Polly Li

"If you point to the moon with your hand, your ears will be cut off!"

Out of curiosity, I often pointed to the moon secretly, because my grandmother often said to me: "If you point to the moon with your hand, your ears will be cut off!" Whenever I do that, I would be frightened and couldn't sleep, being afraid that my ears were gone the next day.

Later, I learned that the ancients compared the moon to a beauty, who is holy and inviolable, let alone referring to her impolitely. The moon is often curved like a sickle, which is why it is said that whose ear will be cut off.

When we grow up, knowing that it couldn't happen. However, this story often reminds us that pointing to someone is rude. We must respect nature and respect others.

"The watermelon seeds you swallow will sprout in your stomach!"

We often gobble up the sweet, juicy and delicious fruit--watermelon, sometimes, even swallow a few watermelon seeds accidentally. I would get nervous and scared at that moment, for I was told by the adult that "watermelon seeds will sprout if you swallow them!".

For a long time after that, I always worried about where the watermelon seeds would grow out from parts of my body, the top of my head, or my mouth? When will I die?

However, I learned why adults frighten children in that way years later, for kids’ digestive system is fragile, and eating too many watermelon seeds will cause indigestion rather than germination. Now I still use this statement to joke with my friends.

"Hold your Chin while eating, then the thunder comes!"

Many people absolutely have the same experience as me. When I was a child, I would put my elbows on the table, and hold my chin while eating food I didn't like. My parent would warn me, "Hold your Chin while eating, then the thunder will punish you!" I consciously straightened my back obediently, because I was afraid of thunder and lightning.

As I growing up, I found the reason for my parents’ warnning. It is an impolite behaviour to hold one's Chin while eating, besides, "chin" and "calamity" are homophonic in Chinese pronunciation, which means bad luck.

In short, I developed a good and elegant habit because of my parent’s frightening, right?

"You won't grow taller if you hold umbrellas indoors!"

Every time I played with an umbrella in the house with my friends, my parents would say, "You won't grow taller if you hold umbrellas indoors!". The biggest dream of kids was to grow taller. I could only obediently put down the umbrella and was afraid of not growing taller. 

When I grew up, I realized the real reason for that, the umbrellas were oil-paper umbrellas, made of bamboo at that time. It had complicated craftsmanship and was pretty scarce, regarded as a collectible that symbolized one’s identity and status. However, it was extraordinarily fragile. Therefore, adults scared us to prevent from naughty children. This statement still affects me and I still believe it. Maybe my height was already sealed by the umbrella?

"Water ghosts catch you when you play with water!"

Undoubtedly, playing with water is one of children's favorite pastimes. In order to prevent us from drowning, our parents would scare us and told us that there is a powerful water ghost with red-eyed in the river. 

Water ghosts usually refer to those ghosts who died accidentally in the water or people who threw themselves into the river. In order to be reincarnated, they try to drowning you by entangling you, then dragging you into the water. Later I knew that water ghosts were fictional. 

In fact, those accidents are caused by river plants or animals, which can entangle kids' feet. Even so, the inexplicable fear arises in my heart whenever I pass by ponds or rivers, fearing that the ghost will suddenly appear and pull me down from the dam.

"Eat while lying down, then your will turn into a snake!"

When I was a kid, I liked to go to the field and break two corncobs casually, then ran back to the house and lay on the bed and eat them. It’s really happy for me to lie comfortably and enjoy sweet corn. At this time, my grandmother would say to me: "Be careful, you will turn into a snake!" I jumped out of bed with a jerk, and I really believed that was true. Obviously, one of the most frightful animals for kids is the slippery snake. I haven't eaten in bed since then.

I learned that eating while lying down and you will turn into a snake is fake many years late, but actually it will cause indigestion and even choking, which is very dangerous for kids. Currently, although I know it is nonsense, it does leave an indelible shadow in my heart.