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Spotted antelope flying across

Spotted antelope flying across

By Phyllis A JohnsonPublished 3 years ago 6 min read
Spotted antelope flying across
Photo by Colin Watts on Unsplash

Our hunting team divided into several groups, with the help of hunting dogs, forced 70 to 80 gazelles to the heartbreak cliff of Mount Garo.

It looks like a sharp axe cutting through the middle. Looking up from the river at the bottom of the mountain, it looks like a line of sky, but in fact, the two peaks across the river are about six meters apart. Although the gazelles have four long legs and are very good at jumping, they are the champion of the long jump among herbivores, but just like people have limits on the long jump, on the same level, the robust male gazelles can only jump five meters at most, and the female, young and old gazelles can only jump about four meters.

At first, the antelopes found themselves in a desperate situation, panicking and jumping randomly. There was an old gazelle who didn't know whether it was because he was too old to measure the distance or because he wanted to show off his ability.

After a while, the gazelle herd gradually quieted down, and all eyes were focused on a particularly tall, dark brown, oily male gazelle, who seemed to be waiting for the male gazelle to come up with a good way to save the entire population from extinction. This male was undoubtedly the leader of the herd, with horns like two scythes on his head. The scythe-headed sheep solemnly looked around the cliff, looked up at the blue sky after the rain, and bleated sadly, indicating that there was nothing he could do.

The herd of gazelles stirred again. At that moment, a rainbow suddenly appeared in the rain-washed sky, one end connected to the sad cliff, and the other end flew over the mountain stream, connected to the opposite mountain peak as if a beautiful sky bridge had suddenly been built. The gazelles stared at the rainbow, and one female gazelle, a gray-black one, walked towards the rainbow with a drifting look, as if she had entered a state of hallucination. Perhaps they were nervous and mistook the illusory rainbow for a real bridge to the other side of life.

The gray and black female antelope's body was already covered in the dazzling spectrum of the rainbow, and she was about to step into the abyss when suddenly, the sickle-headed sheep roared "baa-baa", which was very different from the sheep I usually hear. The tone of voice, although also maintaining the usual calm and sheep, the dull and powerful, revealing a certain unwavering determination.

Afterward, I thought that the reason why the sickle-headed sheep came up with such a wonderful way to save the survival of the species at a critical moment was perhaps inspired by the mystery of the rainbow.

With the roar of the scythe-headed sheep, the gray and black female gazelle woke up as if from a dream and retreated from the edge of the cliff.

With the roar of the scythe-headed sheep, the herd quickly split into two groups, one for the older and one for the younger. There were both male and female gazelles in the older group, while the younger group was of different ages, including middle-aged and strong gazelles, large gazelles who had just entered the adult ranks, and young gazelles who were still in their infancy. After the two groups were separated, the number of older gazelles was about ten less than that of the younger ones. The scythe-headed sheep was standing in the group of young gazelles, but after a few round trips, it bleated sadly and walked to the group of old gazelles with a heavy pace. A few middle-aged male gazelles followed the scythe-headed sheep and automatically came out of the group of younger gazelles and joined the group of older gazelles. The number of the two groups of antelopes was more or less equalized after this reversal.

At that moment, I saw a male antelope coming out of the old group. The male bleated at the young gazelle, and a half-grown gazelle came out in response. Suddenly, the half-grown gazelle darted forward, and at about the same time, the old gazelle also raised its hooves and ran fast. The half-grown gazelle ran to the edge of the cliff and leaped across the mountain stream. The angle of the old gazelle was a little higher, and the angle of the old gazelle was a little lower, so it was one before and two after, one high and one low. I was amazed, why, did even the young and the old have to form a pair to kill themselves? This half-grown gazelle and this old gazelle could never jump to the opposite cliff unless they put on their wings! Suddenly, a shot that I could not even dream of appeared. The old gazelle, with its skillful jumping, appeared under the hooves of the half-great gazelle at the moment when it descended from the highest point. It was like two spaceships docking in the air. The four hooves of the old wildebeest stomped on the broad and strong back of the old wildebeest, just like stepping on a springboard, and it jumped again in the air. The old gazelle was like the shell of a rocket that had run out of fuel and automatically broke away from the spacecraft, no, it was more miserable than the shell of a rocket. The second jump of the half-great gazelle was not as strong as the first one, and the height was only half of the ground jump, but it was enough to cross the last two meters of the journey. In an instant, the half-great gazelle landed lightly on the opposite peak, bleating excitedly and disappearing behind the rock.

The jump was successful, followed by a pair of gazelles leaping into the air, drawing a dazzling arc over the mountain stream, each young gazelle's success meant that an older gazelle fell to pieces.

Over the mountain cliff, parallel to the rainbow, a bridge was erected, a bridge built with death as the pier. There was no crowding, no jostling, orderly and fast flying. I paid close attention to the group of old antelopes destined to die, thinking that perhaps some of the more slippery ones would sneak from the die set to the newborn set, but to y shock, from beginning to end, none of the old antelopes switched places for themselves.

They willingly used their lives to open a path for the next generation to survive.

Most of the old antelopes used their excellent jumping skills to help the young ones to fly safely to the peaks on the other side of the mountain, except for one aging female who was probably too weak to let the young one step on her back precisely when she was connecting with a young one in the air.

I didn't expect that at the critical moment when the population was facing extinction, the gazelles could think of a way to sacrifice one half to save the other half to win the survival of the population. I didn't think that the old antelopes would go to their death with such grace.

I looked dumbfounded, all the hunters looked dumbfounded, and even the dogs opened their mouths wide in surprise, their long tongues trailing out of their mouths, and stopped barking.

The last thing left on the sad cliff was the scythe-headed sheep that had successfully commanded the group of gazelles to fly across en masse. The herd was not an even number, but an odd one. The scythe-headed sheep stood alone on the peak, with no young antelope to make it a stepping stone to the other side, and no one to help it fly. With a firm step, it walked towards the gorgeous rainbow. The curved rainbow was connected to the sad cliff at one end and the mountain peak on the other side, like a beautiful bridge.

It went up and disappeared in a splendid ......

Short Story

About the Creator

Phyllis A Johnson

I love writting.

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