Chapter 3 Section 1 Language, Legends and Chronicles

Words are the most basic condition for the formation of books. In any case, there can be no books without words.But writing is not something that existed in human society at the beginning. Its occurrence, development, and maturity have gone through a long evolutionary process. Words are symbols of language, or words are silent language.Before words came into existence, people often needed to exchange certain intentions, express certain ideas, and exchange certain experiences among themselves.To complete these exchanges, there was no special means at first, only the combination of voice and movement to achieve the goal.Later, in the long-term production and life practice, the voice expressing a certain intention was gradually finalized, and more and more people were familiar with, mastered, and agreed, which produced the original language.

The formation and continuous enrichment of language has played an inestimable role in promoting human civilization and its progress.But language has great limitations. First, there will be no trace of the past when spoken, and second, if you are obstructed or too far away, you will not be able to hear clearly, or you will not be able to hear at all.Therefore, if people want to understand distant places or past events, they cannot achieve their goals by relying on pure language.In order to solve such problems, people combine language and memory, fix the knowledge, experience or events that need to be disseminated in concise and concise language, and compile them into songs, proverbs, formulas, stories, etc., and tell each other, from generation to generation. According to legend.This is the so-called Age of Legends.We can now know some beautiful and moving stories and historical knowledge in ancient times, many of which were handed down by the wise and wise people at that time in the way of "legends".For example, Pangu created the world, Nuwa smelted stones to mend the sky, Youchao built a nest, Suiren drilled wood to make fire, Shennong tasted a hundred herbs, Fuxi painted gossip, Houyi shot the sun, Gonggong touched a mountain without weeks, etc. The moving stories are all famous "legends" in ancient times.

But the "legend" is still based on memory.Over time, it is easy to forget or make mistakes.Therefore, things handed down by memory often have great discrepancies.Not only the content and facts will be different, but also the narration of different people, and even the narration of the same person in different time and space, from the use of language to the exaggerated plot, there will also be discrepancies.So a thing, after word of mouth of several people, will often leave the original, unbelievable.How to do it?People in ancient times believed that this was due to poor memory, so they still made plans to strengthen memory.Almost every nation in the world has had such a stage.In the civilized history of our Chinese nation, different nationalities have popularized different methods of recording things in kind.The purpose is to strengthen the credibility of the "legend". "Zhouyi Xici" once said: "In ancient times, the sages tied ropes to govern, and the sages of later generations changed them with letters." "Zhuangzi·胠 [qu] Cases" also said: "In the past, the Rongcheng family and the Dating family , Bohuang, Zhongzhong, Lilu, Lishou, Xuanyuan, Hexu, Zunlu, Zhurong, Fuxi, Shennong, when the time comes, the people tie ropes and use them.” The records all show that in the ancient times of our country, the method of "knotting events with knots" was once popular.In fact, in the history of their own development, many nationalities have had a period of knotting or similar knotting.For example, the Lisu [li su Lisu], Hani, Tatar, and Gaoshan ethnic groups in Yunnan in ancient my country used to tie knots or similar methods for keeping track of events.This method has also been popular in foreign countries such as Persia and Peru (Figure 1).

Especially the ancient Peruvians, it is said that the knotting of the records is very particular.On one main rope, they tied strings of various colors to keep track of different things.For example, the red rope represents the army, the yellow rope represents gold, the white rope represents silver, and the green rope represents food.Tie knots on the strings to represent different numbers.One single knot for 10, two single knots for 20, one double knot for 100, and two double knots for 200.It is said that in ancient Peru, every town had officials who were responsible for the management of knotting and the interpretation of the meaning of knotting. This is the most specific and complete way of keeping track of knotting in the world. "Shangshu" pseudo-Confucius "Preface" said: "The ancient Fuxi clan, the king of the world, began to draw gossip and make book contracts to replace the government of knotting ropes."What is politics?From here we can get a deeper understanding.It is said that there are still people in modern times who can understand the meaning of knotting and keeping track of events in ancient Peru.

In addition to knotting to record events, methods such as engraving wood records are also popular among ethnic minorities in our country.The Yunnan Provincial Museum displays a long wooden board carved with sawtooths of different sizes left by the Wa people.Each sawtooth on the plank represents one thing.A deep gap indicates a major event; a shallow gap indicates a minor event.If something new happens again, according to the size of the event, the sawtooth of different depths will be engraved.Every year when it’s time to eat new rice, a respectable old man who knows the meaning of sawtooth will explain what each sawtooth on the wooden board represents.Through such woodcuts, they passed down the events that happened over the years from generation to generation.This also has the concept of "government".He is highly respected, which shows his own authority and people's trust in him.Eating new rice means the harvest of a season's grain.At this time, the debts that should be repaid and the food that should be paid to the public will be repaid.At this time, if the explainer does not act impartially, but talks nonsense, then it will be messed up, it is time to make trouble, and society will be unstable.

In addition to knotting ropes and carving wood, ancient people also used methods such as counting stalks and bags of rice, or engraving points on bark, animal bones, and stones to record events.There are also those who piece together several kinds of real objects to express a more complicated idea.In the history of the Miao nationality in our country, a one-foot-long thin wooden stick was split open at one end, and chicken feathers, matchlocks and two peppers were sandwiched between them, and sent out as a letter notifying an emergency.As long as the person on the other side sees such a letter, they will know that it is extremely urgent and will immediately send someone to help.This is more complicated and progressive than the meaning expressed by knotting rope and carving wood.

Whether knotting rope, carving wood, or other methods, they are all just to strengthen people's memory, thereby enhancing the credibility of word of mouth.Especially when these methods are established by convention, they can replace legends and languages ​​and pass on for a long time.But rope knotting and wood carving are not words after all, nor can they replace the role played by words.After all, they are mere memory aids, and far from symbols of language.The language tool that can really express emotions, exchange ideas and have the effect of transcending time and space is still writing.However, the long-term practice of knotting ropes and engraving wood to record events has not only continuously prompted people to explore and innovate ideologically, but also provided valuable experience for the emergence and formation of characters in practice.