大耳怪 伸开耳朵当被盖

        《天方夜谭》中的《赛义夫和巴迪雅的故事》故事说，赛义夫出海去寻找自己的梦中情人呢巴迪雅，先来到中国，后来到印度，途径一座荒岛，荒岛上住着大耳怪：
       在汪洋大海中，辨不清方向，找不到航向，只得把希望、生命寄托给主。漂流一个月后，又发现另一个海岛，他们便靠岸登陆。岛上也长着各种果树，他们争相摘果子充饥。他们偶尔发现不远的路上有什么东西凸了出来，便走过去，仔细一瞧，才知是一个动物横卧在地上，形状奇丑，像一根银柱。有一个护卫人员，抬脚踢了它一脚。它突然摇身一下子爬起来，凶狠地将那个护卫一把抓住，带着他从从容容地走进森林。他们这才明白，那个动物，原来是一个怪人，他长着高低不平的头颅和两只长长的眼睛。这个怪人在睡觉，他把一只大耳朵铺在地上当枕头，另一只耳朵盖着头，这样一来真不知道它是什么东西。
       这个印度洋荒岛上的大耳人可以把耳朵垫在头下当枕头、铺在身下当被子。世界之大，无奇不有，奇得是不同地方的海外奇谈会不谋而合。
      清代作家李汝珍小说《镜花缘》就出现了这位大耳君的身影。书中讲到唐敖、林之洋、多九公等一行人乘商船在海外游历，一日来到聂耳国。这里的人外形特征没有特别的地方，只是两只大耳朵，下垂到腰部，行动的时候还要用两手捧着耳朵走。见多识广的多九公谈到他曾经在海外见过一个小国，那里的人耳朵生得更大只：
        其实呀，聂耳国的耳朵并不长。当年老夫我曾经在海外见到一个依附在大国之下的小国，他们那儿的人两只耳朵下垂到脚上，就像两片蛤蜊壳，刚好把人夹在中间。到了睡觉的时候，可以把一只耳朵当被子，一只耳朵当毯子。还有两耳极大的，生下儿子、女儿，都可以在里边睡觉。
       多九公见过的那个大耳国与波斯人赛义夫遭遇到的那位大耳君都能把耳朵当被褥，都住在印度洋的孤岛上，显然是同出一辙。
      那么，是多九公和赛义夫确实都到过这个无名小岛并见过这个大耳之族吗？这个大耳国当然是子虚乌有，历史的真相也许是，当年来东南沿海做买卖的波斯、阿拉伯商人给中国人讲起《天方夜谭》里面的故事，赛义夫海外冒险遭遇大耳怪故事因此拐弯抹角地传入了李汝珍的长耳朵里，并被他写进了《镜花缘》。
      需要指出的是，这个以耳当被褥的大耳怪，早在希罗多德的《历史》中就崭露头角，在欧洲中世纪的博物志和世界地图中经常见到他的身影，因此，它的故乡究竟是古希腊、还是波斯，抑或是东方的印度或中国，实在很难说得清。
附录：http://www.theoi.com/Phylos/Pandai.html
                
                
THE PANDAI (or Pandi) were a tribe of long-lived Indian men with gigantic ears, eight fingers and toes, and white-hair covering their entire bodies which turned black with age.
Another large-eared tribe were the legendary Panotioi of northern Europe.
Ctesias, Indica Fragment (from Photius, Myriobiblon 72) (Greek historian C4th B.C.) :
"In the mountains where the Indian reed grows there dwells a people about 30,000 in number. Their women only have children once in their life, which are born with beautiful teeth in the upper and lower jaw. Both male and female children have white hair, on the head and eyebrows. Up to the age of thirty the men have white hair all over the body; it then begins to turn black, and at the age of sixty it is quite black. Both men and women have eight fingers and eight toes. They are very warlike, and 5000 of them--bowmen and spearmen--accompany the king of India on his military expeditions. Their ears are so long that their arms are covered with them as far as the elbow, and also their backs, and one ear touches the other."
Pliny the Elder, Natural History 7. 27 (trans. Rackham) (Roman encyclopedia C1st A.D.) :
"Ctesias [Greek historian C4th B.C.] says that a tribe among them [the Indians] called the Pandae, dwelling in the mountain valleys, live two hundred years, and have white hair in their youth that grows black in old age."
Pliny the Elder, Natural History 7. 30 :
"Duris [Greek historian] says that some Indians . . . are entirely covered by their ears.