Chapter 4 4

I long to go to the other side of the river. There boats are rowed on bamboo poles; men sail across there in the morning, with plowshares on their shoulders, to plow their distant fields; The cattle swam to the pasture by the river; and at dusk they all went home, leaving only the wolves howling on the weedy island. Mother, if you don't mind, I shall be the boatman of this ferryboat when I grow up. It is said that there are strange pools hidden behind this high bank. After the rain, flocks of wild ducks flew there, lush reeds grew around the bank, and waterfowl laid eggs there; bamboo chickens with dancing tails printed their tiny footprints on the clean soft mud ; At dusk, the long grass is topped with white flowers, inviting the moonlight to float on the waves of the long grass.

Mother, if you don't mind, I shall be the boatman of this ferryboat when I grow up. I want to cross from bank to bank, and all the boys and girls in the village who are bathing there will look at me in amazement. The sun has risen to the mid-heaven, and the morning has turned to noon, and I will run to you and say, "Mother, I'm hungry!" When the day is done and shadows crouch under the trees, I shall come home in the evening. I will never leave you to work in the city like my father did. Mother, if you don't mind, I shall be the boatman of this ferryboat when I grow up.

When the thunderclouds roared in the sky and the June showers fell, the moist east wind crossed the wilderness and played its flute in the bamboo forest. So groups of flowers suddenly ran out from no one knew where, and danced wildly on the green grass. Mom, I really feel like those flowers go to school in an underground school. They closed the door to do their homework. If they wanted to come out to play before school was over, their teacher would punish them to stand in a corner. When the rain came, they had a holiday. Branches touched each other in the forest, green leaves rustled in the strong wind, thunder clouds clapped their big hands, and at that moment the flower children rushed out in purple, yellow and white clothes.

You know, mother, their home is in the sky, where the stars are. Don't you see how anxious they are to get there?Don't you know why they are in such a hurry? Of course I could guess to whom they raised their arms: they had their mothers, as I had my own. Mom, let's imagine that you stay at home and I travel to a foreign country. Imagine again that my boat is fully loaded and waiting for departure at the pier. Now, mother, think it over and tell me what I'm going to bring you when I come back. Mom, do you want piles of gold? On both sides of the Jin River, the fields are full of golden rice seeds.

On the tree-lined road, golden flowers also fell to the ground one by one. I'm going to pack them all up for you in hundreds of baskets. Mom, do you want pearls as big as autumn raindrops? I'm going to cross the sea to the shore of Pearl Island. There, in the early morning light, beads trembled on the wild flowers of the meadow, beads fell on the green grass, and beads were scattered on the sand in handfuls by the raging waves. As for my brother, I'm going to give him a pair of winged horses that will fly in the clouds. As for Dad, I want to bring him a magic pen. Before he feels it, the pen writes the words.

And you, mother, I must give you the coffers and jewels worth the seven kingdoms. If I were just a puppy instead of your little one, mother dear, would you say "No" to me when I wanted to eat off your plate? Are you going to drive me away and say to me, "Go away, you naughty little dog"? Then, go, mother, go!I will never come to you when you call me, and I will never want you to feed me again. If I were just a little green parrot instead of your child, dear mother, would you lock me up tightly lest I fly away? Will you shake your hand at me and say, "What an ungrateful bastard! Biting his chain all night long"?

Then, go, mother, go!I'll run to the woods; I'll never let you hold me in your arms again. In the morning, when the clock struck ten, I walked down our alley to the school. Every day I meet the peddler, and he calls out, "Bracelets, shiny bracelets!" He has no rush to do, no street he must walk, no place he must go to, and no time he must go home. I wish I were a peddler, living my life in the street, calling: "Bracelets, shiny bracelets!" At four o'clock in the afternoon, I go home from school. From the door of one house, I could see a gardener digging. He dug as much as he wanted with his pick, his clothes were stained with dust, and no one scolded him if he got sunburned or wet.

I wish I was a gardener, digging in the garden.No one will stop me. As soon as it got dark, my mother sent me to bed. From the open window I could see the watchman walking up and down. The alley was dark and deserted, and the street lamp stood there like a giant with a red eye on its head. The watchman waved his lantern, and walked with the shadow beside him, who had never been to bed once in his life. I wish I were a watchman, walking the streets all night, chasing shadows with lamps. Mom, your kid is so silly!She is so ridiculously ignorant! She doesn't know the difference between a street lamp and a star.

When we played with pebbles for food, she thought they were food and wanted to put them in her mouth. When I opened a book and put it in front of her, when she was reading a, b, c, she tore the pages with her hands and cried happily for no reason, this is how your children do their homework. When I shook my head at her angrily, scolded her, and called her naughty, she laughed, thinking it was funny. Everyone knows that Dad is not at home, but if I call out "Dad" loudly during the game, she will look around happily, thinking that Dad is really close by. When I took the donkey brought by the washerman to carry the clothes home as a student, and warned her that I was a teacher, she yelled at my brother for no reason.

Your child is going to catch the moon. She's so ridiculous; she calls Ganesh ① Qinush. Mom, your child is so stupid, she is so ridiculously ignorant! ①Ganesh (Ganesh) is the son of Shiva, the god of destruction, with an elephant head and human body.It is also the favorite first letter of the name of modern Indians. I'm small because I'm a little kid and when I'm my daddy's age, I'm going to be big. If my husband comes and says, "It's getting late, bring your slate and your book." I wanted to tell him, "Don't you know that I'm as old as Dad?

I will never learn any more lessons. " Then my teacher will say in amazement: "He can study or not, because he is a grown-up." I dressed myself and went to the crowded market. If my uncle came running and said, "You are going to lose your way, my boy, let me lead you." I was about to answer, "Didn't you see, Uncle, that I am as old as Papa? I am determined to go to the market by myself." Then the uncle will say, "Yes, he can go wherever he pleases, because he is grown up." When I was giving money to my nanny, Mom would come out of the bathroom, because I knew how to open the cash box with my key. If mother said, "What are you doing, naughty boy?" I was going to tell her, "Mom, don't you know I'm the same age as Dad? I have to pay the babysitter." Mom will say to herself: "He can give money to whoever he likes, because he is an adult." When my father was going home for the holidays in October, he would think I was a child and bring me little shoes and a little silk shirt from the city. I wanted to say, "Father, give these things to my brother, because I'm already as old as you." Dad thought for a while and said, "He can go and buy his own clothes, because he is an adult." Mom, I really want to stop doing my homework now.I have been studying all morning. You say it's only twelve o'clock.Suppose it is not later than twelve o'clock; can't you imagine that it is afternoon when it is only twelve o'clock? I can easily imagine: now that the sun has reached the edge of the rice field, the old fisherman is gathering herbs for her dinner by the pool. When I closed my eyes, I could imagine that the shadow under the matar tree was getting darker, and the water in the pond seemed black and shiny. If twelve o'clock can come in the night, why can't the night come at twelve o'clock? You say that Papa wrote many books, but I don't understand what he wrote. He reads to you all evening, but do you really understand what he means? Mom, the story you told us is really nice!I wonder why dad can't write a book like that? Had he never heard tales of giants and fairies and princesses from his own mother? Or has it been completely forgotten? He often missed his bath, and you had to walk to him more than a hundred times. You always have to wait and keep his food warm for him, but he forgets and keeps writing. Dad always used writing as a game. If I go into papa's room to play, you'll come up and say, "What a naughty boy!" If I make any noise, you will say, "Didn't you see your daddy is working?" What's the fun in writing and writing all the time? When I take Papa's pen or pencil and write in his book exactly as he does, a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i,—then why are you mad at me what, mom? When Dad wrote, you never said a word. You don't seem to give a damn, Mom, when my dad wastes such a load of paper. But if I just take a piece of paper and make a boat, you're going to say, "Son, you're such a nuisance!" What do you think about the fact that your father smeared both sides of the paper with black dots, defaced many sheets of paper?