Emperor Fuxi has been out for a long time, and he can't help but miss his wife and children at home. Finally, his homesickness became heavier and heavier, and that day in his dreams were Nuwa Niangniang and the children, and the emperor had no choice but to go home.

One day, Emperor Fuxi passed by the door of his family, and he went in to ask for a drink. There are four people in the family, a pair of parents and two children, the older one is a daughter, and the younger one is a son. Suddenly, a thought flashed through him, and the Emperor wondered how old they were.

The Emperor first asked the father, "Do you know how old you are, brother?" ”

The father looked dazed, he smiled on his face, but he didn't know what the emperor was asking him? I saw the father say in a daze: "You mean me, how much, how old, how old?" But I don't know what age it is. ”

The emperor smiled: "Age, that is, you have passed a few cold and summer seasons since you were a child. Let me tell you this, we start from the spring when the flowers are blooming, through the scorching heat of summer, then through the autumn when the melons and fruits are ripe, then through the snowy winter, and finally back to spring, this is the year. You've spent a few of these springs, summers, autumns and winters, and you're just how old you are, that is, how old you are. ”

The father still smiled and said, "I don't know how old I am, but I still know how many years after our children have passed." My daughter seems to have spent five of these springs and autumns, and our son seems to have spent two of them. ”

The Emperor smiled: "That's right, your daughter is now five years old, and your son is now two years old. From today onwards, you should keep track of their age, and from now on, everyone will be one year older every year that passes. Next year your daughter will be six years old and your son will be three years old. ”

Emperor Fuxi came out of that family and walked some distance, because he was thirsty he came to another house again. There are three people in this family, and the emperor also wants to ask the age of these people. He asked the father of the family, who did not know his age; I asked my mother, who didn't know her age either; Ask the child, the child does not know his age.

After Emperor Fuxi left this family, he began to think about a problem, most of the people now are still uncivilized and very ignorant. For such people, how can they know their age and not forget it easily?

So Emperor Fuxi thought that nothing is easier for people to remember than the common animals around him. He planned that if he could meet any animal in front of him one day, he would use that animal as a year name for people to use as a chronology.

Later, Emperor Fuxi finally returned home after a long journey, and the family was excited to reunite after a long absence. When Nuwa Niangniang saw Emperor Fuxi coming back, she was even more happy to take out all the good things left in the house to reward Emperor Fuxi.

It's night, and the autumn is crisp and the moon is hanging high. Emperor Fuxi happily snuggled up to Nuwa Niangniang, and after a lingering period between the two, Niangniang had already fallen asleep because she was too tired during the day. Emperor Fuxi couldn't sleep because he was thinking about things, so he simply closed his eyes and silently sorted out his thoughts.

In the middle of the night, Emperor Fuxi heard a sound of Suosuo, which turned out to be a mouse coming out to forage for food. The rat circled around the room, but found nothing to eat, so he ran out into the cowshed, where an old ox was grazing.

The rat cautiously came to the old cow, and just as he was about to steal the old cow's forage, he let the old cow kick him hard. The rat was not reconciled, and it tried to steal food from the other side, and this time the old cow was really angry, and it kicked the rat again, and kicked the rat several times. The rat was so frightened that it crawled outside.

In the hazy moonlight, the mouse saw a baby tiger chasing a rabbit. The rat was too timid to cause any more trouble, so frightened that it hid in the grass and did not dare to squeak. The mouse watched for a while, and saw that the little tiger was still chasing the rabbit, so the mouse had to squeak and hide in the hole.

At this time, the sky was also bright, and the little tiger may have been too weak to run, and it was still insisting on chasing the rabbit. However, the little tiger never caught up with the fast rabbit, and in the end, he let the rabbit run away.

After a while, the sun came out, and Emperor Fuxi came out of the room, and he lazily stretched out his arms and yawned. It happened that the heavenly dragon glanced at the earth, and the heavenly dragon happened to let Emperor Fuxi see it. The Emperor smiled and beckoned to the sky, which was regarded as a greeting. Tianlong also waved his hand to Emperor Fuxi with a smiling face, and then Tianlong disappeared behind the clouds.

As soon as Emperor Fuxi was about to return to the house, he saw that Nuwa Niangniang was going to the river to fetch water, and their little daughter was also going to follow. The emperor let the mother rest, and he took his daughter to the river to fetch water.

When they returned, Nuwa Niangniang also made breakfast. After breakfast, the emperor wanted to take his daughter out to play. At this time, a cold wind blew, and suddenly a small snake fell from the tree, which landed on the head of the little daughter, and frightened the little girl into crying.

The little girl cried and screamed, she had to let Emperor Fuxi beat the little snake to death, how could the emperor do this. Because, Emperor Fuxi and Nuwa Niangniang were originally people with human faces and snake bodies, and the emperor didn't want to hurt the little snake. So, while coaxing his daughter, he released the little snake.

Since the family raised a lot of livestock and poultry, when it was close to noon, the forage in the pen was gone, and several animals were hungry. The emperor hurried with his daughter to the field with horses and sheep to graze.

The Emperor found a green meadow by the river, they fed the horses, and the sheep, and then the Emperor Fuxi plucked some wild vegetables and grass from the field to take home. The youngest daughter was playful, and she also went to the tree to pick some wild fruits to take home for her mother to eat.

As they were driving their horses and sheep back, a little monkey came out of nowhere. The little monkey was so naughty that he grabbed a handful of fruit from the little girl's hand and ran away, and the little girl was frightened and cried again. However, the little monkey took advantage of the little girl's unpreparedness and came to grab a handful of fruit again, so angry that the little girl stomped her feet.

When Emperor Fuxi saw the little monkey bullying his daughter, he was so angry that he picked up a handful of wild fruits and went to beat the little monkey. But the little monkey was so clever that it jumped out of the way and grimaced there.

Emperor Fuxi was about to chase the little monkey, but he saw the handful of fruits thrown out rolling on the ground, and he wanted to pick up the fruits first. But at this moment, a big rooster happened to run over, and before the emperor picked up the fruit, toot! Honk! Honk! The rooster ate the fruit as if nothing had happened.

When the little girl saw that the big rooster had come to snatch her fruit, she would not let it, so she fought with the rooster with all her might. Just when there was only the last fruit left, the big rooster flew over in a few steps, and ate the fruit on the ground at once, and the angry little girl took a small stone and threw it over.

When the emperor and the others returned home, the sun had already set, and Nuwa Niangniang had already prepared dinner. After the family had eaten, the emperor took wild vegetables and fed the big flower dog and the little black pig. The dog squatted at the door to watch the door when he was full, and the pig fell asleep in the pen when he was full, and the day ended like this.

In the evening, after Emperor Fuxi lay down, he recalled all the animals he had seen today. He did the math, and there were twelve of these animals. In the order in which they appear, they are: rat, cow, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog, and pig. Emperor Fuxi thought about it, if these animals were used to represent time, how should it be distributed?

At this time, the emperor considered that in fact, this is also easy to do, if you want these twelve animals to represent a day, a year, and a decade, as long as they are divided into twelve equal parts at a fixed time.

If a day is divided into 12 hours, then each of these 12 animals corresponds to the 12 hours. That's it: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig. If the time of day is divided by these corresponding animals, it is easy to remember the time of day.

And there are exactly 12 months in the year, so if you also use these 12 animals as a special mark for each month, then it must be easy to remember.

If these 12 animals are used to represent the year of the pair, the cycle is every 12 anniversaries, i.e. 12 years is a decade. In this way, the cycle goes on and on, and people naturally remember their age.

Thinking of this, Emperor Fuxi gave these twelve animals new names overnight. They are: the rat, the ugly cow, the tiger, the rabbit, the dragon, the snake, the horse, the sheep, the monkey, the chicken, the dog, the pig.

The next day, Emperor Fuxi told everyone in the tribe to make people remember this method of chronicling years, months, and days. Since then, this method has been widely used and has continued to be used.

Emperor Fuxi stayed at home for a while, and saw that the children ate and slept every day in addition to hunting and fishing. He thinks that children have nothing to do like this, eat and sleep all day, and it is not okay to sleep and eat. Therefore, the emperor encouraged the children to find happiness in nature.

But the children may be lazy, and they are still indifferent to the emperor's advocacy. The emperor was really bored and found it boring, so he invited Nuwa Niangniang to go out to play.

Niangniang grinned and said helplessly: "Brother Venerable, we women are really miserable, and there is no time when we are not busy." I have to be busy with small and big things every day, I am busy at home and outside, I am busy all day long, how can I have time to go out with you? ”

When the emperor saw that Nuwa Niangniang, who had always been good-tempered, also complained, he said to Niangniang with a smile: "Honorable sister, I know your hard work, thank you for everything you have done for us." It is precisely because of your hard work that I feel sorry for you, do you want you to go out with me for a walk? ”

Niangniang saw that the emperor was enlightening her, so she said to the emperor: "Brother Venerable, you are very light, so what about our children?" ”

The emperor smiled and said, "As for the child, we can ignore it." Let's take care of it, when will this be the end? Therefore, we must travel lightly, have fun in time, and make our own decisions in our own lives. ”

Niangniang said worriedly: "Brother Zun, can you think about it, in what you say, what can our youngest child Hu'er do?" ”

The emperor said: "Little Hu'er? Let's take it with us. Let's take our tiger to the beautiful nature, let him also go with us to experience the baptism of spring breeze and autumn rain, to feel the gospel brought by heaven and earth, to get close to the gift of birds and flowers, and to inspire the gifts of nature. Only in this way can we truly understand the many beautiful things in the world and the meaning of our lives. ”

Nuwa Niangniang saw that she couldn't say that she could not say that Emperor Fuxi, so Niangniang set off with the Emperor.

Once, the Emperor and Niangniang passed through a tribe where people were roasting meat over a bonfire. When they found the Emperor and Niangniang, they invited them to dinner together.

After eating, in order to liven up the atmosphere, the emperor used a homemade willow whistle to blow to everyone. The willow whistle is really magical, it blows the sound of birds chirping for a while, blows the sound of the mountain wind for a while, and blows the sound of autumn insects chirping for a while.

This amused the group, and they curiously took the emperor's willow whistle, looked left and right, and looked again. Some simply took the willow whistle and blew it like the emperor. They blew to make a sound, but the sound was wrong. Some blew whining, some squeaked, in short, none of them were in tune, and everyone laughed.

The emperor saw that everyone was passing the willow whistle, but he took out something from his body and blew it. Now the voice was much thicker. There is the whimper of the mountain wind, the roar of the river, the galloping hooves of horses, and the rolling of thunder. Frightened, the people stopped the noise and listened intently to Emperor Fuxi's heart.

The patriarch asked the Emperor, "Emperor, what kind of treasure are you?" ”

The Emperor smiled and said, "Children, this thing is called 'Xun', to be precise, it is called 'Tao Xun'. How did you get this Tao Xun? That time, I had nothing to do, so I made some mud to play with. I want to use these mud to pinch a few clay figurines and see if I can bring them back to life like Nuwa Niangniang's clay figurines. However, perhaps because of the wrong method, it has never been successful.

So, I made the mud look empty in the middle, and poked a few small holes around it. Then, I dried them again. I made a few of these, and I thought they would be toys for kids. However, one day on a whim, I threw a few of them into the campfire. Unexpectedly, after the barbecue, I pulled them out of the ashes, only to find that they were very strong, and they did not get damaged after several heavy rains.

At one point, I wanted to blow the dirt out of my mouth. I never thought that it would blow a beautiful sound. That's how I started to imitate the sounds of nature. Later, the sound of all things was blown out. So, I called this firing thing 'pottery'. Based on the shape and sound of this object, I named this instrument 'Xun.' ’

At this time, it happened that Nuwa Niangniang also had a musical instrument called 'sheng gong', so I matched them into a pair. Sometimes, I sing and harmonize with my mother. Sometimes, our son Xiaohuzi can't help but dance when he hears us playing. Moreover, he often screams in his mouth. Sometimes, he sings to the sound of birds. ”

After listening to the emperor's speech, everyone rushed to see Na Tao Xun. They blew a few times, but they couldn't make the sound they just made. Everyone didn't understand, so they sent a special question to Emperor Fuxi.

The emperor said to everyone: "Children, only when we are close to nature can we find happiness in nature." If you want to learn the sounds of birds, listen to them. If you want to learn the sound of autumn insects, you must understand the charm of autumn, and if you want to learn the sound of the wind, you must let the wind blow on your face. In fact, there is a lot of fun in nature, we must dare to discover, dare to try, dare to search, in order to find the unknown happiness. ”

After Emperor Fuxi finished talking about this, Xiaohu'er looked at his father and said curiously: "Honorable father, there are young people here, and there are old people with gray hair. You are so young, how can you call those old people children? ”

And the patriarch here is also a gray-haired old man, she saw Xiaohu'er ask the emperor in such a question, she said: "Little brother, you can't say that, although we people look very old, but we are far from the age of the emperor and Niangniang. I heard that Emperor Fuxi and Nuwa Niangniang have lived for tens of millions of years, but they are still young and immortal. This is because they are heavenly immortals descending to mortal worlds, therefore, they do not grow old. And because we are the descendants of the clay figurines made by Nuwa Niangniang. So, even you, little brother, we are all the children of the emperor and his mother, which is really true. ”