The legend of Laoguandun
Every May season, the birds on Laoguandun are fragrant and fragrant, and the birds are singing in groups, and the crisp birds are singing one after another, which brings infinite vitality to the originally barren land in the Huaihe River torrent.
There is a long-standing legend about the origin of Laoguandun Island.
Many years ago, there was no such place as Laoguandun in Huaihe River Basin. The appearance of Laoguandun was related to a boatman named Laoguantou, who stayed at the ferry along the Huaihe River all the year round.
On both sides of the Huaihe River, people often say that "there are three ways to live in the world, and it is necessary to be hard while the iron is hot". Rowing, striking while the iron is hot, and grinding bean curd are the three major occupations that have been passed down for thousands of years, and they are recognized as the three major tasks.
As far as punting is concerned, there were no bridges in many rivers in the old society, and there were even fewer bridges on the broad Huaihe River. People usually need to cross the river, and most of them can only go to the ferry to ask boatmen to help them cross the river. The boatmen stationed at the ferry often have no rest all year round. They get up early and get greedy, rain or shine.
Most people crossing the river from the ferry are nearby villagers. When the villagers were in urgent need of medical treatment in the middle of the night, the boatmen didn't care about hitting their faces, so they had to get up from their sleep and work overtime on the ferry. When encountering storms and rapids, there is often the danger of capsizing, and gamblers are often paid little.
Lao Guan is an old boatman who has worked at Huaihe River Ferry for more than 30 years. Because I live on the banks of the Huaihe River all the year round, and I am beaten by the humid river wind all the year round, rheumatism is inevitable. His wife died of rheumatism a few years ago, and their only son drowned in a boating rescue before marriage.
After the death of his wife and children, Lao Guantou stayed at the ferry alone and still worked as a boatman, because all the villagers nearby could not do without him.
In these 30 years of ups and downs, countless people have been ferried to the old juncture, and at least hundreds of people have been rescued from the Huaihe River by Lao Guantou. What makes the old man sad is that he failed to save his son who has not yet got married.
It was also a stormy night, and a ship sailing on the Huaihe River capsized. After discovering it with the ability of observing the changes of Huaihe River all the year round, the old man took his son to punt to save people. Their father and son punted the boat to the capsized place and saw five or six people in the family drowning. A man carrying his young son, holding his daughter, desperately fluttered.
Seeing this, Guan Guan told his son to hold the boat steady and try his best to pull people aboard. The man, a son and a woman who fell into the water were all pulled onto the boat, but the man's wife and parents had not been rescued, and the waves were getting higher and higher, so the boat could never get close to the three drowning people.
As time went by, three drowning people saw that they had no strength to struggle. I wanted to go into the water to save people, but I just had rheumatism in my waist and legs in those days, so I couldn't move easily. So the son of Lao Guan relied on his strong body and good water. Regardless of the danger of the wind and waves, he jumped off the boat and swam to the drowning man. After saving the mother of two children, he swam to the old couple.
Unfortunately, however, it happened. The old man's son was exhausted when he swam to the old couple. At this time, he can only pull one person to the ferry at most. When he pulled the old woman, the old man sank into the water and instinctively grabbed the young man's foot. Another wave came, and the old son and the old couple both sank into the water and never came up again. ...
The couple and a pair of children were saved, but Lao Guantou lost his only child. It was several days before Lao Guantou and his wife found their son on the shore a few miles away. When I saw their son, the old man's hand was still tightly wrapped around their son's foot, and their son was still clutching the old woman's hand, and the old woman was clutching their son's coat with both hands. ...
My son is gone, and I can't forget him. He stayed in a boat for almost his whole life and saved so many people. Why can't he save his son? The old man hates himself, his rheumatic waist and his rheumatic legs.
A few years later, the old wife left the old juncture because she missed her son and suffered from rheumatism. At the old juncture, in order to cross the river, I stayed at the ferry alone, and my life became more and more lonely. Only the waterbirds on the bank of Huaihe River accompany him day and night.
Finally, on a certain day in May of a certain year, Lao Guantou never got up after his last boat trip. At dawn the next day, the villagers came to the old juncture to cross the river, but they couldn't wake him up.
The villagers raised funds to bury the old juncture and buried him with his wife and children on the bank of Huaihe River. The people rescued by Lao Guantou from Huaihe River also built tombs and monuments for Lao Guantou's family of three.
Not long after Lao Guantou left, a small beach appeared in the middle of the Huaihe River at the ferry, and it was getting bigger and bigger. A waterfowl flies on the beach and insists on nesting there, not afraid of the wind and waves there.
As the days passed, Little Beach became an island, which was covered with reeds. The island naturally formed a safe haven, and several fishermen from nearby families supported their fishing boats and settled here.
On this nameless island formed on the Huaihe River, the first waterfowl brought many other birds, and they also settled here together. Those birds also contain the seeds of a weed and plant them on the island.
Once, a fisherman who lived here suffered from rheumatic leg disease. He was in the middle of nowhere. He was in a hurry and went to the hospital. He grabbed a handful of weeds on the island and pounded them on his legs. Unexpectedly, his rheumatic leg gradually stopped hurting. Then he continued to apply the grass to his legs, and his rheumatic legs gradually recovered.
So the secret recipe of curing rheumatism with this weed spread among these fishermen, and the villagers nearby associated it with the old idea of ferrying here, the beach island that suddenly appeared here, the waterfowl that first flew to this beach and insisted on nesting, and the weed seeds contained in those waterfowl. ...
When the villagers think of this, they all think that this is the ferry after Lao Guantou left, and they don't forget the villagers here. The earliest waterfowl that flew to the island to nest was the embodiment of the old crisis. This island was moved to make it easier to sail and avoid the wind and waves after it became immortal.
Thus, this small island in the Huaihe River has a resounding name, called Laoguandun. The waterfowl on Laoguandun is called Laoguanbird, and the weed is called Laoguancao.