Life as a Shepherd Girl
Kathy Chen
In 1968, when I was still a delicate girl of seventeen, I left
my parents and went to the countryside with a group of young
people. The place we settled in is more than six hundred miles away from Huhehot. I lived and worked there for more than six years.
Life was hard during those years, but it is that hard life that
tempered me and made me strong both in health and in mind. Although I left the country six years ago, I often recall the local people
who were so kind to me, and the days I spent there.
The place I settled in is called Bai-yan-hua Commune which is located at the foot of Mount Hue and where the people mainly engage in animal husbandry. The land there was sandy and fairly poor.
Before we went there, the local people didn't seem to know of the advantage of growing trees. For miles and miles you could hardly
find a tree. So, in spring, when the wind was blow.ing, sand flew
up immediately and everything became yellow; the sky was yellow
the ground was yellow and the people, whose faces and clothes were covered with dust, looked yellow. In summer, when the sun was broiling hot, you couldn't find a tree to take shade. Maybe others
didn't feel the wind so strong and the sun so hot, but I did, for
I was a shepherd girl then, and I was exposed to the weather for a whole year.
The weather is changeable on the grassland, especially in
spring. I was often caught in a gale or heavy rain. The wind there
was terrible because there were few trees and the land was dry
and sandy. When the wind was blowing, the sand would fly up with
the wind like a wall. I was out with my goats and often threatened
by the yellow wall. The wall was moving towards me, neared me
and then covered me. All of a sudden, everything turned yellow; the sky, the earth, everything. The coarse sand beat me and the dust
choked me. I couldn't recognize any direction, and the only thing
I could see was the goat beside me. At that moment, the goats
became my best guides. They lined up, followed one another, and headed home. The last one turned back at intervals and bleated to
me as if it was afraid of me getting lost. Led by the head of the
goats, we never lost our way.
Rain was also an enemy of mine during those days because it
always poured down without warning. I was often caught by heavy
rain and was wet to the skin. I felt it was too cold to bear;
my lips turned blue and my body was shivering. I couldn't go back
to change my clothes because it was far from home. I couldn't
drive the goats back because it was still early and they hadn't
had enough grass. So the only way for me was to endure. I squatted on my hel'!ls with my arms around my knees. The goats seemed to know my suffering and came over and surrounded me closely to protect me from the chilly wind.
I also had happy days with my goats. If it was a fine day, I
would sit on the slope and play my flute with the goats grazing the grass about me. They seemed to like the music and lifted their heads now and then and bleated to me. Some of the kids came over, laid
their fore-legs on my knees, looking at me with their curious
eyes. Some of them were even brave enough to lick my hands. Curls on their foreheads shone under the sun. Their large round eyes
gazed at me with curiosity. What lovely creatures! I couldn't
help holding the youngest one in my arms and caressing it
The kid lifted its lovely head with its cold nose against my
cheek and murmured as if it told me how it loved me. It was
incredible that in only one year these goats seemed to have deep feeling for me and I, too, have the same feeling for them.
I was a shepherd girl for only one year. Then the head of the
brigade thought that as "a bare-foot doctor," I should
learn more, and sent me to study in a hospital. Before I left. I went
to the goats' fold to say good-bye to them. I couldn't tear myself
away from them. When I was studying in the hospital I often
came back to see my goats. Later, the goats were moved
into the mountains; I had no time to go there.
In the third year, I got an opportunity to collect Chinese
medicinal herbs in the mountains. I was very glad to accept the
task for I could take this opportunity to see my goats. When I
was near the goats' fold, one of the goats squeezed its way from
the group and rushed over. It looked at me bleated, then leant
its head on my leg. I recognized the goat who always did so when
I went to see them. It was my favorite, and it could recognize
me at any time. The shepherd was surprised to see this sight and
said that if he hadn't seen this with his own eyes, he would never
have believed that goats had feelings.
In 1974, I entered the college and left the country, but I
often miss my goats and regret that I didn't say good-bye to them before I left them forever.
|
