Desert Rites, & Desert Hunters

The rabbit-hawks come in late summer, around the time of Bailu, or White Dew, when the desert sand yellows, the grass grows tall, and the rabbits are plump.

After a restive summer, they swoop down from the Qilian Mountains and wheel toward the Tengger Desert in Gansu.

Laoshun set his snare on the dry Dasha River bed.

……

The wolf sauntered at a leisurely pace. Mengzi mistook it for a wolfhound at first, and he knew that dogs passing down a road did not bite.

The lonely white sun hung in the sky, more like a moon. Bright light burst through a cluster of clouds suspended beneath the sun, casting fleeting shadows on ground that shone one minute and darkened the next. The children shouted, “Grandpa Sun is visiting villages.”

……