There is a saying in the countryside that "the old man shaved his tail, married his daughter-in-law and forgot his mother." How to understand?

We have such a local jingle: "Flower magpie, long tail, married daughter-in-law and forgot mother;" The old lady threw it into the ravine and the daughter-in-law put it on the kang; Close the door, block the window and sneak out for noodle soup. "When I was a child, I often listened to my grandmother chanting. Although I didn't understand what grandma told me at that time, I knew what kind of bird the flower magpie was. This bird is highly similar to magpie, but it is not magpie, but smaller than magpie. The belly feathers are gray, the wings and tail feathers are light blue, and the top of the head is black. In our local area, it is called mountain crow, also called grey magpie, tit, mountain magpie, blue magpie and so on. Belong to the same family as magpies and the same family as crows.

I remember listening to my grandmother recite this ballad to me when I was a child. I naively told my grandmother that I didn't want a daughter-in-law or an adoptive mother. Grandma smiled! When I grow up, I understand the meaning of grandma's smile, which contains a kind of helplessness to life. I also know that my grandmother taught me from an early age not to forget my parents' kindness when I grow up. There is a problem in this. I am as curious as anyone else. Why use this bird as a metaphor? Don't forget the kindness of your parents. Isn't it compared with other birds?

Later, I learned about this kind of bird and found that it belongs to resident birds. Locals can see and observe it all year round. After it snows in winter, like sparrows, they often look around the farm yard for food sources. They mainly eat insects and larvae of Hemiptera, stinkbug, Coleoptera, Flammulina velutipes, Goldilocks, Lepidoptera moths, dead leaf moths, Noctuidae, Hymenoptera ants, and also eat fruits and seeds of some trees and shrubs. Look, this bird is a veritable beneficial bird, not a pest. Later, after understanding, I discovered a secret of this bird: during the brooding period of this bird, in order to keep the young bird healthy and the nest clean, when the young bird excretes, the mother bird usually catches the young bird's excrement with her mouth and throws it under the tree outside the nest.

After understanding the behavior of this kind of bird to raise young offspring, I immediately thought, how easy is it for everyone's parents to raise their children with a handful of excrement and urine? It can be seen that some people have discovered the unique brooding characteristics of this bird before, and those who have the heart will choose them as metaphors to show their parents' gratitude to their children! It's not that this kind of bird is bad, so don't get me wrong. According to the nature of birds, when they grow up and fly, they will find their own "life", and they will not miss their parents, let alone feed their mothers. Although there is a story of crow feeding back, scientific research has found that crows (Corvidae) are very clever, and crow feeding back is just a story. They have not evolved such a high IQ, and their conscious offspring will not take care of the previous generation.

This rural proverb, based on the characteristics of the former people's careful brooding, long tail and flying away from the mother bird in the morning and evening, formed an old saying and was compiled into a "folk song" and handed down. Used to remind people, married, don't just care about their own happy life, forget the mother's parenting! Because people belong to the existence of advanced wisdom, so don't forget the grace of parenting, can't treat parents like birds and beasts?