Grabbing the Knives Tightly at Night, Ready for Life-and-death Fight
After a short rest, I walked down the mountains. Looking around, I found everything so unfamiliar. It was vast virgin forest and the whole world was but white. I could not tell the directions. I calmly realized that I was lost.
I was getting hungry. So I ate about twenty pieces of biscuits and drank some snow water. I was not full yet, but I wanted to save food, in case I should spend several more days trapped in the huge mountains.
The setting sun was nibbled by the wild mountains bit by bit. Winds were getting cold. Everything was immersed in a shadow of baby-blue. The sky was like grey mist curtain. A falcon came from far away. As if being angry with the dark sky, it glided from above, and when nearly crashed the ground, it took a sudden turn and flew upward. The big noises it made astounded me very much. I collected some deadwood and lit a fire before it was totally dark.
It was late at night, dead frozen. Cold fog drifted along the purple mountainside with the high winds. Big snowflakes fell from the sky, and were soon blown into the sky by the wind. Branches shook in the wind. Like sharp stones, the wind scraped my face, making me out of breath. I kept chopping down branches as firewood and kept the fire. I warmed my chest with the fire, then the back, then the chest, then the back again. Howls of black bears came from far away from time to time. I tightly grabbed my knives, ready to fight for my life at any moment.
Looking Forward to the Light of Dawn
How long the dark night was! The whole world was as if dead. No moon, no stars. Just dark clouds and heavy rains. As time went little by little, the bamboos and I trembled. I crouched, looking forward to the beautiful dawn.
Finally the sun appeared from behind the remote forest. It was like rising from the deepest pool! It was as if some invisible hand holding the luminous round plate high above the still sleepy earth, praying for all life — alive or dead — with its blest rays of light. It was the beginning of the sacred dedication of the day! I had some food and went down the mountainside along the stream.
At noon, in the refulgent glory of the midday sun, I finally saw my fellow people ' s houses. I found my own encampment.
The happiness of my heart could never be put to words.
Next story: Looking for my paradise