What is a birch basket? What is the magical function of birch bark basket?

It is said that a long time ago, there was a small village with a dozen families in Hualiangou, a certain place in the northeast, and all the people living here made a living by hunting. Every time they come back from hunting, they give the mountain products they have picked and the prey they have hit to a respected old tribal leader in the village, who will distribute these things equally to everyone. Therefore, people living here live a harmonious and carefree life.

however, the good times did not last long. One year, an official led the troops to come here. He took a fancy to this place at a glance and just occupied the small village. Since then, people in the village have been forced to work for the officials. People's quiet and serene days are getting more and more difficult, but that official is getting richer and richer, buying land and building houses, spending a lot of money all day.

one day, two brothers in the village were forced to go up the mountain to hunt for the officer. When the sun was going down, the two brothers went back after hunting, sat under a big tree and took out dry food just to eat. Suddenly, they found an old man with a white beard stumbling in the Woods. The old man was carrying a birch basket on his back, his clothes were worn out, he was stretched out, and he was shivering with cold. He went to the two brothers and fell down. The kind brothers hurried forward, shouting and rubbing their hearts for the old man. After a while, the old man woke up, opened his eyes with difficulty and said, kind children, I haven't eaten for three days and nights. You saved me, but I have nothing to eat, and I will still freeze to death and starve to death.

Without saying anything, the two brothers took off their clothes, put them on the old man's body, and then delivered their dry food to the old man's hand. The old man was so hungry that he didn't mention it. He ate the dry food in a few bites.

The next day, the two brothers met the old man again when they went hunting in the mountains. When the old man saw them, he said, "Son, please help people to the end, and give me another bite to eat. The two brothers sympathized with him very much, so they took the dry food to the old man.".

"Grandpa, where are you from? What are you doing here? " The brothers asked. The old man said, "I have come from far away to find my son." As he spoke, the old man finished the dry food in three bites, so he stared at the roe deer and pheasant on the shoulders of the two brothers and said, "Son, I have a big appetite. Please give me some roe deer meat." Hearing this, the two brothers were somewhat embarrassed, thinking that these prey were for the official master, and they would be whipped if they failed to hand in their prey. But when they looked at the old man's unbearable hunger, they immediately decided to give half of their prey to the old man. As a result, I got a whip from the cruel official when I went back.

in this way, they meet the old man every day and give him dry food every day. On the ninth day, the old man took off the birch basket on his back and said, "Good boy, I should go. There is nothing to repay you. I will leave this small basket to you, which may be of some use in the future. " After that, the old man disappeared.

When the two brothers came home from the mountain, because they had distributed their rations to the elderly for several days, they never had enough to eat, and their stomachs were growling. But when they opened the rice cupboard, there was not even a grain of rice, so the two brothers had to go to bed hungry.

The next morning, before they got up, they smelled a delicious smell of rice. When they got up, they lifted the pot. Wow! The pot was steaming with rice and cake, and the two brothers were very happy and had a delicious meal. Since then, there has been rice and cake in their pot every day, but I just don't know where it came from.

In order to find out the reason, on this day, the two brothers didn't go far. When they saw that the chimney at home began to smoke again, they sneaked home and hid outside the window to secretly look inside. The two brothers were surprised. It turns out that there are three beautiful girls cooking in the room. Soon after the meal was ready, the three girls jumped lightly and turned into three strands of smoke and got into the birch basket on the wall. Only then did the two brothers know that the secret was in the birch basket that the old man with white beard gave them. This birch basket turned out to be a treasure. From then on, they worshipped the birch basket like a god.

It's another cold winter, and the people living in the village are getting harder and harder under the extortion of the official. One night, my brother said to his younger brother, "Brother, we have a good life, and we don't worry about food and clothing, but the villagers are still poor. Why don't we pray for birch baskets so that everyone can have food every day like us!" The younger brother agreed very much and said with a big smile, "Good." So, the two brothers knelt down at the bottom of the birch basket and sincerely prayed for their wishes, hoping that all the people in the village could eat enough.

It's amazing. The next day, when the villagers in the village opened their rice pots, there were all rice and cakes in them. Everyone was surprised and happy, and couldn't tell what was going on. The respected tribal leader knew the ins and outs of the matter. He told people that they should thank the two brothers, who did good deeds and touched God.

The news that the two brothers got a magical birch basket soon reached the ears of the official. When the greedy official master heard this, he immediately led the people to the two brothers' broken thatched cottage. The official said hypocritically, "I'm going to entertain you two brothers today. You have got a treasure for me and deserve a reward!" "

When the brothers heard this, their faces turned green with anger. They knew in their hearts that they were obviously robbing the birch basket, but they could not afford to offend the official, so they had to watch helplessly as the birch basket was snatched away by the official.

Master Guan offered the stolen Birch Basket in the lobby, kowtowing and smiling, shouting, "Birch Basket, Birch Basket, I don't want meat or wine, only four baskets of gold and silver." Not long after, sure enough, four baskets of glittering and bright gold and silver miraculously appeared in front of the corrupt official.

Master Guan was so happy that he walked around four baskets of gold and silver. At this time, he thought, I have such a magical birch basket, why not make full use of it to fulfill my wish? So he gave birth to another evil thought, and sang loudly in his mouth: "Birch basket, Birch basket, three beautiful women belong to me, and prosperity will last too long."

As soon as his voice fell, three red salamanders suddenly jumped out of the birch basket and rushed at the head of the official. In an instant, the fire burned half the sky red. The official who did all the bad things finally got what he deserved. He was burned alive by the fire, and his property was burned to pieces. Only the birch basket and four baskets of gold and silver were not hurt by the fire. The two brothers distributed the gold and silver to the villagers, and the birch basket continued to benefit everyone. People lived and worked in peace and contentment and lived a good life.