Li Juan: A goat will have a lifetime

At the end of winter, as soon as we crossed the Ulungu River, a yellow-faced dwarf goat gave birth to a lamb with shiny black fur. This is a good sign, and Zackbai's mother is very happy. We tethered the baby sheep under the utility rack next to the yurt. So, the mother sheep looked for it for a whole day.

　　The thin mother was so reluctant to give up her baby that when the sheep set out in the morning, she was reluctant to leave with the procession, wandering around the hillside and screaming miserably. Every time you scream, you stop and listen for a while. But why didn't her baby say yes? stood dumbfounded under the shelf, as if she didn't understand what her mother's call meant. Sometimes I see my mother, but I am still stunned, my eyes twist with my mother's figure, and I still don't say a word. Are all the little lambs so stupid in the first place? The dwarf goats are going around the hills in front of and behind the house, screaming so badly. I've been worrying about it for a whole day. The baby sheep was born yesterday and has not eaten anything all day, so how hungry should it be. At the same time, he took pity on his anxious and sad mother, and wanted to do a little help, so he tried from time to time to drive the dwarf goat in the direction of its child, but where could the goat catch up!

　　It wasn't until dusk that the black lamb suddenly opened up, and squealed a few times. The big sheep was so ecstatic that he immediately responded in a long series of passions, rushed around the wooden house like an arrow, and found the baby straight under the shelf.

　　I really thought it was the lamb who opened up himself. ran over to take a look, but it was Ayi Hengbek who lifted the little lamb upside down with its hind legs, forcing it to bark...... It's a great solution, it's simple and effective. I was so tired that I drove the sheep all afternoon, why didn't I think of it......

　　The big sheep saw that Ayi was there, and although he was very excited, he didn't dare to approach. Ayiheng put the lamb down and walked away. So the big sheep rushed over, and the little sheep recognized his mother at once, and rushed up to kiss his mother's nose, flicking his tail like a puppy, and was very affectionate. It turns out that it can also move! I used to be stunned all day, and it was as stiff as a wood carving all day.

　　It was not until the evening of the sixth day, when the sheep gathered in all directions along the sheep path as usual, one by one, under the hill where our yurt was located, that the little black sheep was finally free. Smahu untied the noose from its neck and threw it into the flock. Its mother hurriedly snuggled up and kissed endlessly. By then, it had learned to discern its mother's voice, but it had also learned to call out to its mother.

　　Most notably, it also learned to jump. And because he had just learned to jump, he jumped endlessly. In the twilight, everyone waited quietly to enter the bar, only it was very excited, jumping up and down endlessly in infinite novelty, and was the most restless member of the whole team, but everyone didn't mind. Its dwarf mother watched it quietly and pleasantly, approaching it from time to time to kiss it.

　　Although the little black sheep looks very lively, it is very timid and easily frightened. I crept up behind it, jumped up and shouted, and the other sheep just scattered. And its reaction was to immediately lie on the ground with four hooves split fork (if it is a person, this action is a "big" zigzag ......) and bury her head like a frightened hen.

　　The little black sheep is so small, the head is a little bigger, the facial features have not yet grown, and the black rumbling is a ball. Although it is a life that has just opened up, it is already powerful enough. It was pitch black, shiny and shiny, but there was a feathery, romantic white markings on its back. Compared to its mother, the mundane yellow-faced dwarf goat, it is bright and dazzling.

　　In the days that followed, when faced with the sheep, I would always find the mother and son at a glance. At a glance, I saw this simple and humble dwarf goat tightly leading the star-like baby black sheep in the procession. Hey, this mother is really very inconspicuous. The legs are short, and the body is thin. If it weren't for the fact that it had large horns that didn't fit its body, I would have thought it was a lamb too. The horns were really magnificent, twisting long backwards and then gracefully stretched out to both sides, with beautiful and smooth lines. It is neatly draped in straight white wool, and it looks neat.

　　For some reason, when I was a kid, I always thought that goats were rams and sheep were ewes. It was later revealed that they were two different varieties......

　　Goats are sheep that can climb mountains, so they are called "goats". Everyone knows this fact, but the goats are not enough, and they climb up and down in front of people all day long, jumping around, lest others forget.

　　The most hateful thing is that the more busy everyone is, the happier they dance. Every evening, when the sheep are driven into the pen, they have nothing to do with them (the goats do not need to be put into the pen), so they have to be crowded in the flock and put into the pen together. Once inside, he leaps out of the pen triumphantly in the most relaxed posture - this is clearly a jump for the sheep to see, which means: "Look——, I can do this!" and then swoops back into the pen in front of everyone: "Look ——, can still do this!"

　　So he just came and went, jumping endlessly, as if walking on the ground. Seeing the sheep look at each other, they are depressed. I followed it and jumped up desperately, but how could I jump out?

　　As the goats had seriously disturbed the order of the flock, an enraged Smahuli threw a stone and struck it in the neck accurately. It flashed away from the smoke, and then shouted endlessly, and led some of the sheep to run up the mountain, which added to the chaos for everyone.

　　The goats are not only very performant, but also curious. They often stand at the door of the yurt and look inside for a long time. If you ignore it, it will stare at you as it sticks a hoof into the threshold. If they don't stop it, they will be more comfortable to inch in, and they will walk straight in and sniff around.

　　It only takes one beating for the sheep to know that the yurt and the fence around it are not to be approached. And the goats? It's not a matter of hitting them a few times, it's not at all — they don't even have your hand up, and they're jumping to the top of the opposite hill.

　　The goat's sharp sensitivity is surprising. If you want to pack up a goat, just flash such a thought, it will immediately receive the message, and open its defensive posture and expression. If it is the other way around, you just rub it by on the trail, and it does not dodge, leisurely.

　　Goats are really different from sheep! Sheep never approach people. Similarly, in the face of human attacks, the sheep will dodge, and the goat will unceremoniously counterattack until it realizes that it really can't beat people.

　　Sheep are always willing to conform to human arrangements, and whenever they move to an unfamiliar pasture, they only need to enter the pen twice, and on the third day they are willing to fully accept the new arrangement. As for the goats, I'm afraid they won't be able to do it for a hundred years. Each of them is more assertive than the other. When he does bad things, he is very inciting, and he often takes the lead, is not afraid of violence, and sets an example for the sheep everywhere.

　　Looking at the moving flock from a high vantage point, you can tell the goats and the sheep by looking at the general movement. The sheep are patient and orderly, and their bodies and heads are moving in one direction, so that the whole team is full of strength and order. And the goats scurried east, jumped west, climbed high and low without adjustment, and cut messy lines in the team, causing many sheep to be inexplicable, and they didn't know who to follow.

　　The goats probably know that they are smarter than the sheep (or the sheep who are not acrobatic are goats and no sheep?), so they look down on the sheep and rarely get along with the sheep. But the sheep trust them so much that they follow them to the ends of the earth. Probably the sheep admit that they are inferior to the goats, so every time they march, the goats take the lead. But fortunately, there were goats, on the turning pastures, on those dangerous and steep roads, in the rapids that blocked the way, on the edge of the cliffs, led by bold and confident goats, the sheep dared to pass in silence with their heads bowed.

　　There is also the bell tied around the neck of our tall and majestic head goat, with a crisp and mysterious voice. When the sheep move in the mountains of the desert, this bell is the most soothing summoning sound. And when a snow-white goat stood alone on the cliff, the scene was like the arrival of a god, which made people's hearts suddenly deep, and tears welled up...... Therefore, the goat seems to be hidden in the revelation. Wherever it appears, it looks like it's standing at the most mysterious entrance to the mountains. Their expressions flickered, and they stopped talking. They must have known something, they must have known us long before we knew it. They are the only ones who see our loneliness.

　　In the wonderful July of the summer pastures, in the most abundant season of the Oursai, the felting is over, and Smahuli slaughters a goat lamb for everyone after the great labor, which is the wonderful time to eat the lamb. When I slaughtered the sheep, I quickly hid in the mountains. The moonlight is bright, and the woods are verdant and secluded. I wandered around in the woods, looking at the fire in the distant night, and I couldn't bear it.

I knew the sheep, I knew it when it was very small, I remembered so many things about it. When people chew on its tender and delicious meat, they simply enjoy it as food – no matter how much it loves its mother, who sees it as the only one in the world...... No matter how happy it used to be when it learned to jump, whether it had a beautiful feathery pattern on its waist, no matter how smart it was, how happy it was, how magical it was...... It just exists as our food and disappears. Small sharp knives, live animals. In just a few minutes, it went from the image of standing there with its beautiful eyes open to several large pieces of flesh that had been unloaded and steaming and piled up on the black fur that it had turned over. Its final beauty is only presented in the mouth...... Is that unfair? Probably not. I know that Smahuli had prayed for it with all sincerity before ending its short and pleasant life—that it had reconciled with us. At the same time, I want to be glad that it has never experienced winter, never experienced too long, life-destroying harsh years. Its life is warm, comfortable, and innocent.

　　My favorite Hasa author, Sister Yerksi, has also written about goats, and she gently and gently recounts the short life goats can have. Yes, we must forgive the goat for its stubbornness and all the faults it has committed—because it will eventually die because of us anyway.