Chased by a Camel

By Shen Ping

Chased by a Camel

By Shen Ping

In the steppe, having been silent for the whole winter,the land is preparing for the new life in the early spring. The restless vibration of life seems floating in the air.

Once entering their yurt, the educated female youths took off the heavy cotton-padded coats and started dressing up. Wu Ming even put on a red coat, which was uncommon at that time. She was the first that came out of the yurt. She ran on the softening land, yelling: “Steppe, I'm coming.”

That was when the crisis occurred.

Suddenly, she heard a weird sound. She looked up and saw a giant taupe creature from afar, roaring and running toward her. At first, she didn’t know what it was and why it dashed at her like a tank. Then she heard someone screaming: “Run! The camel is rutting. It’s dangerous!”It was then that she turned around and ran to the yurt,looking back from time to time.

The camel held his head up high, mouth spitting saliva.He moved his gigantic feet, spurting at full speed. She could hear its heavy breath.

Wu Ming panicked, forgetting where to run. The mad camel was about to catch her. Danger was approaching.Just then, Wu Ming heard someone yelling: “Take off your red coat! Throw it away!”

Hearing that, Wu Ming tore off the buttons and threw her coat away in a hurry. Then she heard the monster roaring again. Instead of chasing her, the camel ran at the red coat...

Later, the local people told Wu that when a male camel is rutting, it chases after colorful things if it can’t find a female camel. If she hadn’t taken off the coat, the camel would have run her over.

Since then, Wu Ming became “camelphobic,” trembling at the sight of camels.

What she didn’t expect was that the camel she feared and hated would save her life in the future.

One night, Wu found a few sheep were missing from the flock she was responsible for. She headed out on her horse to find them. Unfortunately, on her way back, she encountered wolves. The wolves noticed she didn’t bring a gun, so they came toward her and the horse boldly.

There was nothing on the steppe except for the hazy dusk of twilight. Noticing a group of camels eating grass nearby,Wu realized that she had no choice but to ride as fast as she could towards them.

Unexpectedly, the camels were very helpful. Seeing her chased by the wolves, they burst out in loud cries and surrounded her. Then they turned around to fight against the fierce wolves. They frightened away the wolves with their feet and heads and sent the panicked Wu Ming back home.

初春时节，沉默一冬的草原，开始悄悄酝酿新一轮的生命。那是生命躁动的气息。

女知青们一住进蒙古包，便迫不及待地脱去身上厚重的棉大衣，开始梳洗打扮。爱美的吴敏，甚至穿上一件当时不多见的红棉袄。吴敏第一个走出蒙古包，在已经变得有些松软的土地上奔跑，放开喉咙大喊：“大草原，我来了。”

危险就是在这个时候发生的。

突然，她听见一声十分怪异的叫声，一抬头，看见远处有一个巨大的灰褐色的家伙，边叫边向她疯狂奔来。起初，她根本不认识这是一个什么东西，更不懂得那家伙为何像坦克一样朝自己冲，听见有人大喊：“快跑，骆驼跑春了，危险。”她这才掉头，往蒙古包方向跑，边跑还边回头去看。

那只骆驼高昂着脑袋，口中喷吐着白沫，迈动着巨大的驼蹄，飞速跑来，她分明已经听见那沉重的喘息声。

吴敏慌了，竟然忘了该往哪里跑。眼看那匹疯了一样的骆驼就要追上她，一场悲剧马上就要发生。这时，吴敏又听见有人大喊：“快，快把你的红棉袄脱下来扔掉。”

情急之下，吴敏扯掉所有的纽扣，脱下红棉袄，扔了出去。她听见那怪物又是一声吼叫，居然停止追击，一下扑到她的红棉袄上……

事后，当地人告诉吴敏：公驼发情时，找不到母驼，看见色彩鲜艳的东西，就会拼命地追。如果她不脱衣服，就会被骆驼压死。

从此，吴敏得了“恐驼症”，老远看见骆驼就打哆嗦。

但吴敏没想到，她深深恐惧和厌恶的骆驼，后来居然救了她一命。

有一天晚上，吴敏发现她负责放牧的羊群，少了几只羊，就骑马去找，回来的路上，偏偏遇到了狼。那几只狼看见她一人一骑，又没有带枪，放心大胆地从四面包抄过来。

暮色苍茫，吴敏举目四望，草原上不见半个人影，只有一群骆驼在附近吃草。情急之下，吴敏只好打马拼命往骆驼跟前跑。

没想到骆驼那么懂事，见狼追她，它们“昂昂昂”一阵大叫，自动将她围在当中，然后一起掉头，对付疯狂的狼群。它们用蹄子和头颅，把几只狼打得落荒而逃，又把吓坏了的吴敏护送回家。

从此，吴敏彻底改变了对骆驼的看法。她这才知道，除了公驼在发情时有点蛮不讲理外，平日，骆驼简直就是草原上最温顺、最善解人意的动物，它们和马一样，是牧人们最好的帮手。吴敏开始主动亲近骆驼，很快，她有了一大批骆驼朋友。

被招工回城那天，她居然抱着一只骆驼的脖子，哭了个昏天黑地，令人称奇的是，那骆驼也是热泪滚滚。

几十年后的一天，吴敏去游长城。在长城脚下，她看见有只骆驼在那里专门供人照相。那骆驼瘦弱不堪，想趴下来休息一会儿，遭到主人的鞭笞。吴敏冲过去，对那人喊：“你不能这样对待骆驼。”骆驼主看了她一眼，冷笑着说：“大姐，这是我的骆驼，你管得着吗？”

After the incident, Wu Ming changed her view towards camels. It was then that she realized that camels were the friendliest animal in the steppe. Only during mating season do the male camels become irritable. Just like horses,camels are helpers of the shepherds. Wu Ming started to make friends with camels and soon she gained a great number of camel companions.

When she was called back to the city, she held the neck of a camel, crying for hours. Surprisingly, tears also rolled down from the camel’s eyes.

Decades later, Wu Ming went to visit the Great Wall. She found a camel standing there for people to take pictures.It was very thin and weak. When it wanted to bend over and have a rest, the owner whipped it to keep it standing.Seeing this, Wu Ming came to the man and yelled: “You can’t treat a camel like that.” The owner glanced at her and said ironically: “Lady, this is my camel. Mind your own business.”

Wu Ming gave a sudden gasp and said: “I will buy it. I want your camel.”

The man said: “Fine. Ten thousand yuan please.”

Wu Ming said: “Wait.”

Wu Ming went to the bank nearby, withdrew ten thousand yuan, handed it to the man and pulled the camel away.

She took the camel to the zoo. However, the staff refused to take it saying: “We can barely make it with our own camels.” In anger, Wu Ming decided to rent a car and send the camel to the steppe. In that way, she could also see the steppe again.

After a three-day ride, they arrived at the steppe.However, the sight in front of her eyes shocked her. The green steppe disappeared. Except for some enclosed pastures, most of the land was severely desertified. Little green was to be seen on the land. What depressed Wu Ming the most was that no one was willing to take the camel.People said that camels ate too much grass and many of the plants they liked had become extinct. No people bred camels in the steppe now. She looked around and, as expected, no camels were to be found.

Wu Ming talked herself hoarse. Finally a shepherd agreed to take the camel. She rubbed the camel’s head,saying goodbye to it. Then she got on the car and left. As the car left, she heard a roar from behind. The camel shook off its ropes, running madly after the car. Dust rose up behind the car. A tail of smoke also rose up behind the camel. The two yellow dragons of the sand competed on the devastated steppe.

Wu Ming saw the camel in hot pursuit. The scene reminded her of the first time when she was chased by a camel. Tears fell off from her face like beads on a broken string. She made up her mind, asking the driver to speed up.

In her mind there was a voice saying: “Camel, my dear camel. Don’t chase me. Go on living in the steppe. You’ve got to survive!” ◆

(From The Man Who Fears Sleep, Jiangsu Phoenix Literature and Art Publishing House. Translation: Yu Lan.)

吴敏喘了一口气，说：“你的骆驼，我买了。”

那人说：“好哇，一万块，你拿来啊。”

吴敏说：“你等着。”

吴敏真的去了附近的银行，从卡上取出一万块钱，交给那人，牵起骆驼就走。

吴敏好不容易才把骆驼牵到动物园。人家不要，说：“我们现有的骆驼还养不过来呢。”吴敏一气之下，决定雇一辆车，把骆驼送回草原，顺便看看久违的草原。

汽车颠簸行驶两三天，终于到了草原，眼前的景象，使吴敏目瞪口呆。当年碧绿的草原，早已面目全非，除了一些草库伦外，很多地方严重沙化，绿色难觅。最让吴敏伤心的是，居然没人肯收留骆驼。大家都说：骆驼吃草太多，而且它喜欢吃的许多植物都绝迹了，现在，草原上已经没人养骆驼了。吴敏四下望望，果然不见一只骆驼的身影。

吴敏磨破嘴皮，最后才有一户牧民勉强答应收留骆驼。吴敏摸着骆驼的脑袋，絮絮叨叨和它告别，然后让司机驱车上路。汽车刚刚驶出不远，听见一声大叫，那只骆驼竟然奋力挣断缰绳，飞也似的朝汽车追来。车后腾起一溜黄尘，骆驼的身后也腾起一道黄烟，两条黄龙在疮痍满目的草原上赛起跑来。

吴敏从后视镜里看着穷追不舍的骆驼，当年骆驼追她的场景，再次浮现在眼前，泪水不由得像断线的珠子一样流淌下来。她横心咬牙，让司机加快了速度。

她在心里说：“骆驼啊骆驼，你不要追了，你一定要在草原上活下去、活下去啊。”◆

（摘自《害怕睡觉的人》江苏凤凰文艺出版社）

骆 驼 追

文/申平