薛涛+夏盛

从来到稻田的第一天开始，稻草人就一动不动站在稻田里。鸟雀们目瞪口呆：这个家伙来历不明，看上去像一捆稻草。

稻草人自言自语：“稻田很美，真的很美。”

稻草人希望鸟雀们能听见这句话，然后检点自己的行为，可是鸟雀听不见。秋风漫过稻田，稻草人顺势挥手，赶走了啄食稻穗的鸟群。

稻草人说：“鸟群在天上的时候，天空美了鸟也美了。鸟群在稻田里啄稻穗的时候不美。”

有一天，稻草人深情地望着主人在稻田里劳作。稻草人便说：“主人爱稻田，我更爱。”

稻田旁有一棵白杨树，一只乌鸦常常光顾这里。乌鸦清楚，这棵树不适合修建鸟巢，是稻田旁边的炊烟吸引了他。炊烟一缕，从瓦房的烟囱口升起来。他便早早落在白杨树上，痴迷地望着炊烟。炊烟升到更高的地方便散了淡了，融入了蓝天，蓝天更蓝了。这个时刻，乌鸦往往会飞向高空，去炊烟消散的地方寻找它的踪迹。飞翔、落下；落下、飞翔……炊烟已了无痕迹，寻找没有结果，乌鸦却乐此不疲。他迷恋过程。

The scarecrow stood in the rice paddy， motionless all day and every day since he arrived. This caused quite a stir among the sparrows； the guy seemed to come from nowhere. He looks like a bunch of straw！

The scarecrow murmured to himself， “Beautiful！ The rice field is beautiful！”

The scarecrow hoped the sparrows could hear him and stay away from the paddy. But the sparrows did not hear him. When the autumn wind blew over the paddy field， the scarecrow waved his hands and drove away the sparrows pecking the ears of rice.

The scarecrow said， “When the birds are in the sky， the sky is beautiful and so are the birds； when the birds are in the paddy field pecking rice， they are not beautiful.”

One day， he watched his owner working in the paddy field and said， “My owner loves this rice field and so do I.”

A poplar tree grows beside the paddy field. A crow was a constant visitor. The crow knew clearly that the poplar tree was not a good place to build a nest on； what attracted him was the smoke from the kitchen chimney. A plume of smoke rose from the chimney of the tile-roofed house. The crow had been resting on the poplar tree and now he was obsessed with the sight. The smoke dispersed as it was rising， and when it disappeared into the sky， the sky was bluer. The crow then flew high up in the sky to follow the smoke. He flew up， landed， then flew up again. The smoke was not there； it was a fruitless pursuit. But the crow was infatuated with this and he did it repeatedly.

稻草人不在意身邊的白杨树，更不在意乌鸦的折腾。他的眼里只有稻田。

稻草人第一百零一次赶走了试图靠近稻田的鸟群。

“我是稻田的主人……”稻草人当然是说给自己听的，以便让自己牢记职责。

“你不是，田里的那个老人才是主人。”乌鸦的声音不算好听，却洪亮。

乌鸦又早早来了，他站在树枝上静候傍晚的炊烟。今天，他是想让稻草人知道他的存在，才跟这个目中无人的草人搭茬儿。乌鸦是个例外，他能听见稻草人心里发出的声音。