Chapter 26 the bird's nest

When thinning bamboo, I found many empty nests in the woods.They are woven by grass whiskers and oil mud, and the threads are fastened, and the rings are connected. The inner wall is smooth, the outer wall is loose, and the sour smell of bird saliva faintly reveals. They are completely exquisite handicrafts.Some friends came to visit me in the country and brought me food and so on.As a gift, I give each other a bird's nest, which often amazes and delights them. These nests can put humans to shame.People have two hands and various tools such as cranes, bulldozers, piling machines, electric welding machines, etc. It is not easy to build a room for themselves.A bird has only one beak, and it relies on this beak to complete all the processes, pecking, biting, and chattering day and night, what a arduous process it must be!They seem to be mindless, idle, and unrestrained, but as long as the breeding season comes, in order to build a delivery room, they will not hesitate to endure the most unbearable hunger and fatigue, and endure the harshest wind and rain and exposure to the sun, even if they are only thin. A skinny shadow will never stop holding mud and weeds.At this point, they are desperadoes devoted to procreation, and never intending to get anything in return from this procreation.

"There are three ways to be unfilial and to have no descendants is the greatest." I once regarded it as an outdated Confucian ethics.I should probably correct now: it is nothing more than a general animal ethics, or more precisely, an animal instinct. It is conceivable that the ancient Confucian scholars, like other animals, lacked the mature technology of conservation and faced the crisis of too low reproductive survival rate.Because of this, without even thinking about it, they regard reproduction as the highest mission, put the survival of the group above personal pain and happiness, and never let the chain of life end at their own link.At this point, they are neither so smart nor so ignorant, not necessarily so noble, not necessarily so vulgar, but more animalistic than some people.They are some humanoid birds in long gowns and books between them, just uttering a hard truth in the animal circle.

All traditional cultures in the world sanctify fertility.All kinds of drums, songs and dances, incense, and prayers celebrating the birth of life... It seems that there is only a bird's voice, showing the way of heaven that no one can find out. Thinking of this, I resettled some bird's nests in the woods, and hoped that their owners would come back happily.