ninth tail

A long, long, long time ago, there was a little squirrel who lived with his parents, grandparents and many brothers and sisters.

They live in the utility room of the same family. Mom and Dad go out to find food every day. The little squirrel plays with its brothers and sisters every day in the sun, and sometimes goes out for a walk with the cats and dogs next door. Chat and have a good time.

The owner of the utility room saw that the little squirrel and its family were very kind, and gave them some food to eat. The little squirrel grew up slowly and felt that life was wonderful...

stop.

The little squirrel lay at the entrance of the cave, looked at the bright sunshine outside and sighed softly, the day was too bright, it couldn't go out to play, so it could only lie here quietly, imagining the life it wanted in its mind.

Mom always reminded it, don't daydream, that kind of life doesn't belong to the gray mouse, the gray mouse belongs to the night and sneaking around, the episode in life is that another gray mouse he knew was eaten by the cat, A gray mouse I knew was killed.

They don't eat much, but apart from their daily rations, they still have to save some for the winter. It's hard to find food, and they can't find much in the garbage dumps.Those human beings have them in their homes, but they may be very generous to other small animals, but they will never treat gray mice, so they should go quietly and bring out a little each time.

If you are not careful, you will be discovered, and if you cannot escape, you will die.

In the evening of this day, father and mother went out separately to look for food, but only father came back, and mother did not come back, and did not come back for a long time afterwards. There is a mother.

It hopes to grow up faster, and can go out to find food with its parents, brothers and sisters. It likes to eat peanuts, but it can only think about it, because the food brought back by the big mice is not fixed, as long as it can be eaten.

When it can go out to find food, it looks for peanuts.

The little squirrel grew fast, and after his father and several older siblings disappeared, he grew to a size where he could live on his own.For the loss of relatives, it is not too sad, it knows that this is their fate, said goodbye before going out, maybe it is really never to see each other again.

It quietly slipped out of the hole where it was hiding in the night, and walked along the corner of the wall. It was used to the dark night, although it wanted to bask in the sun very much.It's not bad to bask in the moon, it licks its paws, and now it's going to find peanuts.

It can smell that in the kitchen of a certain family not far away, there are freshly boiled salted peanuts, as long as a few are enough, eat one, and find a way to bring it back to the cave.

When it crawled into the window of that house, it saw the small pot on the stove, which was full of peanuts. It squeaked and was very happy that it found it!

But it had to be cautious. It lay on the window sill and watched for a long time. After making sure that no one was moving around in the room and there was no smell of cats, it ran to the peanut, stood up and grabbed a peanut by the side of the basin.

Delicious!It feels so happy to be able to eat peanuts, let's have another one!

It jumped onto the edge of the pot lightly, picked up a peanut and smelled it, it was very fragrant.

Just as it ate three peanuts and was about to take a few more to take home, the kitchen door was pushed open.It was so startled that it ate so happily that it didn't notice the footsteps, and a scream came out: "My God! Mouse!"

The little squirrel quickly jumped onto the stove, and it still had a peanut in its mouth. It thought that if it could escape, it could be brought back.

The person who came in took a broom from the wall and beat it at it. It jumped off the stove, trying to find a place to hide first, but the person kept waving the broom while shouting, and it felt that there were brooms in all directions.

It was too small, and it didn't have enough adaptability to such a containment. It ran around the wall in panic, and was hit by the broom several times. It didn't hurt, but it made it flustered.

In the end, it was forced to the corner, still holding the peanut in its mouth. It looked at the disdainful person with an angry face, and the broom in her hand. It felt very hopeless, and no one could help it.

It closed its eyes when the man turned his broom around and poked at it with the broom handle.

There was a heart-pounding pain on its hind legs, and tears were seeping from its eyes, but it didn't froze, it opened its eyes quickly, and poked them crookedly, it didn't die, it still had a chance!

The pain on the hind legs made it jump forward for a short distance, the person hesitated for a moment, she must have felt disgusted, but this was an opportunity, it changed direction and rushed towards the person's feet, that was The only way to escape.

The man screamed and jumped back.

It dragged its injured hind legs up to the window sill, jumped out, ran for a long time in the dark without caring about its direction, and finally got into someone's utility room.

He likes the utility room, he grew up in the utility room, the utility room makes him feel safe and secure, although this is not necessarily true.

The peanut is gone. The peanut in its mouth was lost when it ran away. It was very sad and sat in the corner a little dazed.

The hind leg was bleeding. It looked at it, lowered its head and licked it, but there was no other way.

Injury is a terrible thing. It will not be able to find food because of its injured leg, it will be easily caught by cats because of its injured leg, and it will even lose due to its injured leg when competing for territory and food with its own kind. .

If you get injured, you are about to die. If you are caught, beaten, or starved to death.

It looked at its bleeding leg and felt very sad. Why is it a mouse?Why isn't it a cat or a dog, or...a person?

The door of the utility room was opened, and someone came in, but it huddled in the corner of the wall and did not move. It had no strength, it hadn't eaten enough, and it was frightened, dragging a broken hind leg.

The person who entered was a young man with an oil lamp.He turned around the house, as if looking for something, but couldn't find it, and when he turned to go out, he stopped.

was found.The little squirrel's heart tightened.

The man seemed a little surprised when he saw it, but he didn't take any further action. He just raised the oil lamp towards it, illuminating its surroundings.

It didn't dare to move, and lay quietly on the ground.

The man frowned, touched his body with one hand, took out a paper bag, took a piece of something from it, and threw it in front of it.

It shrank back suddenly in fright, and then saw clearly that what fell in front of it was actually a small piece of beef!It shrugged its nose, what a delicious beef!It looked up at the man in disbelief, beef?To a gray mouse?

"Eat." The man said, turned and walked out of the utility room.

This piece of beef is quite big for a little squirrel, as big as its head.It touched the beef carefully to make sure that the beef really belonged to him now.

After a while, it held down the beef with its paws and began to bite and eat.

It's delicious. Although it knows beef, it has never eaten it. It always thought that peanuts are the most delicious thing. Now it knows that beef is better than peanuts.

When it was eating beef, it temporarily forgot the pain of its hind legs and ate happily.

When a small half of the beef was eaten, the door of the utility room opened again, and the man from just now walked in with an oil lamp, and glanced at it: "It's still there, I thought you ran away."

It hugged the beef and looked at him. Should it run away? Then he came to beat it now?

The man put the oil lamp on the ground, only then did it notice that there was a small wooden box in the man's hand. He sat down on the ground and opened the small wooden box.

The man didn't seem to intend to hit it, and it poked its head curiously, wanting to see what was in the box.

"Does it hurt?" The man took out a small porcelain bottle from the box and put it on the ground.

painful.It stared at the bottle with round eyes, what is this?

"I'm very busy now, and I can't sleep." The man smiled, leaned towards it, and stretched out his hand to it, "Let me wrap your legs for you."

This was the first time a human being smiled at it. This smile warmed its heart, but when it saw the man's hand, it flinched a little. It had just been smashed by another person and broke its leg. It was afraid.

"Afraid of me?" The man smiled again, still stretching out his hand, "It's okay, come here."

It hesitated for a moment, it was afraid, but its desire for warmth made it unbearable to want to get closer to this man.

When it plucked up the courage and finally crawled into the man's palm, it felt at ease. His palm was very soft, with a temperature that made it comfortable. It liked this feeling, like the temperature of its mother.

The blood from its injured leg got on the man's hand. It was a little worried and wanted to lick it off, but the man just wiped it with his fingers casually: "Don't move, I have never wrapped the wound of such a small animal."

It lay down quietly, enduring the pain, and let the man check the wound on its leg.

"Broken? I thought it was just a broken skin..." The man frowned and muttered, "Try it."

The man fixed its injured leg with a small bamboo stick, put some medicine on it, and wrapped it with cloth strips. It moved its leg slightly, but it still hurt a little, but it was much better than before. It squeaked softly to express its gratitude .

"Come to me when you're hungry," the man put it on the ground, then took out a handkerchief and put it in the corner, "you can sleep here, there are no cats nearby."

After the man closed the door and went out, the utility room returned to the darkness. It stared at the moon outside the window, unable to recover. Was it taken in by this man?

It has a safe place to hide?Can I still get something to eat?

It felt dizzy, couldn't figure it out, and finally fell asleep in a daze.

The little squirrel lived in this utility room, and the man gave it something to eat every day, usually what he ate, sometimes beef, sometimes chicken legs, and once gave it back A small glass of fruit wine.

It drank a little, and then squeaked all night, and the man couldn't stop laughing while holding the flagon.

Finally, it fell asleep lying on the man's shoes. When it woke up, it lay in a small wooden box. The man made a nest for it, and filled it with hay and soft cloth.

It's very happy.

It's still going to hang around, find food, hang out, and doesn't go back to sleep in that box every day.This is its habit, which will not change, but its life has become warm and stable because of this man.

It still gets injured, gets scratched by cats, and chased away by people, but it gradually gains experience and can escape again and again, returning to the small wooden box with injuries.

The man would sigh every time, but he never told him not to go out again, he just patiently gave it medicine and gave it something to eat.

"Little thing," the man kept calling it, "don't be afraid, this is your life, you have to stick to it and go through it well."

It didn't know the man's name, he didn't tell it, but it liked being called Little Thing.

The days are frightening and warm. It wanders around every day and makes new friends. Sometimes they will find something to eat together, run for their lives together, and have brought their friends back to the small wooden box to hide. Of course, sometimes they will fight.

When it returned to the small wooden box with its face scratched, the man carefully inspected its wound: "Little thing, was this caught by another mouse?"

squeak.

"Is it a fight? Is it the mouse that came back with you last time?"

squeak.

"Why fight, you can't beat others," the man smiled, and touched the tip of its nose, "Don't fight in the future, and cherish your friends, little thing."

This gentle sentence made him recollect it repeatedly in the days that followed, and it was deeply engraved in his heart.

Friends should be cherished, I will cherish you, but we, are we friends?

It doesn't know, and though it wants to know, it can't express, it can't ask, it can't say...

If, if I were alone, yes, if I were alone, I would no longer have to run around, and I would no longer be afraid of all kinds of people and animals that appear around me. Most importantly, I can tell him, You are my friend and I cherish you very much.

It would be great if it was a person.

This desire becomes more and more intense as time goes by, its lifespan is not long, even if it can live safely, it is only a few years.

Too short, yes, too short.

After several nights of hard thinking, it made a decision.

It has to become a person, it must become a person, and tell that man personally, thank you for everything you gave me.

It began to look around, inquire, and returned to the small wooden box less and less.Every time he went back, the man would look at it and sigh softly: "You are very busy, I can't see you every day when I come over, what are you busy with?"

I just wanted to say thank you.

After many days and nights of searching, it finally found a way.

In order to finally say this thank you to that man, it quietly left the utility room, left the small wooden box, and started the long journey of repairing the human form alone.

It still gets hurt, but it also learns to heal by itself. It is lonely, but it becomes tolerant because of persistence in its heart.

It forgot about time, and practiced desperately for that man.

Finally one day, it has a new life.

It was finally no longer a little squirrel.

With a human body and a human mind, it can finally speak.

He didn't know how long it took him to realize his wish, he eagerly set out on his way home, he wanted to go back to that utility room, back to that man.

He wants to tell him in a language that humans can understand, you are my friend, I cherish it, and I am very happy.

He ran all the way, no matter how much time passed, he could still clearly remember the way back there.

But everything has changed.

It took him too long, too long for an ordinary human being to wait for this day.

The utility room has disappeared, as well as the man's residence. There is only a dilapidated piece of grass with waist-deep grass.

He stared in disbelief at the sight in front of him.

It was too late, the man had left, died, never to return.

He stayed in that piece of wild grass for a full seven days, and finally found out where the man slept peacefully.

It was a quiet tomb, and he found the one that belonged to a man.

A small and concise monument is the last trace of his existence.

"Su Gui," he lightly stroked a few lines of simple words on the stele, his hand resting on the man's name: "Thank you, you are a friend I will cherish forever."

After that day, he had a human name.