南海潮歌

1  "Go! Let's all go to the sea today! It's said the tide goes out this morning," said Watson. "Do you go?" Runlian said, "Yes, I do. I want to pick conches." Runtong said, "We haven't been there for a long time. I go to catch crabs." I said nothing, for I didn't know what I want to catch. I went home to take a cage that was made of bamboo slips, and wore a bamboo hat. We got ready in a few minutes. Then a group of naughty children went towards the sea with great strength and vigor like that. On our way there, we burst with joy, singing and laughing. "In a so faraway place, there's a beautiful good girl. When people pass by her tent, linger to look back at her." This was a very pleasant folk song, and its tune was so pretty that we all sang it loud when we were out. We liked  folk songs, it was because not only they were nice, but also they were the same as our hill songs. In fact，some hill songs had a relationship with the sea. We sang, "The tide goes up to the trench of the sea. Sister is catching seafood on the beach. And then she sells the seafood on the street. How romantic it is to get money." Our hill songs had about ten tunes. They were nice, and it was easy to learn. We children could also sing some. We sang and sang, gradually slowed our steps. We talked about our homeland. our ancestors were from Henan。They moved to Fujian long long ago. Later some of them moved to Guangdong. One hundred years ago our ancestors bought this village from their relatives. Runlian asked, "Where is Henan? Is it far away?" Runtong said, "It's said that it's in the north and it's thousands of li away." Runlian said, "Thousands of li away? How long to get there on foot?" Then she sang the song "In the faraway place". We joined her. When we got to the sea, the tide went out far away. At the end of the mangrove trees, the sea and the sky merged into blue one.

2 "Go to the sea" that we said meant we went to the beach to catch something.  The "sea" where we went fishing, in fact, was a large tidal beach. Some place was only sand, under it lived many sand crabs as big as the tip of a finger. When the tide went out in day time, they hid in the sand and dared not appear. But when the tide went out at night, especially it was hot and dark, they all started out to get cool. The sand crabs were climbing and climbing on the beach, and it was easy to catch them. But in most area there were mangrove hills, growing thick trees, which were called "olive coin trees" by the local people. Mangrove trees bloom and have fruit in summer. The fruit looks like a small piece of coin, so it is called “olive coin”. When the sea is at high tide,  water of sea closes over the mangrove trees. During this period of time, the sea is full of water. There is nothing to catch, or no one can catch anything from it. But in that morning the tide went out. When we got there, it was only a little water somewhere. There were some paths in it. We knew the paths. After quite a walk, we began to catch things. Runlian duck the earth to pick conches. she said, "No one has dug yet, and there are many big conches here." Watson felt in the brook carefully. He tried to catch fishes and shrimps. I heard him saying, "Oh! It escapes." Then he said again, "Aha! I catch another one." Crabs hid in the deep holes, so it was not easy to catch them. Runtong and Runchi dug the earth deeply. "Oh! A big crab! We have caught another crab!" they cried out excitedly, as if they had found some kind of treasure. Runlian asked me, "Uncle, what have you caught?" I said, "I had just caught several conches." Runlian was the same age as I was, but she was the younger generation, so I called her "junior" or "Frog Girl". Kejia people used to call the girls like that.

3  The sky was blue, and the wind was blowing gently. Some white cranes came over, perching on the beach. Several women and little girls from the other villages were on the mangrove hill. They were picking fruit from the mangrove trees. An aunt was telling a story. She said, "A young woman on the beach passed water, washing out a very big crab. One of its clamps nipped her organ that she made water. She felt much pain and cried out. Her husband heard her cry. He came over to help her. He tried to tear the crab away with his hands, but one of his hands was nipped by another clamp of the crab. He tried to bite the clamp with his mouth. Suddenly the clamp of the crab released his hand and nipped his mouth tightly at once. The husband's month were connected with the wife's organ by the crab. They couldn't pull apart from each other." "Ha ha ha!" the women and the girls laughed. I laughed, too. Olive coin had special smell. People liked it. But it was bitter and it would poison a person. In summer Olive coin grew big enough. My mother went to pick it with Aunts and Sisters-in-law. Mother cooked the olive coin and soaked it a whole night to get rid of poison. She cooked it with some garlic. It was good to eat. I climbed up to the tree to pick the biggest one. An aunt said, "Hey, brother, be careful. Catch the branch tightly." I was very thankful and said, "I see." I picked it enough, then got down. I saw a pile of creature under a tree. They were white and long. I asked the aunt what those were. She said that those were poisonous snakes, and told me not to touch them. I saw some jumping fish. They jumped and jumped, and it was not easy to catch them. I ran fast, so I caught a few. Later I also caught some small fish and shrimps. At noon we left the sea. We didn't sing and laugh any more, because we were so tired and hungry.

4  My mother saw me coming, she asked me with a little angry, "Where did you go today, Younger Brother? We didn't see you all day." In the countryside, parents called their children brother or sister. I was afraid of being beaten, so I answered in a low voice, "I went to the sea. I went there with Watson." My mother said, "It's a long way, and you didn't tell me about it. If you had drowned in the sea, just as I hadn't born you." Seeing that Mother didn't get angry, I said, "I can swim, as you know. Junior went to the sea, too." Mother said, "I know. Her mother searched for her everywhere." I said, "You went out to do farm work in the early morning. How could I tell you?" Mother said, "Well, have lunch. You're hungry." I asked, "Mother, have you had your lunch?" Mother said, "Did I have my lunch till now? My stomach was not made of iron. Didn't anyone feel hungry like you?" In my homeland, everyone talked in a humous way. My mother spoke humosly and funny, too. Her words often made us laughed and laughed. Mother washed the fish and shrimps, and put them into the big frying pan to cook. I had lunch, lighting the fires. After cooking, my mother told me to herd cattle. Then she went out to do farm work. After lunch I led the cattle to the meadow of the hillside, where the grass grew green and well. A moment later, the other boys and girls led their cattle to the hillside, too. They said, "Ah ha! Uncle. You came here earlier than us." I said, "I ate some sweet potatoes only,  then I came here, It was summer. The sun was shining, so it was very hot. All of us got into the woods. A group of birds were scared and flew away as fast as they could. We boys climbed the trees, but the girls didn't, because they would have been Mocked by people if they had done. Soon it was cloudy, we got to the top of the hill, looking about our homeland.

5  This was our homeland Liangjiashui, a place where I was born and living. In the south, not far away, there were two castles. The houses in them joined together closely and orderly like the scales of a fish. The New Castle was near, over the gate was a board with three words "Major General Mansion". It was my distant uncle's. He was a general of Republic of China. The Old Castle was a little farther. It was the paradise of us naughty children. Wisps of cooking smoke rose continuously. Litchi would soon become ripe and it was red everywhere outside the castles. Many birds were singing away in the trees, as if they were sharing the joys of coming harvest. Around the castles there were fields or hills with thick trees. To the south of the castles there were many green pines. Many fields were even farther. In the east it was a little higher up. Peanuts grew well there. In the north and the west, it was a little different. The fields were lower and full of water. Rice grew well. The villagers were working hard. There were also many hills and fields in the distance, about five to six li away. So, you know, my homeland was such a vast expanse of land that its edge couldn't be seen. We overlooked our homeland from the hill, pointing and shouting, "Look, over there, in the north, it's our Social Altar." "Yes. May second is coming. We'll have our Summer Social." "Then we'll spend May Day on May fifth." "We'll eat zongzi(dumpling), but it's a pity we can't watch the dragon boat race." "Over there, in the west, it's A Carp Spits A Pearl. it's the white tomb. It's our Mazu's." Below the tomb, a small round  hill looked as round as a pearl. Thus the two hills were called "A carp spits a pearl"．Next to it, in the west, there was a dam. Two branches joined into one, thus our homeland was called "Liangjiashui".