By Lu Chunxiang

AnimalLove

By Lu Chunxiang

A Beloved Coup le of Duck s“Shen’s Ducks”is an interesting story told in Gu Qiyuan’sKe Zuo Zhui Yu,a 17th century(Ming Dynasty)collection of folktales in Nanjing.

Shen Zhiwen,a friend of the author,raised a couple of ducks.One day,Shen decided to kill the male duck for food,he confined the duck in an upturned bamboo crate.After a while,the female duck came and kept walking around the crate,she just could not be driven away or even coaxed into eating.Shen managed to kill the male duck,which was then placed into a pot of boiling water to be defeathered.Suddenly the female duck wailed,and plunged into the pot ending her own life as well.

Shen and his family were astounded,and their nature of sympathy awakened.They buried the beloved couple in a bamboo garden behind their house,and swore not to eat duck for the rest of their lives.

This story is different from typical traditional Chinese animal stories,which generally highlight favor requiting or karma.It’s not telling us an animal-centered fairy tale,but a truth that intimacy,if not love,is cherished by animals as well.

The female duck’s rationality corresponds well to that of many a human in love.It is brief,but universal.

The Wisdom of Weasels

While working for the government of Jingzhou City,Sun Guangxian, an official and writer living in the Five Dynasties Period(10th century),wroteBei Meng Suo Yan,a collection of short stories.He was,as appraised,a serious writer who would not record any story in his collection before he verified it.

In Volume XII(“The Wisdom of Weasels”)of the book,we can see how the smart and brave weasel parents saved their kids.

Premier Zhang’s manor lay upon a hill in the eastern suburbs of the imperial capital.A family of weasels lived happily in the manor too.One day,when the weasels’parents went out looking for food,a hungry serpent raided their den and swallowed the four baby weasels in it.

The weasels’parents seemed to have felt something ominous and returned home earlier than usual. They were sad to find the intruder with his obviously bulging belly, but soon calmed down.The parents made,with great effort,a soil mound to seal the entrance of their den,yet leaving a small hole in the size of the serpent’s head.

Then the weasel parents hid themselves nearby and waited patiently.A long while later,the serpent put its head out of the hole,and attempted to move outside bit by bit.When the serpent managed to get half of his body out of the den, the weasel couple suddenly attacked and tore the intruder into two.The valiant parents then got into the serpent’s belly,and came out carrying their kids in their mouths.

They were so lucky—the weasel babies were all still alive!The parents immediately took the four kids to a safe place,and covered the kids’wounds with chewed herbal leaves.The little guys all made it. They soon recuperated,and the family lived happily ever after.

Love for one’s own children runs through the blood of all parents,human or not.At crucial moments,it may ignite one’s unpredicted potential and display wonders of wisdom and power.

(FromXihu,March 2015.Translation:Wang Xiaoke.)