南海潮歌

31 "The tiger catches up of the cat and laughs happily. He says, 'You are really stupid. Why do you teach me your skill? Don't you know that I would eat you after I have learned the skill?' In fact the cat is very clever. She says that she hasn't taught the tiger the last skill yet. It's the best skill. She also says that it isn't late for him to eat her after he has learned it. The tiger believes what the cat says is true. He is eager to learn the best skill, so that he can dominate theworld. But when the tiger has just released his hold, the cat climbs up to the top of the tree immediately. The cat says to the tiger, 'This is my best skill that you want to have. You return kindness with enmity. I will not teach you for ever.' Then she laughs and laughs. The tiger getsangry very much at what the cat says, but he can do nothing. So the tiger can't climb up a tree till now, and the cat will not teach the tiger to do like that." We said, "Oh dear! The story is very pleasant to enjoy." Runlian said, "The cat is clever. She doesn't teach the tiger to climb a tree." Watson said, "How can the cat teach the tiger her skill? The big cat would be eaten if the tiger could climb up a tree." The uncle said, "That's right. It's not good to teach others all of the skill, some skill must be kept. Learn by heart: Teach others what to eat. Don't teach others what to do." We had a heated discussion. I said, "Monkeys would be eaten up if the tiger could climb up a tree." Runtong said, "Even those little birds would not be able to escape, because they had no place to hide." At that time we often heard stories about tigers, but no one had seen a tiger, because there were no tigers in my homeland at all. It was a wonder in my homeland. When a child cried, an elder would say, "Don't cry. The tiger is coming. It's just outside the gate." While hearing that the tiger was coming, the child stopped crying at once.

32 Our elders said that there were still a few tigers in my homeland many years ago. They lived in the bushes of the hills. Later the trees became less and less. The tigers lost their hiding place and gradually they were wiped out. Some wild animals disappeared, The rest of them were few. But there were great deal of birds and fish in my homeland. We often saw sparrows, partridges, crows, larks, owls, turtledoves, magpies, kingfishers, mynas，and the other birds with the names that we could say out or we couldn't. The most interesting birds were larks, people called them "up into sky birds". When a lark bird flew up into the sky, it continued flapping the wings. Its singing were loud and crisp. When it reached the highest, it suddenly stopped singing and dropped down right on the ground. Maybe it would be caught by children, because it was out for its dropping. But children must run quickly to catch it, otherwise it would fly away, because it revived soon. Sometimes we heard the lark birds singing and flying up. When we saw them dropping, we ran over at once and tried to catch them. But when we got there, they flew away, none of us could catch one. There was a chant about lark birds in my homeland: "The flying lark birds sing merrily. The slave girl from Big House is lazy to reel ramie. When she takes up the basket for threads she is sleepy. But when she hears sex she becomes happy and laughs off her teeth." It was very simple, everyone could chant it. We naughty boys enjoyed it best, and we never chanted it wrong. People didn't like crows or owls, because they looked ugly, and their cries were unpleasant to hear. People regarded those birds as unlucky birds. But people liked the other kinds of birds, especially magpies. A magpie is a large black and white bird with good looking and pleasant sound. So people regarded it as a lucky bird, and called it "happy magpie". When it sang, people said, "Magpie cries, guests arrive."

33 There were some proverbs about June in my homeland. One of the proverbs was "June the sixth, bailao birds eat mother's meat." Bailao birds were another kind of interesting birds besides larks. It was said that on that day, bailao birds, a kind of birds with magical legend, hunted wildly after their mother and then surrounded her. Their mother's cry was very tragic. They pecked their mother's flesh and only the bones were left. They dug a hole in the ground and put their mother's bones in it. They buried the bones and made a tomb. Then those bailao birds conducted a religious rite, a kind of mourning ceremony. They cried sadly. Some of them imitated the sounds of musical instruments, such as drums and cymbals. But I never saw such a scene, because we have no time to care about it. Qinsheng said with complete attention, "That is true indeed, I don't cheat you, and I have seen it." I laughed and said, "How would the bailao birds eat their mother's flesh? It's too cruel." Qinsheng asked, "Haven't you heard the proverb?" I answered, "Yes, I have, but I don't believe it." Watson said, "It's too awful. Who eats mother's flesh?" Qinsheng said, "Bailao birds do." I said, "Bailao birds are ungrateful indeed." Qinsheng said, "Those people are even more ungrateful. Our homeland was reclaimed by our ancestors. What reason did they occupy our homeland for?" Runtong said, "It's true. They are too ungrateful." Watson said, "They came with two empty hands but got without doing any work." Qinsheng said, "Over the village there are countless big trees that are growing about one hundred years. They were all occupied in a short while." Rungui said, "The fruit trees that our ancestors of several generations planted by their hard work are so many, but none tree belongs to us now. We can only watch them eating and we can only drool."

34 When we were talking about bailao birds, came an old peasant. He lived in another village. He laughed and said, "It is true, I have seen that." We said, "No wonder the cries of the bailao birds were miserable on that day." I said, "By the way, Why does a lark bird fall down suddenly when it flies into the sky and gets the highest?" The old peasant answered, "The lark bird keeps on flying and singing. When it gets the highest, It faints, because it has used up its energy and breath." We said, "So it suddenly falls down." The old peasant said, "That's right. There is a saying 'Don't use the full wind to sail'. When a boat is sailing too fast, it will capsize if it meets with a sudden strong wind. It's the same principle for human. A person mustn't be too extreme. Otherwise something would be done wrong, and it's hard to change." We all understood the old peasant's words: We must be modest and leave adequate leeway. I asked the peasant, "Why is the lark bird still alive when it drops on the ground?" The old peasant answered, "The bird is small and light, and it has feather all over. It isn't serious if it falls on the ground." Runqing was the youngest of us fellows. The question he asked was very interesting, "Why do birds can fly?" he asked. Runjin answered, "Birds have wings, so they can fly." Runqing said, "If we had wings, we could fly, too." We burst into hearty laughter and said, "If we had wings, we were birds, too, weren't we ?" Runqing said: "I want to make two wings, then I will be able to fly." I said, "A man wouldn't be able to fly up even if he had wings." The old peasant said, "Yes, the body of a man is too heavy, there is no enough strength for a man to use the wings." We asked: "But why do the birds have so much strength?" The old peasant answered, "The birds are small and light. The wings of the birds are long and large. So a bird can fly up with a little strength.

35 Just then, there was a rumble coming from the sky. The rumble was getting louder and louder. We looked up into the sky and found a plane coming. We called out with joy, "Look! There is a plane! It flies so high and so fast!" In those years there were very few planes flying over our homeland. Runliang said, "It's a transport plane." We asked, "What is a transport plane?" He answered, "A transport plane is a plane that carries people or goods." We asked him once more, "How do you know that it is a transport plane?" He answered, "You see, a transport plane is much larger, and it flies much slower." We said, "How wonderful it is if we can enplane." When we were talking, the plane flew far away. When I got home, I told my elder brother about the plane. He asked me, "Why can a plane fly?" I answered, "The plane has two wings like a bird, so it can fly." He said, "You're clever, brother. but do you know how a plane flies up?" I answered, "I don't know." He said, "The propeller turns round and round. The plane goes forward quickly. The air lifts the wings of the plane and then the plane flies up." He made a small propeller with a piece of bamboo. I asked him, "Why is it high on one side but low on another side?" My brother answered, "The front sides are up and the back sides are down. Only in this way can the buoyancy of the air be used well." Then he revolved the propeller fast and let it go suddenly. The propeller flew up at once. "Oh! How fun it is!" I cried out with joy. I picked up the propeller and flew it as my brother did. My brother said, "Propeller is like Chinese bamboo dragonfly. Bamboo dragonfly was invented long long ago." I asked, "Was the plane invented by Chinese?" My brother answered, "No, it wasn't." I asked, "Do we Chinese have any inventions?" He answered, "Yes, we do. But the inventions all happened In ancient times."

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