It was an ordinary winter day. Meet friends and come to Cuihu. Seagulls are flying noisily.

It is easy to recognize the old man among the people feeding seagulls. His back is hunched. He wears a faded and outdated dress, carries a faded blue cloth bag and even uses a big plastic bag to hold bird food. My friend told me that the old man walks more than 20 miles from the suburbs to Cuihu every day just to send food to seagulls and accompany them.

Where there are few people, it is the territory where he feeds seagulls. The old man carefully put the cookie cube on the fence by the lake, stepped back and shouted at the sheep with a pinch of copper. Immediately, a flock of seagulls answered and swept it clean in a few times. The old man walked along the railing and put it down. Seagulls rise and fall according to his rhythm, forming a roaring white and flying into a colorful music score.

In the sound of seagulls, the old man sang something cadently. Listen carefully, and it turns out that intimacy has changed its tone-"one foot", "grey head", "red mouth", "old sand" and "princess" ...

"Have you named the seagull?" I can't help asking

The old man looked back at me and still leaned over the seagulls: "Of course, each one has a name."

"Do you recognize them?" The same white wings are flashing rapidly in the sun, and I doubt whether the old man can see clearly.

"You see, you see! It's Lao Sha with a ring on his foot! " The old man proudly pointed it out to me, and suddenly he shouted at the water, "A foot! Lao Sha! Get up! "

Two seagulls jumped on the water and flew to the old man. One seagull's foot shone with metallic luster, and the other flew over and pecked at the old man's hand. It has only one foot, and it has to flap its wings to keep its balance when it stops. It seems to be a leg, and the old man talks to it kindly while feeding it.

Speaking of seagulls, the old man's eyes came to life at once.

"Seagulls are the most affectionate and cautious. The year before last, there was a seagull. The day before flying out of Kunming, it stopped on my hat five times again and again. I thought it was a joke with me, but later I realized it was to say goodbye to me.

Didn't come last year, and didn't come this year ... Seagulls are lucky birds, happy birds! The ancients said,' Bai Ou flies with poetry'. More than ten years ago, when the seagulls came, I knew our good luck was coming. Look at their little appearance! Tut tut ... "Hearing the old man's call, seagulls immediately flew over and surrounded him, attracting passers-by to stop and watch.

When the sun sets, the old man's plastic bag is empty. "It's getting late, they will go back soon. I heard that they are resting in the diān pool, but unfortunately I can't go. " The old man looked at the birds hovering in the sky, his eyes full of hope.

My friend told me that for more than ten years, in winter, the old people will come every day, just like their relatives with seagulls.

Unexpectedly, more than ten days later, someone suddenly told us that the old man had passed away.

Hearing this news, we seem to see the old man and seagulls hugging each other at Cuihu Lake ... We enlarged the photo of the old man feeding seagulls for the last time and took it to Cuihu Lake.

Unexpected things happened-a flock of seagulls suddenly flew in, circling around the portrait of the old man, repeatedly chirping, chirping and posturing were quite different from usual, as if something important had happened. We were so surprised that we quickly left the old man's photo to make room for the seagulls.

Seagulls flapped their wings quickly and flew into the air in turn in front of the portrait of the old man, like relatives who came to mourn. The old man in the photo silently looked at the seagulls hovering around him and looked at the "children" who accompanied him for many winters ... After a while, the seagulls landed one after another and stood in two rows before and after the portrait of the old man. They stood quietly, like white-winged angels who kept vigil for the elderly.

When we had to put away the portrait, seagulls rushed at it like bombs. They sang loudly and flapped their wings so close that we finally got out of this dancing white vortex (W not).

……

At the funeral of the old man, we carried the portrait and walked slowly to the mourning hall. The old man was carrying a blue cloth bag and pursed his mouth as if he were still calling for seagulls. In his mind, it must be a flying seagull.

Extended data:

I. Appreciation

The Old Man and the Seagull is a literary work edited by Deng Qiyao. This book mainly tells the story of an old man feeding seagulls in Cuihu, Kunming. Later, the old man passed away. "We" put the photos of the old man on the Cuihu Lake, and seagulls flew in droves to say goodbye to the old man. Expressed the deep friendship between the old man and the seagull.

The text has a clear structure and is divided into two parts: the old people love seagulls, and seagulls send the old people away. In the first half, the old people's love for seagulls is illustrated by feeding seagulls, calling their names and having a cordial conversation with seagulls.

The second half shows the shock of seagulls to the old man through the tragic picture of seagulls flying, hovering, standing and singing in front of the portrait of the old man after his death. The written language is simple and ordinary, which contains deep feelings, so that all the people who have read it are moved by the sincere feelings between people and animals.

Two. Brief introduction of the author

Deng Qiyao is a member of the Academic Committee of the Southwest Frontier Ethnic Studies Center of Yunnan University, a key research base of humanities and social sciences of the Ministry of Education, a visiting professor of Yunnan University and Yunnan Institute for Nationalities, and the executive director and deputy secretary-general of the Chinese Folklore Society.

Director of the Professional Committee of Humanities, History and Geography of China Adventure Association, Vice Chairman of China Folk Photography Association, invited expert of the US-China Art Exchange Center of Columbia University, and Chinese leader of the Sino-US cooperation "National Culture Field Investigation Mission".

Baidu encyclopedia-the old man and the seagull