Row to halfway up the mountain, still feel short of breath, they will find a large stone sit down to rest. In this air fresh and refreshing in the mountains, view of the scenery, very cozy. At ease, see in the mountains in the green, a variety of birds stand tree branches or boulders, some suddenly up and down to fly freely. Suddenly, a kind of "murmur, murmur" sound attracted me, ah! Swallows. In the past few years, when I lived in the city with many high-rise buildings, I have never seen swallows, or maybe I didn't care about them. No matter what, I have not seen the swallows for a long time, but I can see them here, one, two, three ...... too many to count. Looking at, thinking, this familiar "murmur" sound to my thoughts back to the young childhood.
I remember, in the 1960s, my family lived in the Taihang Mountains on the party area of a county in the courtyard, three east room. The first time I saw this was when I was a kid, and it was the first time I'd ever seen a kid in a house. In the first spring after my family moved into this house, two swallows, probably husband and wife, suddenly flew in, carrying grass and mud in their mouths, and built their nests under the eaves of my house, that is, in the upper left corner outside the door of the house, going back and forth in a day, which was hard to count, and they just saw that they did not stop from morning to night. The two swallows were perched on my window sill when the curtain fell and it was pitch black.
The next day, my mother cleaned up the swallows' poop on the window sill, every day. After a few days, I was a bit upset that the swallow was so dirty. What's more, when I was eating at noon, I took a small stool and sat on the door step, and was eating with my bowl when the swallow was busy building its nest, and a drop of swallow's shit fell into my rice bowl. I was so anxious that I put down my bowl and took a small shovel and was about to shovel out the small amount of mud and grass that the swallow had built in the corner when my mother saw me and hurriedly took the shovel from me, "What are you going to do?" Mother asked. I said, "This swallow pulls everywhere every day, it's too dirty, I'm shoveling it off to keep the swallows from building their nests here, to get rid of them." My mother patiently said, "My child, you are still young, you don't understand many things in this world. Swallows are specialized in catching pests, and they eat a lot of mosquitoes and flies every day. Swallows are beneficial birds, since ancient times they have been the object of people's protection, no one harms swallows. Besides, if a swallow builds a nest in someone's house, it means that the person's family is kind and good, and it will bring good luck, and other people will envy it. People know that whoever harms a swallow will get a red-eye disease, which won't heal in ten days and half a month. You must remember, no matter what, you must not hurt the swallows." Since listening to my mother's words, I no longer have the idea of hurting swallows.
Yes, in our place, the folk do have such a saying, who hurt the swallow, who will get red eyes. Things are also coincidental, living in another courtyard in our hutong there is a naughty child, from time to time with a slingshot in hand, shooting sparrows. One day, he shot at a swallow flying low in the sky, but fortunately, the swallow flew away and only dropped a few feathers. But a few days, this naughty child will really have red eyes, every day difficult to bare teeth, after more than half a month of treatment, only to be cured.
After the two swallows worked non-stop, one month later, the swallows' nest was built, and every night, the swallows no longer roosted on the window sill, but stayed in the nest they built.
In the summer of July, the rain increased and the weather was hot. I saw a swallow lying in the nest, no matter day and night, do not go out, this may be the swallow mother, in order to reproduce the offspring, daily incubation of baby swallows. The other swallow is flying around, which is probably the father swallow, taking up the responsibility of feeding and supporting the family.
After a period of time, there was more chattering in the nest, and the two big swallows went out, and every time they came back, the nest stretched out five red, featherless 'little heads' that opened their mouths and scrambled for the food that the two big swallows had captured. One day, a naughty little swallow fell out of the nest and struggled on the ground, chirping and screaming. When the mother saw it, she went over and picked it up, took a small stool and stood on it, and put the little swallow that had fallen on the ground back into the nest. As time passed, the five little swallows were full of feathers and gradually climbed out of their nests and flew around in the yard, but they did not fly far from the yard. Sometimes, some children and I chased the little swallows in the yard to play, the little swallows do not fly high, not far, and even faster, from time to time, we can catch the little swallows, but we just catch and caress caress, and then let go, so they continue to practice flying freely in the yard.
In the early fall, the five little swallows, like their parents, were out flying all day long. Over the city, over the fields, sometimes soaring in the air like eagles. Sometimes, and close to the surface of the water in a flash, suddenly up and down, when the east and west, flexible, catching pests. Swallows, that tirelessly fly, adding a bright landscape to the world.
The weather is cooler in late fall. I was used to seeing swallows flying around every day. Suddenly, one day, I didn't see any swallows from morning to night. I was so happy to see you, and I was so happy to see you, and I was so happy to see you, and I was so happy to see you, and I was so happy to see you. I rushed to ask my mother, who said, "The weather is getting cooler, and the swallows are aware of cold and heat, and they have already flown to the south to prepare for the winter." It seems that we will only meet again next year when the spring flowers bloom.
The cold winter is coming, and the snowflakes are fluttering in the sky. That day, I looked at the bird's nest, secretly thought, often heard the adults say, monkey bird's nest is a valuable dish, soup can make up for the body, the swallow has flown away, why not take this bird's nest soup, winter, drink the body will be warm. Strange thoughts, absurd ideas, prompted me to rush home to move the stool, just stepped on the stool, not yet reached out. Mother came over and asked, "What are you doing ah?" I told my mother what I thought, and she laughed and said, "Child, come down and listen to me, the bird's nest is a kind of bird called swiftlet, using moss and seaweed to glue some plants with the saliva of swiftlet and build a nest, which is a valuable bird's nest that can be eaten, and it is usually found in the places nearer to the sea. The swallows here are house swallows, the nests are made of grass, mud and a small amount of saliva, which is inedible and has no nutritional value. Besides, the swallows will come back to live here next spring, so you can't tear it down. In the spring, you've seen swallows building nests, a blade of grass, a bit of mud, slowly accumulating, how hard it is." Haha, after all, it is a small child, naive and childish, swallow's nest and swallow's nest turned out to be different ah!
Flowers are the dream of spring, and green is the soul of the mountain. After a short break, I continued to climb the lush, elegant and quiet mountain path, all the way to go all the way to view the scenery. Look at the wildflowers in full bloom, listen to the "murmur" call, the heart can not help but think, day after day, year after year, the swallows, that soaring in the sky, capture the character of the pests, that hard work, the spirit of hard work, is not worthy of learning from us humans? When I write this, I always want to say, we do not want to be as good as Yan ah!