As mentioned earlier, the stepmother has a good memory and a high level of understanding. Although my stepmother is uneducated, she can't read a single word. But she will tell a lot of stories.
The stories told by the stepmother are thought-provoking and intriguing
The stories told by the stepmother are thought-provoking and intriguing, educating people to respect the elderly, telling people to practice filial piety and the cycle of cause and effect, whether it is to be tolerant, grateful and good, or to be diligent and thrifty. And most of those stories were written down by the stepmother from the old drama texts and the inheritance of the older generation.
Yue Mo Embroidery
I remember that I was already in elementary school at that time, and almost every night she would tell us stories about the box box (speaking the local dialect also means telling a story), in the summer and autumn, right in front of my house. At that time, my house was a street paved house, there were three or four feet of eaves in front of the door, the steps were made of stone, the ground was also paved with stone slabs, and the middle of the pavement on both sides of the pavement according to the difference between the steps and the road surface also had a hole in the design of a small slide made of stone on one side, each almost more than a foot wide, more than one meter long, many children play here every day. In the summer and fall, we kids were playing on the slide while listening to my stepmother tell stories about the box.
And in the winter, it was the early sixties of the last century, our village had not yet been connected to electricity, and at night, under the dim kerosene lamp, my stepmother peeled cotton peaches for the production team (the cotton peaches that did not completely collapse on the cotton stalks after the autumn during collectivization, the production team picked them back and then distributed them to the members to separate the cotton from the shell, earn cotton and peach skins to burn the fire, and there were also some meager work, as if it was a division of labor by peeling ten catties of cotton), while guessing riddles for us, telling stories and telling boxes.
Peel cotton and peaches for the production team
Cotton seeds are selected for the production team
, change hands on the wall, rabbits, tigers, puppies, etc
Sometimes we are under the shadow of kerosene lamps, changing hand shadows on the walls, rabbits, tigers, dogs, etc., vividly. Or peel the cob while telling stories and guessing riddles. In the early spring, under the dim kerosene lamp, the production team selects cotton seeds (that is, the cotton seeds with full grains are selected to make seeds, and the rest is squeezed with cottonseed oil) or some other seeds, and it is also a storytelling box, guessing riddles, anyway, there are new stories and riddles every day.
The stepmother will tell you something about the moon Chang'e, what Mahu (we call it a wolf locally, for Mahu) grandmother, and what seven fairies meet on Tanabata, the story of the treasure gourd. I can also talk about my mother-in-law's tattooing, etc. My stepmother's clever voice told me vividly, and I and my friends were fascinated by it. Most of the stories tell people the stories of the causal cycle of respecting the old and loving the young, filial piety to their parents, and good intentions. But many of the storylines have become blurry and difficult to remember as time goes by and the years pass. But there are two stories that I remember very well, but I still remember the general meaning.
One is a story of respecting the elderly, and the other is a story of filial piety.
During the Warring States Period, the monarch of the Qin State won the government and destroyed the Six Kingdoms, unified the world, and proclaimed himself the First Emperor of Qin. Whoever dares to resist the decree will be beheaded all over the house.
Qin Shi Huang's national teacher Xu Fu was the Xu Fu who traveled east to Japan to seek the elixir of immortality for Qin Shi Huang. Although he flattered, deceived and coaxed Qin Shi Huang, he did not do anything good. But he was very filial to his father. When his father reached the age of sixties, that is, when he was sixty years old, he secretly built a secret room to hide his father in, secretly delivered tea and food, and sometimes secretly visited his old father. One day, there was a country in the Western Regions, gave Qin Shi Huang an animal the size of a calf, and let out the words, within three days, if someone in the Qin country can recognize this thing, his monarch will pay tribute every year, come to the court every year, and pay tribute of 100,000 taels of gold, 100,000 cattle, horses and sheep, if you don't know this thing, you will make a big move, and Qin is the enemy. Immediately, Qin Shi Huang issued a decree that within three days, regardless of the military and civilian ministers, regardless of the size of the official position, if he could recognize this thing, he would be rewarded with a thousand gold and sealed ten thousand households.
As soon as the will is issued, the proclamation is posted. The military and civilian ministers went to watch one after another. But two days have passed, and no one has yet been able to recognize it. When Xu Fu returned home that day, he secretly went to visit his old father, who saw that he was depressed and asked him what was wrong. So, Xu Fu told the above scene again. The appearance of the animal was described in detail again. As soon as the old father heard what he said, he told Xu Fu that this animal was a unique animal in the Western Regions, called the Western Mouse, which could be large and small, and belonged to the category of rats. And also told Xu Fu that no matter how big the mouse is, it is also afraid of cats. And told Xu Fu to bring his civet cat with him when he went to court tomorrow, and when the time came, he would know the end.
The next day, Xu Fu took his civet cat to the court early. When they arrived at the Jinluan Palace, the ministers of Qin Shi Huang and the envoys of the Western Regions had been watching and discussing on the Jinluan Hall for a long time. Xu Fushan sighed, stood in front of the calf-like animal, just watched, his civet cat rushed out, the animal saw the civet cat, immediately frightened fart and urine, the calf-like shape immediately shrunk into the size of an ordinary mouse, scurrying all over the ground, looking for holes to drill. Seeing this, the envoys of the Western Regions hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed to beg for mercy. He also said that he was willing to come to the court every year, pay tribute every year, and the two countries would be reconciled and never go to war. Qin Shi Huang was overjoyed when he saw it, and while rewarding Xu Fu, he asked him how he knew the animal. When Xu Fu saw it, he knew that he couldn't hide it, so he told his old father what he said. and begged Qin Shi Huang to spare his old father. On the contrary, Qin Shi Huang not only did not blame him, but rewarded him. From this incident, Qin Shi Huang realized the wisdom of the elderly, as well as the rich social practice and experience, as well as the essence of not being chaotic in the face of danger and defeating evil.
And immediately issued a decree to abolish the previous tyranny, restore the life and freedom of the 60-year-old, and abolish the death penalty. And praised Xu Fu: Qing has an old man, a national treasure, a family has an old man, a family treasure. Since then, the spirit of respecting the elderly and the virtuous has gradually become popular throughout the country.
The second is a story about filial piety, and the plot of the story goes like this: In ancient times, there was a family whose mother could not remember what had done something wrong, and his son wanted to bury his mother alive, and no matter how much his mother begged, his son would not agree, and he had to bury his mother alive. His mother saw that she had begged again and again, but she agreed.
So his son walked ahead with a shovel, and her mother followed. Halfway there, there was a small temple, and his mother said that she wanted to go to the temple to worship the gods, and his son agreed. And one piece went to the temple. When he arrived at the temple, he saw his mother kneeling in front of the gods, praying to the gods sincerely, saying that she had accidentally done something wrong and was very sorry. After praying to the gods that she is gone, please bless his children and their families with peace and security.
After speaking, he stood up, patted the soil on his pants, and walked out. His son hurried out with a shovel. When he arrived at her graveyard, his son dug up the grave without saying a word. In a few moments her son dug the grave, and then he told his mother to lie down. When his mother saw this, she saw that she was powerless, so she lay silently in the grave that her son had dug for her, closed her eyes, and resigned herself to fate. His mother lay in the grave when she heard the rustling of dirt, and in a few moments she was covered with dirt. But not much time. Suddenly the earth stopped, and her mother did not know what was happening, so she opened her eyes and looked, and it did not matter if she did not look, and was astonished, and saw her son, with a shovel in his hand, and one foot still on top of the shovel, as if digging in the earth, but his head was indeed gone, but it did not bleed.
When his mother saw this, she was astonished, and hurriedly got up, but she didn't care about the dirt, so she climbed up to the pit and shook her son, but her son could not move. She hurried, stumbled and hurried towards the little immortal temple, and as soon as she entered the temple gate, she knelt down, and hurriedly kowtowed to the immortal and prayed, begging the immortal to spare her son. A few heads knocked down, and they saw blood on their foreheads. In the midst of her devout and desperate prayers, she suddenly heard a rush of running outside, and then saw a person hurrying in, cloaked and scattered, and as soon as she entered the temple gate, she knelt there and kowtowed to the gods and prayed.
She turned around and looked, "Isn't this her son?" She hurriedly crawled over and hugged her son and cried bitterly, and her son hugged her and cried. After a while, her son lifted her up, and helped her to sit on top of her, and when she lay down, he kowtowed, and took her mother's hand, and made her mother hit him on the head, and cried out that he was not a man, but a brute, and begged her mother to forgive him for his sins. Her mother just hugged him and wept. After a while, her mother patted him and said, "Get up, and then he got up and helped his mother up, and kowtowed to the fairy a few times, and then carried her mother on his back and returned home." Later, he was obedient and very filial to his mother until a hundred years after his mother.
The two stories told by the stepmother, although there are some superstitious idealism, are both thought-provoking and intriguing, educating people to respect the old and the virtuous, and telling people to practice filial piety more.