The King of Cows

By Wang Zu

The second day after I arrived at the ranch in Xinjiang, a herdsman invited me to watch the migration of cattle and sheep from Hemu Village in the early morning. I asked him what was so special about their cattle. He smiled mysteriously, “You will know when you see them.”

I followed him to the mountain pass and saw a large herd of cattle and sheep walking through. A large number of cattle and sheep were raised here. When the sheep passed us, he pointed to the cattle and said, “Look at that cow.” I looked to where he pointed and was amazed by a huge cow, which was almost one head taller than the other cows. With a pair of horns held high towards the sky, it walked steadily with its strong hoofs. The big body seemed very heavy, but it managed to maintain its balance. Its strong hoofs shook the land.

“This is the king of the cows,” The herdsman explained. I asked whether there were any other cows that big in Altay Prefecture. He grinned and said, “Maybe, but haven’t been born yet.” Later, he told me that this cow was related to many amazing stories. It once lost its way and didn’t come home for weeks. On a snowy day, when its owner was out searching, it came back and rushed towards his owner. The cow was gasping heavily when it stopped in front of the owner. On his back there was a wolf with green eyes. The panicked wolf jumped off from its back and tried to escape from the ranch. The herdsmen cornered the wolf and killed it. It turned out that the cow met a pack of wolves on its way back to the ranch, and one wolf jumped on its back and tried to bite its neck. Terrified by the attack, the cow ran wildly. It ran so quickly that the wolf couldn’t jump off, and could only grab its back. That’s how it took the wolf back to the ranch.

All the herdsmen were amazed by the story and wanted to attribute the killing of the wolf to the cow. It is stated in the national regulation that whoever kills a wolf in a ranch will be rewarded with a sheep. But what award should be given to the cow? Finally, they decided to tie a scarf around its neck as a symbol of its heroic behavior. However, the cow didn’t like the scarf and took it off by rubbing a tree. The herdsmen tried to tie it again, but it ran away immediately. Since then, nobody has been able to come close to the cow again.

(FromThe Garden of God, Baihuazhou Literature and Art Publishing House. Translation: Li Li)

我到牧場的第二天，一位牧民一大早就來找我，對我說，走，看牛去，有禾木村的牛羊轉場正經過這里呢。我問他，他們的牛有什么特別的嗎？他笑一笑說，你去了就知道了。

我隨他到了山口，果然見一大群牛羊正經過山谷，禾木村的牛多，幾乎和羊群不相上下。等羊群走過去后，他突然用手一指后面的牛群說，看，那頭牛。我順著他所指的方向一看，好家伙，牛群中有一頭牛整整比別的牛高出一個頭，長長的角高揚著，似乎要伸上天去。它行走的姿勢更是和別的牛不一樣，四蹄邁得很穩健，龐大的身軀似有些沉重，卻不失重心。它的蹄子一下一下穩穩地踩下，似乎把大地踩得在顫抖。

它是牛王。那位牧民感嘆一聲。我問他，阿爾泰還有沒有像這樣大的牛？他嘿嘿一笑說，有，但還在它媽媽的肚子里。后來，他告訴我，這頭牛留下了很多好聽的故事。有一次，它在外面十幾天未回，天突然下雪了，主人正要去找它，卻見它飛奔著跑了回來。它并不到牛群中去，而是直接跑到主人跟前。主人見它跑得氣喘吁吁，再往它背上一看，有一雙綠綠的眼睛——啊，狼！它背上馱著一只狼。狼驚恐地從牛背上跳下，試圖逃出牧場，但牧場上人多，很快就把狼圍住打死了。原來，這頭牛在返回牧場的途中遇到一群狼，一只狼跳上它的背試圖咬它的脖子，它撒開四蹄就跑，狼在它快速的奔跑中既不敢跳下，也咬不著它的脖子，只好緊緊趴在它背上，它就把狼一直馱到了牧區。

牧民們覺得它真厲害，把一只狼馱到了喪命之地。人們將消滅了一只狼的功勞歸于那頭牛。國家有規定，在牧區打死一只狼可獎勵一只羊，但給牛獎勵什么呢？后來人們想了一個辦法，把一塊布綁到它脖子上去，誰見了便都會知道，它是一頭有功的牛。但它不喜歡那塊布，跑到一棵樹跟前使勁把布蹭了下去。人們又去給它掛，它一見就跑，人們再也沒有辦法接近。

（摘自《神的自留地》百花洲文藝出版社）