A pair of old turtles

On the cliff stands a stone pillar about three meters high and forty centimeters in diameter, with various birds and animals carved on it. This is the sacred pillar of our Manguang Langzhai, which is specially used to worship the god of hunting before each hunting trip. According to legend, this was originally a natural stone monument, fifty years ago was destroyed by lightning, the then Tusi sent people to the capital of Xishuangbanna Yun Jinghong specially made this stone pillar, re-erected on the god.

After fifty years of wind and rain, incense burning, stone pillar black as ink, shiny oil, shrouded with a layer of mystery.

That day I went to the mountains to herd sheep, a mountain wind blew my straw hat down the cliff. I stood at the edge of the cliff to look, straw hat just two meters down, was a bush hanging thorns. I couldn't let go of the new straw hat that I bought not long ago, so I tied my trouser belt with a goat whip, tied it to a stone pillar, and climbed down the cliff to pick up the straw hat. Just when I grabbed the straw hat into my hand, suddenly, I found that in the bush behind the thorns there is a stone cave, about ten meters deep, people can enter with a cat's waist. The only thing that interested me was that there was a stone pillar near the entrance of the cave, penetrating down from the top of the cave and standing in the middle of the cave. I calculated the distance and orientation, I understand that the stone pillar in front of me is the cliff that we often worship as the sacred pillar. It turns out that the pillar is five meters long, when the pillar was set up by the people, cut through the two-meter-thick layer of earth and rock, the foundation was set up in the cave.

I surveyed the stone pillar, and the line of sight from top to bottom slowly move, ooh, under the stone pillar pressed a turtle! It was a very common local turtle with an olive-colored carapace, about thirty centimeters long and twenty centimeters wide. The difference between the big-headed turtle and other types of turtles is that its large triangular brain shell cannot be retracted into the armor, so when I first saw it, it was lying on all fours with its head in the air.

It is not uncommon for a turtle to be pressed under a building. It is a folk custom to use a turtle to pad the foot of a bed, and ancient emperors loved to erect merit tablets on stone carvings of Chinese alligators (tuó) - the legendary sacred turtles - in front of their tombs. Using the turtle to pad the bottom, is to take advantage of the turtle's longevity and the hardness of the shell, pray for longevity, and good luck.

This is certainly a dead turtle, I think, its head and body did not decay, it must have become mummified because the cave is relatively dry. I admired its posture before it died as if it was still trekking with its weight. I especially admired its two small green bean eyes, crystal clear and still shining with the luster of life. I squatted down and wondered why a pair of eyes of a dead turtle from 50 years ago would never fade, was this a fake turtle carved in stone?

My fingers just touched its eyes, and suddenly, it blinked its eyelids and gently turned its head over. I was so shocked that I fell on my butt and almost had a heart attack. It was still alive! No, no, this is impossible, it was pressed under the stone pillar for 50 years, life expectancy is long, and it would have died of starvation. I thought this must be my illusion. I plucked another grass to scratch its neck, it was so uncomfortable that it paddled its limbs and bit my grass with its mouth.

It was true, it was still alive and well!

What's going on? Could it be that this big-headed turtle before being crushed under the stone pillar, was enchanted by a sorcerer, and became a divine turtle that can not eat and drink to live a hundred years? No, no, there are no gods on earth, and there can be no gods among turtles. Then, it has supernormal capabilities, has practiced qigong, and can open up the grain. (A Chinese Taoist practice that says people can stop their metabolism for some time) can yoga? (An Indian mystical qigong, said that a person can not eat for a long time)

I was wondering, suddenly I heard a rustling sound from the grass outside the cave as if something was crawling into the cave. I rushed to hide behind the stone pillar. After a while, in the thatch at the entrance of the cave, slowly crawled a turtle. This is also a big-headed turtle, slightly smaller than the body pressed under the stone pillar as long as the flattened wrinkled armor back, stuck with some mud and sand and water plants, it's head high, mouth holding a small black water snake three or four inches long, curved sharp nails gouge the rough surface of the rock, struggling to turn into the hole. The big-headed turtle that was pressed under the stone pillar stretched its neck as far as it could, and leisurely swayed its big head from side to side and let out a bark, apparently, in a warm welcome.

I held my breath and peeked in.

The big-headed turtle that just entered the cave hurriedly came under the stone pillar, first spitting out the snake on the ground, and then sipping his mouth into the mouth of the big-headed turtle under the pillar. Turtles can kiss? This is the first time I've seen something new! I look more closely, from the mouth of the turtle just into the hole, slowly flowing a transparent liquid, oh, it is feeding it water! After feeding the water, it picked up the snake again, let the big-headed turtle under the stone pillar bite the tail of the snake, and worked together to tear the snake apart, you bite and I bite to eat with great pleasure ......

From their very intimate behavior with each other, this is a turtle couple; from the physical shape to analyze, pressed under the stone pillar is the male turtle, gripping the small snake just into the female turtle.

Suddenly, I had a scene in front of me: 50 years ago a windy morning, the pair of just happy marriage of the big-headed turtle is looking for fish and shrimp in the grass, suddenly heard the sound of human footsteps approaching them, the male turtle topped the female into a clump of hidden reeds, he ran in the other direction, he deliberately stirred the water, to attract the turtle catcher to their side. The male turtle was caught, and after a set of tedious rituals such as holy water showers, shamans reciting incantations, and incense and candles smudging the body, he was crushed under a stone pillar. The female turtle searched for days and finally found the male turtle in this cave. She couldn't bite the pillar and couldn't move it, so she took on the responsibility of keeping the male turtle alive. From the cave to the ditch at the bottom of the turnip, it was a cliff, at least a a dozen feet high. With its ability to climb trees and rocks, and with a loving and persevering faith, it sent water and food from a trip to a trip for 50 years! It was both a miserable 50 years and a glorious 50 years!

My eyes moistened as I rushed out of the cave, found a stick, and using the principle of leverage, fiercely pried the pillar, and the male turtle finally freed himself from under it and hobbled down the cliff after the female.

I hope they will have a good old age.