A White Heron (白鷺鷥的聯想)

#2012-0119

"A White Heron" is a short story by Sarah Orne Jewett, first published by Houghton, Mifflin and Company in 1886. It is a story of a young city girl named Sylvia, who came to live with her grandmother in the country. She meets a young ornithologist hunter seeking to find a rare bird he has heard has been spotted in the area. As the story progresses Sylvia is challenged with whether or not she should tell the hunter she saw the bird. She also discovers her passion for country life and her love and values for the animals that inhabit it. [Quoted from The English Wikipedia]

In fact, I taught this story at St. James' Language Institute several years ago, using an "easier-to-understand" version (from All American Stories C) edited by C.G. Draper. Discussing it with my students I was deeply moved by the story myself, and now I still love it as much.

Here around my dwelling place, Wufeng (literally meaning "Foggy Mountains"), there are lots of birds called "Bai-Lusi" (or, probably "Little Egrets" in English) in some particular seasons. This kind of birds, as well as many others kinds, are always attractive to me -- I remember that in 2002 I wrote a short story entitled The Pond and Something and I mentioned an egret and two snow-white geese in the final part:

"How about the geese?" I interrupted.

"The two snow-white geese represent an intimate husband and wife. Look! Those geese are always near each other, whether swimming in the pond or standing on the bank -- By the way, have you seen the white egret (that is, Bai Lusi) flying out recently?"

"Sorry, I haven't. What would you say about the egret?"

"It stands for one's self. In Freudian psychology, there are three parts of the mind: ego, superego, and id. The bird sometimes stands near the pond, sometimes flies high up in the sky, and sometimes hides itself in the woods. Whether it is three-in-one or not, try not to lose your self."

And since I started my blog Mookoo's Home, I have included such bird photos in it: (1) 白鷺鷥、紅蜻蜓 (2) 小傢伙（會玩、會吃、會飛、會唱歌） (3) 溪頭剪影（山猴離去鳥飛來） (4) Baby Birds Being Fed （小鳥餵食記） (5) 返鄉 (A Hometown Visit). Oh! How amazing and wonderful to be a bird? If I could fly as a bird, where would I fly to? . . . Well, would I really enjoy flying as much as I had dreamed of?

The following pictures were taken yesterday in Yu-Lan Gu
(玉蘭谷 / The Valley of Magnolia)