The Missionaryand His Daughter 第二章∶神奇的苗医

 

作家按语∶《传教士和他的女兒》（原书名∶裸拜）！故事叙述富有的喜欢生物硏究的英国青年亨利，32年走进神奇的贵州山区，他宣扬真爱，拯救生命、製止血腥與残杀┅在边远的贵州山区建立了基督教堂，传播主的福音，他的美德和仁爱精神，使他受到众多山裏基督徒的裸拜和崇敬！

作品引领喜欢旅遊和民族风情的欧洲人、美国人进入美丽的贵州山区，去领略那裏與世无争的寧静和鲜为人知的民族风情┅┅

中国解放後，当共产黨人要驱逐亨利牧师时，桀骜的双溪坪教徒爆发了反抗┅┅许多撲朔迷　的山村故事，皆在此书中！

 

The Missionaryand His Daughter

传教士和他的女兒

Zongming Zhang

张宗銘 著

Translated by Tangjin Xiao

肖唐金 译

 

Henry came to Dry Stick. He lifted up his trousers, and was shocked.

The man’s leg bone was exposed. The wild boar had pushed him to mud, and its sharp teeth had broken his leg bones, with a deep bloody hole left. The wound was covered with mud. If the mud were not removed at once, the leg would never heal, and the man would probably die of infections.

But it was not easy to cleanse the mud. He needed much spirit. Henry thought of the wine the hunters drank, but was sad at finding it drunk up. He thought of salt. There was about half a kilogram of salt in his bag.

Henry cleaned an earthen wine jar in the creek, and got half of it full with water. He took away the boiling pot, and placed the earthen jar on the fire. He opened his aluminum pot and took out all the salt. He put the salt piece after piece into the earthen jar. The hunters gathered around him. They watched Henry with care. He was so generous as to put all the salt into the earthen jar. That was Henry, a British Christian!

The scene was moving. Henry didn’t speak a word, but everyone felt his kindness. To Henry, he just wanted to show God’s love, care and benevolence to the people here in the mountains.

The water in the earthen jar was boiling. Henry took the jar to the creek to cool it. Then, he took it back to Dry Stick. He asked the hunters to take off the dirty trousers of the wounded. Henry seemed to know it was painful to do that, so he asked him:

“What’s your name?”

The hunter answered: “Dry Stick.”

Henry spoke seriously: “I’m giving you treatment. Please don’t tell jokes, ok?”

Dry Stick replied, “True, my name is Dry Stick.”

Henry found the man serious. Then, he said, “Dry Stick, your leg wound is serious. Please cooperate well with me for your leg, will you?”

Dry Stick nodded.

Henry saw the hunters take off Dry Stick’s trousers carefully. He said to the wounded, “You must bear the pains.”

The hunters held up the torches. Henry picked up cotton balls with tweezers. He poured out salt water bowl after bowl and cleansed the wound of the groaning and struggling Dry Stick. After that, Henry took out spirit and made the last-round cleansing.

As spirit entered the wound deeply, Dry Stick suddenly yelled. Henry’s wrist was seized by the thin man. He had so much strength now. He held Henry’s wrist with force that it made him feel quite painful. The tweezers were grabbed by Dry Stick.

Cen Linshan knew Dry Stick could hardly bear the pains, yelling: “Dry Stick, don’t vent your temper wildly. Do you still want to keep your leg?”

Dry Stick replied, “Dear brother, I really can’t bear the pains.”

Cen Linshan took back the tweezers and gave them back to Henry. He shouted, “You must bear the pains. Shit! If you lost your leg, how would you make your living?”

 Dry Stick felt depressed. He said, “Dear brother, I know I have made a silly mistake in hunting. I’m dying. This blonde foreigner Henry is making fun of me. If I am to die, just let me die. Don’t make a fuss over it.”

Cen Linshan replied, “Why die? Fuck your dirty mouth!”

Dry Stick found Henry was going to disinfect his wound with spirit again. He caught hold of his wrist with force. Henry screamed with pains: “Ouch!”

The hunters told Dry Stick to bear the pains. Dry Stick was now sweating a lot. He still held Henry’s wrist with force, saying:

 “Don’t make fun of me! You’re a good man, and have wasted so much salt for me. Just let me die. Thank you all the same.”

Cen Linshan said, “You must live on. Give him a good treat sometime later.”

Henry spoke to Dry Stick, “This is the last time to have the disinfection. Just bear the pains for a while, will you?”

Dry Stick shouted, “I would rather die than bear the pains.”

People just didn’t know what to do. Then, Ah Cai came. She took the musk from the fireside and said to the owner, “Will you please give the musk to me as a present? In return for that I’ll make the wounded calm in getting the treatment. I’ll remedy his disjointed bones and apply herb to his wound as well.”

The owner had planned to exchange the musk for daily supplies from peddlers of furs, local produce and herbs. He was a good partner of Dry Stick’s. Every time he hunted from Bailang Village to Shuangxiping, he would be accommodated by Dry Stick. The musk was precious to the hunter, but surely less precious than friendship. Then the hunter who had contacted with Ah Cai shouted:

“Give her the musk! She is the right person for help. Ah Cai has learned medicine from her mother since her childhood. In her village she is a good wizard treating illness and expelling evil spirits.”

The hunter with the musk couldn’t help shouting with amazement: “Dear sister, are you the daughter of the famous doctor Mr. He Sandie in Xiazhai Village?”

Ah Cai nodded.

The hunter said in a sorry way: “Please forgive me for my rudeness! My dad got typhoid several years ago, and it was Mr. He Sandie who came to treat him after plodding his way overnight with a torch. He is my dad’s life saver.” He knew Ah Cai’s purpose of asking for the musk, and reminded her, “Use the musk with care, or it will hurt you. Maybe you shouldn’t do that.”

Ah Cai answered, “I know.” She walked towards Dry Stick.

 

 

Ah Cai came to Dry Stick. She tasted the salt water and felt respectful for Henry. But she was sorry to see so much salt used. It was a waste to her. Why not get some herbs and boil them for the cleansing? That would save the precious salt. Nevertheless she was moved by Henry’s devotions to helping the wounded in a good way.

Dry Stick should have the mud of his wound removed, or it would make him suffer all life. She remembered cleansing the wounds of others with wine together with her dad. Surprisingly Henry the British Christian knew the disinfection of wounds with wine.

She took out her curved knife, and cut off a lock of hair from Dry Stick’s head. She gave the hair to Henry, saying:

“Burn the hair and grind it. Ask him to take it with water.” She found Henry looking at her surprisingly. Then she added, “This can stop bleeding.”

Henry did as she ordered. Dry Stick took the powder of his hair with water. Ah Cai loosened a cloth bag. Inside it were herbs. She took out a piece of the crisp snake covered with a headdress, and asked a hunter to warm it dry by the fire. She also asked a few hunters to grind some herbs. Then, she took out the plant Henry had picked for her, and with pebbles she ground it into pulp without washing it first. Henry was amazed. She smiled at him, and grabbed a handful of herb pulp and thrust it into the mouth of Dry Stick.

Dry Stick tasted the bitterness. He shouted at her, “What funny thing did you thrust into my mouth?”

Ah Cai replied, “You looked fierce and bad-tempered just now. With the herb you won’t make trouble in the treatment.”

In a short while the stubborn Dry Stick was fast asleep. Ah Cai said to Henry, “Now, you can cleanse his wound.”

Henry knew the herb pulp had the function of anaesthetizing. This time the cleansing was peaceful and successful.

The hunters gathered around the bonfire, and began to enjoy the salty meat. The miraculous Ah Cai was making herbs for dressing the wound. She ground the dried crisp snake and mixed it with the other herbs in a big bowl. She asked a hunter from Zhongzhai Village: “Excuse me, who has bird eggs?”

A hunter said in a jocular way, “We have no bird eggs, but I have two eggs.”

Ah Cai scolded, “If you had no bird eggs, I’d get 5 or 6 ones myself. I have no time saying those things with you, silly man!”

A hunter took out 10 bird eggs from his fur bag, and passed them to Ah Cai.

Ah Cai broke the eggs and kept the egg white only in the bowl with powder. She ate up the yolk one by one tastefully. She made the herbs porridge-like, and dressed the wound of Dry Stick with care.

Henry watched with interest and care. She saw Ah Cai making herbs, remedying the disjointed bones and dressing the wound. She stood up with difficulty. Henry supported her in getting up. For the first time she had felt the hairy big hands of a man and his warmth. Henry took her to sit on a rock. He filled a bowl of intestines and soup, and placed it in front of her.

Henry’s actions surprised the hunters. To them this could be a disgrace or an insult. In many minority villages of Guizhou, women cannot eat together with men. Henry gave her food before the hunters finished their meal. He didn’t follow the local customs. But Henry was a foreigner. He gave the hunters salt, and he seemed very friendly and humble to anyone. Probably he thought Ah Cai had worked very hard and deserved eating with the hunters. The hunters were double-minded about Henry.

Ah Cai was really hungry. She drank the salty soup, and ate the salty bones, livers and meat. She felt that Henry the British Christian was a good man indeed.

The hunters in the mountains knew nothing of women’s minds. Anyway no hunter needed to know the feelings of women. They liked to have fun with women, but seemed to refuse to know their pains and sorrows. Ah Cai had felt sorrowful ever since her lover broke his promise. She hated the hunters in the mountains, especially those strong, good-looking, honey-tongued hunters! She had even planned to die.

She had planned to jump off a cliff. But then she felt that was a silly action. If she died, her lover Qiusheng would still date with other girls and have fun with them. It wasn’t worthwhile to die for a disloyal lover. That would make her look fucking silly.

Ah Cai had seen the owner wash the musk in the creek and warm it dry by the fire. She had a plan for herself. She wanted to get the musk, but her request was rejected. With the treatment of the wounded, she got the musk.

She was content with the musk. She thought to herself: She could remove her lover’s baby since he had broken his promise. Ah Cai knew she needed strength and nutrition for the abortion. She ate the meat tastefully. She was thankful for Henry.

Henry came back to Dry Stick. He took out a roll of bandage and wrapped it around the wound. He cut a few branches and fixed them on the wound. Finally he sat by the fire. There was little meat and soup in the pot. The hunters were full and took a rest by the fire.

Cen Linshan cut a big piece of deer meat from his own share, forked it on a wood stick and gave it to Henry. Henry knew he was the head of the hunters, and said to him again:

“My name is Henry. I’m a Christian from Britain.”

Cen Linshan took Henry’s hands and replied, “My name is Cen Linshan. Henry, we know you’re a British Christian. Come to visit us as a guest in Shuangxiping some day if you please.”

Henry answered, “Ok, Cen Linshan. I’ll remember your name.”

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