Why is it said, "Don't touch the soft-shell turtles going up the mountain, and the pheasants coming down the mountain?" What's the significance?

Many people have lived in cities since childhood. When they go to rural areas and other places to play, they will hear many local people say some colloquialisms to us. Sometimes we don’t know what they mean, such as "Go up the mountain." Soft-shelled turtles and pheasants cannot be touched." Many people may be confused. What does this mean? Why can't they be touched? What will happen if they are touched? So today let’s talk about, what does “You can’t touch turtles going up the mountain, but you can’t touch the pheasants coming down the mountain”? Does it make sense? May as well understand.

Why can’t we catch turtles that go up the mountain? In fact, this has something to do with the traditional Chinese culture. I believe everyone is familiar with the old saying, "A tortoise of a thousand years, a tortoise of ten thousand years." A tortoise that can live for a thousand years is already more spiritual. Turtles are regarded as mythical beasts in ancient culture. So turtles and turtles are mentioned together. It is enough to show that turtles are also spiritual. Turtles are amphibians, but most of the time they are close to water sources, and there are relatively few water sources in the mountains. Therefore, people regard turtles going up the mountain as an unlucky symbol.

And we all know that turtles are amphibious, and they spend most of their time in the water and rarely come to the shore. If they come ashore, there must be a last resort reason, which is to lay eggs. Although the turtles are easy to catch at this time, the turtles caught at this time are in a nest, not just one. Many soft-shell turtles are eaten by people before they are born in the mother's belly. Therefore, many people do not catch soft-shell turtles in this situation. In fact, they regard it as doing good deeds for themselves.

We cannot touch pheasants when we go down the mountain. This is actually for our own safety. We all know that pheasants are different from domestic chickens in that although they cannot fly, their wings can glide very far. The terrain of going down the mountain is even more suitable for pheasants, but it is a bit difficult for people. It is said that it is easier to go up the mountain than to go down the mountain. If you do see a pheasant, don't chase it, because if you don't pay attention, you will easily fall. Don't let the pheasant die by then. If you succeed in catching it, you will hurt yourself instead, which is not worth it.

''Don't reach out when the turtle comes ashore, and don't chase the pheasant down the mountain! ''Although this sentence is an exhortation to people's behavior, it also contains deep wisdom about how to behave in the world: Don't covet immediate benefits and give up long-term benefits; if you can't see benefits, ignore personal safety. Therefore, the wise sayings left to us by our ancestors through experience and lessons are the accumulation of wisdom that has been passed down by Chinese civilization for thousands of years.