1. Sunbird and King Cobra
The sunbird is a small and exquisite bird in the tropical rain forest. It is less than ten centimeters long from the tip of its beak to the tip of its tail. It has a clear and elegant cry. , the feathers are brightly colored, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and purple, as if woven with colorful sunlight.
Whenever the forest is filled with sunlight, the sunbird flies to the brilliant mountain flowers, flapping its wings at a frequency of more than 80 times per second, and its body is parked like a helicopter. In the air, its long, needle-like beak penetrates the flower stamens and sucks the nectar.
There is a clear stream behind Manguang Nongzhai. There is a leafy wild mango tree beside the stream, which is full of sunbirds. It is like a kingdom of sunbirds. On almost every horizontal branch, a few inches away, there is a bird's nest made of grass and clay with a very delicate structure. When they go out to forage together in the morning, a magnificent rainbow appears in the sky; at dusk, when they perch among the branches and peck at the crystal stream water to comb their feathers, the tree crown is like a colorful tent.
As an educated youth from Shanghai, I do farm work with local farmers, and I usually go hunting with them. That afternoon, after planting the rice seedlings, I went to the stream to take a bath. This is the season when sunbirds are incubating eggs. Birds are chirping in the wild mango trees, and male birds are flying in and out, busy feeding the female birds incubating eggs in their nests.
I had just washed my hair when I suddenly heard the panicked chirping of birds from the wild mango tree. When I looked up, I was almost scared out of my mind. I saw a cobra climbing up the branches like a staircase. . The king cobra can be said to be the big devil in the forest. It is six meters long. It has a pair of spectacle-shaped markings with black hearts on a white background painted on the back of its neck. It is very powerful and can swim on the grass like flying. As long as it encounters something head-on, If something is alive, it will attack it without hesitation. Not to mention weak animals such as birds and rabbits, even tigers and leopards will retreat when they see it. If a person is bitten by a king cobra, he will die within an hour.
I hurriedly hid under a clump of giant bananas, cut a hole in the banana leaf, and peeked secretly.
The King Cobra climbed to a high tree, its tail was entangled among the branches, its lower body fell down, and its upper body stood up. The bright red snake snake poked into each bird's nest and came out from above. Next, suck the eggs. The oval-shaped crystal clear little bird eggs seemed to be pulled by a strong suction force. They lined up one after another and rolled along the slender snake letter into the snake's mouth. It was so free and unrestrained, as if We sip milk through a straw.
All the sunbirds that were incubating their eggs swarmed out of their nests, and the male birds looking for food also flew in from all directions. They gathered in tens of thousands, blocking out a large area of ??sunlight. . Some flew past the tree crowns, while others were parked in mid-air, glaring at the attacking King Cobras, chirping and screaming in panic.
Alas, poor little bird, these eggs are laid in vain. Such a delicate life cannot fight against the king cobra. At most, they can only rely on their ability to fly to safely fly. It's just a futile insult from a distance, a pointless protest. Alas, nature, where the weak prey on the strong, never sympathizes with the weak.
The King Cobra was still sucking the eggs happily, and showed a dismissive and contemptuous attitude towards such a large group of sunbirds: There are so many birds, it’s nothing, they’re a bunch of vulnerable rabble!
After a while, all the bird's nests in the tree crown on the left were swept away, and the greedy snake head turned to the tree crown on the right.
At this moment, a sunbird with its tail spread out like a tuxedo, originally parked in mid-air parallel to the king cobra, suddenly flew high, "Beep——" With a long cry, he folded his wings and dived towards the snake's head. Its original intention must have been to peck the snake's eyes with its needle-like beak, but when it flew one meter away from the snake's head, the King Cobra suddenly opened its mouth, such a big mouth! It can easily swallow a coconut in one gulp, and its black mouth seems to have strong magnetism. The fork-tailed sunbird deflected its wings and involuntarily crashed into the snake's mouth.
I don’t know how the fork-tailed sunbird dared to hit the stone with its eggs. Maybe it was born to be a brave sunbird. Maybe it was a female bird and happened to see the king cobra’s snake penetrate it. Out of a maternal instinct, hoping that the few eggs he had laid so hard to avoid being poisoned, he fought to the death with the King Cobra.
I couldn’t save its eggs, but I lost myself too. It’s really pitiful, I think.
However, the many sunbirds seem to be different from what I thought. The behavior of the fork-tail has become a role model, an example, and a demonstration. The moment the forked tail was swallowed by the snake's mouth, one bird after another swooped up and down towards the ugly snake's head. Naturally, they were also moths rushing to the flames, seeking their own destruction. Without exception, they were sucked into the abyss. Like the belly of a snake. It was probably the first time in his life that the King Cobra enjoyed such an automatic meal. He shook his head happily, and the snake danced very enthusiastically and excitedly, as if to say: Come on, the more the merrier, my stomach is empty!
In a certain atmosphere, the spirit of heroism and sacrifice will spread. Almost all the sunbirds flew to the front of the King Cobra, scrambling to rise higher. Two or three birds would fly higher. The platoon continuously dived and pounced on the snake's head. Between the gaping snake's mouth and the sky, there seemed to be an endless ribbon...
I didn't count how many sunbirds filled the gap. Entering the belly of the snake, there may be hundreds, maybe thousands. Gradually, the flat belly of the King Cobra swelled up. It must have eaten too much and was a little unappetizing, or its belly was too bloated and did not want to eat anymore. After eating, he closed his mouth. Too late, but not too long, two sunbirds pounced on its face, their long, needle-like beaks pecked into the snake's glass-ball-like eyes. I saw that the King Cobra trembled all over, its neck ribs expanded suddenly, and its neck spread out like a bird's wings. It must have been stung. The enraged Cobra shook its neck and bit it, daring to peck it. The two sunbirds with their eyeballs shook towards the flock of birds as if in demonstration.
The sunbirds were not intimidated, but intensified their attacks. Groups of three or five flew to the snakes' heads like rain. They seem to know that the snake's eyes, which have no eyelids and therefore cannot be closed, are the only weak link in the King Cobra's body, so they peck at the two snake eyes specifically. After a while, blood gushed out from the King Cobra's eye sockets. It finally couldn't withstand the desperate attacks of the birds. It closed its neck ribs, put away its arrogance, lowered its head, and tried to slip down the tree trunk. The tree goes. At this time, a large group of sunbirds swarmed up and pecked at the snake's head. The King Cobra's body twitched, as if suffering from epilepsy. The snake's tail loosened and it fell from the high tree crown with a thud, falling half to death. The dense flock of birds suddenly descended to low altitude and pounced on the snake. I couldn't see the snake anymore, just a writhing, jumping mass wrapped tightly around the bird. As the King Cobra struggled and rolled, layers of birds were crushed to death, and more birds swooped down one after another...
Finally, it was so vicious and ferocious that even tigers and leopards would retreat when they saw it. The king cobra slumped down like a rotten straw rope.
The ground is covered with a layer of dead sunbirds, and the fallen flowers are colorful, like a rain of flowers.
Oh, beautiful sunbird, delicate little life, brave elf.
2. Disabled Leopard
A large area of ??the courtyard wall was eaten down by white ants. I went to the mountain to cut wild bamboo to repair the fence. The journey was a bit long, so I brought a box of glutinous rice for lunch.
I was lucky. When I was chopping bamboo, I happened to come across a chicken. I killed it with one knife, took off its feathers and removed its internal organs, tied it with a bamboo stick, and roasted it on the fire. After a while, the fragrance overflowed, making my mouth water. The roasted chicken is freshly killed and eaten, with golden color, shiny oil, crispy skin and tender meat. Hey, not even the emperor can enjoy this wild taste!
I was feeling proud when I suddenly heard a rustling sound coming from the airtight patch of zebra grass on the left. I turned around and almost scared to death - a colorful The leopard's head poked out from the thatch.
Leopards can swim, climb trees, and run as fast as flying. They are more difficult to deal with than tigers. Among hunters, there are one leopard, two pigs, and three tigers (referring to the most difficult things for hunters to deal with. The first is the leopard, the second is the wild boar, and the third is the tiger. ) statement.
It was only more than ten meters away from me at most. I didn’t dare to run. Once I ran, it would jump up and easily knock me down from behind. This guy must have been attracted here by the smell of roasted chicken. I had an idea and threw the chicken that was not yet fully cooked in my hand at it, hoping that it would be greedy for the delicious taste of roasted chicken and let me go.
The roasted chicken bones rolled onto the grass three or four meters away from the leopard's head. It wiggled its nostrils and sniffed greedily. The long leopard's tongue kept licking its lips, slowly picking up the grass from the grass. Half of the body emerged from the middle, and a pair of big copper bell eyes looked at me and then at the roast chicken, showing an expression of hesitation. I held the hatchet in my hand and was so nervous that the hairs all over my body stood on end. After waiting for a while, it walked towards the roasted chicken. Thankfully, roast chicken has more of an appetite for it than I do. I took the opportunity to stand up and step back step by step, preparing to retreat to a safe distance, then turn around and run away.
But when its body completely emerged from the zebra grass, I found that I didn’t need to escape at all. I just needed to walk quickly to get rid of it, because one of its hind legs was full of flesh and blood. It was blurry, a paw was missing, and the whole leg was hanging in the air. Oh, it turned out to be a disabled leopard!
Usually people always assume that wild animals in the forest, especially large beasts, must be strong and have intact facial features and limbs. This is a taken-for-granted view. In fact, because there are no hospitals or any health care system for wild animals in the forest, and they are always in fierce competition between the weak and the strong, the proportion of disabled animals is quite high.
I don’t know how this leopard’s paw was broken. Maybe it was shot by a shotgun, maybe it was bitten off by the wild boar’s tusks while catching a wild boar, maybe it was fighting with a group of jackals. Injuries sustained while grabbing food... One thing I know very well is that all animals can barely run and hunt for food if their forelimbs are injured. Once the hind limbs are injured, the center of gravity cannot be balanced and it is impossible to jump. Therefore, it is very difficult. To survive any longer.
The disabled leopard grabbed the roast chicken and wolfed it down. It could be seen that it had not eaten for several days and was skinny and skinny. She was still a female leopard, with two rows of breasts hanging from her abdomen, which were also shriveled, like dried loofahs.
Had I known it was a disabled leopard, I wouldn’t have foolishly thrown the delicious roast chicken to it. Now, it’s too late to regret it.
In the early morning of the third day, I got up to go to the bathroom. As soon as I opened the door, I closed the door and tightened the bolt as if I was electrocuted. A leopard with gold rings all over its body is lying in my yard! There is no doubt that this guy got into the yard through the gap in the fence that I hadn't had time to repair.
I hurriedly took down the shotgun from the earthen wall, poured gunpowder and iron sand into the barrel, and looked out from between the wooden lattice windows. When the leopard heard the sound of opening and closing the door, he turned his head towards my thatched cottage. oops! Either enemies don't get together, or they're disabled leopards who eat my roast chicken! It was more haggard than three days ago, its face was covered with dust, and the corners of its eyes were filled with eye droppings.
I pulled the bolt with a bang. In my hunting career, all animals are instinctively afraid of the sound of the gun bolt. They will jump and run away, or at least they will be so nervous that their hair will splay out, their ears will stand straight up, and they will roar angrily. But the disabled leopard in front of me was still lying on the ground motionless, just looking at me with a sad look. I felt strange and couldn't help but take another look at it. I saw that its hind leg, which had been injured a few days ago, was exposed. The wound was severely inflamed, festering, and emitting a foul smell. There were also maggots squirming on the rotten flesh. It was panting hard, and its four leopard legs were stiff. He was convulsing and looked like he was about to die.
Why should I waste bullets on a disabled leopard who is dying and too weak to even stand up? What's more, the bullets will damage the beautiful leopard skin. I gave up the idea of ??shooting immediately.
When it saw me looking at it through the window lattice, it struggled to move to the pomegranate tree on the left side of the yard. With a kind of pleading look, it frequently shuttled between me and the pomegranate tree. Also, it seems that he is eager to connect me with the pomegranate tree.
I was very puzzled, so I opened the door, put my hand on the trigger, pointed the gun at the colorful leopard head, and walked over cautiously to take a look.
Under the pomegranate tree, there is a little leopard lying! This little leopard was about the same size as a cat, and its eyes hadn't opened yet. Its body was covered with grass blades and dirt, and it was squirming feebly. The disabled leopard crawled up to the little leopard, stretched out its long tongue, and pushed the little leopard toward me bit by bit like a ball.
"Shhhhhhhhh" I waved the shotgun, trying to get it to stop, but it pushed the little leopard in front of me stubbornly and tenaciously. I stepped back step by step. Its painful eyes stared at me tightly, its expression looked very frustrated and disappointed, and it yelled "Oh--" at me. This was by no means a threatening roar, but a plaintive begging.
I suddenly had a bold idea. This disabled leopard ran into my yard early in the morning. It did not want to steal livestock or poultry, nor did it want to harm me. It was out of helplessness. Just came to me. Apparently, it was a lactating female leopard. Unfortunately, her hind limbs were seriously injured while hunting. She couldn't find food and couldn't secrete fragrant milk. Several newly born leopard cubs starved to death one after another. Finally, only this little leopard was left, and it was also dying of hunger. It knew that it would not live long and did not want to lose its last little baby, so it endured the pain, held the little leopard in its mouth, and climbed up the mountain into Manguang Nong Village under the cover of night.
I had an encounter with it three days ago. It remembered my scent and found my home with the cat's keen sense of smell. It mistakenly thought that I threw the roast chicken to it out of sympathy and pity. It thought that I was a good person who would help it adopt the little leopard.
It is dying, its breathing is getting faster and harder, its body is shrinking into a ball due to pain, and it can't even crawl, but its tongue is still trembling stubbornly, trying its best to keep it alive. The little leopard pushed in front of me, its eyes still staring at me expectantly.
As if I had received some mysterious revelation, I threw away the shotgun, bent down to pick up the little leopard, held it on my arm, stroked its back, and kissed its furry cheek.
The disabled leopard showed an expression of relief in his eyes. The leopard's tail slowly drew a circle in the air and then stood still.
There is also a tearful and affectionate reader, Issue 5, 2007
Reference: /eastday/zfh/wlfw/wsds/userobject1ai16232.html