In ancient times, there was an animal called the shrew, what did it look like? It is recorded in the literature that the shrew (yuán), "the great turtle also" ("Shuwen Yubu"). It mainly inhabits inland rivers and lakes, is good at drilling sediment, feeds on aquatic animals, and is the longest type of shrew in the turtle family.
Oh, it looks like a very complicated word, in fact, it is a kind of turtle, which belongs to the folk saying that is not very good Wang Ba.
Regarding the shrew, there are endless records in ancient books, and this kind of king eight not only has other names such as silver fish, green ball fish, leprosy head shrew, blue ball fish, etc., but also has a unique cultural connotation.
In "Journey to the West", tang monks and apprentices once formed a fate with the old shrew in the Tongtian River. Only to see it "Square Head Divine Thing Extraordinary, Nine Helper Spirit Machine Narcissus." Trailing tail can prolong the life of Senki, and dive into the abyss of Hyakugawa. Pan Bo jumped on the riverbank and lay on the seashore in the wind. Nourishing qi contains the spirit of the true way, for many years covered leper head shrew." At first glance, it is not the kind of ordinary little character who comes to the table.
However, the thousand-year cultivation did not allow the old shrew to transform into a immortal, but it vaguely felt that it did not have much time, so it kindly drove the Tang monks across the river, only to ask Elder Tang how many years he had before Rulai. Isn't that too much to ask for? After all, people have waived the tickets.
Who knew that the four masters and apprentices had gone through hardships and had a hard time reaching the Lingshan Mountain, "concentrating on worshiping the Buddha and visiting the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, holy monks, and other people, their minds were only on taking the scriptures, and he didn't pay any attention to anything, so he didn't ask the old shrew about his life", and on the way back, he was annoyed by the old shrew and the people took the scriptures into the Tongtian River, and made up enough nine nine eighty-one difficulties.
The old shrew in the novel has lived for more than a thousand years, although the spirit can talk to people, but there is no other ability, it belongs to the category of the divine beast that is quite poorly mixed, and in the real traditional culture, the weasel is not a small role, although the good and bad are uncertain, but it always carries a lot of weight.
The Erya Wing says: "The shrew, the great one of the turtles, is as wide as one or two zhang." At the beginning of heaven and earth, Jietan gave birth to the first dragon, the first dragon gave birth to the yuan shrew, the yuan shrew gave birth to the spirit turtle, and the spirit turtle gave birth to the turtle. The mortals are born in the turtle, but then the shrew, the yuan of the insects. What is the "Worm Element"? Xu Shen of the Eastern Han Dynasty explained it in the "Explanation of Words": "The beetle is the largest, so the characters are from yuan, yuan, and daye." "Therefore, the meaning of the yuan shrew is still the big turtle, it gave birth to the spirit turtle, the spirit turtle gave birth to the turtle, the grade characteristics are very obvious."
Regarding the size of the shrew, it is mentioned in the "Bamboo Book Chronicle" that (King Mu of Zhou) "In the thirty-seventh year, the Ninth Division was raised, and in the east, as far as jiujiang, the shrew was thought to be a beam, and the yue was cut down as a beam. "King Mu of Zhou actually filled the river beam with giant turtles and crocodiles, which shows the huge number of shrews killed at that time.
In ancient times, the shrew was still a delicacy. The Zuo Biography records: "The Chu people sacrificed to Zheng Linggong. "Gongzi Song and the Zi family even got to the extent of killing the Linggong for this soup (in fact, the shrew here represents more power, and it is no wonder that Gongzi Song's index finger is moving, saying: "He is like this, I will taste the peculiar smell", Lu You's poem "If the mole is the index finger, the koji car does not use the fallen saliva" is also used for this allusion).
In addition, the figure of the shrew also appears in the "Ritual Moon Order" - "Ordering the fisherman to cut the jiao to take the shrew, climb the turtle to take the shrew"; Qu Yuan's "Chu Ci": "Riding on the white shrew to chase the wenyu, and swimming with the female Xi River Zhizhu"; the Book of Later Han records: "Fan Duo draped, into the Gao Zu, Gao Zu washed, in order to live against Li Sheng, when this meeting, it is the shrew that sings and the turtle should also be." The ancients believed that as soon as the shrew was called a turtle, it responded, and the discussion between Han Gaozu and Li Shiqi could be described as a model for the monarch and his subjects, so it was praised as the shrew singing turtle. In addition, the Book of later Han also mentions, "When Emperor Ling, the mother of the Huang clan of Jiangxia, wanted to turn into a shrew, entered the abyss, and then saw it from time to time." The first bath of a silver noodle, and see, still at its head "... It can be seen that in ancient history and legends, the shrew has been given an important role and symbolic significance.
In 2003, an old man in Anyang, Henan Province, was fishing in Huanshui (i.e., Huanhe) as usual, when he caught a "turtle" full of patina, with an inscription on his back and four arrows. The keen old man hurriedly handed over this strange thing to the relevant departments, and the results of the appraisal soon came out, which was a bronze shrew, cast in the late Shang dynasty.
As a shrew
According to the inscription on the shrew, it is known that it was made in honor of a Shang king who shot and hunted in Huanshui more than 3,000 years ago. On the back of the bronze shrew is a 4-line inscription with a total of 32 words, telling the simple and tragic experience of this shrew:
"BingShen, the king is too huan, get." King shot, X shot three, rate no waste arrow. Wang Ling's bed is like a book, known as 'playing in Yong', as a mother treasure. ”
The translation means: On the day of Prophecy, the king captured the shrew in Huanshui. The king shot one arrow first, and then made up three more arrows, and did not waste a single arrow. The king gave this shrew to the book of books ("booklets" are the names of officials who are responsible for taking charge of documents and reading out their wills, and "pan" is the name of this clerk). The interpretation of the last sentence is whether to cast a bronze vessel for the mother or compose a piece of music to play on the yong and then dedicate it to Ru, there has been a debate in academic circles, but it does not affect the general meaning of the inscription.
An inscription rubbing of the Ban Shrew
The heroic posture of the Shang King firing four arrows in a row and all the hits is vividly remembered, saying that the "Great King's Wisdom and Divine Martial Arts" is not as good as the album made of bronze shrews, and the scene is restored with sound and color, which is a model of patting the leader's ass. As for how this poor King Eight struggled to die, there is not a word in the inscription. But then again, compared to the vast majority of the same kind whose bones do not exist, some people cast bronze statues for them, record the date of death, and see the day after the day can be treasured by the museum and for the world to see, this giant shrew is quite well treated.
As an ancient reptile, the number of shrews in China used to be huge, such as turtles and turtles are generally common things, but on the one hand, the medicinal value of shrews is exaggerated in Chinese medicine works, resulting in many people killing for the appetite, on the other hand, in ancient times, they always blamed the shrews for the floods and other fierce things, resulting in the imperial court "ordering the capture of the shrews", and now the shrews have almost become extinct, becoming a first-class protected animal in China, and the existence of giant pandas.