Echoes of time| the little southern turtle of the chicken thief, once implied the risk of inducing disaster

I have a little turtle at home. This turtle, I can't say what kind of species it is, only that it is a dry turtle, living in the mountains and forests of the south. The shell under its head can be opened and closed freely like the bow of a landing ship. When it was all right, it stuck its long neck out of its shell and stood tall like a cobra, blinking a pair of small eyes and not knowing what to see. As soon as the wind blew, he quickly shrunk his head into the shell and closed it tightly. Turtle shrink!

This turtle was given to me by a relative more than a decade ago when I went to a conference in Guangxi. At the time, we were four people going to the conference together. My relatives who transferred from the army and stayed in Nanning, it was difficult to see relatives and friends from their hometown, and they were very affectionate. After the meeting, we had to be pulled to the Friendship Pass to have a look. He served there and had many acquaintances. Under the difficulty of hospitality, we naturally respect rather than obey orders.

At a farmers' market near the China-Vietnam border, my relatives bought two turtles for one of us. These turtles may also have foreign nationality. Relatives said that this thing is very complementary to soup or wine, such as Pingxiang County Distillery, which produces a Phnom Penh turtle wine, which is very popular in the local area. We were afraid of trouble and didn't want it. But relatives say that turtles must be brought back to Shandong, as for tasting turtle wine or drinking turtle soup, or keeping them as pets, listen to them.

In order to get them home, we took a lot of trouble. One of my companions was a little lazy, so he asked another companion to help him get his turtles, and did not forget to explain: "Be careful, don't choke them to death!" The companion was also real, so he bought a nylon net pocket and carried it to the airport with a big wave. Of course, the airport staff was not polite, so they very painfully confiscated their turtles. The somewhat lazy companion was still very unhappy, and accused the companion who helped him take the turtle: "You said that you were wearing sunglasses, hanging Erlang dang, and you didn't look like a good person at first glance. ”

Another companion and I had an extra eye, wrapped the turtle in a change of clothes, and placed it in the middle of the lockbox in case of X-ray detection. Of course, the effect of this is very questionable. So, when it came time to check our luggage, we were very nervous. Fortunately, I don't know if the staff is sloppy or the instruments are not sensitive enough, and our luggage has passed smoothly.

The relieved companion, after getting on the plane, opened a slit in the lockbox and quietly told me that he was afraid of choking the turtles to death and ventilating them. Then, put the box into the luggage compartment. When you get off the plane, you may be a little like an arrow, so you forgot to check it, buckled the lid of the box and left. When I got home, I found that the turtle was missing. He wondered if they must have slipped into the luggage compartment of the plane. On the phone, he said to me, half afraid and half regretful, that he really shouldn't have left any breathing slits in one fell swoop. If the two turtles climbed into the engine of the plane and caused an accident, the crime would be great. He also said that he was ready to surrender himself to the police as soon as he heard the news of the accident on that flight. Thankfully, it turned out to be a false alarm. I just don't know what kind of expression the flight attendants will have when they find the two fleeing turtles when they pack up the luggage compartment.

My two turtles were all right and went home with me safely. I have an instinctive sense of resistance to eating the flesh of spiritual animals such as dogs, turtles, turtles, snakes, and monkeys. For these two turtles, naturally they could not bear to kill them in wine or stew. So I bought a glass jar and raised them. Unfortunately, one day I moved them to the balcony to bask in the sun, leaving in the evening and forgetting to tell my family to move them back indoors in time. Coincidentally, the temperature plummeted that night, and there was a serious freeze, and a smaller one froze to death. This incident made me regret it for many days. From then on, I never dared to neglect the other one left.

By the way, this turtle has been in my house for fourteen years. Intuitively, it didn't grow much older than when it first arrived at my house. So, I still call it the little turtle. This is really enviable and emotional, this period of time is enough to make me from the end of youth to the beginning of old age.

Whether there is telepathy between humans and animals I don't know, but I know that after spending a long time with animals, I can definitely get emotional, such as me and this little turtle. When I have time, observing its every move is a very interesting thing and can bring me a lot of fun.

My wife is a person who loves to be clean and almost clean, and is adamantly opposed to any small animals entering my house, and the little turtle is no exception. Therefore, when I brought the turtle home, she was very dissatisfied with the fact that I cooked raw rice into cooked rice without asking for instructions or reporting. But after a long time, she accepted it. Sometimes, I watch the little turtle with great interest and often remind me to change the water and feed it in time.

When I first arrived at my house, the little turtle was not picky about food. Chopped vegetables, fruits, meat, etc., those who come do not refuse. And its endurance is extremely strong, ten and a half days of not feeding and starving to death. Of course, every day feeding can't last. Later, I found that it was more fond of eating meat, fat skinny raw cooked old tender, pig cow sheep chicken duck fish shrimp, all into. So, every day when I eat, if there is such a thing, I set aside some to feed it. Anyway, I can't eat much, and it's enough to plug the gap between my teeth. After a long time, my wife said, "This little turtle can be raised, and it is quite blessed!" Running on the ground, climbing on the mountain, flying in the sky, swimming in the water, all kinds of meat can be eaten, where can you catch these foods in the woods. That being said, I don't think the improvement in my life seems to prevent the little turtle from missing his hometown from time to time.

After coming and going, the appetite of the little turtle was raised. Today, it is no longer meat. I used to feed mushrooms, fungus, eggplants, etc., which I thought looked like meat to the tortoise visually. After swallowing it without thinking, it felt that it was not right under the chew, and immediately spit it out. Then he stared at me with small eyes, which seemed to mean that I was afraid of whom, my endurance is good, I don't give meat or eat, anyway, I don't starve to death, see what you can do with me! If so, it will be repeated and repeated, and the result is that people can't beat the turtle. It seems that it is not only humans who will pick fat and thin.

When I was not familiar with me, as soon as he saw me approaching, the little turtle immediately hid his head, and the upper and lower shells were closed tightly, without leakage. When I felt that I had gone far, I tried to probe and slowly stick my head out. After the mixture, it was no longer afraid of me, but often tilted its head, blinked a pair of small eyes, and stared at me curiously. The throat was still agitating like a frog, as if trying to nag something.

I forgot when it came, as long as I approached the glass jar where the little turtle stayed, and shouted "little turtle", it would quickly climb to my side, very sharp. It seems that the turtle can also move quickly, as long as it wants to. After climbing over, it would use one front paw to prop up, and the other front paw would desperately reach upwards, as if to shake hands with me and make love. I know that it's probably just a conditioned reflex to food. But in my heart, I'm still willing to see this as a move that wants to take the initiative to get close to me.

In winter, it lives indoors and looks a little lonely. In the summer, it stays on the balcony and is more energetic. When it is full of food and drink, it stretches out its four claws long and lies there comfortably to recuperate. Sometimes, it will also straighten its neck and look hard into the distance. I can't tell if it's homesick at a time like this.

Looking at this seemingly clumsy but clever little turtle, I often wonder, how can some people bear to mutilate or even eat these cute little creatures instead of learning to live in harmony with them.

Tsubasa Tani Ogi