Black Iron’s Glory

Chapter 81—Whale Meat and Tradition

In the winter of each year, Captain Otrowani drove the Red Sea sharks to the sea to whale and return to the sea. It is a rare carnival in Bailu Town. Although only students take annual leave, for most townspeople, this is also the day of cat winter. Snowy weather, it is difficult to find a job, let alone a distant door, so basically people who have nothing to do like to stay in the pub to drink and brag a day...

Therefore, the return of whales from the ocean fishing boats in the Red Sea has become the favorite watching activity for the audience. It is the same as the Niros giant crocodile that Crowd hunted. The roads along the quayside are full of people. Clever hawkers push their small carts to sell melon seeds and ale in the crowd...

Crowder and Verizro struggled to the front of the dock door, almost all sweating out. Fortunately, Uncle Peg, who was guarding the gate, was in front of the door and saw the two of them coming to open the door and let them enter the dock.

The Red Sea Shark Ocean Fishing Boat also parked next to the lakeside ice layer, about a hundred yards away from the dock. Several people on the ice were holding iron shovel in their hands and pounding the ice.

"What are they doing? Do you have to cut the ice and let the boat sail to the dock?" Claude asked Uncle Pegg.

At the winter holiday last year, the original owner of the body, Claude, and his three companions were drilling holes in the ice on the lake, and accidentally slipped the water. Fortunately, the three partners even grabbed his clothes in time and pulled him up. But Little Crowder was sick for half a year, and he was taken away by the traversed person...

"No, winter fishing boats cannot be parked at the dockside. It will freeze the fishing boat because the lake is frozen. It hurts the fishing boat." Uncle Peg replied: "The fishing boat can only be parked outside the ice, but also with The expansion of the ice layer moved toward the center of the lake to prevent it from being frozen. Now they are testing the thickness of the ice layer to see if they can bear the weight of a whale."

Whale... Claude turned to look at the two whales dragged behind the sharks of the Red Sea. If you don't say anything, the part of the light that comes out of the water can be seen. The body of these two whales seems to be longer than the ocean fishing boats. It is conceivable how big the two whales are. In addition, Claude found that it seems that the whales of this world are different from the whales seen in their past lives. Although they all look gray-blue, the two whales seem to have a long horn on their heads, and the head is protruding a large piece, but the long horn has been taken away, and there is only one big left in the head. hole.

The narwhal, Claude, remembered the picture of the whale depicted on the biology textbook. The textbook depicts seventeen types of whale species that have been found, both large and small. The narwhal is not too big compared to other whales. Compared with the ocean blue whale, it is more like a young child next to a strong man. But the paintings on the book are far less shocking than the ones that have been witnessed in reality. It is conceivable that the largest ocean blue whale in the book is so huge...

"There are two narwhals, and the Eriksson family is a bumper harvest this year..." next to Verricko said with some envy.

The description of the narwhal in the biology textbook is very detailed. Compared with other different kinds of whales, the narwhal is one of the more common edible whales. It is said that in the dark years, there were magicians who led the fishermen to hunt for whales to obtain alchemical test materials. By the way, whale meat was used to make up for the famine caused by natural disasters in the seal...

Legend has it that the unicorn of the head of a narwhal is the magic material that the magician needs when doing alchemy experiments. Although no book can prove it, but now that the magician has been driven out of the Faurea continent, the folks have been rumored that the unicorn's unicorn can make men revive the rumors, even the narwhal The horn has become the hottest and rare medicine on the market, and every captain of the whale-hunting whale watching the narwhal can make a fortune with this one-horned horn.

"Uncle Peg, you just said that those people are testing the thickness of the ice layer, are they going to drag the two narwhals to the shore?" Crowder asked.

Uncle Peg shook his head: "No, it is prepared to disassemble the two whales directly on the ice. There is no need to spend so much effort on the shore. There was only one head in the past. This year, luck was good, and two heads were caught. Those who watched Blessed are the buzz, they can buy a few pounds of whale meat at a very cheap price and go back to taste the fresh."

Oh, the original Eriksson family still has such a tradition. His father, Captain Otrowani, will bring back one or two captured whales to kill directly on the dock every year, and provide the onlookers with fresh, cheap whale meat. This is also one of the welfare of those around the audience. It’s no wonder that there are so many people watching the lively. The original Crowder is still a bit strange. Why do a lot of people around the audience bring an empty basket, and the situation is that they will be used to whale meat...

"Vero, Claude..." Eriksson appeared on the fishing boat. He saw Claude and Verricko, and excitedly took off the leather hat on his head and waved at the two. Also shouted the names of the two.

Claude and Verricko also waved at him, meaning to hear it, no need to yell like this. Then the two saw Eriksson grabbing a cable that fell down the boat. Like an agile monkey, he slid to the ice and stood up and patted his **** and ran to the shore.

"Hey, Claude, Vero, I want to die for you." Eriksson rushed over to give Claude and Verizro a tight hug, then looked around and was a little disappointed. : "Boa did not come?"

"He can't come," Claude said, and then told him that Bokal went to his aunt's house for the New Year this year and would not return to Bailu Town in January.

Verrick Roger carefully looked at him carefully, and finally relieved him and gave him a hug: "Congratulations on your returning safely, there is nothing less to congratulate on your body..."

This is the truth, hunting whales in the winter in this year is a very dangerous thing. It is normal for a novice to go to the sea for the first time. This is a cold weather, not paying attention to warmth and freezing. Second, it is a dangerous work to climb the mast and the net when chasing the whales. If you accidentally get frozen, these cables are damaged. To. In fact, it is not a big deal to break the roots. The serious thing is that when you come back to the sea, you have lost your arm or broken your legs...

Eriksson knocked down Vericko's chest with his fist: "What do you say, you are too small to swear at me, and don't want to think about who I am, the greatest captain of Bailu Town, Eriksson! ”

"Right, Claude, Vero, I told you that this time I went out to sea, I really opened my eyes. You must not imagine that the stormy waters in the winter will be so calm. The early morning sun from the east sea level Leap, the golden light of the whole sea. If it is not all around, I wonder if I am sailing on the Beringa Lake. To be honest, that moment is really beautiful, very spectacular..."

Eriksson spoke to Claude and Verizon about his thrilling story of wandering and hunting for whales in the sea for more than a month, starting from an hour ago, and talking about Crowder’s handing He stopped after a glass of water.

"Thank you, I am thirsty..." Eriksson took the water out of his mouth and found out that he didn't know when he followed Claude and Verizro into Uncle Peg's cabin, Clo. Deer handed him a drink cup from Uncle Peg.

"Of course you will be thirsty," Crowder looked at him helplessly. "You have sprayed the saliva between me and Vero. From the disembarkation to the present, I really doubt if you are dumb on the boat." People talk to people..."

"Oh, this, I don't see you happy, so I said a few more words..." Eriksson smirked and explained.

At this time, a whale had been dragged on the ice. Several sailors were holding a big axe and a large saw for sawing trees, and the whales were being smashed. Some people used a sled to carry a large piece of whale meat to the dock. Uncle Peg and Eriksson’s father, Captain Otru, and several other sailors have already placed a few old wooden tables on the dock door, and the table is a piece of split whale meat.

The spectators outside the gate of the pier also lined up the queues in a very orderly manner. They threw the money into a large wooden box on the original wooden table, and then took a piece of whale meat back from the table.

"How do you sell this whale meat?" Crowder asked.

"This is cheap, a five jin of Sunar." Eriksson replied.

It is indeed cheap, two pounds of Finney, that is, two cents a pound, one yuan five pounds. Recently, Claude was at home, and his mother often told him to go to the open-air market to buy food. He knew the price of Bailu Town very well.

The current beef is a pound of Sunar four Finney, the lamb is a pound of Sunar, the lamb is a pound of Sunar Bafenni, the pork is a pound of five Finney, and the wild pork is Bafen. a pound. The long-tailed squid is a pound of six-fensine. Other lake fish are not expensive. Basically, it is about four pounds from Sifenni to Bafenni.

Such a price for Mr. Morssan's salary of a Riazor day, as long as five or six Sunar can make the family eat three meals a day. But for the townspeople who earned one or two silver talers in January, it is good to eat one or two cows and mutton a week. They choose to buy cheaper lake fish.

According to experts, the meat quality of the narwhal is comparable to beef, whether it is nutrition or taste. Therefore, it is very cost-effective to buy a pound of whale meat only at the price of two Finneys. Even the poorest people, as long as they are willing to work hard to earn two Finneys is very simple, so it is not difficult to eat whale meat.

Eriksson’s father, Captain Otru, has personally dissected and divided a piece of whale meat on the original wooden table in front of the dock gate. Uncle Peg stood next to him, simply weighing the whale meat and handing it over to those who paid for it.

Many people threw a Sunar in a large wooden box, then smashed a five-pound whale meat, and then said a few words of compliment to Captain Otulani.

Captain Otuluni smiled and listened to the words of thank you, while quickly splitting a piece of whale meat with a short knife in his hand.

Verricko pushed Pushrode and pointed to the whale meat split by Captain Otru. Crowder noticed that Eriksson’s father’s whale meat pieces were almost the same size, and Uncle Peg’s weight was roughly the same: “Five pounds or two, you take it...”

Eriksson is not surprised at this: "What's amazing about this, it's been a good time to divide the fish on the boat for twenty years, and I've been very familiar with it. I will be so good in the future..."

"Why is your father cutting a piece of five pounds, and those who buy it will take a piece, will they not buy more?" Claude is a bit strange, now the weather is cold, snow and ice, these whale meat Blocks can be saved for a while. How do you buy people who don't ask for more? Especially so cheap...

"They didn't dare..." Eriksson said proudly. It is the old tradition of the Otto Rooney family that caught whales in the winter every year. Originally the grandfather of Eriksson and the old captain of a whaling ship, there was no Shark in the Red Sea at that time, but a smaller whaling ship. Every time you go to sea, whaling is like a life-and-death adventure. There are not a few sailors in order to catch whales.

Every time Eriksson’s grandfather dragged a whale back, all he wanted was to distribute the whale meat to the families of the dead and injured sailors so that they could live a good year. Only the extra whale meat will be sold to the poor in the town, and the price is very low.

When I arrived at Eriksson’s father, with the Red Sea’s shark’s ocean fishing boat, whaling was no longer so dangerous. The family members of the older generation who died and injured sailors have also grown up. If they are given free of charge to their whale meat, they become like pity. Some self-respecting people refuse to accept it. They would rather pay for it than other poor people.

Therefore, the old tradition of the Eriksson family has also changed, and the free meat has become a cheap meat. No one wants to buy more, and some want to wholesale whale meat for profit, but all have been rejected by Captain Otuluni. A family can only buy five pounds, which is quantitative. The old sailors at the entrance to the dock are very clear, who bought the family and did not buy it at a glance, so no one will think about the cheapness of the Otuluni family tradition at this time.