Chapter 49: Basket Weaving
It was still early after eating, and the tribesmen sat together and laughed. Shen Xiaoxiao picked some branches and put them at the entrance of the cave to sit on, then took the rattan, four rattans each, and then arranged the four rattans into a rice shape, and took another rattan to press four and pick four, and then connected another one after weaving one. The method of connecting rattan is also very simple, insert the rattan into the already woven rattan, and start weaving upwards after weaving about 30 centimeters, twisting two rattans to weave, and at the same time divide the four-bone rattan into two strands, and the original eight strands of rattan become sixteen strands.
Put one rattan at the bottom and one at the top, twist the top one down and pick the two strands up, twist the rattan originally at the bottom to the top, and then repeat this action, twist the top rattan to the bottom, and the bottom rattan to the top, always pressing the two strands of rattan in the middle.
Shen Xiaoxiao's fingers shuttled quickly between the rattans, and soon the prototype of a basket had already appeared. At this time, almost all the people in the tribe had returned to the cave. When they first saw Shen Xiaoxiao weaving rattan, they gathered around curiously, but they were all confused and didn't know what she was doing. They wanted to ask, but they stopped talking when they saw Shen Xiaoxiao's serious expression. After watching for a while, they felt bored and dispersed.
Seeing Xiao Yan watching seriously, Shen Xiaoxiao smiled and said, "Why don't you learn to weave too."
"Yeah." Xiao Yan nodded, and then put the prepared rattan in front of her, as if he had planned it for a long time. Shen Xiaoxiao laughed dumbly. This fool, if you want to learn, why don't you just say it directly.
Shen Xiaoxiao explained to him carefully, and gave him a head to let him weave it himself, and then started to weave the one in her hand. When she was weaving, she would often look up to see how Xiao Yan was weaving, and when she saw that there was no problem, she lowered her head and continued the work in her hands.
She braided about 20 centimeters, and Xiao Yan also braided the bottom. Then she began to tell him how to braid the basket body, and braided the beginning of the body for him. After watching him braid two circles, she continued to braid hers. Although Xiao Yan's movements were unfamiliar, he did not make any mistakes. He gradually got the hang of it. Although he was not as fast as Shen Xiaoxiao, he was steady and did not make any mistakes.
The moon was on the branches. Except for the occasional animal calls, the rest was the sound of them braiding rattan. Shen Xiaoxiao twisted her neck, put the basket on the ground to check the height, and looked at the moonlight again, and decided to finish. She took a strand of the remaining tail and pressed it down to the side, and then repeated the operation to press the strand next to it to the side, and pressed the first strand of rattan underneath, and repeated the action to thread the last strand.
Seeing that there was still a little left, she braided a circle around the outside in the way of braiding a ponytail, and finally put away the remaining little bit, so as to save the trouble of cutting it off. After all, there were no scissors now, and it would be troublesome to cut it off.
Then she wove the rattan that was expected to be used as a handle and made it into a handle. She originally wanted to make it into a backpack, but she was in a hurry to use it. If she wanted to make a backpack, she needed to weave it higher. She was afraid that she would not be able to weave it in time for tomorrow, so she made it into a handle. In this way, she could carry it with her shoulders. If there were few, she could still carry it. It was just a little bigger, but not as high as the backpack.
After she finished the handle, she looked at Xiao Yan and saw that his movements were becoming more and more skillful. She couldn't help but smile. The height of his weaving was almost the same as hers. Shen Xiaoxiao took over the weaving in the moonlight. She didn't know the time, but they had been weaving for a long time. Usually, she would have gone to bed at this time. And she had to go into the mountains tomorrow, so she had to rest early.
Finally, Shen Xiaoxiao began to tell him how to finish it, and she also asked him to do it. Even the handle was done by her. Looking at the two baskets, Shen Xiaoxiao smiled with satisfaction.
It was probably ten or eleven o'clock now. Although she was busy for a long time, the result was still very good. She put the things away, closed the door, and rested.
The next day, when they got up, they told the witch doctor that Xiao Yan would not go hunting with them. The witch doctor just sighed and said nothing more. Dali and the others wanted to say something, but they thought that they had been separated now, so they stopped talking. After all, they couldn't ask Xiao Yan to help them hunt without him, and wait until winter to starve.
Xiao Yan didn't know what they were thinking. After eating some food, he went to the river with Shen Xiaoxiao, dug soil and mud. Shen Xiaoxiao taught him how to roll mud strips. She began to roll them up in circles. The water tank she made was small at the bottom, large in the middle, and the mouth of the tank was recycled.
They still had to go into the mountains. She didn't roll it very big, only to the middle of the thigh. After the water tank was made, she made a lid, which was concave in the middle and slightly convex on both sides. There were still some mud strips left, so she made a plate.
Xiao Yan was full of surprise, thinking that this was the pot that Xiaoxiao had mentioned before, but weren't these all mud? But he also knew that Shen Xiaoxiao would not do useless work, so he suppressed the doubts in his heart.
Shen Xiaoxiao looked at the pot she made yesterday, and Xiao Yan followed her and asked, "Can these be used after they are baked?"
"Yes, if they are not cracked, they can be used after they are baked."
"But isn't this all mud?" Xiao Yan couldn't help his curiosity. Wouldn't his mouth be full of dirt when he ate things cooked with mud?
"Yes, but it won't be after it is baked." Shen Xiaoxiao could see that Xiao Yan was still very confused, but she didn't know how to explain it to him for a while.
"Burning it directly with firewood?"
"Yes." After drying it, she would burn it directly with firewood. It was because she didn't want to waste firewood that she rushed out another jar today, so that they could burn it together. Otherwise, she would be on the mountain with Xiao Yan now.
The two took the baskets they had woven yesterday and went up the mountain. Their purpose was also very clear, to pick persimmons.
Originally, Shen Xiaoxiao wanted to pick chestnuts, but she thought that persimmons would rot after a long time, so she picked persimmons first. Although they walked very fast, Shen Xiaoxiao saw a few mushrooms with her sharp eyes, thinking that she would pick some and dry them to eat, or cook them directly into soup.
The two arrived at the place where they picked persimmons last time. Xiao Yan put the basket below and started climbing the tree. After reaching the tree, he broke the branches and threw them down. Shen Xiaoxiao was frightened, fearing that he would fall down if he could not stand steadily.
As for her breaking the persimmon branches, she didn't think it was a big deal. First, because the persimmon tree was lush and leafy, and Xiao Yan broke small branches, so it didn't hurt the tree. Second, it was because of the environment. If they took such a large basket up there, it would be troublesome to get it down. Another reason was that the persimmon tree needed to be pruned so that the older persimmons would be good.
After Xiao Yan threw the branches down, she picked them up and put them in the basket. It must be said that this persimmon tree has a lot of fruits. There are more than a dozen persimmons hanging on each branch. Soon she filled half of the basket.
Xiao Yan kept throwing branches down, and soon the ground was full of branches. Shen Xiaoxiao put the branches that had been picked aside, and soon she filled two baskets. She asked Xiao Yan to come down first, and they took them back to the tribe.
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