Legend has it that there is a creature called 'Red Willow Wa' in Xinjiang, which is said to be a wild man and belongs to the small human race. According to ancient books, the red willow baby is about 30 cm tall, there are men and women, not tall but very strong, can shoot arrows with a bow taller than herself, and likes to wear garlands woven with red willow flowers. The old teacher told me the story of his encounter with Hongliuwa in Xinjiang...
Wild camels in a wolfberry field
When the old teacher was planting goji berries in Xinjiang, because the plot was far from home, he built a stone house in the field with his own hands, and the walls were made old, so that the house could be cooler at noon when the sun was stronger.
The house is already small, except for the wall, there is not much space in the house. I started to live inside, I felt quite fresh, listening to the sound of water outside, lying under the window of the small room, I had an inexplicable sense of security.
After living for a long time, the old teacher felt bored and depressed, and did not want to stay in the house, especially in the breezy evening, lukewarm, he always moved a chair to sit under the vine and read novels.
In the evening, all kinds of animals come out, and you can always see creatures that are usually difficult to see. Especially at the foot of the nearby mountain, there is a group of strange wild camels living there, and they are still a little afraid of people, and they are easily reluctant to get close to the old teacher's goji berry field, but recently this is not the case, always secretly coming to the wolfberry field to steal young leaves.
The camels raised by people are even more different, and they are not afraid of people at all. Camels are really iron-mouthed and copper-toothed species, and they are not picky about eating, even thorns and cacti full of thorns are also fragrant in the camel's mouth.
Next to the old teacher's wolfberry field is a road, one day when a camel caravan passed, the camel driver lost his mind, the camel's mind was active, and his small eyes glanced at the lush goji berries, and he wanted to eat two bites.
The camel turned his head to see that no one was paying attention to him, trotted to the old teacher's goji field with the goods, bit the root of the wolfberry plant with his mouth, shook his head, brushed the ground and stroked over, and not a single leaf was left on the entire goji plant.
The old teacher shouted at the camel herder two or three hundred meters away: "Look after your camel son..." The camel herder looked up and found that the naughty camel was frantically eating goji berries, and the brush was the decline of a wolfberry plant.
The camel herder immediately jumped off the camel he was riding, ran over to drive the naughty camel out of the wolfberry field, and apologized to the old teacher who hurried over. The old teacher was generous and waved his hand to indicate that he was fine.
The camel herder was overwhelmed, so he left two pieces of trade goods for the old teacher, a bone-removing knife and a flashlight that was valuable at the time.
The old teacher thought that the camel had eaten this goji berry, so he took such a valuable gift from others, and he was too careless, so he left the camel herder to rest in his house for the night. The camel driver saw that it was not early, and after thanking him again and again, he decided to stay for one night.
The old teacher helped the camel herder drive five or six camels to the canal to drink enough water, quickly made noodles, made strips for the camel herder, took out the mutton brought back from the old shepherd, and fried it with the skin and teeth, so that the camel herder Meimei could eat a meal.
At night, the local area is very cold, and the old teachers and camel drivers around the stove chat about the new things in the south and north of the world. It was time to rest, and the camel herder heard something moving outside, so he asked what was the movement of this thing?
The old teacher snorted and said: "The wild camels in this vicinity, it is estimated that the moon is high tonight, the brightness is relatively large, the wild camels were chased by wild wolves and ran here, and they ate wolfberries in the moonlight." ”
After saying that, the old teacher picked up the wooden stick behind the door and went out, and the camel herder also quickly picked up the shovel in the yard and followed out. When I went to the wolfberry field, I saw a large black shadow moving in the moonlight from a distance.
The camel herder raised the flashlight, pushed the switch, and a bright pillar of light shone through the black shadow, and sure enough, it was a strong wild camel. Rashly illuminated by the pillar of light, the wild camel ran away.
Old teachers are quite rare flashlights, this thing still has this use? You can take the wild camel away, and you can't help but marvel a few words. The camel driver was also very happy, and the gift he gave was liked by the old teacher, so he handed the flashlight to the old teacher.
The camel herder found that the old teacher did not return with a flashlight, but continued to walk forward, looking around in the wolfberry field. Just as I was about to ask, I saw a small camel only a few months old get up from behind the wolfberry bush and run away. When running, he also made a humming sound, like the laughter of hide-and-seek when he was found.
The old teacher said to the camel herder: "This little camel is different from other wild camels, not only does it know how to steal goji berries, but it also lies behind the wolfberry bush and hides. ”
The camel herder showed an incredible look: "There is such an incredibly smart camel, knowing to avoid search, its mentality is also too good to be terrifying, it was discovered, and fled with a grin." After that, the eyes of the camel driver suddenly showed panic, and he urged the old teacher to go back.
'Red Willow Baby' riding a wild camel
The old teacher and the camel herder returned to the house, rested for a while, the camel herder took the teapot on the table and poured two cups of water, took the cup himself and drank it first, and said: "Brother, this little camel has an unusual origin, judging by its boldness and intelligence, it is very similar to the camel trained by the red willow baby on the mountain." ”
"Red Willow!" The old teacher exclaimed, exchanged glances with the camel herder, and continued to ask: "Is the brother talking about the red willow baby recorded in Ji Xiaolan's "Notes on Reading Micro Caotang"?" ”
The camel herder raised his eyes to stare into the old teacher's eyes and nodded slightly. The old teacher was a little panicked for a while, he had been here for half a year, and the clever little camel had come several times, and he didn't see any red willow babies.
The camel herder comforted the old teacher: "Brother, don't be nervous first, after dawn, I will accompany you to the mountains to follow the trail of wild camels to see if there is a red willow baby." ”
The old teacher waved his hand and said, "Don't go, don't go." I heard that the red willow baby is extremely powerful, and she is also good at using bows and arrows, I honestly plant goji berries here, and when the wild camels come to drive them away, it is better not to provoke the red willow baby. ”
The camel herder gently patted his leg and said: "Brother is also right, do your job, I think that red willow baby is also good and evil, will not disturb your livelihood for no reason, besides, that camel also stole your wolfberries, counting red willow baby is sorry for you." ”
While chatting, I heard another rustling sound outside, this time both of them were much more stable, did not rush the guy and ran out, they both lay on the window and looked into the wolfberry field.
Under the moonlight, the figures of two camels, one big and one small, appeared on the other end of the ground, and it seemed that the two camels just now came to steal goji berries. The old teacher picked up the stick on the ground and tried to go out and drive the camels away.
Suddenly, the camel herder whispered to him: "Brother, brother, come and see, see what is on the back of the camel..." The old teacher carried a wooden stick in his hand, attached himself to the window, looked out, and found that there was a person sitting on the back of the big camel, who looked like a child from his height.
Due to the relatively long distance, it is not very clear in the moonlight, and only the general outline can be seen. The old teacher asked the camel driver with a trembling voice: "This is what you said about the red willow baby, right?" The wild camel didn't seem to dislike it and was happy to be its mount. ”
The two lay behind the window and watched the wild camels eat their full goji berries and quietly left. After observing for a few more minutes, he found that the wild camel had not returned, and the old teacher and the camel herder sat down quietly, still not daring to make much movement.
The two sat there, and they didn't know what to say, just now they were still suspecting that it was a camel tamed by Red Willow, so the camel was so bold and clever, and then they saw Red Willow Baby riding a camel, and both of them were a little shocked for a while.
After sitting for a while, the old teacher let the camel herder go to rest, wrapped himself in a coat, leaned back on the recliner, put his legs on the table, closed his eyes, and wanted to rest for a while. But he couldn't sleep, looking at the bright moon outside the window, always remembering the red willow baby he saw just now, and he was faintly worried about something.
The camel herder was driven away by Red Willow, and the old shepherd took them to chase
There was a slight rumble outside, and the clatter of camels moving their hooves back and forth. The old teacher turned his head to look at the camel herder, and found that the moonlight shining through the window hit the bedhead in the dark corner of the house, and the camel herder's eyes reflected the light, apparently he was not asleep, and was listening with his eyes and ears pricked.
Neither dared to go out. The next morning it was dawn, and the two who had not rested all night dared to come out and look outside to see where there were camels. The camel driver still had a fluke mentality last night, seeing that the camel was gone, only then did he regret what he was afraid of last night, and did not dare to come out to see, is there anything more terrible than losing five or six camels? The camel herder shed tears in a hurry.
At this time, suddenly someone outside shouted: "Brother, see what I sent you." "Listening to the voice, you can tell that it is the old shepherd on the back mountain. The old teacher quickly opened the door, pulled the old shepherd into the house, and then told the old shepherd what happened last night.
When the old shepherd heard this, he said to the two of them: "I have lived here for almost a hundred years, and I have never heard of Red Willow, and I have never seen it once, if you have the courage, go with me to the mountains over there to look for it, at least bring the camel back." ”
After that, the old shepherd rushed out of the gate, went to his horse, took out two pistol-like earthen muskets from the pocket on the horse's back, took them to the house and slapped them on the table and said: "I know that you two are a little afraid, we have two guns, not afraid of Red Willow." ”
With the encouragement of the old shepherd, the old teacher and the camel herder took up sticks and followed the old shepherd to the next mountain, climbed a mountainside, and in front of it was a red willow forest, and saw boxes containing goods on the ground, probably thrown off by camels.
The camel herder saw that the goods were all on the ground, and quickly ran over to see it, but was stopped by the old shepherd: "Fellow countryman, don't be impatient." "The old shepherd looked around and saw that there was really no ambush, so he went with the camel herder to the cargo, counted it, and there was nothing missing.
This side is sparsely populated, and it is common for no one to come for several months, so they ignore the goods first, and a few people follow the camel footprints and explore the depths of the red willow forest. Suddenly, the camel driver said: "Oh, the half bag of dried fruits I brought on the road seems to have been lost, and I forgot about it when I looked at the goods just now." ”
The old teacher pondered for a moment and said, "Wasn't it taken and eaten by that red willow baby, maybe in the eyes of the red willow baby, dried fruits are more valuable than the valuable goods sold." Several people nodded in approval, so they hurried forward to chase forward, not only to get the camel back, but also to see what the red willow baby looked like.
Red Willow Lin sees Red Willow Baby and likes to eat dried fruits
After chasing for half an hour, just out of this red willow forest, in front of a large wasteland, the surface is all gravel, there is no vegetation, probably there is no water flowing through here, unable to breed plants.
They all ran out of the red willow forest, and they didn't see the camels, and they couldn't see the footprints of camels on the gravel ground, and the three fell into confusion. Suddenly the old teacher shouted: "Look at it, what else can it be that the forest in front is not a camel?" ”
The old shepherd and camel herder followed the old teacher's finger to the right a few hundred meters to the right, and sure enough, several camels were standing there resting. The three of them hurried over there, observing the movement over there as they ran, because camels would not come here for no reason, and something must have brought them here.
Just halfway through, I suddenly saw a wild camel coming out of the red willow forest in front of me, and on his back sat a short man, who was still wearing a garland hat woven with red willow flowers on his head, covering most of his face.
This is very similar to the red willow baby recorded by Ji Xiaolan, who likes to wear a red willow hat, but unfortunately the sun shines so that several people can't open their eyes, and they can't see what the red willow baby looks like.
The movement of the three people running was discovered by Red Willow, and I saw that it skillfully patted the wild camel, and the wild camel ran away. The five or six camels lost by the camel herders also ran away with the wild camels.
Without camels and horses to ride, it was a bit difficult to chase a few camels, the servants were so tired that they were out of breath, and the old shepherd regretted not riding the horse. Running to the place where Hong Liuwa was just staying, she found that there were freshly cracked walnuts on the ground, and the walnut meat inside was thrown away without caring about eating.
The camel driver said excitedly: "This, this is the walnut I brought, it is the walnut tree of my family, I haven't taken much care of it this year, the walnuts are as ugly as wild walnuts, the skin is thick and the flesh is small, you can recognize it at a glance." ”
The old shepherd picked up the walnut, and after careful inspection, he found that the walnut was bitten open by fangs, and there were bite marks at the opening. The three of them spent a day looking for a day in the red willow forest, and the red willow baby rode a camel around with them. Several times to catch up, or let the red willow baby run away, the ground is always scattered with freshly cracked dried fruits, and they don't care to eat it.
The sun is about to set, and the last time I met Red Willow Baby that day, the distance was very close, only more than a hundred meters, so scared that Red Willow Baby's dried fruit bags were thrown on the ground, but it was a little dark, and I didn't see what Red Willow Wa looked like. The old shepherd shook the walnuts and padamu he had just picked up with his hands, and said to everyone: "This guy is so nervous to throw away the dried fruit when he sees us, this is his habit, I have a way to catch it!" (Pay attention, the next issue continues [Bump Fist])