Chapter 95 Beasts of Winter - 1

When the lake freezes into solid ice, not only will there be new roads and shorter shortcuts to many places, but you can also stand on the ice to see those familiar scenery.When I passed Lake Flint after the snow, though I paddled and skated on it, it grew unexpectedly large, and strangely enough, it kept me thinking of Baffin Bay .Around me, the mountains of Lincoln stand at the poles of a vast snow-field, plains as if I had never been before; and in the distance beyond the ice, fishermen and their dogs move slowly, as if Like fur-dog hunters or Eskimos, or looming in the misty weather like creatures of legend, I don't know whether they were men or sages.In the evening, when I went to Lincoln to hear the lectures, I always took this road, so I didn't take any road between my cabin and the lecture room, and I didn't pass any house.On the way we passed Goose Lake, which is home to muskrats, whose dwellings stand on the ice, but I did not see a muskrat outside as I passed.Walden, which, like the others, was often clear of snow, received at most a thin layer of snow, which was soon blown away, was my garden, where I could walk freely Elsewhere, the snow was always nearly two feet deep at this time, and the villagers were cordoned off in their streets.Far from the village streets, and seldom heard the bells of the sleigh, I often stumbled, or slipped, and slipped, as in a leveled deer park hung with oak and stately The pine trees are either bent down by the snow, or there are many icicles hanging upside down.

On winter nights, as it often is during the day, what I hear from far away is a desperate and melodic owl howling, as if the frozen earth, when plucked with the right plectrum, , it was the Inguavernacula of Walden Forest, which I became familiar with afterward, though I never saw the owl in singing.On a winter night, I pushed open the door, and I seldom failed to hear its "Hu, Hu, Hu Lei, Hu", which was very loud, especially the three sounds on the top of the head seemed to be the pronunciation of "Ni Hao"; It also simply barked "Hu, Hu".One night in early winter, before the lake was completely frozen, at about nine o'clock, a flying goose made a loud cry, which startled me. When I walked to the door, I heard their wings again, like a storm in the forest. Flew low over my house.They passed the lake and flew towards Fair Harbor, as if afraid of my lights, their commanders barking in a regular rhythm.Suddenly, I can't be mistaken, an owl, very close to me, uttered the hoarseest and trembling voice, "Never heard in the woods, and it answered at regular intervals The honking of geese, as if to insult the interlopers from Hudson Bay, it uttered a louder and wider local vernacular, "Huh, huh" to drive them out of Concord In such a night that only belongs to me, why do you want to alarm the entire fortress? Do you think that at this time of night, I am sleeping, do you think I don’t have the lungs and guttural sounds like yours?” Bo-hoo, boo-hoo, boo-hoo! "I have never heard such trembling dissonances. However, if you have a discerning ear, there is an element of harmony in it, which can be said to have never been seen in this country. Haven't heard of it.

I also heard the coughing of the ice on the lake, the big fella I shared my bed with in this place in Concord, as if he was impatient in bed, trying to turn over, with some flatulence, and had nightmares; and sometimes I heard the frost crack the ground, as if a team of donkeys had been driven against my door, and in the morning I found a crack a third of an inch wide and long quarter mile. Sometimes I hear a fox crawling through the snow, looking for partridges or other birds on a moonlit night, like a dog in the forest, barking harshly like a ghost, as if it is a little anxious, and as if it wants to express Something, to struggle for the light, to become a dog, to run free in the streets; for if we take the ages into account, isn't there a civilization in the beasts as well as in man?They seemed to me primitive, cave dwellers, always on the alert, waiting for their transformation.Sometimes a fox, attracted by my light, would approach my window, bark and curse at me as a fox, and then back away quickly.