and even Xiao Qing returned to his nest to warm his child. Ah Hu moved his body and tried to get up, but his waist hurt like a knife cut, and he knew that he had been injured by a fall, and he could not stand up for a moment and a half. What to do? If you don't leave this cave as soon as possible, you will starve to death, if you don't freeze to death. But he tried several times and could not get up, so he could only lie on the ground and wait for his family to come and look for him. But the family did not know where he went, he lay in the cave for a day and a night, still no one came to rescue him, fortunately the cave was warm in winter and cool in summer, plus he came wearing a dog skin coat, neither afraid of cold nor damp, but could not solve the problem of hunger.

The next afternoon, Xiao Qing came back from outside looking for food, found Ah Hu still lying on the ground, she circled around Ah Hu, saw that he was using his tongue to see the water oozing from the rock, knew that he must be thirsty and hungry, and could not help but feel a little sympathy for him. But on second thought, this is all ah hu's own doing, who let him run to this desert island to destroy the bird's nest? Thinking about how Xiao Bai died so tragically, Xiao Qing hated Ah Hu and hoped that he would starve to death in the cave like this. So she flew back to her nest, fed the child, and lay in the nest to watch Ah Hu's dying struggle.

Another day and night passed, Xiao Qing saw that Ah Hu was already dying, she couldn't hold her breath a little, flew to Ah Hu's side, and saw that although he was still alive, his eyes could not be opened. Xiao Qing thought in his heart: Is it like this to watch him die? How to say, that is also a life! Although he took the lives of his parents, sister and husband, he could not repay him for his wrongs, watching him struggle on the death line without asking! Xiao Qing's heart softened, and she wanted to rescue Ah Hu and let him get out of the cave alive. But how can we save him? She flew to Ah Hu's chest and began to feed her own saliva to Ah Hu. But the human appetite is too big, and Xiao Qing's little saliva is only enough for Ah Hu's wet lips, which can't relieve Ah Hu's hunger and thirst at all. Xiao Qing didn't want to see Ah Hu die in front of him like this, so he "chirped" and called all the swallows to Ah Hu's side and said to everyone, "Please, please feed this person with saliva!" No matter how he is, we can't see death and not save! ”

In the Yan group, some swiftlets were not happy, and shouted loudly: "He came to destroy our homeland, and also killed Xiao Bai, why should we save him?" He deserves to starve to death! ”

Xiao Qing said emotionally: "All life in this world should be respected." We live on the earth with human beings, and for the sake of our own survival, it is inevitable that there will be conflicts and even harm to each other. But when is the retribution? We should fight evil with good, impress mankind with practical actions, and live in peace with mankind. I believe that as long as we treat human beings well, there will be good rewards, do you say? ”

Hearing Xiao Qing say this, Qun Yan was silent. They suddenly found that the much-suffering Xiaoqing thought more deeply than most swiftlets, and their eyes were high and far-sighted. In addition to admiration, everyone rushed to feed Ah Hu, and some swiftlets flew outside the cave and caught small shrimp and placed them in front of Ah Hu, leaving him hungry.

It seems that the saliva of the swiftlet is really beneficial to the human body, after Ah Hu ate the saliva of the swallow, not only quickly woke up, but also the body did not feel cold, and ate some small shrimp, and actually fell asleep comfortably. When he woke up, he found that his brother and several people from the same village were gathered around him. At this time, although Ah Hu still couldn't stand up, his mind was very clear, when his brother carried him to the mouth of the cave, he saw Xiaoqing and Qunyan flying to the mouth of the cave to send him off, so he waved to Qunyan, and shouted with tears in his eyes: "In the future, I will protect you!" ”

Ah Hu was a man who kept his promises, and after he had recovered from his injuries at home, he took all his savings out of the bank and bought out the contracting rights to Guanyin Island. After that, he guarded Guanyin Island every day and did not allow anyone to go to the island to pick bird's nests. Under his protection, the swiftlets on the island no longer have to worry about their homes being destroyed.