Great Tang Idyll

Boom~!" After the first thunder-like noise sounded, several other booms were heard at the Lin'he Village in the San'shui County.

It was four quarters after the Yin hour, which was about four in the morning. The people in the village were awakened by the noise, but they thought it was going to rain and that it was the sound of thunder. They couldn't fight their sleepiness and went back to sleep. Some elderly people who were light sleepers wanted to see the rain, so they put on their clothes, opened the door, but stayed inside and looked out.

The stars were still twinkling in the dark sky. Other than the coolness of the night, not a bit of moisture could be felt in the air. A lot of dog barks could be heard, but nothing else seemed to be different.

"Why were there thunders? Why is the Heavens striking down dry lighting? Ah~!" An old man who had opened the door and stood there watching outside sighed, muttered a few words and then returned back into the house.

"No, go back to sleep. I don't know, some scoundrel must have done some amoral crime and is being smite with lightning by the Heavens right now." The old man spoke while he moved back to the floor mattress that was stuffed with hay. It took him a lot of effort to squat down. He took off the clothes that were draped on his shoulders, and he rolled up the clothes and placed them where the pillow should be. He pulled over half of the blanket and fell asleep with his back facing the old lady.

In the darkness, the old lady squinted her eyes and helped the old man pull the blanket up to his neck. She laid there thinking for a while, sighed, and then she drifted off to sleep too when she heard the old man's snoring.

In the morning of the next day, the little children in the Lin'he Village got up first. They each dragged their family's water barrel to the well to fetch water. The water in the wells was the most abundant in the morning, and the least in the evening.

It was not like this back then; usually the water level would rise even while water was being fetched. If a person wanted to see the bottom of the well, then several adults had to take turns to pump out the water for about two hours. Even then, the water level will slowly rise again after a while.

Today, they thought it was the same as always. They dragged heavy wooden barrels toward the side of the well. Some families had two or three children so while the older one dragged the bucket, the younger one ran to the well to reserve a spot.

It was no different right now. A bunch of children race each other to the well. The older child also had to look after the younger one to make sure they didn't fall into the well. The well did not have a windlass, so there was no hanging bucket to block the opening of the well.

Wells like this usually didn't have any safeguards. Some had a wooden board, and some have the openings left open just like that. Even if a full grown adult, let alone a child, could not be saved if they fell in,

When they headed out, the little child would run towards the well that was the closest to their home. If there were no differences in distance, then they would run towards the one with lesser people.

One of the family had three children. Two of the older ones were girls and the young one was a boy. One of the girls ran towards the well first, while the other girl looked after their younger brother. When she and her younger brother were at the opening of the well, they saw that their sister was standing there spacing out.

"Cao'er, what are you doing? Be careful, you might fall into the well." The older sister had to take care of her younger siblings. She looked at the tall grass that was spread apart near the opening of the well while anxiously asking her sister.

Cao'er arrived there first. Before the others made it there, she looked into the well first and she vaguely felt that there was actually more water in it and that the water level was much higher than the previous few days. There was white light reflecting of the water surface in the dark, which made her very certain of it.

Hearing her sister's question, she hurriedly said, "Sister, there's more water now. Hurry up and get some water so we can look at it."

The elder sister noticed that there was a different smell around the area, and it was very unpleasant smelling. Seeing that her sister was still standing there, she went closer and looked down. She also felt that the water was higher than before.

Half a bucket of water was pulled up, and the three siblings looked inside curiously.

"Eldest sister, second sister, this water is too muddy." After seeing it, the little brother said to the two sisters.

"Let's ignore that for now. Let's save this spot and wait for daddy to come fetch water." The eldest sister saw the water too, and although it was a bit muddy, it was still better than nothing.

At this time, other children also arrive here one after another. There were two boys who didn't need an adult to accompany them to fetch water because they were courageous enough. Even if it meant that their parents would give them a spanking even after the water was fetched, they still wanted to do more for the family.

They saw that there was people standing there already and tried to get them to hurry up. If a person wanted to get water first, they would usually have to have some quarrels. Today, the three siblings that were in front were really easy going and had moved away.

The two boys were twins and they were both ten years old this year. The others kids moved out of the way, so they did not bother to act courteous. They carried their barrel near the well, estimated the distance, and put their barrel down. Then, they lowered down the well bucket that was still dripping wet. They listened carefully to the movement inside the well.

When they felt that it was ready, and half of the well bucket was full, they worked together to pull hard on the rope. When the well bucket reached the top of the well, they tilted the well bucket, and poured the water into their own barrel.

The boys were not as attentive as the girls were, and they didn't even pay attention to whether the water was muddy or not. After they poured out of the water in the well bucket, they lowered it down again. After a few times, they finally filled up their family's wooden barrel that they brought with them. They worked together to drag the barrel home.

"What did I tell you? I asked you to save a spot, and yet you took your younger brother to fetch water again. If you two fell in, how would your mother and I live? I'll beat you to death, you disobedient child."

"Father, I'm the younger brother. Today's water level was higher than usual, so we went to get some more water first. What are you hitting me for?" The beaten child yelled. It didn't actually hurt. He experienced worse when he fought with the children in the village. It was mainly because he was scared of being disciplined by his parents, so when he was hit by them, he would cry.

The father put his raised hand down, and he looked at his other son. He couldn't help it. After so many years, as long as the two children stood together, he couldn't tell which one was the older one unless he could see their birthmarks. In particular, these two children usually played together, and they always wore the same clothes.

The other child saw his father's gaze sweep over, and he took two steps back, "Father, I'm the younger one. Older brother, don't push the blame onto me."

"Older brother, how can you talk nonsense without even batting your eyes? Fine, it's not like I never got beaten in your place before. I'll be the older one this time then." The other child immediately spoke.

The father patted his own forehead with his hand. "Don't talk anymore, both of you, just stop. You both are the older brothers, and I'm the younger brother. Later, you're not allowed to swap your clothes. When we get home, I'll tell your mom to figure out which one is which. Prepare yourself."

The father really had no other choice. He kept on hitting the wrong child, and his wife always complained to him about this. The child who has done the wrong thing laughed secretly, and the one who has done nothing wrong could only cry and feel wronged. He was not as good as his wife at distinguishing them from their voices, or just from taking a quick glance. She could immediately recognize who was who without ever making a mistake even if the two children swapped their clothes, or even if their faces were completely covered in mud.

The father wasn't actually planning to beat up his two sons too badly; he was just worried that the two boys will keep on going out to do things by themselves in the future. If there was some sort of danger and something happened to either one of them, he would never be able to move on for his entire life. At the same time, he felt that his two sons were sensible, and he knew that they were just trying to help him get water.

Looking down at the water in the bucket, he realized that it was a lot more turbid than usual. Only then did he remember what his son had said earlier about the water in the well being higher than usual. When he looked at the water, his eyes suddenly widened.

Of course he knew when a thing like this would happen: when the well has been recently dug, the water inside will push out the muddy sand, and the water level will rise, but it was muddy water. Several people would have to take turns to remove the water from the well until the bottom of the well can be seen and all of the muddy sand is gone. Once that is done, clear water will come out.

Of course, in addition to this, this would also happen if there was an earthquake, and then the water will also become very turbid. However, the chickens in the village were not jumping about and the dogs were not barking, so it was not possible that there was an earthquake. Could it be that someone dug the well again?

After he said that, the other people thought about it too. They didn't care about fetching water anymore, and they were getting ready to report this to the county seat. Before they had even left the village, they head other people talking about the same thing for other wells too.

"Then it is considered that there were auspicious omens everywhere in the village." The water level in most of the wells have risen up and there were so many thunder sounds, so that smart person called this a miracle.

Translator's Note

1. Water bucket/ well bucket

If you have a hard time picturing this explanation, please have a look at this diagram that I found on the internet; the concept is very similar.