Chapter 7 Acorns and Bobcats

One Saturday evening, Ichiro received an inexplicable postcard. It says: Mr. Ichiro Kinda: You seem to be doing well lately, well, well, well. There is a difficult lawsuit pending tomorrow, please be sure to attend. But please do not bring any weapons such as guns or bows and arrows. Sincerely, Lynx September 19 The handwriting on the postcard was clumsy, and the rough ink was peeling off, staining his hands all over, but Ichiro was still dancing with joy.He secretly hid the postcard in his schoolbag, and kept jumping and jumping in the room. After getting into bed at night, I still kept imagining the meowing face of the bobcat and the scene of the so-called difficult lawsuit that will be held tomorrow, so I couldn't sleep for a long time.

When Ichiro woke up, it was already daylight.When he went out, he saw that the surrounding mountains were as green as if they had just been unearthed, rolling up and down under the blue sky.After Ichiro hurriedly finished his breakfast, he single-handedly climbed upstream along the path next to the valley. The fresh morning wind blows head-on, and the chestnut trees scatter the chestnut trees all over the ground.Ichiro looked up at the chestnut tree and asked: 'Chestnut tree, chestnut tree, do you see the lynx go by here? ' The chestnut tree stopped spreading the chestnut for a while, and said:

"Lynx, I flew east in a carriage early this morning. ' 'Oriental words, that's the direction I'm going!Why haven't you arrived yet?Go a little further and see.Chestnut tree, thank you. ' The chestnut tree didn't respond, it just scattered its chestnuts again. Ichiro walked for a while, and came to the Pipi Waterfall.It was a small hole in the middle of a white rock cliff, and the water splashed out of the hole like a flute, forming a waterfall and crashing down to the bottom of the valley. Ichiro yelled at the waterfall: 'Hey……!Piper, has the bobcat passed here? '

The waterfall beep... beep... replied: 'The lynx just galloped west in a carriage! ' 'Strange, the west is the direction of my home.Forget it, let's go ahead and have a look.Flute player, thank you. ' The waterfall continued to play its flute. Ichiro walked a little further and came to the foot of a beech tree.There are a lot of white straw mushrooms under the tree, and they are playing wonderful tunes. Ichiro knelt down and asked: 'Hey, Straw Mushroom, has the lynx passed by here? ' Straw Mushroom replied: "Lynx, I flew south in a carriage early this morning. '

Ichiro tilted his head and said: 'Isn't the south in the mountains over there?How strange.Forget it, let's go ahead and have a look.Straw mushroom, thank you. ' The straw mushrooms did not reply, and continued to play that wonderful tune. Ichiro walked forward for a while.Then meet a squirrel hopping on the top of a walnut tree.Ichiro raised his hand to beckon the squirrel to stop, and asked again: 'Hey, squirrel, did the lynx pass by here? ' Squirrel raised his hand to cover his forehead, looked down at Ichiro from the top of the tree, and said: "Lynx, I was galloping south in a carriage before dawn. '

'How could it be the South?How can it be said that it is the South in two different places?Forget it, let's go ahead and have a look.Squirrel, thank you. ' The squirrels were long gone.Only the top of the walnut tree swayed slightly, and the leaves of the beech next to it shone. Ichiro walked forward for a while, but the path along the valley had already become narrower and narrower, and finally cut off the way.Fortunately, there is another trail in the south of the valley, which leads to the dense forest of torreya trees.Ichiro climbed up the path.The dark torreya branches overlapped in the sky, blocking the blue sky and making the path steeper.Ichiro's face was flushed, and he was climbing up with sweat profusely. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, even a little dazzling.It turned out that he came to a golden prairie, the grass was rustling by the wind, surrounded by dense olive tree forests.

In the middle of the grass, there was a short, strange-looking man with a whip in his hand, kneeling silently looking at Ichiro. Ichiro moved closer, and stopped in surprise when he came to the man.Because the man was one-eyed, and the other eye, which turned white and could not see anything, was twitching non-stop; he was wearing a strange coat that looked like a jacket and a jacket, and his feet were bent like goat feet. The tip of the toe turned out to be in the shape of a spoon for serving rice. 'Excuse me, have you seen the lynx? ' The man squinted at Ichiro, and smiled with his mouth curled up:

'Master Bobcat will be back soon, are you Ichiro? ' Ichiro was taken aback, took a step back and said: 'Yes, I am Ichiro.how do you know? ' The weird man smiled deeper: 'So, you got a postcard? ' ' Got it, that's why I'm here. ' 'The content of that letter was badly written. ' said the man sadly, bowing his head. Ichiro couldn't bear it a little bit, and said comfortingly: 'yes?I think it's well written. ' The man gasped for joy after hearing this, and his face turned red to the ears.He opened the neckline of his jacket to let the wind blow in.

'Are those words written well? ' Ichiro couldn't help laughing out loud, and replied: 'It's beautifully written!Even the fifth graders can't write such beautiful characters. ' After hearing this, the man frowned: 'The fifth grade you mentioned is the fifth grade in primary school, right? ' His voice was feeble and pitiful.Ichiro could only hastily replied: 'No no, I'm talking about fifth year college. ' After hearing this, the man grinned happily again, smiling as if his whole face was a mouth, and then cheered loudly: 'That postcard was written by me! '

Ichiro suppressed a smile and asked: 'May I ask who you are? ' The man immediately replied seriously: 'I am Lord Bobcat's coachman. ' After finishing speaking, a strong wind suddenly blew up all around, and the whole grassland was billowed with waves. The coachman hurriedly bowed down respectfully to salute. Ichiro turned his head wonderingly, and saw the bobcat wearing a yellow cloak standing behind him with wide-open round green eyes.Ichiro was thinking to himself, the Bobcat's ears were pointed upright, but the Bobcat nodded to Ichiro first.Ichiro also returned the salute respectfully:

'Hi, thank you for the postcard you sent me yesterday. ' Bobcat straightened his beard, puffed out his stomach and said: 'Hello, welcome.The thing is, there was a very troublesome dispute the day before yesterday, and I don't know how to decide the case, so I want you to come and give us some advice.Please sit down and rest for a while, the acorns will probably arrive soon.I have to suffer from the same feud for days every year. ' Bobcat took out the cigar box from his pocket, took one by himself, and handed the box to Ichiro: 'Do you want one? ' Ichiro was startled, and quickly shook his head: 'No no, I don't smoke. ' Bobcat smiled happily and said: 'Oh, you're too young. As he spoke, he struck a match, then frowned deliberately, and let out a puff of blue smoke.Shan Mao's coachman stood aside respectfully, but he seemed to be desperately enduring the temptation to smoke, and tears fell down. At this time, Ichiro heard a crackling sound like frying salt at his feet.He was startled, and squatted down to check, and found that there were glittering golden things everywhere in the grass.If you look closely, it turns out that they are all acorns in red pants.The number is probably more than three hundred.The acorns were screaming, as if they were arguing about something. 'Oh, here we come.Gathered like an army of ants.Hey, ring the bell quickly.The field in front of us has better sunshine today, so let’s cut off all the grass there! ' Lynx flicked the cigar from his finger and hurriedly explained to the coachman. The coachman also quickly pulled out a scythe from his waist, and mowed up the grass in front of the bobcat in handfuls.As soon as the mowing was over, a large pile of shiny acorns rolled out of the grass in all directions, scrambling to be the first, wow, wow, wow, wow. The coachman rang the bell again, tinkling, tinkling.The bell rang through the entire forest of torreya, and the golden acorns became quiet after hearing the bell.Looking at the lynx again, I saw that the lynx had put on a black satin gown at some point, and was sitting in front of the acorns in a serious manner.Ichiro felt that this scene was like a portrait of disciples worshiping in front of the Great Buddha in Nara.The coachman swished the leather whip in his hand two or three times. The sky is blue and clear, and the acorns are shining with crystal tombs, which is really a beautiful sight. 'Today is the third day of the trial, so you can save trouble and make up with each other! Shanmao looked worried, but managed to hold up his prestige and spoke. The acorns booed in unison. 'no!no!In any case, it should be the greatest with the sharpest head!And my head is the sharpest! ' 'wrong!It should be the greatest with the roundest head!And my head is the roundest! ' 'The biggest one is!The biggest is the greatest!I have the biggest body, so I should be the greatest! ' 'It's not you!I'm much older than you, didn't the judge say that yesterday? ' 'no!How can this work?Should be the highest!The tallest is the greatest! ' 'It should be strong!It should be determined by strength! ' Everyone talked to each other, as if poking a honeycomb, buzzing, confusing the observers. Shan Mao had no choice but to shout: 'It's so noisy!What do you think of this place?quiet!quiet! ' The coachman swished his whip again, and the acorns fell silent. After the Bobcat straightened his beard, he said: 'Today is the third day of the trial, how about you guys just make things easier and make peace? ' 'no!no!After all, it should be the one with the sharpest head...' Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp... Bobcat roared again: 'It's so noisy!What do you think of this place!quiet!quiet! ' The coachman cracked his whip again, and the acorns fell silent again.Bobcat quietly asked Ichiro: 'You see it, how do you say this should be solved? ' Ichiro replied with a smile: 'That's all right, you just tell them that the stupidest, ugliest, and least decent of you is the greatest.I have heard it said in the Buddhist scriptures. ' Lynx nodded suddenly, then opened the neckline of the black satin gown in a pretentious manner, and slightly revealed the yellow cloak inside, announcing to the acorns: 'Okay, everyone, be quiet, I'm going to pronounce the verdict.The least great, the stupidest, the ugliest, the most outrageous, and the flattest among you is the greatest. ' The acorns were silent, and they all stood there in a daze. Seeing this, Shanmao hurriedly took off the black satin gown, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and held Ichiro's hand.The coachman was also so happy that he swung his whip five or six times.Bobcat said to Ichiro: 'Thank you, thank you very much.You managed to solve such a difficult trial in just one and a half minutes.Please be the honorary judge of my court in the future.If I receive postcards again in the future, could I please come here?I will always have a thank you gift. ' 'Okay, but no need to prepare a thank you gift. ' 'No, you must accept this thank you gift.It's about my personality.And on the future postcards, the addressee will be Mr. Ichiro Kinda, and I will call myself the court. What do you think? ' 'no problem. After Ichiro finished speaking, Shan Mao seemed to want to say something more, blinking his eyes and twirling his beard, it took a long time before he made up his mind to speak: 'Also, I will write the wording on the postcard in the future: Because of something, please be sure to appear in court tomorrow.is this okay? ' Ichiro replied with a smile: 'Sounds a bit weird, it's better not to write like this. ' Shan Mao seemed to feel that he had not expressed himself well, so he lowered his head and twirled his beard regretfully for a while, and finally said desperately: 'Well, the words and sentences will be written as they are.As for today's thank you, would you prefer a liter of golden acorns, or the head of a soda salmon? ' 'I like golden acorns. ' Shanmao seemed to be relieved that Ichiro didn't choose the salmon head, and quickly ordered to the coachman: 'Bring me a liter of acorns!If it's not enough for a liter, add some gilt to it!quick! ' The coachman put the acorns just now into the measuring cylinder, and then shouted: 'Exactly one liter! ' The lynx's cloak flapped and danced in the wind. He stretched himself, closed his eyes, and yawned, saying: 'Well, hurry up and prepare the carriage! ' A carriage made of large white straw mushrooms was brought over, and there was also a gray, strange-shaped horse. 'Come on, let us take you home. ' Bobcat said to Ichiro. After the two got into the carriage, the coachman put the liter of acorns into the carriage. call out!call out!call out! The carriage flew off the grass.Trees and bushes curl up like clouds of smoke.Ichiro looked down at the golden acorn, while Bobcat looked into the distance pretending to be nonchalant. As the carriage drifted away, the acorns gradually lost their golden luster, and when the carriage stopped, they turned into ordinary tea-brown acorns.The lynx's yellow cloak, the coachman, and the carriage made of straw mushrooms all disappeared in the blink of an eye.Only Ichiro was left standing at the door of his house holding a graduated cylinder full of acorns. Since then, he has never received a postcard signed by Bobcat.Ichiro sometimes thinks that it would be great if he agreed to let Shanmao write "please come to court tomorrow".