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.

初春時節，沉默一冬的草原，開始悄悄醞釀新一輪的生命。那是生命躁動的氣息。

女知青們一住進蒙古包，便迫不及待地脫去身上厚重的棉大衣，開始梳洗打扮。愛美的吳敏，甚至穿上一件當時不多見的紅棉襖。吳敏第一個走出蒙古包，在已經變得有些松軟的土地上奔跑，放開喉嚨大喊：“大草原，我來了。”

危險就是在這個時候發生的。

突然，她聽見一聲十分怪異的叫聲，一抬頭，看見遠處有一個巨大的灰褐色的家伙，邊叫邊向她瘋狂奔來。起初，她根本不認識這是一個什么東西，更不懂得那家伙為何像坦克一樣朝自己沖，聽見有人大喊：“快跑，駱駝跑春了，危險。”她這才掉頭，往蒙古包方向跑，邊跑還邊回頭去看。

那只駱駝高昂著腦袋，口中噴吐著白沫，邁動著巨大的駝蹄，飛速跑來，她分明已經聽見那沉重的喘息聲。

吳敏慌了，竟然忘了該往哪里跑。眼看那匹瘋了一樣的駱駝就要追上她，一場悲劇馬上就要發生。這時，吳敏又聽見有人大喊：“快，快把你的紅棉襖脫下來扔掉。”

情急之下，吳敏扯掉所有的紐扣，脫下紅棉襖，扔了出去。她聽見那怪物又是一聲吼叫，居然停止追擊，一下撲到她的紅棉襖上……

事后，當地人告訴吳敏：公駝發情時，找不到母駝，看見色彩鮮艷的東西，就會拼命地追。如果她不脫衣服，就會被駱駝壓死。

從此，吳敏得了“恐駝癥”，老遠看見駱駝就打哆嗦。

但吳敏沒想到，她深深恐懼和厭惡的駱駝，后來居然救了她一命。

有一天晚上，吳敏發現她負責放牧的羊群，少了幾只羊，就騎馬去找，回來的路上，偏偏遇到了狼。那幾只狼看見她一人一騎，又沒有帶槍，放心大膽地從四面包抄過來。

暮色蒼茫，吳敏舉目四望，草原上不見半個人影，只有一群駱駝在附近吃草。情急之下，吳敏只好打馬拼命往駱駝跟前跑。

沒想到駱駝那么懂事，見狼追她，它們“昂昂昂”一陣大叫，自動將她圍在當中，然后一起掉頭，對付瘋狂的狼群。它們用蹄子和頭顱，把幾只狼打得落荒而逃，又把嚇壞了的吳敏護送回家。

從此，吳敏徹底改變了對駱駝的看法。她這才知道，除了公駝在發情時有點蠻不講理外，平日，駱駝簡直就是草原上最溫順、最善解人意的動物，它們和馬一樣，是牧人們最好的幫手。吳敏開始主動親近駱駝，很快，她有了一大批駱駝朋友。

被招工回城那天，她居然抱著一只駱駝的脖子，哭了個昏天黑地，令人稱奇的是，那駱駝也是熱淚滾滾。

幾十年后的一天，吳敏去游長城。在長城腳下，她看見有只駱駝在那里專門供人照相。那駱駝瘦弱不堪，想趴下來休息一會兒，遭到主人的鞭笞。吳敏沖過去，對那人喊：“你不能這樣對待駱駝。”駱駝主看了她一眼，冷笑著說：“大姐，這是我的駱駝，你管得著嗎？”

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.)

吳敏喘了一口氣，說：“你的駱駝，我買了。”

那人說：“好哇，一萬塊，你拿來啊。”

吳敏說：“你等著。”

吳敏真的去了附近的銀行，從卡上取出一萬塊錢，交給那人，牽起駱駝就走。

吳敏好不容易才把駱駝牽到動物園。人家不要，說：“我們現有的駱駝還養不過來呢。”吳敏一氣之下，決定雇一輛車，把駱駝送回草原，順便看看久違的草原。

汽車顛簸行駛兩三天，終于到了草原，眼前的景象，使吳敏目瞪口呆。當年碧綠的草原，早已面目全非，除了一些草庫倫外，很多地方嚴重沙化，綠色難覓。最讓吳敏傷心的是，居然沒人肯收留駱駝。大家都說：駱駝吃草太多，而且它喜歡吃的許多植物都絕跡了，現在，草原上已經沒人養駱駝了。吳敏四下望望，果然不見一只駱駝的身影。

吳敏磨破嘴皮，最后才有一戶牧民勉強答應收留駱駝。吳敏摸著駱駝的腦袋，絮絮叨叨和它告別，然后讓司機驅車上路。汽車剛剛駛出不遠，聽見一聲大叫，那只駱駝竟然奮力掙斷韁繩，飛也似的朝汽車追來。車后騰起一溜黃塵，駱駝的身后也騰起一道黃煙，兩條黃龍在瘡痍滿目的草原上賽起跑來。

吳敏從后視鏡里看著窮追不舍的駱駝，當年駱駝追她的場景，再次浮現在眼前，淚水不由得像斷線的珠子一樣流淌下來。她橫心咬牙，讓司機加快了速度。

她在心里說：“駱駝啊駱駝，你不要追了，你一定要在草原上活下去、活下去啊。”◆

（摘自《害怕睡覺的人》江蘇鳳凰文藝出版社）

駱 駝 追

文/申平