cormorant

I was a cormorant in the wild. I fly from the far north to the far south every year. Baiyangdian is a transit point for our migratory birds.

But that year, I was caught in the fishing net of the fisherman Chen. I stayed in Baiyangdian. Chen was not blind at first, but he was pecked blind by me later. On that day, I flew over the vast water, flew over the reeds that were hundreds of miles away, and came to the Lotus Lake. I saw the lotus flowers full of flowers, I saw schools of fish jumping out of the water to smell the fragrance and play lotus, and I also saw a group of girls rowing a boat singing fishing songs and picking lotus flowers. I landed on a huge lotus leaf and shrunk my eagle-like body into the shape of a duck, my sharp beak rounded by the beauty in front of me. I forgot that I was a master fisherman. I think even if I starve to death now, I don't want to spoil the peace in front of me. I'm stunned, I'm drunk.

I don't know how long it took, but a white light fell from the ground in front of my eyes. The lotus leaves are poured, and the lotus flowers are scattered. I was covered in a fishing net. The nets were slowly retracted, and when I lifted them, through the cracks, I saw a swarthy young face under the reed hat, smiling proudly in the sunshine on the boat, and laughing so that there were no gaps in my eyes. I was immediately enraged. My duck-like body regained its eagle form, my iron-green feathers glowing coldly, and my rounded beak was sharp again. When the man cast his net and grabbed my legs, I pounced and pecked at his left eye. I tried my best to insert my hooked mouth into the slit, and a stream of bright red gushed down my mouth...... Since then, Chen Dachuan has become Chen Blind.

I still became a prisoner of Chen's blind man. I am always ready to meet Chen's revenge on me. However, after Chen's blind eye injury was healed, he brought me a beautiful female cormorant: her feathers were white, her eyes were full of spring, and her wings flapped slowly, like a ball of reeds falling on the boat. I felt its intense call and silent impact. I shouted and jumped at the bow of the boat, broke free from the ropes that bound me, and plunged headlong into the unbridled ocean. After a while, I picked up a red carp that was jumping around happily. I sent the red carp to the white cormorant, and I pecked at its smooth and silky feathers, and said impatiently, "White cormorant, I won't go."

That's how I stayed. Blind Chen became my master. I began to accept his domestication of me. Soon, Bai Cormorant and I began to have children in Baiyangdian. Baiyangdian Lake has become my hometown.

osprey

A few years later, Chen Blind became the famous Eagle King of Baiyangdian. Our family of ten became his ospreys. Being an osprey is hard work. We often went ashore early in the morning with Chen's blind man and went ashore in the evening. There are plenty of fish in the early morning and late afternoon, and the catch quickly allows fishmongers to sell it at the morning and evening markets. Chen Blind is really a shrewd fisherman. He always sells fresh fish to people. Chen's shrewdness is also reflected in the use of us. He put a straw ring around our necks and sang "Quack Hey, Quack Hey" and drove us off the boat by tapping the lake water with a bamboo pole. When we caught a big fish, we could only swallow half of it, keep half of it, and put it in the boat, and he made us spit it all out, and let us eat only the small fish, yellow eel, and pig intestines that he had prepared.

But we still enjoy it. My white cormorant and I led our children to swim in the beautiful Baiyangdian Lake. The grass is green and the water is bright, and the boat is full of cormorants. The cormorant gathers its wings and wants to enter the water, only waiting for the fisherman's command...... We've honed our skills in fishing. Each of our cormorants fights alone, and we can catch two or three pounds of fish from the lake every day. When we encounter a big fish, we work together. I remember that time during the siege of the king of fish in the lotus lake, I, the white cormorant and my children pecked at the eyes, some with their tails, and some with their dormans, and got the flower heads on the boat together. Chen Blind said when he met people, I, the Eagle King, caught the King of Fish, grandma's, more than 60 catties! Hearing this, looking at the irrepressible light in Chen's blind eyes, I also covered the white wings of the white cormorant with my black wings, and pecked its neck tenderly amid the cheers of the children. It's a blissful thing to be an osprey. After selling the big fish, Chen's blind man's good luck came. He changed ships, married his daughter-in-law, and the next year he had a son with perfect eyes.

Wait

Chen's blind man's good days and moons finally ended after Baiyangdian dried up several times. It's like his wife suddenly fell ill and died after giving birth to her fourth child. When the water dries up, the fish are clean, and the osprey is useless. I, the cormorant and the children were not spared. My sons and daughters were sold to the south by Blind Chen, and only me and Bai Lu were left to accompany Blind Chen to grow old slowly.

Finally, when the reeds dried up and the lotus flowers withered, the white cormorant, who had lived with me for more than 20 years, left me and Chen Blind after eating a poisonous vole. Blind Chen carried me to the island at the edge of the village, holding a shovel and a white cormorant in his arms. He dug a pit and buried the cormorant. When the blind man covered the last spade of soil, I noticed that a few large cloudy old tears rolled down his one eye. Not far from where the white cormorant was buried, there was a lonely grave, where his wife was laid to rest.

After the blind man finished crying, he hugged me, and while combing my dirty feathers, he babbled and said, old man, you go, it's getting cold, you fly to the south. I've built a tourist island in Yodo, and if you don't go, you'll be sold there by me for tourists to see. There are no natural fish, they raise fish, and they want you to catch fish and show them to tourists!

Blind Chen sent me to the blue sky. I flapped my old wings, quacked twice, and began to fly with great difficulty and struggle that I hadn't had in a long time.

I finally couldn't fly out of Baiyangdian. Although I was once a wild cormorant, I did not find the wildness that I once had. I've blended into the soil. Baiyangdian is my hometown. I nest on this small island. I was on the edge of the arid lake, staring at the sky, staring into the distance. I craned my neck and waited. I am willing to be the last osprey and the last waiter in Baiyangdian. Wait until the water arrives, wait until the fish arrive.

Later, I became a long-necked old man in Baiyangdian.