In 2017. In the city of Shaoguan, Guangdong Province. An old man was eating morning tea and told me the story of a power worker who fought with a tiger while overhauling a transmission line in the mountains.
He said that in the 70s, there were many tigers in Shaoguan, Guangdong. Standing at the entrance of the village, you can see the tiger walking around the village in the woods not far from the village.
He said that during a field maintenance line, he watched his colleague be bitten to death by a tiger while going to the toilet, and he didn't even have time to rescue him.
He said that one of the pieces of equipment they had to carry when working in the field was an oil-paper umbrella and a gong.
He said that the gong was sounded to scare the wolf, and the umbrella was to prevent the tiger from hurting people.
★ The pounced tiger was scared away by an open umbrella
Can an umbrella prevent the ferocious South China Tiger from injuring people? I resolutely disbelieve it.
The old man told me a story about this - in the seventies of the last century. The mountainous area of Shaoguan is steep and steep, densely forested, and sparsely populated, but South China tigers are rampant. Many of the local residents have been bitten and eaten by tigers.
One day, one of our team of electrical workers was repairing the line in the mountains and forests, and suddenly there was an earth-shattering tiger roar in the forest. Then we saw a big tiger with a length of two and a half meters jumping out of the forest and pounced in front of us.
At this point, everyone was stunned. The tiger kept roaring and making offensive moves. Someone suddenly struck the gong in the tool pocket. Dangdang's roar frightened the tiger for a moment. But the tiger did not run, but roared at the man who struck the gong.
My master was suddenly inspired and shouted: Tigers are afraid of umbrellas, everyone quickly open the umbrellas, and people hide behind umbrellas!
At that time, umbrellas were made of oiled paper, and they were carried on their backs. Everyone listened to the master's shouting, and immediately took out the umbrella, and there was a crackling sound, and the umbrella flowers of various colors suddenly opened. The tiger jumped up in fright, but it didn't run away.
The master shouted again: holding an umbrella, covering his body, shouting loudly, approaching the tiger!
Everyone dared to do it. Thankfully, there are more than a dozen of us. More than a dozen umbrellas advanced towards the tiger step by step in the shouts of the master "forward, forward".
I peeked and saw that the tiger was really afraid of the umbrella, roared and retreated, and finally roared, and one of them disappeared into the dense forest.
On that day, everyone broke out in a cold sweat, and it was also the first time that they knew that tigers were really afraid of umbrellas.
★ One of the field equipment for power workers, umbrellas and gongs
The old man said that he remembered that when he first participated in the power work, the leader not only gave each of us a set of work clothes, but also gave each of us a small gong and an oil-paper umbrella.
At that time, we young people hurriedly put on our work clothes and admired each other. Then, like an old worker, he carried an oil-paper umbrella cross-body on his back.
I just don't know what this little gong is for. Is it used to play monkeys?
The old master said angrily: The gong scares the wolf, and the umbrella prevents the tiger!
When we encountered a wolf at work, we hurriedly took out the gong from the electrician's satchel and struck it vigorously. When the wolf heard this, he fled.
However, if the umbrella is tiger-proof, everyone is still inexplicable. Could it be that the tiger is afraid of the smell of umbrellas? Because paper umbrellas are soaked in cooked tung oil, they have a strong smell of tung oil.
It wasn't until that attack by the South China Tiger that everyone knew that the tiger was really afraid of umbrellas.
★ Why did Dong Yong bring an umbrella?
The old man continued: With questions, our young people asked the teacher: Why are tigers afraid of umbrellas?
The master didn't answer and asked: Do you know why Dong Yong, who married the Seven Heavens Fairy, always carries an umbrella when he goes out?
"Tianxian Pei" is a popular mythological drama. Every time Dong Yong appears on the stage, he always carries an oil-paper umbrella on his back. Therefore, oil-paper umbrellas have become Dong Yong's standard. If he doesn't appear with an umbrella on his back, he won't be Dong Yong.
It is rainy in the south, especially during the rainy season, and it is normal for people to go out with umbrellas. Because umbrellas not only provide shade from the sun, but also from the rain.
However, my master insisted that the purpose of men wearing umbrellas when they go out is to prevent tigers. As for the sun and rain protection, that's an incidental feature.
Because there were more tigers in the ancient south, it was simply impossible to prevent it. If you encounter a tiger, just open the umbrella and the tiger will be scared away.
The old man emphasized: My master said that when ancient men went out to travel, they carried an umbrella on their shoulders, which was the standard!
Do you know this allusion to the umbrella to prevent tigers? Anyway, that's what the retired electrician said.
★ Tigers do not fight uncertain battles
The old man continued: The tiger is the king of beasts, strong and fearless, and it is common for him to go into the village to hunt cattle, kill horses, and hold sheep. People are not surprised. Even if a tiger hurts someone or even eats someone, it is considered a natural thing, it is an ordinary thing, and it is really not worth making a fuss about.
But tigers are afraid of umbrellas, where is the reason why people go out with umbrellas to prevent tigers?
The old man further revealed the mystery of the tiger's fear of umbrellas -
The tiger can become the king of beasts, not only by virtue of his bravery, but more importantly, by wisdom.
The tiger is cautious and never fights uncertain battles.
For example, when a tiger encounters an elephant, a large buffalo, a bison, etc., it will never attack them easily, but will automatically avoid them far away to avoid causing death.
As for capturing things smaller than their own size, the tiger will never challenge it face-to-face, but ambush it in advance, or track it to sneak attack, and take it by surprise and take it in one fell swoop. This is both labor-saving and safe.
But why are tigers afraid of umbrellas? It has to do with the tiger's cautious temperament.
★ Why are tigers afraid of umbrellas?
The old man said that the tiger was afraid of the umbrella, not because he was afraid of the colorful flowers of the oil-paper umbrella, nor was he afraid of the smell of tung oil on the umbrella. The tiger is afraid of the unknown danger behind the umbrella.
The tiger is cautious and suspicious. It can hunt livestock and people in the open, but it will never go into houses to kill dogs, sheep or people.
Because it can't see through any dangerous mysteries in the house. It was afraid that it would suffer from the inexplicable mechanisms hidden in the houses.
As for the role of the umbrella, it is that the umbrella is opened. If the umbrella is not opened, the tiger will not even clinch its eyelids. But once the umbrella is opened, it obscures the person who operates the umbrella, and it suddenly obscures the tiger's view.
The tiger is afraid that people or monsters behind the umbrella will attack it, so it immediately retreats and does not entangle.
Why?
The old man said that legend has it that the ancients knew that tigers had a Xi of being afraid of shelter such as houses, but people could not carry houses everywhere, so they flexibly used umbrellas to cover their bodies, and then hid behind umbrellas to shoot arrows at the rushing tigers.
The old man heard from his master that in ancient times, two brothers went into the mountains to hunt, and suddenly encountered two tigers' attack.
The hunter brothers knew the tiger's Xi and immediately opened the umbrella on their backs to protect themselves.
The tiger saw that the umbrella was open, but the man was gone. When they were stunned, the two brothers who were hiding behind the umbrella shot a series of arrows. One of the tigers was hit by three arrows in the throat and died instantly. Another tiger escaped with an arrow wound.
From then on, the tiger began to be afraid of umbrellas, and when they saw open umbrellas, they avoided them. Because tigers also have their own language to inform each other: umbrellas are dangerous!
After listening to this story, I learned why tigers are afraid of umbrellas. This is in line with the logic of cause and effect.
However, I don't recommend this experiment to readers. What if the tiger is not afraid of umbrellas now! Not to mention that the oil-paper umbrellas are almost extinct!
Some people also say that the South China tiger is on the verge of extinction, but it is not the umbrella that scares it away, but the tiger team that fights the roots. (About the author: Wang Tianxiang, a senior journalist and writer, has published 42 novels and other monographs, written more than 200 episodes of TV dramas, created dozens of TV films on history, culture, scenery, documentaries and other topics, published hundreds of articles in various newspapers and periodicals, and published more than 1,000 online articles.) ）