The old man and the Swift

A long time ago, there was a hilly village, where water and grass are abundant, mist all the year round, the villagers are living by planting rice, although the soil here is fertile, the crops grow happily, but here is also very attract locusts patronize, some years, locusts fly, will eat the crops destroyed, the villagers suffer.

In order to solve the plague of locusts, an old man brought some swifts from a long distance. The old man built a nest for them in the eaves of his house, hoping that they would live there for a long time. The swifts had just come here, and they liked it very much, because it was an ideal place to live because of its pleasant climate and many flying insects. Soon, a few years, that a few swift has brought more companions settled here, the old man just hope the arrival of swifts can drive away the locusts, but the local villagers are very don't like the arrival of swifts, they think swift will bring floods, and they will nest in the home, to the villagers under the nest is dung, this let the villagers unbearable, So every family has built the nest on the eaves of the swift destroyed, they tried to drive the swift away.

Unable to stop the will of the villagers, the old man had to take in the poor young swallows, and when the villagers had driven all the swifts away, the locusts came and ate up most of their crops. No one in the village would listen to the old man's explanation that the swifts would prevent the disaster, so the only one in the village with swifts was the old man who lived up high.

In order to let everyone accept the arrival of the swifts, it is necessary to dispel the rumor that the swifts are the messengers of the flood, so the old man began to train the pair of swifts at home.

Because the village in a hilly land, so the weather is unpredictable, foggy and rainy, often without warning to storm, it is not convenient for the villagers drying rice, many villagers is timely because there is no recovery in rice, green coffees which are heavy rain washed away, there is a rainstorm and then sprout inedible, for those hard years of villagers is a disaster.

The old man's rice has never been drenched in a rainstorm.

The villagers thought it was a wonderful thing. Have to ask the old man, the old man told them, this is the credit of swifts, they are not what flood messenger, on the contrary, they are weather forecasters, is to bring a lot of help to the bird of the spirit.

Make the old man to persuade people to accept the arrival of swifts, gradually, some people began to accept the swift in their own homes nest, they all use the old man calls for swift translation and reasonable arrangement of time to bask in the valley, and after that, they don't have to worry about rice valley field will be washed away, as more and more people begin to accept the swift is auspicious bird, The village was full of swifts.

Locusts came each year, is also the most busy time, swift they prey on locust, protect the crops, is the patron saint of the crops, the last place of the village became a harvest, people also gradually to swift as elves to guard, before the people's state of all love like swift impending, some villagers will also have their own children named swallow, gradually, the traditional spread across the country, Every family spontaneously came to guard the growth of the swallow, they all think that the swallow flying into the house will bring good luck and auspicousness to the family, no one will believe that the swallow is the messenger of the flood, of course, all this is thanks to the old man who was kind to the swallow and has foresight.