The Autumn of Matriarchal Society (Novella) Zhang Baotong 2018.10.10

This morning, Wu Ma was about to take her two daughters to the river to fish, and as soon as she came out of the cave, she saw that the wild potato field planted not far from the mouth of the cave had been crumbled by wild boars. The wild boar not only ate a lot of the wild potatoes planted in the field, but also trampled the ground into a mess, almost turning it into a piece of mud. This made Wu Ma very angry. So, Wu Ma decided not to go fishing first, and to find a way to clean up these wild boars, or the wild boars would come back at night to spoil the wild yams.

She's going to dig a deep pit to catch wild boars. They do this every year in late autumn and early winter to prepare some food for the winter season. Although it is not yet the end of autumn and the beginning of winter, Wu Ma really wants to punish the unscrupulous wild boars and kill their arrogance, so that they will not dare to come again.

She asked her daughter to put a spear and basket in front of the cave and bring a wooden shovel. She drew a two-step-wide circle on the edge of the wild potato field, and then took her two daughters and began digging the ground with a wooden shovel. Because soon after the rain, the ground is still wet, and it is relatively soft to dig. It's just that the wooden shovel is not sharp, and it is very difficult to dig and very slow. However, they know that their efforts will bear fruit. If they can catch a wild boar, then this wild boar can feed the family for at least ten days.

The mother and daughter took turns digging into the ground, and by the afternoon the pit had been dug half a man's deep. However, such a deep pit cannot hold the wild boar at all, and it can jump on it with all its strength to escape. So, they had to keep digging until they were at breast level.

Mama was standing in the pit digging when the fawn said to her, "Mom, the pig has come back, and he is watching us again on the grassy slope on the mountainside." ”

As soon as Wu's mother heard that her son was back, her heart suddenly began to mess up. Since the pig left home, there has been no news for four or five days, and I still don't know whether he is dead or alive, good or bad, so when I heard the little daughter say that the pig is back, the worries in her heart will disappear immediately. She really wanted to see her son, but she was afraid to see him, because when she saw him, she would be pityful, she would be soft-hearted, and seeing him living pitifully, she might let him return home. However, not only does it violate the taboo of the ancestors, but it also harms sons and even daughters. After all, the pig is already big, he is a man, he has emotions and sexual desires, and if he has a love affair and accident with his sister, then their family will be in constant trouble. Thinking of this, she gritted her teeth and decided to dispel the pig's desire to come home, so that he would never enter this house again.

So she came up from the pit and looked up the grassy slope on the side of the hillside, and saw a gray-faced boy with disheveled hair, holding a spear in one hand and an antelope in the other, standing on the side of the grassy slope and looking affectionately and longingly. If it weren't for his silhouette and demeanor, she really wouldn't have recognized it as her son.

Of course, she could see that the pig was expecting her call, and that he had already caught his prey, and he wanted to share it with his family. This kind of sharing can be described as a happy family for the whole family, but after sharing, he has to be kept. If he stays this time, then he will return home next time he hits the prey. In this way, sooner or later, something will happen to this family, and once something happens, it will be too late to regret it. Therefore, she must tell him unequivocally that he will never return to this home from now on. If he misses his relatives, he can only stand at a distance and look at them, and he can no longer be close to them.

To show her determination, she just glanced towards the grassy slope, then turned around and said to the big and small deer, "Don't do it, let's go into the house." ”

The daughters seemed a little incomprehensible, because they really wanted to talk to their younger brother, they had lived together since they were children, and they had never been separated for so long. They really wanted to care about him, ask him how he lived these days, and what he was doing outside. Because they are still full of mystery and curiosity about the outdoors and hunting. However, seeing their mother's resolute attitude, the sisters had no choice but to look at the grassy slope and follow their mother into the cave.

Wu Ma went into the cave and sat down by the fire. The light of the fire flickered and flickered, as if all these years had been in front of her eyes. Although every day of her life has been spent in hardships and worries, she still attaches to and misses the days and nights she spent with her son. The son was wise and brave, and that night the tiger came, and the two daughters trembled with fear, but it was the youngest son, who took a spear and stood with her at the mouth of the cave, confronted the tiger face to face, and finally forced the tiger to leave.

However, he is a man, he can't stay with his sisters all day, it is men who always love women, and women always love men, this is human nature, just like people have to eat, men and women have to be in love with each other sooner or later. There are only two things that cannot be changed in this life, one is to eat, and the other is to intercourse. Eating is to live, and copulation is to reproduce and be happy. But that can't happen in your own family. Therefore, she can't break the rules and cause a catastrophe for the future of this family.

The big deer and the little deer sat beside her gloomily, silent. Although they are not young, they have not experienced such a thing, and they will only be rash about many things. But she knew that if they were her age, many things would be understood and understood.

After a while, the black mother told the big deer to go to the hole to see if the pig had left, because she still wanted to dig the hole as soon as possible. When the deer came to the edge of the cave, he came back without even going out of the door, and said to her, "The pig is standing at the door." He wanted to go back home. He hadn't been home in days. ”

Of course, Wu's mother understood what her eldest daughter meant, and she wanted to persuade her to let her son return home. However, it made her feel that she should make a show for them to see. Instead of hesitating, she said in a very strong tone, "You two go over and close the door of the cave for me." ”

In order to urge them, she even followed them, watched them go to the entrance of the cave, stood at the entrance of the cave and looked out, and then helplessly lifted the fence gate to block the entrance. In fact, she was also very helpless, but she had no choice, she could only do this, hoping that her son would understand her one day, but she didn't know if her son would really understand her. She had heard both the leopard and the wolf talk about the bitterness and pain of their expulsion from the house, and although they understood that it was their mother's helplessness, they could not forgive her in their hearts. Maybe the same will be true for my son.

When the sun was about to set, she crept over to the edge of the cave to see her son again. However, under the golden light of the setting sun, there was an empty loneliness. She hurriedly pushed open the door and came out of the cave. On the big rock outside the cave, there was an antelope, but there was no son. She walked to the top of the hill and looked down. The path below the mountain is quiet, immersed in the twilight of the twilight. At this time, it is usually the time when the men come back from hunting in the forest, but where did the pigs go at this time? Thinking of this, looking at the antelope placed on the big rock, a string of tears suddenly welled up from the eyes of the black mother.

The two daughters stood beside her, wiping their tears with their hands as they looked down the hill. She knew that her daughter, like her, was missing their brother.