Chapter 27 Nanxing's Bone Whistle
April 20th, sunny.
"Woof, woof, woof..."
The sun gradually became hotter and the cicadas in the trees began to chirp incessantly. Although the weather was not yet the hottest, I was still sweating profusely walking in the sun.
On the ancient vine on the stone mountain, the giant dragonfly also stopped under the huge branches and leaves of the ancient vine to rest. Only in the morning and evening would it catch various large insects to eat.
Yesterday, the Teng tribe hunted two large prey and obtained enough meat to last for several days. Therefore, in such hot weather, they can stay in the tribe and rest instead of going out hunting.
The five people rarely have some free time and can do what they like.
Jiang Xuan planned to make another stone knife. He went upstream along the stream to find suitable stone, but found Nanxing sitting on a stone by the stream, busy with something.
"Nanxing, what are you doing here?" Jiang Xuan asked curiously.
Nan Xing raised his head and showed Jiang Xuan what he had in his hand: "Chief, I want to make a bone whistle."
"Bone whistle?"
Jiang Xuan walked over and found that Nan Xing was holding a hollow bird leg bone in his left hand and a sharp stone in his right hand. A small hole had been drilled at one end of the leg bone.
Jiang Xuan knew that primitive bone whistles were generally made of hollow bird leg bones. Some had a single hole, some had double holes, and some had three holes. The more holes a whistle had, the more tones it could produce.
"How many holes do you want to drill?" Jiang Xuan asked.
"Drill three holes. I saw that people in the tribe all do this. They can use bone whistles to make the sound of deer calls."
Using a bone whistle to make the sound of a deer is a unique skill of the Deer Tribe. They can use a simple bone whistle to imitate the sound of a deer vividly and even attract real deer.
"Just keep drilling, and blow it to me when you're done."
"Okay."
Nanxing continued drilling. Although the bird's leg bones are hollow, they are relatively hard. It is not easy to drill a suitable hole in them. It requires a lot of time and patience.
Jiang Xuan continued to look for suitable stones along the stream. The closer he walked to the stone mountain, the more stones there were in the stream, making it easier to find suitable stones.
Jiang Xuan searched for a long time and finally found a stone suitable for making stone knives in the stream. This kind of stone is very hard and the broken edge is very sharp after being broken, but it is also relatively brittle and easy to break, so it is only suitable for making short stone knives.
If you want to make a stone knife that is both hard and strong enough, you need to find gem-grade stones, but gem-grade stones are relatively rare.
Therefore, a good stone knife is very rare and is often regarded as a treasure by tribesmen.
“Ding ding ding…”
Jiang Xuan used another stone to strike the stone he wanted to make a stone knife along the grain of the stone. After doing this kind of work many times, he has become quite proficient at it.
As he continued to hammer, the stone cracked along the grain, breaking into several pieces of stone of varying sizes.
Jiang Xuan selected the most suitable piece and continued to carefully hammer it into the shape of a knife. This process required great caution. If one was not careful, the knife blank might be broken.
Fortunately, Jiang Xuan had steady hands and good luck, and he successfully hammered the stone into a knife blank that was more than 20 centimeters long.
Then he found a stone by the stream and carefully sharpened the knife into a more suitable shape.
After everything was done, several hours had passed. Jiang Xuan returned with the knife blank. After he returned, he used animal horns to add a handle to the knife blank and sharpen its blade to make it sharper.
This is a job that requires a lot of patience. Every tool made by the tribesmen takes a lot of time to make. A person without patience cannot make a good tool.
When Jiang Xuan was halfway there, he found Nanxing was still there. He leaned over to take a look and saw that Nanxing's bone whistle was basically completed.
"Chief, look, my bone whistle is ready!"
Nanxing happily held the bone whistle to show Jiang Xuan, like a child showing off a new toy, with a bright smile on his face.
This bone whistle was taken from the middle leg bone of a large bird. It is about fifteen centimeters long and has a round hole on each side and a hole in the middle.
Jiang Xuan watched it for a while and found it quite interesting: "Play it for me."
"good!"
Nan Xing picked up the bone whistle with both hands, put his mouth to the middle hole and blew air into it, and pressed the other two holes with his two index fingers. As he pressed and released his index fingers, a primitive bone whistle sounded.
Although it can only produce a few simple tones, the sound is very long and penetrating, like the cry of a deer or the call of a bird, which is hard to forget once you have heard it.
Of course, Nanxing is not very proficient in playing the whistle yet, and he needs more practice if he wants to attract the giant deer with the whistle.
Jiang Xuan smiled encouragingly and said, "Nanxing, you whistle very well. Sooner or later, you will be able to attract big-horned deer with the sound of your whistle just like the hunters of the Deer Tribe!"
Jiang Xuan's encouragement gave Nan Xing a boost of confidence. He held the bone whistle and said confidently, "Chief, I will definitely do it!"
Jiang Xuan smiled and said, "I believe you!"
"Um!"
Nanxing nodded heavily, then followed Jiang Xuan towards the bamboo house.
Before I knew it, it was already afternoon.
Although they did not need to go out hunting, as the weather gradually became hotter and the plants grew rapidly, more and more wild animals came to the farmland to steal the crops, and they were almost impossible to catch them all.
In order to prevent the crops from being eaten up, Jiang Xuan and his team need to set up a large number of traps near the farmland every afternoon, and they can often harvest a lot of prey in the morning.
In the evening, after Jiang Xuan, Chi Shao and others set up a large number of traps, they looked at the damaged crops on the edge of the cultivated land and said helplessly: "Good food is about to become hunting bait."
Chishao said: "I think this is not bad. It can provide the tribe with a lot of food every day."
Jiang Xuan thought about it and it made sense. After all, the purpose of growing crops was to increase food. Now that the crops were not yet ripe, they had brought so much meat to the tribe, which could be considered a success.
What's more, most of the plants they grow now are tubers or root plants. Even if the above-ground part is eaten, they will still grow, but the yield will be lower.
After figuring this out, Jiang Xuan felt much better, and his eyes softened as he looked at the animal trails occupied by wild beasts.
Anyway, the wasteland has just been reclaimed. In the next one or two years, the crop yield will not be very high. The wild beasts can come as they please. By the time the wasteland is turned into cultivated land, the wild beasts nearby should have been eaten almost all by the Vine Tribe.
"Let's go back."
Jiang Xuan set the last trap and returned to the bamboo house with everyone in a happy mood, estimating in his mind how many prey these traps could catch tomorrow.
The sun gradually set.
The afterglow of the setting sun formed a fiery cloud, dyeing half the sky red. The ancient vines on the stone mountain were shrouded in a layer of orange-red light. Even the giant dragonfly resting on the ancient vines looked a bit mysterious.
Smoke from the bamboo houses rises, and the tired tourists go home. The sun sets in the west and the moon rises in the east. The birds, animals and insects in the forest gradually become active...
…
As the New Year approaches, Qingshi wishes all book friends good luck in the Year of the Tiger, may you be strong and vigorous, and may wealth and prosperity roll in.
In the new year, we continue our new story.
(End of this chapter)
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