There are thousands of spirits in the world, and the little ghosts that scare children are their own, and when there are children crying incessantly, adults will bring out all kinds of demons and monsters to scare them, so as to play a role in deterrence and control. Most of these demons and monsters used to scare children have prototypes, which are equivalent to changing identities and circulating in the world.

When I was a child, my grandmother and mother would scare me with red-eyed and green-fingered monsters whenever I didn't obey, and I really had a strong fear of such ghosts. As the name suggests, it is said that a ghost with red eyes and long green nails is a ghost that often hides outside the window of a house in the middle of the night and takes the child away and eats it when it is unattended.

And the name of this ghost is different in different places, and later I looked up the relevant folk tales, and I learned that this ghost has a prototype.

The red-eyed green-fingered monster, also known as the old cat monkey and hairy monkey, is a phrase in the local dialect of the Central Plains, and is more widely used in rural areas. Such as Zhengzhou, Shangqiu, Henan, Huaibei, Suzhou, Anhui, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, southwest Shandong and other places. One refers to the old cat monkey, a more feudal and superstitious, shaped like a cat-headed monkey and imagined demons and monsters; The second refers to the folklore character Ma Shumou. It is often used by adults to scare those children who are old-fashioned, difficult, and crying.

Children's rhyme in the Central Plains: "Red eyes and green nose, four hairy hooves, walking crackling, want to eat live children", a description of the appearance of the old cat and monkey. Legend has it that this ghost is a two-meter-tall monster with the body of a cat-headed monkey, with red eyes the size of a lantern, and likes to catch human children for food at night! Some say that it is an unknown animal, with extremely strong athletic ability, like a human and a monkey. It is also said that the old cat and monkey are the old Mahu, referring to the folklore of Ma Shumou in the last years of the Sui Dynasty, an official of the Sui Dynasty. During the period of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, he was responsible for supervising the construction of the Grand Canal, but he was notorious for cannibalism.

According to legend, there has been a saying in Zhongmu County: whose children cry, grandmothers and mothers often scare children like this: "Don't cry, the red-eyed old Mahu is coming!" The child immediately stopped crying with teary eyes. Why is that? It's about a chilling story.

In the last years of the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty was unscrupulous and wanted to tour Jiangdu (that is, Yangzhou). He mobilized millions of people to dig canals, and entered the Huai River from Luoyang to the southeast through Zhongmu, Bianliang, Chenliu, Ningling, and Huaiyang.

Uncle Ma is a fierce and unusually fierce person, cruel and inhumane, whipping the people at every turn, and forcing the river to be straightened, whether it is a house or a village, a temple or a cemetery, a cemetery, a county or a county, all to make way for the canal, causing the people along the river to leave their hometowns, complaining, and fleeing to other countries.

The canal opened to the border of Ningling County, and Ma Shumou fell ill. After the doctor diagnosed, he prescribed medicine and asked him to use lamb as a guide. Uncle Ma tried to eat it, and it felt delicious and abnormal, and it was wonderful, so he became addicted to it.

At that time, there was a village in Ningling County, and there were three brothers named Tao Lang'er in the village, who only made a living by stealing chickens and dogs. Their ancestral tomb has been seen by Mr. Yin and Yang, saying that "the water is undercurrent, the mountain is dark, and there is a thief dragon lying below; The sand is not raised, the wind is not frustrated, and the gods who live there cannot see through it. The three brothers simply recruited some thieves who could fly off the wall, and they became nouveau riche in a few years by stealing and robbing.

Unexpectedly, Uncle Ma was ordered to open a canal, and the river happened to pass the ancestral tomb of the Tao family. What can I do? When the three brothers heard that Uncle Ma was fond of eating lamb, the eldest brother Tao Lang'er said to the two younger brothers: "He loves to eat lamb, so why don't you cut off the head and feet of a two- or three-year-old child, remove the internal organs, and add condiments to steam him until it is cooked well, and use it as lamb meat to win him over." As long as he tastes good, even if we take his handle and ask him to go around the grave, are we afraid that he won't listen? ”

As soon as the two younger brothers heard this, they immediately sent someone to get two three-year-old dolls, cut off their heads and feet, mix them with condiments, deboned them and steamed them, and then put them in a food box, and went to honor that Uncle Ma early the next morning.

Uncle Ma saw that there was lamb meat delivered, and when he opened the box and tasted it, it was very fragrant. I thought to myself: "Even the dragon liver and phoenix marrow eaten by the saint are nothing more than that!" He hurriedly instructed Tao Lang'er to bring lamb every morning, and refused to offer any more from others.

One day when he had nothing to do, Uncle Ma asked Tao Lang'er for advice on the recipe for steaming lamb. Tao Lang'er looked left and right at no one, rubbed her eyes, choked up and cried: "Ma Duhu, how can the villain have a recipe for steaming lamb!" There is only a way to steam the baby's meat, the first two to honor you are the villain's biological son, and the later offerings are stolen by the villain! Uncle Ma's scalp tingled when he heard this, and he hurriedly asked, "Why are you so pleased with me?" Tao Lang'er didn't hide it, so she said the idea of going around the grave and opening the river. Uncle Ma pondered for a moment, and said gloomily: "What's so difficult to go around the grave and open the river? It's just that I can't live without your steamed 'lamb' every day! Tao Lang'er hurriedly agreed: "Master Kaig, this 'lamb' villain has been wrapped." ”

From then on, the three brothers of the Tao family began to frantically steal children to honor Ma Shumou, first in their own village, then in neighboring villages, and then in distant villages. Poor people along the river from Ningling to Huaiyang, I don't know how many children have been lost. Later, everyone heard that the children were stolen by Tao Langer and sacrificed to Uncle Ma, so they went to Beijing to sue the emperor. Ma Shumou was scared when he found out, so he sent his henchman with a secret letter and a thousand taels of platinum, and went to Beijing day and night to ask his friend Duan Da to block the case. Duan Da saw the secret book and generous gifts, and his heart was full of joy, and he promised to help Uncle Ma. Within a few days, Duan Da arrested the people of Ningling and Huaiyang who entered Beijing to sue the emperor, and they were all beaten forty times and forced to return to their hometowns.

Uncle Ma saw that no one cured him of his crimes, so he became even more crazy, and asked Tao Lang'er to offer more "lamb meat" in the future! Tao Lang'er was more daring than following the holy decree if he got Uncle Ma's advice. turned the thief into an open robbery, and robbed the child when he saw it. Uncle Ma had eaten too many children, and even his eyes became red. In addition, he is ugly and lives like a man-eating monster, which causes the people to close their homes and everyone is frightened. People with children hide their children in cabinets, lock them in boxes, and guard them strictly. Every time the child cried, the grandmother immediately bluffed: "Don't cry! The red-eyed old Mahu is here, and he will take you away! When the child heard this, although his eyes were full of tears, he immediately held back and did not dare to cry.

The above is a record of the red-eyed green-fingered monster (old cat monkey) prototype Lao Mahu in the "Zhongmu County Folk Tales", and the name of his ghost that has been handed down to this day is even louder.

And there is also a prototype of the name of the old cat monkey, which is said to be a kind of adult horse monkey, or an unknown humanoid monster, somewhat similar to the moth people abroad. When I was a soldier, my comrade-in-arms told me that when he was a child, he saw it with his own eyes when he was a child in the river, and it was a long-haired monster with strong athletic ability, which resembled a man and a monkey.

My comrade-in-arms is from Shandong, his hometown is near Yimeng Mountain, not too far from my hometown, his grandparents live in the village at the foot of the mountain, he often lived in his grandparents' house when he was a child, and he would run to the mountains with a few friends to play when he had nothing to do.

Once, he and two children from the same village ran to a river at the bottom of the mountain to play, and when several people saw that the river water was crystal clear, they took off their shirts and jumped in to play with pants. On the other side of the river is a pine forest, and a small path winds its way up to the mountain, which from a distance looks like a sleeping monster.

When a few people were having fun, a dark shadow suddenly came out of the pine forest, and my comrades-in-arms immediately discovered this thing and hurriedly beckoned others to see it. The shadow was approaching the bank of the river, twenty meters away from the people playing in the water, and only then did they see the shadow clearly, covered with black hair, black face and long teeth, eyes glowing red, long arms, and long visible nails.

In the face of the unknown monster that suddenly broke in, several people were frightened and crawled to the shore, and the monster also heard the movement, stood still and looked at them, and the people who lived at the foot of the mountain often heard the old man talk about all kinds of strange animals. My comrade-in-arms saw at a glance that this monster was very much like the old cat and monkey in my grandmother's mouth, he shouted "The old cat and monkey are coming~", while running quickly to the village, the others also ran back, and when they ran out for dozens of meters, my comrade-in-arms looked back and saw that the monster was still motionless and stayed in place.

When they got home, they told their families about the monster they had encountered, and several adults rushed to the river with sticks, forks, and axes, but the monster was long gone, but on the shallows on the bank of the river, they found several large footprints.

Since this incident, when there are children in the village who cry or disobey at night, the adults say, "Be obedient, or the old cat and monkey will take your ......" As a result, the child stopped crying, and at home it was common to hear scaring the child saying, "Don't cry! The old cat monkey is here! ”

In my hometown, the elders in the neighborhood use old cats and monkeys to tease and scare children, and the adults in the family use old cats and monkeys to scare those children who are old, difficult, and crying. There are also some half-old children who use old cats and monkeys to tease children, and if the children are having fun, the older children say: "The old cat and monkey are here!" "It will also scare children to tears.

There are many stories and legends in the countryside, among which the most impressive is the "red-eyed and green-fingered monster" that I have heard people tell since I was a child.

In the countryside, whenever children hear that the "red-eyed and green-fingered monster" is coming, no matter how naughty the child is, he will panic and even stop crying, which has reached the point where he smells and changes color. Although the children do not know what the red-eyed green-fingered monster is, looking at the dark window has a sense of fear, and such a statement has tried and tested, so it can be said that the "red-eyed green-fingered monster" is a nightmare for rural children.