Local Prose: Interesting Talk about Water Rat

Figure: From the network

Have you ever seen a rat? Do you know what a mouse looks like? The water rat is not a mouse, its scientific name is muskrat. It is a small animal slightly smaller than an otter and looks a bit like a mouse. Its fur is blue-gray in spring and summer, and after a thousand years, it becomes more and more brown and even close to golden yellow.

Knowing the rat is probably the summer vacation in the third grade of primary school. After half a holiday, everyone began to think about school again. Whether they are from a nursing school or not, they always go to school whenever they have time, listen to the nursing teacher's nagging and repair desks, chairs and legs with their classmates. One afternoon, it was very hot. My PE teacher, Uncle Ren, is chatting with Uncle Liu Deli. He had a woodchuck specimen in his hand and frowned.

Someone above sent a message that encouraging students to catch some water and mice during the summer vacation is an urgent need for foreign trade. The woodchuck specimen is just a comparison. At that time, foreign trade often needed bristles and Malingre. There are few primary school students in our village, and the pictures and grade requirements sent in the past are all divided by children. Who wants to take part in their own work, the school has no unified requirements.

However, this time, the price is very high, five yuan for a skin, and we only need to catch it after the first frost. Five dollars, too much, was a lot of money at that time. The apprentice worked hard for a month, and his salary was only six yuan. Why not accept it? Why not catch it? But all the teachers in the school don't know the Rat, and they don't know where to start in the face of the earnest pleading of foreign trade words.

Just as everyone was talking about it, the little bald head spoke. His father is a drainage worker. He once took a picture of the water rat with a latte in the autumn night. I didn't know it was valuable, so I dug a hole and buried it. There is a water rat near Wenzhi village. Everyone took the woodchuck specimen and went to find the little bald dad. Out of the west of the village, we walked to the big "waterline" (on the canal). The little bald father, sitting next to the second ditch, smiled when he saw the specimens we carried. God, this woodchuck looks like a big weasel. If you look at it, you will definitely find Ai Huzi (the weasel has a black mouth and is not in Xianban). During the day, they dive into the water to eat stinking cattail (Acorus calamus) roots. At night, they dragged the catfish into the hole. During the day, they are in the water. At night, they will walk along the shore and meet it. It's easier at night I'll take you to a small ranch. On such a warm sunny day, they must be playing under the roots of Acorus calamus.

Everyone crept behind him, came to the small pasture in the west of the village, stood on the rice field grid (ridge), and quietly looked at the calamus tree at the foot. On the south bank of the small pasture, the ridge is high and the water surface is low. Wild water chestnut seedlings tightly covered the river. Except cattail, only white and blue wild lotus flowers are in full bloom. A few wild ducks and a few young crakes actually left the water and ran to the water chestnut seedlings to feed on aquatic life. In normal times, partners will be surprised at first sight, and how can they tolerate their leisure? But today's goal is the water mouse, the dragonfly on the water, the butterfly on the water, and the small fish jumping in the water. Nobody cares.

Quietly waiting for a long time, a ripple of a big fish swimming appeared under a clump of calamus, and bubbles emerged from the water, but there was no splash and movement of the big fish swimming, and there was no pendulum around. Just go straight ahead, the bald man's father pointed to the spray and made a gesture of never making any noise again. Then a leaf of Acorus calamus shook and shook, and the leaves floated to the water by roots, and then one after another, about half a minute later. Just as the guy was obsessed with biting the root of Acorus calamus, the little bald father threw the bucket shovel out with a whoosh and plunged it firmly into a still shaking root of Acorus calamus. Shovel into the water, the water stirred like a pot, creaked out of the water, and the river was full of blood.

Hit it, hit it, friends are too happy to take off their shoes and get into the water. The bald man's father quickly stopped everyone. That guy's teeth are worse than mice, and he bites people. It's terrible. He pulled out the iron ball and took the rat with him. The rat's head drooped for more than half, its claws twitched painfully, and it didn't take much effort to die. This is a half-headed rat with a slap on his body and a slap on his tail.

Wash it, throw it on the road and observe it carefully. The bald man's father said that this is a baby born this year. They are all family. Two big ones are as big as cats. The chubby front paw is a little reddish at the top, and the rear paw is much bigger than the front paw, which is very different from the mouse's paw. They are a little thick in MengMeng and have small fins. The most striking thing is its tail, which is flat, almost as flat as the root and tip. The hair on the tail is scaly, but it's hair, very short, almost close to the skin, and it feels smooth, partner.

The bald man's father pointed to the fist-thick hole by the river. This is their home. He saw their whole family go home. It wasn't summer then. There is a big one in front and a bunch of small ones in the back. They climb very fast. In autumn, I led you to dig its nest and told Teacher Ren that there were too many water rats. I will help your school catch them in the old autumn.

Itchy, and the huge sum of five dollars, I don't know how many days I dreamed. During the period, I was also polite to the little bald head, and my prepared partner changed several times. It is difficult to wait for cold weather. It turns out that as the weather gets colder and colder, the small grazing of fish and egrets becomes more and more sad. Finally, one day, the river was frozen, and the bald man's father spoke, carrying a bucket, a shovel and a rope. The mouse holes stuck to the river but not to the water, and some holes were on the ridge. According to the previous experience of digging badger's hole, it is really rare to dig and dig its hole. The main hole dug by the bald man's father is particularly difficult to dig. Three or four shovels are deep, and the deeper you dig, the lower you get. After digging for about two meters, he dug a big water hole with a diameter of half a meter and the water in it was half a foot deep. The most surprising thing is that the water is scraping and moving, and they are all big and durable catfish.

How dare such a clever rat make a fish nest with oozing water in winter to improve the meat quality and fishy smell of food in winter? Look closely at the necks of those catfish. They all have gnashing scars. Scratching catfish, scratching and scratching, all the partners were attracted by catfish, one by one, and then dug the hole of the rat. I don't know how long it will take. You are five meters long. When I was exhausted, I finally finished digging. I don't see any water rats. It turned out that when everyone was immersed in catching the catfish it stored, they quietly escaped.

That's really tiring. Think about it. Flat land, some places dig three feet, and some places dig more than five feet. There is an escape route here and a grain transportation route there. In addition, there are several fishing channels formed by rivers. A nest of water rats has seven or eight holes, some three or five meters, some five or six meters. It's too difficult to dig. Five dollars is a lot, and I didn't catch any of them. Bald man, he leads everyone to make a summary and then digs. Next time, everyone is ready. Some people dig in groups, and some people are going to shoot with the iron ball. They need firmness and ruthlessness, and they need to be ready at all times. Find another rat hole and look carefully at the hole. The paw prints are still clear. Obviously, they just passed by this morning and dug a fish nest. They are in no hurry to catch catfish. They are bent on dealing with the rat, digging and digging, and some holes have already dug it up. The person in charge of the hole quickly grabbed the shovel and patted it. Photographers on standby are chasing after Tieqiu with their backs, and they are responsible for digging the pit and continuing to dig. The rat ran from place to place, but it couldn't get away. Finally, one of them died. Then some holes were filled with water, and some holes continued to dig, and they were busy for a long time. A dozen children finally took five pictures. At this time, the rat can't distinguish between parents and children, and they are all the same size.

Needless to say, the five-vole collected from foreign trade, they said that the vole, that is, the muskrat, has a soft gold skin, second only to the wild mink, and can also produce musk. Not long after the musk deer started, it was replaced by its mouse musk deer. Next time they catch water rats, they can collect them overnight, five dollars, five dollars. Obviously, the income from foreign trade is more than that. The money was handed over to the teacher, and the partner made a decision and gave it to the school to buy basketball. Two basketballs in the school have lost their skins and can't play for the time being.

Later, foreign trade raised the price of buying it to 10 yuan, and no one dug it. It's too difficult and tiring to dig. We have to shoot them and prevent them from escaping into the water. The soft golden fur of the water rat will eventually be fixed as a golden fur hat, which is a symbol of status and a perfect pursuit. I heard that it is the favorite of the rich.