Valentin Berestov
There was a time when birds could not sing.
And suddenly they learned that in one distant country there lived an old, wise man who taught music.
Then the birds sent the Stork and the Nightingale to him to check if this was so.
The stork was in a hurry. He couldn't wait to become the world's first musician.
He was in such a hurry that he ran to the sage and didn’t even knock on the door, didn’t greet the old man, and shouted with all his might right in his ear:
Hey old man! Come on, teach me music!
But the sage decided to first teach him politeness.
He took the Stork out the threshold, knocked on the door and said:
You have to do it like this.
All clear! - Stork was happy.
Is this what music is? - and flew away to quickly surprise the world with his art.
The nightingale arrived later on its small wings.
He timidly knocked on the door, said hello, asked for forgiveness for disturbing me and said that he really wanted to study music.
The sage liked the friendly bird. And he taught the nightingale everything he knew.
Since then, the modest Nightingale has become the best singer in the world.
And the eccentric Stork can only knock with his beak. Moreover, he boasts and teaches other birds:
Hey, do you hear? You have to do it like this, like this! This is real music! If you don't believe me, ask an old sage.
How to find a track
Valentin Berestov
The guys went to visit their grandfather the forester. We went and got lost.
They look, Squirrel is jumping over them. From tree to tree. From tree to tree.
Guys - to her:
Belka, Belka, tell me, Belka, Belka, show me, How to find the path to grandpa’s lodge?
“Very simple,” Belka answers.
Jump from this tree to that one, from that one to the crooked birch tree. From the crooked birch tree you can see a large, large oak tree. The roof is visible from the top of the oak tree. This is the gatehouse. Well, what about you? Jump!
Thank you, Belka! - the guys say. - Only we don’t know how to jump on trees. We'd better ask someone else.
The Hare is jumping. The guys sang their song to him too:
Bunny Bunny, tell me, Bunny, Bunny, show me, How to find the path to grandpa's lodge?
To the lodge? - asked the Hare. - There is nothing simpler. At first it will smell like mushrooms. So? After - hare cabbage. So? Then it smells like a fox hole. So? Skip this smell to the right or left. So? When it is left behind, smell it like this and you will smell the smoke. Jump straight onto it without turning anywhere. This is the forester grandfather setting the samovar.
“Thank you, Bunny,” the guys say. “It’s a pity that our noses are not as sensitive as yours.” I'll have to ask someone else.
They see a snail crawling.
Hey, Snail, tell me, Hey, Snail, show me, How to find the path to grandpa’s lodge?
It’s a long time to tell,” sighed the Snail. - Lu-u-better, I’ll take you there-u-u. Follow me.
Thank you, Snail! - the guys say. - We have no time to crawl. We'd better ask someone else.
A bee sits on a flower.
Guys to her:
Bee, Bee, tell me, Bee, Bee, show me, How to find the path to grandpa’s lodge?
Well, well, says the bee. - I’ll show you... Look where I’m flying. Follow. See my sisters. Where they go, you go too. We bring honey to grandpa's apiary. Well, goodbye! I'm in a big hurry. W-w-w...
And she flew away. The guys didn’t even have time to say thank you to her. They went to where the bees were flying and quickly found the guardhouse. What a joy! And then grandfather treated them to tea with honey.
Honest caterpillar
Valentin Berestov
The caterpillar considered itself very beautiful and did not let a single drop of dew pass without looking at it.
How good am I! - the Caterpillar rejoiced, looking with pleasure at its flat face and arching its furry back to see two golden stripes on it.
It's a pity that no one notices this.
But one day she got lucky. A girl walked through the meadow and picked flowers. The caterpillar climbed to the very top beautiful flower and began to wait.
That's disgusting! It's disgusting to even look at you!
Ah well! - the Caterpillar got angry. “Then I give my honest caterpillar word that no one, ever, anywhere, for anything, under any circumstances, will ever see me again!”
You gave your word - you need to keep it, even if you are a Caterpillar. And the Caterpillar crawled up the tree. From trunk to branch, from branch to branch, from branch to branch, from branch to twig, from twig to leaf.
She took out a silk thread from her abdomen and began to wrap herself around it. She worked for a long time and finally made a cocoon.
Phew, I'm so tired! - the Caterpillar sighed. - I'm completely exhausted.
It was warm and dark in the cocoon, there was nothing more to do, and the Caterpillar fell asleep.
She woke up because her back was itching terribly. Then the Caterpillar began to rub against the walls of the cocoon. She rubbed and rubbed, rubbed right through them and fell out.
But she fell somehow strangely - not down, but up.
And then the Caterpillar saw the same girl in the same meadow.
"Horrible! - thought the Caterpillar. “I may not be beautiful, it’s not my fault, but now everyone will know that I’m also a liar.” I gave an honest assurance that no one would see me, and I didn’t keep it. A shame!" And the Caterpillar fell into the grass.
And the girl saw her and said:
Such a beauty!
So trust people,” grumbled the Caterpillar.
Today they say one thing, and tomorrow they say something completely different.
Just in case, she looked into the dew drop. What's happened? In front of her is an unfamiliar face with a long, very long mustache.
The caterpillar tried to arch its back and saw that large multi-colored wings appeared on its back.
Oh that's it! - she guessed. - A miracle happened to me. The most ordinary miracle: I became a Butterfly!
This happens. And she merrily circled over the meadow, because she did not give the butterfly’s honest word that no one would see her.
Magic word
V.A. Oseeva
A little old man with a long gray beard was sitting on a bench and drawing something in the sand with an umbrella.
. “Move over,” Pavlik told him and sat down on the edge.
The old man moved and, looking at the boy’s red, angry face, said:
- Did something happen to you? - Well, okay! “What do you want?” Pavlik looked sideways at him.
“I’ll go to my grandmother. She's just cooking. Will he drive away or not?
Pavlik opened the door to the kitchen. The old woman was removing hot pies from the baking sheet.
The grandson ran up to her, turned her red, wrinkled face with both hands, looked into her eyes and whispered:
- Give me a piece of pie... please.
Grandma straightened up. The magic word shone in every wrinkle, in the eyes, in the smile.
“I wanted something hot... something hot, my darling!” she said, choosing the best, rosy pie.
Pavlik jumped for joy and kissed her on both cheeks.
"Wizard! Wizard!" - he repeated to himself, remembering the old man.
At dinner, Pavlik sat quietly and listened to his brother’s every word. When his brother said that he would go boating, Pavlik put his hand on his shoulder and quietly asked:
- Take me, please. Everyone at the table immediately fell silent.
The brother raised his eyebrows and grinned.
“Take it,” the sister suddenly said. - What is it worth to you!
- Well, why not take it? - Grandma smiled. - Of course, take it.
“Please,” Pavlik repeated.
The brother laughed loudly, patted the boy on the shoulder, ruffled his hair:
- Oh, you traveler! Okay, get ready!
“It helped! It helped again!”
Pavlik jumped out from the table and ran into the street. But the old man was no longer in the park.
The bench was empty, and only incomprehensible signs drawn by an umbrella remained on the sand.
Badly
V.A. Oseeva
The dog barked furiously, falling on its front paws.
Right in front of her, pressed against the fence, sat a small, disheveled kitten. He opened his mouth wide and meowed pitifully.
Two boys stood nearby and waited to see what would happen.
A woman looked out the window and hurriedly ran out onto the porch. She drove the dog away and angrily shouted to the boys:
Shame on you!
What's a shame? We didn't do anything! - the boys were surprised.
This is bad! - the woman answered angrily.
Which is easier?
V.A. Oseeva
Three boys went into the forest. There are mushrooms, berries, birds in the forest. The boys went on a spree.
We didn’t notice how the day passed. They go home - they are afraid:
It will hit us at home!
So they stopped on the road and thought what was better: to lie or to tell the truth?
“I’ll say,” says the first, “that a wolf attacked me in the forest.”
The father will be afraid and will not scold.
“I’ll say,” says the second, “that I met my grandfather.”
My mother will be happy and will not scold me.
“And I’ll tell the truth,” says the third. “It’s always easier to tell the truth, because it’s the truth and there’s no need to invent anything.”
So they all went home.
As soon as the first boy told his father about the wolf, look, the forest guard is coming.
“No,” he says, “there are wolves in these places.” The father got angry. For the first guilt I was angry, and for the lie - twice as angry.
The second boy told about his grandfather. And the grandfather is right there - coming to visit. Mother found out the truth. For the first guilt I was angry, but for the lie I was twice as angry.
And the third boy, as soon as he arrived, immediately confessed to everything. His aunt grumbled at him and forgave him.
good
V.A. Oseeva
Yurik woke up in the morning. I looked out the window. The sun is shining. It's a good day. And the boy wanted to do something good himself.
So he sits and thinks: “What if my little sister was drowning, and I would save her!”
And my sister is right here:
Take a walk with me, Yura!
Go away, don't stop me from thinking! My little sister was offended and walked away.
And Yura thinks: “If only wolves attacked the nanny, and I would shoot them!”
And the nanny is right there:
Put away the dishes, Yurochka.
Clean it yourself - I have no time! The nanny shook her head.
And Yura thinks again: “If only Trezorka fell into the well, and I would pull him out!”
And Trezorka is right there. His tail wags: “Give me a drink, Yura!”
Go away! Don't bother thinking! Trezorka closed his mouth and climbed into the bushes.
And Yura went to his mother:
What good thing could I do? Mom stroked Yura’s head:
Take a walk with your sister, help the nanny put away the dishes, give Trezor some water.
sons
V.A. Oseeva
Two women were taking water from a well.
A third approached them. And the old man sat down on a pebble to rest.
Here's what one woman says to another:
My son is dexterous and strong, no one can handle him.
And the third is silent. “Why don’t you tell me about your son?” her neighbors ask.
What can I say? - says the woman. “There’s nothing special about him.”
So the women collected full buckets and left. And the old man is behind them.
Women walk and stop. My hands hurt, the water splashes, my back hurts. Suddenly three boys run out towards us.
One of them somersaults over his head, walks like a cartwheel, and the women admire him.
He sings another song, sings like a nightingale - the women listen to him.
And the third ran up to his mother, took the heavy buckets from her and dragged them.
The women ask the old man:
Well? What are our sons like?
Where are they? - the old man answers. “I only see one son!”
blue leaves
V.A. Oseeva
Katya had two green pencils. And Lena has none. So Lena asks Katya: 
Give me a green pencil.
And Katya says:
I'll ask my mom.
The next day both girls come to school.
Lena asks:
Did your mom allow it?
And Katya sighed and said:
Mom allowed it, but I didn’t ask my brother.
Well, ask your brother again,” says Lena.
Katya arrives the next day.
Well, did your brother allow it? - Lena asks.
My brother allowed me, but I'm afraid you'll break your pencil.
“I’m careful,” says Lena.
Look, says Katya, don’t fix it, don’t press hard, don’t put it in your mouth. Don't draw too much.
“I just need to draw leaves on the trees and green grass,” says Lena.
“That’s a lot,” says Katya, and her eyebrows frown. And she made a dissatisfied face. Lena looked at her and walked away. I didn't take a pencil. Katya was surprised and ran after her:
Well, what about you? Take it! “No need,” Lena answers.
During the lesson, the teacher asks: “Why, Lenochka, are the leaves on your trees blue?”
There is no green pencil.
Why didn't you take it from your girlfriend?
Lena is silent.
And Katya blushed like a lobster and said:
I gave it to her, but she doesn’t take it.
The teacher looked at both:
You have to give so that you can take.
On the rink
V.A. Oseeva
The day was sunny. The ice sparkled. There were few people at the skating rink.
The little girl, with her arms outstretched comically, rode from bench to bench.
Two schoolchildren were tying up their skates and looking at Vitya.
Vitya performed different tricks - sometimes he rode on one leg, sometimes he spun around like a top.
Well done! - one of the boys shouted to him.
Vitya rushed around the circle like an arrow, made a dashing turn and ran into the girl.
The girl fell.
Vitya was scared.
“I accidentally...” he said, brushing snow off her fur coat.
Did you hurt yourself?
The girl smiled:
Knee...
Laughter came from behind. “They’re laughing at me!” thought Vitya and turned away from the girl with annoyance.
What a surprise - a knee! What a crybaby!” he shouted, driving past the schoolchildren.
Come to us! - they called. Vitya approached them. Holding hands, all three merrily slid across the ice.
And the girl sat on the bench, rubbed her bruised knee and cried.
The boy Yasha always loved to climb everywhere and get into everything. As soon as they brought any suitcase or box, Yasha immediately found himself in it.
And he climbed into all sorts of bags. And into the closets. And under the tables.
Mom often said:
“I’m afraid that if I go to the post office with him, he’ll get into some empty parcel and they’ll send him to Kzyl-Orda.”
He got a lot of trouble for this.
And then Yasha took on a new fashion - he began to fall from everywhere. When the house heard:
- Uh! – everyone understood that Yasha had fallen from somewhere. And the louder the “uh” was, the greater the altitude from which Yasha flew. For example, mom hears:
- Uh! - that means it’s okay. It was Yasha who simply fell off his stool.
If you hear:
- Uh-uh! - this means the matter is very serious. It was Yasha who fell off the table. We need to go and inspect his lumps. And when visiting, Yasha climbed everywhere, and even tried to climb onto the shelves in the store.
One day dad said:
“Yasha, if you climb anywhere else, I don’t know what I’ll do to you.” I'll tie you to the vacuum cleaner with ropes. And you will walk everywhere with a vacuum cleaner. And you will go to the store with your mother with a vacuum cleaner, and in the yard you will play in the sand tied to the vacuum cleaner.
Yasha was so scared that after these words he didn’t climb anywhere for half a day.
And then he finally climbed onto dad’s table and fell down along with the phone. Dad took it and actually tied it to the vacuum cleaner.
Yasha walks around the house, and the vacuum cleaner follows him like a dog. And he goes to the store with his mother with a vacuum cleaner, and plays in the yard. Very uncomfortable. You can't climb a fence or ride a bike.
But Yasha learned to turn on the vacuum cleaner. Now, instead of “uh”, “uh-uh” began to be heard constantly.
As soon as mom sits down to knit socks for Yasha, suddenly all over the house - “oo-oo-oo”. Mom is jumping up and down.
We decided to come to an amicable agreement. Yasha was untied from the vacuum cleaner. And he promised not to climb anywhere else. Dad said:
– This time, Yasha, I will be stricter. I'll tie you to a stool. And I’ll nail the stool to the floor. And you will live with a stool, like a dog with a kennel.
Yasha was very afraid of such punishment.
But then a very wonderful opportunity turned up - we bought a new wardrobe.
First Yasha climbed into the closet. He sat in the closet for a long time, banging his forehead against the walls. This is an interesting matter. Then I got bored and went out.
He decided to climb onto the closet.
Yasha moved towards the closet dinner table and climbed on it. But I didn’t reach the top of the closet.
Then he placed a light chair on the table. He climbed onto the table, then onto the chair, then onto the back of the chair and began to climb onto the closet. I'm already halfway across.
And then the chair slipped out from under his feet and fell to the floor. And Yasha remained half on the closet, half in the air.
Somehow he climbed onto the closet and fell silent. Try telling your mom:
- Oh, mom, I’m sitting on the closet!
Mom will immediately transfer him to a stool. And he will live like a dog all his life near the stool.
Here he sits and is silent. Five minutes, ten minutes, five more minutes. In general, almost a whole month. And Yasha slowly began to cry.
And mom hears: Yasha can’t hear something.
And if you can’t hear Yasha, it means Yasha is doing something wrong. Or he chews matches, or he climbed up to his knees into the aquarium, or he draws Cheburashka on his father’s papers.
Mom started looking in different places. And in the closet, and in the nursery, and in dad’s office. And there is order everywhere: dad works, the clock is ticking. And if there is order everywhere, it means that something difficult must have happened to Yasha. Something extraordinary.
Mom screams:
- Yasha, where are you?
But Yasha is silent.
- Yasha, where are you?
But Yasha is silent.
Then mom started thinking. He sees a chair lying on the floor. He sees that the table is not in place. He sees Yasha sitting on the closet.
Mom asks:
- Well, Yasha, are you going to sit on the closet all your life now, or are we going to climb down?
Yasha doesn't want to go down. He is afraid that he will be tied to a stool.
He says:
- I won’t get down.
Mom says:
- Okay, let's live on the closet. Now I'll bring you lunch.
She brought Yasha soup in a plate, a spoon and bread, and small table, and a stool.
Yasha was having lunch on the closet.
Then his mother brought him a potty on the closet. Yasha was sitting on the potty.
And in order to wipe his butt, mom had to stand on the table herself.
At this time, two boys came to visit Yasha.
Mom asks:
- Well, should you serve Kolya and Vitya for the cupboard?
Yasha says:
- Serve.
And then dad couldn’t stand it from his office:
“Now I’ll come and visit him at his closet.” Not just one, but with a strap. Remove it from the cabinet immediately.
They took Yasha out of the closet, and he said:
“Mom, the reason I didn’t get off is because I’m afraid of the stool.” Dad promised to tie me to the stool.
“Oh, Yasha,” says mom, “you’re still little.” You don't understand jokes. Go play with the guys.
But Yasha understood jokes.
But he also understood that dad didn’t like to joke.
He can easily tie Yasha to a stool. And Yasha didn’t climb anywhere else.
How the boy Yasha ate poorly
Yasha was good to everyone, but he ate poorly. All the time with concerts. Either mom sings to him, then dad shows him tricks. And he gets along well:
- Don't want.
Mom says:
- Yasha, eat your porridge.
- Don't want.
Dad says:
- Yasha, drink juice!
- Don't want.
Mom and Dad are tired of trying to persuade him every time. And then my mother read in one scientific pedagogical book that children do not need to be persuaded to eat. You need to put a plate of porridge in front of them and wait until they get hungry and eat everything.
They set and placed plates in front of Yasha, but he didn’t eat or eat anything. He doesn’t eat cutlets, soup, or porridge. He became thin and dead, like a straw.
- Yasha, eat your porridge!
- Don't want.
- Yasha, eat your soup!
- Don't want.
Previously, his pants were difficult to fasten, but now he was hanging out completely freely in them. It was possible to put another Yasha in these pants.
And then one day a strong wind blew.
And Yasha was playing in the area. He was very light, and the wind blew him around the area. I rolled to the wire mesh fence. And there Yasha got stuck.
So he sat, pressed against the fence by the wind, for an hour.
Mom calls:
- Yasha, where are you? Go home and suffer with the soup.
But he doesn't come. You can't even hear him. He not only became dead, but his voice also became dead. You can't hear anything about him squeaking there.
And he squeaks:
- Mom, take me away from the fence!
Mom began to worry - where did Yasha go? Where to look for it? Yasha is neither seen nor heard.
Dad said this:
“I think our Yasha was blown away somewhere by the wind.” Come on, mom, we'll take the pot of soup out onto the porch. The wind will blow and bring the smell of soup to Yasha. He will come crawling to this delicious smell.
Konstantin Ushinsky “Children in the Grove”
Two children, brother and sister, went to school. They had to pass by a beautiful, shady grove. It was hot and dusty on the road, but cool and cheerful in the grove.
- Do you know what? - said the brother to the sister. “We’ll still have time for school.” The school is now stuffy and boring, but the grove should be a lot of fun. Listen to the birds screaming there, and the squirrels, how many squirrels are jumping on the branches! Shouldn't we go there, sister?
The sister liked her brother's proposal. The children threw the alphabet into the grass, held hands and disappeared between the green bushes, under the curly birches. It was definitely fun and noisy in the grove. The birds fluttered constantly, sang and shouted; squirrels jumped on the branches; insects scurried about in the grass.
First of all, the children saw a golden bug.
“Come play with us,” the children said to the bug.
“I would love to,” answered the beetle, “but I don’t have time: I have to get myself lunch.”
“Play with us,” the children said to the yellow, furry bee.
“I don’t have time to play with you,” answered the bee, “I need to collect honey.”
-Won't you play with us? - the children asked the ant.
But the ant had no time to listen to them: he dragged a straw three times his size and hurried to build his cunning home.
The children turned to the squirrel, inviting it to also play with them, but the squirrel waved its fluffy tail and answered that it must stock up on nuts for the winter. The dove said: “I am building a nest for my little children.”
The little gray bunny ran to the stream to wash his face. White flower There was also no time to take care of the children: he took advantage of the beautiful weather and was in a hurry to prepare his juicy, tasty berries on time.
The children became bored that everyone was busy with their own business and no one wanted to play with them. They ran to the stream. A stream ran through the grove, babbling over the stones.
“You really have nothing to do,” the children told him, “Come play with us.”
- How! I have nothing to do? - the stream purred angrily. - Oh, you lazy children! Look at me: I work day and night and don’t know a minute of peace. Am I not the one who sings to people and animals? Who, besides me, washes clothes, turns mill wheels, carries boats and puts out fires? “Oh, I have so much work that my head is spinning,” the stream added and began to murmur over the stones.
The children became even more bored, and they thought that it would be better for them to go to school first, and then, on their way from school, go into the grove. But at that very time the boy noticed a tiny, beautiful robin on a green branch. She sat, it seemed, very calmly and, having nothing to do, whistled a joyful song.
- Hey you, cheerful singer! - the boy shouted to the robin. “It seems like you have absolutely nothing to do: just play with us.”
- How? - whistled the offended robin. - I have nothing to do? Didn’t I catch midges all day to feed my little ones! I am so tired that I cannot raise my wings, and even now I lull my dear children to sleep with a song. What did you do today, little sloths? You didn’t go to school, you didn’t learn anything, you’re running around the grove, and even preventing others from doing their work. Better go where you were sent, and remember that only those who have worked and done everything that was obliged to do are pleased to rest and play.
The children felt ashamed; They went to school and although they arrived late, they studied diligently.
Georgy Skrebitsky “Everyone in his own way”
In the summer, in a clearing in the forest, a little hare was born to a long-eared hare. He was not born helpless, naked, like some little mice or squirrels, not at all. He was born with gray fluffy fur, with open eyes, so nimble, independent, he could immediately run and even hide from enemies in the thick grass.
“You’ve done well,” the hare told him in her hare language. - Lie here quietly under the bush, don’t run anywhere, and if you start running, jumping, traces of your paws will remain on the ground. If a fox or wolf stumbles upon them, they will immediately follow your trail and eat you. Well, be smart, rest, gain more strength, but I need to run and stretch my legs.
And the hare, making a big leap, galloped off into the forest. Since then, the little hare was fed not only by her own mother, but also by other bunnies, those who accidentally ran into this clearing. After all, hares have been like this since ancient times: if a hare comes across a baby, she doesn’t care whether it’s hers or someone else’s, she’ll definitely feed it milk.
Soon the little hare became completely stronger, grew up, began to eat lush grass and run through the forest, getting to know its inhabitants - birds and animals.
The days were fine, there was plenty of food around, and in the thick grass and bushes it was easy to hide from enemies.
The little hare lived for himself and did not grieve. So, without caring about anything, he lived through the warm summer.
But then autumn came. It's getting cold. The trees turned yellow. The wind tore from the branches withered leaves and circled over the forest. Then the leaves fell to the ground. They lay there restlessly: they fidgeted all the time, whispering to each other. And from this the forest was filled with an alarming rustle.
The little bunny could hardly sleep. Every minute he became wary, listening to suspicious sounds. It seemed to him that it was not the leaves rustling in the wind, but someone scary creeping up on him from behind the bushes.
Even during the day, the hare often jumped up, ran from place to place, and looked for more reliable shelters. I searched and didn’t find it.
But while running through the forest, he saw a lot of new and interesting things that he had never seen before in the summer. He noticed that all his forest acquaintances - animals and birds - were busy about something, doing something.
One day he met a squirrel, but it did not jump, as usual, from branch to branch, but descended to the ground, picked a boletus mushroom, then grabbed it tightly in its teeth and jumped up the tree with it. There the squirrel stuck a mushroom into a fork between the branches. The little hare saw that several mushrooms were already hanging on the same tree.
- Why do you tear them and hang them on branches? - he asked.
- What do you mean why? - answered the squirrel. “Winter will come soon, everything will be covered with snow, then it will be difficult to get food.” So now I’m in a hurry to prepare more supplies. I dry mushrooms on branches, collect nuts and acorns in hollows. Don’t you store food for the winter yourself?
“No,” answered the bunny, “I don’t know how to do this.” Mother bunny didn't teach me.
“Your business is bad,” the squirrel shook her head. “Then at least insulate your nest better, plug all the cracks with moss.”
“Yes, I don’t even have a nest,” the bunny became embarrassed. “I sleep under a bush, wherever I have to.”
- Well, this is no good! — the farm squirrel spread its paws. “I don’t know how you will survive the winter without food supplies, without a warm nest.”
And she again began her chores, and the bunny sadly hopped on.
Evening had already come, the hare reached a remote ravine. There he stopped and listened carefully. Every now and then small lumps of earth rolled down the ravine with a slight noise.
The little bunny stood up on his hind legs to get a better look at what was going on there in front. Yes, this is a badger busy near the hole. The hare ran up to him and said hello.
“Hello, oblique,” answered the badger. - Are you still jumping? Well, sit down, sit down. Wow, I’m tired, even my paws hurt! Look how much earth I raked out of the hole.
- Why are you raking it out? - asked the bunny.
— For winter, I clean the hole so that it is more spacious. I’ll clean it out, then drag moss and fallen leaves there and make a bed. Then I won’t be afraid of winter either. Lie down and lie down.
“And the squirrel advised me to build a nest for winter,” said the hare.
“Don’t listen to her,” the badger waved his paw. “She learned to build nests in trees from birds.” A waste of time. Animals need to live in a hole. This is how I live. Help me better dig emergency exits from the hole. We’ll arrange everything as needed, climb into the hole, and spend the winter together.
“No, I don’t know how to dig a hole,” answered the bunny. “And I won’t be able to sit underground in a hole, I’ll suffocate there.” It's better to rest under a bush.
“The frost will soon show you how to rest under a bush!” - the badger answered angrily. - Well, if you don’t want to help me, then run wherever you want. Don’t bother me with arranging my home.
Not far from the water, someone large and clumsy was fiddling around an aspen tree. “He’s the beaver,” the bunny saw and in two leaps found himself next to him.
- Hello, buddy, what are you doing here? - asked the bunny.
“Yes, I’m working, gnawing aspen,” the beaver answered slowly. “I’ll throw it on the ground, then I’ll start biting the branches, dragging them into the river, and insulating my hut for winter.” You see, my house is on the island - it’s built all out of branches, and the cracks are coated with silt, inside I’m warm and cozy.
- How can I enter your house? - asked the bunny. - The entrance is nowhere to be seen.
— The entrance to my hut is located below, under water. I will swim to the island, dive to the very bottom, and there I will find the entrance to my house. There is no better animal house than my hut. Let's insulate it together for winter, and let's spend the winter together.
“No,” answered the little hare, “I don’t know how to dive and swim under water, I’ll drown right away, I’d rather spend the winter under a bush.”
“You shouldn’t want to spend the winter with me,” the beaver answered and began gnawing on the aspen tree.
Suddenly something rustles in the bushes! Kosoy was about to run away, but then an old acquaintance, a hedgehog, looked out from the fallen leaves.
- Great, buddy! - he shouted. - Why are you so sad, your ears hanging open?
“My friends upset me,” answered the bunny. “They say you need to build a warm nest or hut for the winter, but I don’t know how.”
— Build a hut? - the hedgehog laughed. - This is nonsense! You better do what I do: every night I eat more, store more fat, and when I have enough stored, then I will start to feel sleepy. Then I will climb into the fallen leaves, into the moss, curl up in a ball and fall asleep for the whole winter. And when you sleep, then neither frost nor wind are afraid of you.
“No,” answered the bunny, “I won’t be able to sleep all winter.” My sleep is sensitive, disturbing, I wake up every minute from every rustle.
“Well, then do as you please,” answered the hedgehog. - Goodbye, it’s time for me to look for a place for my winter sleep.
And the animal disappeared into the bushes again.
The little hare trudged further through the forest. Wandered, wandered. The night has already passed, the morning has come. He got out into the clearing. He looks - there are many, many blackbirds gathered on it. All the trees are stuck around and are jumping on the ground, screaming, chattering, arguing about something.
- What are you arguing about? - the little bunny asked the blackbird, who was sitting closer to him.
- Yes, we are discussing when we should fly from here to warm countries for the winter.
- Aren’t you going to stay in our forest for the winter?
- What are you, what are you! - the blackbird was surprised. - In winter, snow will fall and cover the entire ground and tree branches. Where can you get food then? We fly with us to the south, where it’s warm in winter and there’s plenty of food.
“Don’t you see, I don’t even have wings,” the hare answered sadly. “I’m an animal, not a bird.” Animals don't know how to fly.
“That’s not true,” the blackbird objected. — The bats They are also animals, but they fly no worse than us birds. They have already flown south, to warm countries.
The little hare didn’t answer the blackbird, he just waved his paw and ran away.
“How am I going to spend the winter? - he thought anxiously, - All animals and birds each prepare for winter in their own way. But I have neither a warm nest, nor food supplies, and I won’t be able to fly south. I’ll probably have to die of hunger and cold.”
Another month has passed. The bushes and trees have shed their last leaves. The time has come for rain and cold weather. The forest became gloomy and dull. Most of the birds flew to warm countries. The animals hid in holes, in nests, in lairs. The little bunny was not happy in the empty forest, and besides, something bad happened to him: the bunny suddenly noticed that his skin began to turn white. The summer gray wool was replaced by a new one - fluffy, warm, but completely white. First, the hind legs, sides, then the back and, finally, the head turned white. Only the tips of the ears remained black.
“How can I hide from my enemies now? - the hare thought with horror. “In a white fur coat, both the fox and the hawk will immediately notice me.” And the little hare hid in the very wilderness, under bushes, in swampy thickets. However, even there, his white fur coat could easily give him away to the keen eye of a predator.
But then one day, when the little bunny was lying, crawling under a bush, he saw that everything around him had suddenly darkened. The sky was covered with clouds; However, rain did not start dripping from them, but something white and cold fell down.
The first snowflakes swirled in the air and began to land on the ground, on the faded grass, on the bare branches of bushes and trees. With every second the snow fell thicker and thicker. It was no longer possible to see the nearest trees. Everything was drowned in a solid white stream.
The snow stopped only in the evening. The sky cleared, the stars appeared, bright and radiant, like blue frosty needles. They illuminated the fields and forests, dressed up and covered with the white blanket of winter.
Night had long fallen, and the bunny was still lying under the bush. He was afraid to get out of his ambush and go for a night walk through this unusually white land.
Finally, hunger forced him to leave the shelter and look for food.
Finding it was not so difficult - the snow only slightly covered the ground and did not even hide the smallest bushes.
But a completely different misfortune happened: as soon as the little hare jumped out from under the bushes and ran across the clearing, he was horrified to see that a string of his tracks was trailing behind him everywhere.
“Following such tracks, any enemy can easily find me,” thought the oblique one.
Therefore, when in the morning he again went for a day's rest, the bunny confused his tracks even more thoroughly than before.
Only after doing this, he hid under a bush and dozed off.
But winter brought with it more than just grief. When dawn broke, the little hare was happy to see that his white coat was completely invisible on the white snow. The bunny seemed to be dressed in an invisible fur coat. In addition, it was much warmer than his summer gray skin, and perfectly protected him from frost and wind.
“Winter is not so scary,” the little bunny decided and calmly dozed off for the whole day until the evening.
But only the beginning of winter turned out to be so pleasant, and then things went worse and worse. There was a lot of snow. It was almost impossible to dig through it to get to the remaining greenery. The little hare ran in vain through the high snowdrifts in search of food. It was not often that he managed to chew some twig sticking out from under the snow.
One day, while running in search of food, the hare saw the forest giants, elk. They stood calmly in the aspen forest and gnawed with appetite at the bark and shoots of young aspen trees.
“Let me try,” thought the bunny. “The only problem is: moose have high legs, long necks, it’s easy for them to reach young shoots, but how can I get them?”
But then a tall snowdrift caught his eye. The little hare jumped on him, stood on his hind legs, easily reached out to the young, thin branches and began to gnaw them. Then he gnawed the aspen bark. He found all this very tasty, and he ate his fill.
“So the snow didn’t cause any big trouble,” the scythe decided. “He hid the grass, but allowed him to reach the branches of bushes and trees.”
Everything would have been fine, but the frost and wind began to bother the bunny. Even a warm fur coat couldn’t save him.
There was nowhere to hide from the cold in the bare winter forest.
“Wow, it’s so cold!” - said the scythe, running through the forest clearing to warm up a little.
The day had already come, it was high time to go on vacation, but the hare still could not find a place to hide from the icy wind.
Birch trees grew at the very edge of the clearing. Suddenly the little hare saw that large forest birds, black grouse, were calmly sitting on them and feeding. They flew here to feast on the catkins that hung at the ends of thin branches.
“Well, you’ve eaten enough, it’s time to rest,” said the old black grouse to his brothers. “Let’s quickly hide in holes from the angry wind.”
“What kind of burrows could black grouse have?” — the bunny was surprised.
But then he saw that the old black grouse, having fallen from the branch, fell in a lump straight into the snow, as if he had dived into water. The other black grouse did the same, and soon the whole flock disappeared under the snow.
“Is it really warm there?” — the bunny was surprised and decided to immediately try to dig himself a snow hole. And what? It turned out to be much warmer in the hole under the snow than on the surface. There was no wind, and the frost bothered us much less.
From then on, the bunny became quite comfortable with how to spend the winter. A white fur coat in a white forest protected him from the eyes of the enemy, snowdrifts helped him reach succulent shoots, and a deep hole in the snow saved him from the cold. The little hare felt no worse in winter among the snow-covered bushes than in the summer in green flowering thickets. He didn't even notice how winter had passed.
And then the sun warmed up again, melted the snow, the grass turned green again, the leaves bloomed on the bushes and trees. From southern countries the birds have returned.
The busy squirrel crawled out of the nest where it hid from the cold in winter. A badger, a beaver and a prickly hedgehog got out of their shelters. Each of them talked about how he spent the long winter. Everyone thought that they had carried it out better than others. And all together they were surprised, looking at the hare. How, poor fellow, did he spend the winter without a warm nest, without a hole, without food supplies? And the bunny listened to his friends and just chuckled. After all, he lived quite well in the winter in his snow-white invisible fur coat.
Even now, in the spring, he was also wearing an invisible fur coat, only a different one, to match the color of the earth - not white, but gray.
Alexander Kuprin "Elephant"
The little girl is unwell. Doctor Mikhail Petrovich, whom she has known for a long, long time, visits her every day. And sometimes he brings with him two more doctors, strangers. They turn the girl over on her back and stomach, listen to something, putting her ear to her body, pull her eyelids down and look. At the same time, they snort somehow importantly, their faces are stern, and they speak to each other in an incomprehensible language.
Then they move from the nursery to the living room, where their mother is waiting for them. The most important doctor - tall, gray-haired, wearing gold glasses - tells her about something seriously and at length. The door is not closed, and the girl can see and hear everything from her bed. There is a lot she doesn’t understand, but she knows that this is about her. Mom looks at the doctor with big, tired, tear-stained eyes. Saying goodbye, the chief doctor says loudly:
“The main thing is don’t let her get bored.” Fulfill all her whims.
- Ah, doctor, but she doesn’t want anything!
- Well, I don’t know... remember what she liked before, before her illness. Toys... some treats...
- No, no, doctor, she doesn’t want anything...
- Well, try to entertain her somehow... Well, at least with something... I give you my word of honor that if you manage to make her laugh, amuse her, then it will be the best medicine. Understand that your daughter is sick with indifference to life, and nothing else... Goodbye, madam!
“Dear Nadya, my dear girl,” says mom, “wouldn’t you like something?”
- No, mom, I don’t want anything.
“If you want, I’ll put all your dolls on your bed.” We will supply an armchair, a sofa, a table and a tea set. The dolls will drink tea and talk about the weather and the health of their children.
- Thank you, mom... I don’t feel like it... I’m bored...
- Well, okay, my girl, no need for dolls. Or maybe I should invite Katya or Zhenechka to come to you? You love them so much.
- No need, mom. Really, it's not necessary. I don't want anything, nothing. I am so bored!
- Would you like me to bring you some chocolate?
But the girl does not answer and looks at the ceiling with motionless, sad eyes. She doesn't have any pain and doesn't even have a fever. But she is losing weight and weakening every day. No matter what they do to her, she doesn’t care, and she doesn’t need anything. She lies like that all days and whole nights, quiet, sad. Sometimes she dozes off for half an hour, but even in her dreams she sees something gray, long, boring, like autumn rain.
When the door to the living room is open from the nursery, and from the living room further into the office, the girl sees her dad. Dad walks quickly from corner to corner and smokes and smokes. Sometimes he comes to the nursery, sits on the edge of the bed and quietly strokes Nadya’s legs. Then he suddenly gets up and goes to the window.
He whistles something, looking down at the street, but his shoulders are shaking. Then he hastily applies a handkerchief to one eye, then to the other, and, as if angry, goes to his office. Then he again runs from corner to corner and everything... smokes, smokes, smokes... And the office becomes all blue from tobacco smoke.
But one morning the girl wakes up a little more cheerful than usual. She saw something in a dream, but she can’t remember what exactly, and looks long and carefully into her mother’s eyes.
- Do you need something? - asks mom.
But the girl suddenly remembers her dream and says in a whisper, as if in secret:
- Mom... can I... have an elephant? Just not the one drawn in the picture... Is it possible?
- Of course, my girl, of course you can.
She goes to the office and tells dad that the girl wants an elephant. Dad immediately puts on his coat and hat and leaves somewhere. Half an hour later he returns with an expensive, beautiful toy. This is a large gray elephant, which itself shakes its head and wags its tail; there is a red saddle on the elephant, and on the saddle there is a golden tent, and three little men are sitting in it. But the girl looks at the toy as indifferently as at the ceiling and walls, and says listlessly:
- No. This is not the same at all. I wanted a real, living elephant, but this one is dead.
“Just look, Nadya,” says dad. “We’ll start him up now, and he’ll be just like alive.”
The elephant is wound with a key, and he, shaking his head and wagging his tail, begins to step with his feet and slowly walks along the table. The girl is not at all interested in this and is even bored, but in order not to upset her father, she whispers meekly:
“I thank you very, very much, dear dad.” I think no one has such an interesting toy... Only... remember... you promised long ago to take me to the menagerie to look at a real elephant... and you never got lucky...
“But listen, my dear girl, understand that this is impossible.” The elephant is very big, it reaches the ceiling, it won’t fit in our rooms... And then, where can I get it?
- Dad, I don’t need such a big one... Bring me at least a small one, just a living one. Well, at least this one... At least a baby elephant...
“Dear girl, I’m glad to do everything for you, but I can’t do this.” After all, it’s the same as if you suddenly told me: Dad, get me the sun from the sky.
The girl smiles sadly.
- How stupid you are, dad. Don't I know that you can't reach the sun because it burns. And the moon is also not allowed. No, I would like an elephant... a real one.
And she quietly closes her eyes and whispers:
- I'm tired... Excuse me, dad...
Dad grabs his hair and runs into the office. There he flashes from corner to corner for some time. Then he resolutely throws the half-smoked cigarette on the floor (for which he always gets it from his mother) and shouts to the maid:
- Olga! Coat and hat!
The wife comes out into the hall.
-Where are you going, Sasha? she asks.
He breathes heavily, buttoning his coat buttons.
“I myself, Mashenka, don’t know where... Only, it seems that by this evening I will actually bring a real elephant here, to us.”
His wife looks at him worriedly.
- Honey, are you okay? Do you have a headache? Maybe you didn't sleep well today?
“I didn’t sleep at all,” he answers.
angrily. “I see you want to ask if I’ve gone crazy?” Not yet. Goodbye! In the evening everything will be visible.
And he disappears, loudly slamming the front door.
Two hours later, he sits in the menagerie, in the first row, and watches how the learned animals, on the orders of the owner, make various things. Smart dogs jump, tumble, dance, sing to music, and form words from large cardboard letters. Monkeys - some in red skirts, others in blue pants - walk on a tightrope and ride on a large poodle. Huge red lions jump through burning hoops. A clumsy seal shoots from a pistol. At the end the elephants are brought out. There are three of them: one big, two very small, dwarfs, but still much taller than a horse. It’s strange to watch how these huge animals, so clumsy and heavy in appearance, perform the most difficult tricks that even a very dexterous person cannot do. The largest elephant is especially distinctive. He first stands on his hind legs, sits down, stands on his head, feet up, walks wooden bottles, walks along a rolling barrel, turns over the pages of a large cardboard book with his trunk and, finally, sits down at the table and, tied with a napkin, has dinner, just like a well-bred boy.
The show ends. The spectators disperse. Nadya's father approaches the fat German, the owner of the menagerie. The owner stands behind a plank partition and holds a large black cigar in his mouth.
“Excuse me, please,” Nadya’s father says. —Can you let your elephant go to my house for a while?
The German opens his eyes wide in surprise and then his mouth, causing the cigar to fall to the ground. Groaning, he bends down, picks up the cigar, puts it back in his mouth and only then says:
- Let go? An elephant? Home? I do not understand.
It’s clear from the German’s eyes that he also wants to ask if Nadya’s father has a headache... But the father hastily explains what’s the matter: his only daughter, Nadya, is sick with some strange disease, which even the doctors don’t understand how follows. She has been lying in her crib for a month now, losing weight, getting weaker every day, not interested in anything, bored and slowly fading away. The doctors tell her to entertain her, but she doesn't like anything; they tell her to fulfill all her wishes, but she has no wishes. Today she wanted to see a live elephant. Is it really impossible to do this? And he adds in a trembling voice, taking the German by the button of his coat:
- Well, here... I, of course, hope that my girl will recover. But... God forbid... what if her illness ends badly... what if the girl dies?.. Just think: all my life I will be tormented by the thought that I did not fulfill her last, very last wish!..
The German frowns and scratches his little finger in thought. left eyebrow. Finally he asks:
- Hm... How old is your girl?
- Hm... My Lisa is also six. Hm... But, you know, it will cost you a lot. You will have to bring the elephant at night and only take it back the next night. During the day you can't. The public will gather and there will be a scandal... Thus, it turns out that I am losing the whole day, and you must return the loss to me.
- Oh, of course, of course... don't worry about it...
— Then: will the police allow one elephant into one house?
- I'll arrange it. Will allow.
— One more question: will the owner of your house allow one elephant into his house?
- It will allow it. I am the owner of this house myself.
- Yeah! This is even better. And then one more question: on which floor do you live?
- In the second.
- Hm... This is not so good... Do you have a wide staircase in your house? high ceiling, large room, wide doors and a very strong floor. Because my Tommy is three arshins and four inches high, and five and a half arshins long. In addition, it weighs one hundred and twelve pounds.
Nadya's father thinks for a minute.
- Do you know what? - he says. - Let's go to my place now and look at everything on the spot. If necessary, I will order the passage in the walls to be widened.
- Very good! — the owner of the menagerie agrees.
At night, an elephant is taken to visit a sick girl. In a white blanket, he strides importantly along the very middle of the street, shaking his head and twisting and then developing his trunk. There is a large crowd around him, despite the late hour. But the elephant does not pay attention to her: every day he sees hundreds of people in the menagerie. Only once did he get a little angry.
Some street boy ran up to his very feet and began to make faces for the amusement of onlookers. Then the elephant calmly took off his hat with its trunk and threw it over a nearby fence studded with nails.
The policeman walks among the crowd and persuades her:
- Gentlemen, please leave. And what do you find so unusual here? I'm surprised! It’s as if we’ve never seen a live elephant on the street.
They approach the house. On the stairs, as well as along the entire path of the elephant, all the way to the dining room, all the doors were wide open, for which it was necessary to beat off the door latches with a hammer. The same thing was done once when a large miraculous icon. But in front of the stairs, the elephant stops, restless and stubborn.
“We need to give him some kind of treat...” says the German. - Some sweet bun or something... But... Tommy!.. Wow... Tommy!..
Nadine's father runs to a nearby bakery and buys a large round pistachio cake. The elephant discovers a desire to swallow him whole along with cardboard box, but the German gives him only a quarter. Tommy likes the cake and reaches out with his trunk for a second slice. However, the German turns out to be more cunning. Holding a delicacy in his hand, he rises up from step to step, and the elephant with an outstretched trunk and outstretched ears inevitably follows him. On the set, Tommy gets his second piece.
Thus, he is brought to the dining room, from where all the furniture has been removed in advance, and the floor is thickly covered with straw... The elephant is tied by the leg to a ring screwed into the floor. Fresh carrots, cabbage and turnips are placed in front of him. The German is located nearby, on the sofa. The lights are turned off and everyone goes to bed.
The next day the girl wakes up at dawn and first of all asks:
- What about the elephant? He came?
“He came,” my mother answers, “but he only ordered Nadya to wash herself first, and then eat a soft-boiled egg and drink hot milk.”
- Is he kind?
- He is kind. Eat up, girl. Now we will go to him.
- Is he funny?
- A little. Put on a warm blouse.
The egg was eaten and the milk was drunk. Nadya is put in the same stroller in which she rode when she was still so small that she could not walk at all, and they take her to the dining room.
The elephant turns out to be much larger than Nadya thought when she looked at it in the picture. He is only slightly taller than the door, and in length he occupies half the dining room. His skin is rough, with heavy folds. The legs are thick, like pillars.
A long tail with something like a broom at the end. The head is full of big bumps. The ears are large, like mugs, and hang down. The eyes are very tiny, but smart and kind. The fangs are trimmed. The trunk is like a long snake and ends in two nostrils, and between them a movable, flexible finger. If the elephant had stretched out its trunk to its full length, it would probably have reached the window. The girl is not scared at all. She is only a little amazed by the enormous size of the animal. But the nanny, sixteen-year-old Polya, begins to squeal in fear.
The owner of the elephant, a German, comes up to the stroller and says:
— Good morning, young lady. Please don't be afraid. Tommy is very kind and loves children.
The girl extends her small pale hand to the German.
- Hello. How are you? - she answers. “I’m not the least bit afraid.” And what is his name?
“Hello, Tommy,” the girl says and bows her head. Because the elephant is so big, she does not dare to speak to him on a first-name basis. - How did you sleep last night?
She extends her hand to him too. The elephant carefully takes and shakes her thin fingers with his mobile strong finger and does it much more tenderly than Doctor Mikhail Petrovich. At the same time, the elephant shakes its head, and its small eyes are completely narrowed, as if laughing.
- He understands everything, doesn’t he? - the girl asks the German.
- Oh, absolutely everything, young lady!
- But he’s the only one who doesn’t speak?
- Yes, but he doesn’t speak. You know, I also have one daughter, just as small as you. Her name is Liza. Tommy is a great, great friend of hers.
— Have you, Tommy, already had tea? - the girl asks the elephant.
The elephant again stretches out its trunk and blows warm, strong air right into the girl’s face.
breathing, causing the light hair on the girl’s head to fly in all directions.
Nadya laughs and claps her hands. The German laughs loudly. He himself is as big, fat and good-natured as an elephant, and Nadya thinks that they both look alike. Maybe they are related?
- No, he didn’t drink tea, young lady. But he happily drinks sugar water. He also loves buns very much.
They bring a tray of bread rolls. A girl treats an elephant. He deftly grabs the bun with his finger and, bending his trunk into a ring, hides it somewhere down under his head, where his funny, triangular, furry lower lip moves. You can hear the roll rustling against dry skin. Tommy does the same with another bun, and a third, and a fourth, and a fifth, and nods his head in gratitude, and his little eyes narrow even more with pleasure. And the girl laughs joyfully.
When all the buns are eaten, Nadya introduces the elephant to her dolls:
- Look, Tommy, this elegant doll is Sonya. She is a very kind child, but she is a little capricious and does not want to eat soup. And this is Natasha, Sonya’s daughter. She is already starting to learn and knows almost all the letters. And this is Matryoshka. This is my very first doll. You see, she has no nose, and her head is glued on and there is no more hair. But still, you can’t kick the old lady out of the house. Really, Tommy? She used to be Sonya’s mother, and now she serves as our cook. Well, let's play, Tommy: you will be the dad, and I will be the mom, and these will be our children.
Tommy agrees. He laughs, takes Matryoshka by the neck and drags it into his mouth. But this is just a joke. After lightly chewing the doll, he again places it on the girl’s lap, albeit a little wet and dented.
Then Nadya shows him a large book with pictures and explains:
- This is a horse, this is a canary, this is a gun... Here is a cage with a bird, here is a bucket, a mirror, a stove, a shovel, a crow... And this, look, this is an elephant! It really doesn't look like it at all? Are elephants really that small, Tommy?
Tommy finds that there are never such small elephants in the world. In general, he doesn’t like this picture. He grabs the edge of the page with his finger and turns it over.
It's time for lunch, but the girl can't be torn away from the elephant. A German comes to the rescue:
- Let me arrange all this. They will have lunch together.
He orders the elephant to sit down. The elephant obediently sits down, causing the floor in the entire apartment to shake, the dishes in the closet to rattle, and the plaster of the lower residents to fall from the ceiling. A girl sits opposite him. A table is placed between them. A tablecloth is tied around the elephant's neck, and the new friends begin to dine. The girl eats chicken soup and cutlet, and the elephant eats various vegetables and salad. The girl is given a tiny glass of sherry, and the elephant warm water with a glass of rum, and he happily pulls this drink out of the bowl with his trunk. Then they get sweets - the girl gets a cup of cocoa, and the elephant gets half a cake, this time a nut one. At this time, the German is sitting with his dad in the living room and drinking beer with the same pleasure as an elephant, only in larger quantities.
After lunch, some of my father’s friends come, they are warned in the hall about the elephant so that they don’t get scared. At first they don’t believe it, and then, seeing Tommy, they crowd towards the door.
- Don't be afraid, he's kind! - the girl reassures them. But the acquaintances hastily go into the living room and, without sitting for even five minutes, leave.
Evening is coming. Late. It's time for the girl to go to bed. However, it is impossible to pull her away from the elephant. She falls asleep next to him, and they take her, already sleepy, to the nursery. She doesn't even hear how they undress her.
That night Nadya dreams that she married Tommy and they have many children, small, cheerful elephants. The elephant, which was taken to the menagerie at night, also sees a sweet, affectionate girl in a dream. In addition, he dreams of large cakes, walnut and pistachio, the size of gates...
In the morning the girl wakes up cheerful, fresh and, as in the old days, when she was still healthy, shouts to the whole house, loudly and impatiently:
- Mo-loch-ka!
Hearing this cry, my mother joyfully crosses herself in her bedroom.
But the girl immediately remembers yesterday and asks:
- And the elephant?
They explain to her that the elephant went home on business, that he has children who cannot be left alone, that he asked to bow to Nadya and that he is waiting for her to visit him when she is healthy.
The girl smiles slyly and says:
- Tell Tommy that I’m completely healthy!
Mikhail Prishvin "Guys and Ducklings"
A small wild teal duck finally decided to move her ducklings from the forest, bypassing the village, into the lake to freedom. In the spring, this lake overflowed far, and a solid place for a nest could only be found about three miles away, on a hummock, in a swampy forest. And when the water subsided, we had to travel all three miles to the lake.
In places open to the eyes of man, fox and hawk, the mother walked behind so as not to let the ducklings out of sight for a minute. And near the forge, when crossing the road, she, of course, let them go ahead. That’s where the guys saw them and threw their hats at them. All the time while they were catching ducklings, the mother ran after them with an open beak and flew into different sides several steps in the greatest excitement. The guys were just about to throw hats at their mother and catch her like ducklings, but then I approached.
- What will you do with the ducklings? - I asked the guys sternly.
They chickened out and replied:
- Let's go.
- Let’s “let it go”! - I said angrily. - Why did you need to catch them? Where is mother now?
- And there he sits! - the guys answered in unison. And they pointed me to a nearby hillock of a fallow field, where the duck was actually sitting with her mouth open in excitement.
“Quickly,” I ordered the guys, “go and return all the ducklings to her!”
They even seemed to be delighted at my order and ran up the hill with the ducklings. The mother flew away a little and, when the guys left, rushed to save her sons and daughters. In her own way, she quickly said something to them and ran to the oat field. Five ducklings ran after her. And so, through the oat field, bypassing the village, the family continued its journey to the lake.
I joyfully took off my hat and, waving it, shouted:
- Bon voyage, ducklings!
The guys laughed at me.
-Why are you laughing, you fools? - I told the guys. — Do you think it’s so easy for ducklings to get into the lake? Just wait, wait for the university exam. Take off all your hats and shout “goodbye!”
And the same hats, dusty on the road while catching ducklings, rose into the air; the guys all shouted at once:
- Goodbye, ducklings!
Mikhail Prishvin “Fox Bread”
One day I walked in the forest all day and in the evening I returned home with rich booty. I took the heavy bag off my shoulders and began to lay out my belongings on the table.
- What kind of bird is this? - Zinochka asked.
“Terenty,” I answered.
And he told her about the black grouse, how it lives in the forest, how it mutters in the spring, how it pecks at birch buds, collects berries in the swamps in the fall, and warms itself from the wind under the snow in winter. He also told her about the hazel grouse, showed her that it was gray with a tuft, and whistled into the pipe in the hazel grouse style and let her whistle. I also poured a lot of porcini mushrooms, both red and black, onto the table. I also had in my pocket a bloody boneberry, and a blue blueberry, and a red lingonberry. I also brought with me a fragrant lump of pine resin, gave it to the girl to smell and said that trees are treated with this resin.
- Who treats them there? - Zinochka asked.
“They are treating themselves,” I answered. “Sometimes a hunter comes and wants to rest, he’ll stick an ax into a tree and hang his bag on the ax, and lie down under the tree.” He'll sleep and rest. He takes an ax out of the tree, puts on a bag, and leaves. And from the wound from the wood ax this fragrant resin will run and heal the wound.
Also, especially for Zinochka, I brought various wonderful herbs, one leaf at a time, a root at a time, a flower at a time: cuckoo’s tears, valerian, Peter’s cross, hare’s cabbage. And just under the hare cabbage I had a piece of black bread: it always happens to me that when I don’t take bread into the forest, I’m hungry, but if I take it, I forget to eat it and bring it back. And Zinochka, when she saw black bread under my hare cabbage, was stunned:
-Where did the bread come from in the forest?
- What's surprising here? After all, there is cabbage...
- Hare...
- And the bread is chanterelle bread. Taste it.
She tasted it carefully and started eating.
— Good chanterelle bread.
And she ate all my black bread clean. That's how it went for us. Zinochka, such a copula, often won’t even take white bread, but when I bring fox bread from the forest, she will always eat it all and praise it:
- Fox bread is much better than ours!
Yuri Koval "Grandfather, Grandmother and Alyosha"
Grandfather and woman argued about who their grandson looked like.
Baba says:
- Alyosha looks like me. Just as smart and economical.
Alyosha says:
- That's right, that's right, I look like a woman.
Grandfather says:
- And, in my opinion, Alyosha looks like me. He has the same eyes - beautiful, black. And he will probably have the same big beard when Alyosha himself grows up.
Alyosha wanted him to grow the same beard, and he says:
- That's right, that's right, I look more like my grandfather.
Baba says:
- How big a beard will grow is still unknown. But Alyosha is much more like me. Just like me, he loves tea with honey, gingerbread, jam and cheesecakes with cottage cheese. But the samovar was just in time. Now let's see who Alyosha is more like.
Alyosha thought for a moment and said:
“Perhaps I still look a lot like a woman.”
Grandfather scratched his head and said:
— Tea with honey is not a complete similarity. But Alyosha, just like me, loves to harness a horse and then ride a sled into the forest. Now let’s lay down the sled and go into the forest. There, they say, moose have appeared and are grazing the hay from our stack. We need to take a look.
Alyosha thought and thought and said:
“You know, grandpa, things happen so strangely in my life.” I look like a woman for half a day, and for half a day I look like you. Now I’ll drink some tea and I’ll immediately look like you.
And while Alyosha drank tea, he closed his eyes and puffed like a grandmother, and when they raced on a sled into the forest, just like his grandfather, he shouted: “But-oooh, honey! Let's! Let's!" - and cracked his whip.
Yuri Koval "Stozhok"
By the way, Uncle Zui lived in an old bathhouse near the bend of the Yalma River.
He lived not alone, but with his granddaughter Nyurka, and he had everything he needed - chickens and a cow.
“There’s just no pig,” said Uncle Zui. - And for what to a good person pig?
Back in the summer, Uncle Zui mowed grass in the forest and swept away a stack of hay, but he didn’t just sweep it away - cunningly: he put the haystack not on the ground, as everyone does, but right on the sleigh, so that it would be more convenient to take the hay out of the forest in winter.
And when winter came, Uncle Zui forgot about that hay.
“Grandfather,” says Nyurka, “aren’t you bringing hay from the forest?” Oh, did you forget?
- What kind of hay? - Uncle Zui was surprised, and then slapped himself on the forehead and ran to the chairman to ask for a horse.
The chairman gave me a good, strong horse. On it, Uncle Zui soon reached the place. He looks - his stack is covered with snow.
He began to kick the snow around the sleigh, then looked around - there was no horse: the damned one had gone!
He ran after him and caught up, but the horse did not go to the stack, he resisted.
“Why would she,” thinks Uncle Zui, “resist?”
Finally, Uncle Zui harnessed her to the sleigh.
- But-oh-oh!..
Uncle Zui smacks his lips and screams, but the horse doesn’t move—the runners are frozen solid to the ground. I had to tap them with a hatchet - the sleigh started moving, and there was a haystack on it. It drives just like it was standing in the forest.
Uncle Zui walks from the side and smacks his lips on the horse.
By lunchtime we got home, Uncle Zui began to unharness.
- What did you bring, Zuyushko?! - Pantelevna shouts to him.
- Hay, Pantelevna. What else?
- What do you have in your cart?
Uncle Zui looked and sat down in the snow as he stood. Some kind of terrible, crooked and shaggy muzzle stuck out from the cart - a bear!
“R-ru-u-u!..”
The bear stirred on the cart, tilted the stack to one side and fell out into the snow. He shook his head, grabbed the snow in his teeth and ran into the forest.
- Stop! - Uncle Zuy shouted. - Hold him, Pantelevna!
The bear barked and disappeared into the fir trees.
People began to gather.
The hunters came, and of course I was with them. We crowd around, looking at bear tracks.
Pasha the Hunter says:
- Look what a den he came up with for himself - Zuev Stozhok.
And Pantelevna screams and gets scared:
- How come he didn’t bite you, Zuyushko?..
“Yes,” said Uncle Zui, “now the hay will stink with bear meat.” A cow probably wouldn’t even take it into its mouth.
Notebooks in the rain
During recess, Marik says to me:
Let's run away from class. Look how nice it is outside!
What if Aunt Dasha is late with the briefcases?
You need to throw your briefcases out the window.
We looked out the window: it was dry near the wall, but a little further away there was a huge puddle. Don't throw your briefcases into a puddle! We took the belts off the trousers, tied them together and carefully lowered the briefcases onto them. At this time the bell rang. The teacher entered. I had to sit down. The lesson has begun. The rain poured outside the window. Marik writes me a note: “Our notebooks are missing.”
I answer him: “Our notebooks are missing.”
He writes to me: “What are we going to do?”
I answer him: “What are we going to do?”
Suddenly they call me to the board.
“I can’t,” I say, “I have to go to the board.”
“How, I think, can I walk without a belt?”
Go, go, I’ll help you,” says the teacher.
You don't need to help me.
Are you sick by any chance?
“I’m sick,” I say.
How's your homework?
Good with homework.
The teacher comes up to me.
Well, show me your notebook.
What's going on with you?
You'll have to give it a two.
He opens the magazine and gives me a bad mark, and I think about my notebook, which is now getting wet in the rain.
The teacher gave me a bad grade and calmly said:
You're feeling strange today...
How I sat under my desk
As soon as the teacher turned to the board, I immediately went under the desk. When the teacher notices that I have disappeared, he will probably be terribly surprised.
I wonder what he'll think? He’ll start asking everyone where I’ve gone - it’ll be a laugh! Half the lesson has already passed, and I’m still sitting. “When,” I think, “will he see that I’m not in class?” And it’s hard to sit under the desk. My back even hurt. Try to sit like that! I coughed - no attention. I can't sit anymore. Moreover, Seryozha keeps poking me in the back with his foot. I couldn't stand it. Didn't make it to the end of the lesson. I get out and say:
Sorry, Pyotr Petrovich...
The teacher asks:
What's the matter? Do you want to go to the board?
No, excuse me, I was sitting under my desk...
Well, how comfortable is it to sit there, under the desk? You sat very quietly today. This is how it would always be in class.
When Goga started going to first grade, he knew only two letters: O - circle and T - hammer. That's all. I didn't know any other letters. And I couldn't read.
Grandmother tried to teach him, but he immediately came up with a trick:
Now, now, grandma, I’ll wash the dishes for you.
And he immediately ran to the kitchen to wash the dishes. And the old grandmother forgot about studying and even bought him gifts for helping him with the housework. And Gogin’s parents were on a long business trip and relied on their grandmother. And of course, they didn’t know that their son still hadn’t learned to read. But Goga often washed the floor and dishes, went to buy bread, and his grandmother praised him in every possible way in letters to his parents. And I read it aloud to him. And Goga, sitting comfortably on the sofa, listened with his eyes closed. “Why should I learn to read,” he reasoned, “if my grandmother reads aloud to me.” He didn't even try.
And in class he dodged as best he could.
The teacher tells him:
Read it here.
He pretended to read, and he himself told from memory what his grandmother read to him. The teacher stopped him. To the laughter of the class, he said:
Do you want me I'd better close it a window to prevent it from blowing.
I'm so dizzy that I'm probably going to fall...
He pretended so skillfully that one day his teacher sent him to the doctor. The doctor asked:
How is your health?
It’s bad,” Goga said.
What hurts?
Well, then go to class.
Because nothing hurts you.
How do you know?
How do you know that? - the doctor laughed. And he slightly pushed Goga towards the exit. Goga never pretended to be sick again, but continued to prevaricate.
And the efforts of my classmates came to nothing. First, Masha, an excellent student, was assigned to him.
Let’s study seriously,” Masha told him.
When? - asked Goga.
Yeah right now.
“I’ll come now,” Goga said.
And he left and did not return.
Then Grisha, an excellent student, was assigned to him. They stayed in the classroom. But as soon as Grisha opened the primer, Goga reached under the desk.
Where are you going? - asked Grisha.
“Come here,” Goga called.
And here no one will interfere with us.
Yah you! - Grisha, of course, was offended and left immediately.
No one else was assigned to him.
As time went. He was dodging.
Gogin's parents arrived and found that their son could not read a single line. The father grabbed his head, and the mother grabbed the book she had brought for her child.
Now every evening,” she said, “I will read this wonderful book aloud to my son.
Grandma said:
Yes, yes, I also read interesting books aloud to Gogochka every evening.
But the father said:
It was really in vain that you did this. Our Gogochka has become so lazy that he cannot read a single line. I ask everyone to leave for the meeting.
And dad, along with grandmother and mom, left for a meeting. And Goga was at first worried about the meeting, and then calmed down when his mother began to read to him from a new book. And he even shook his legs with pleasure and almost spat on the carpet.
But he didn't know what kind of meeting it was! What was decided there!
So, mom read him a page and a half after the meeting. And he, swinging his legs, naively imagined that this would continue to happen. But when mom stopped really interesting place, he became worried again.
And when she handed him the book, he became even more worried.
He immediately suggested:
Let me wash the dishes for you, mommy.
And he ran to wash the dishes.
He ran to his father.
His father sternly told him never to make such requests to him again.
He thrust the book to his grandmother, but she yawned and dropped it from her hands. He picked up the book from the floor and gave it to his grandmother again. But she dropped it from her hands again. No, she had never fallen asleep so quickly in her chair before! “Is she really asleep,” thought Goga, “or was she instructed to pretend at the meeting? “Goga tugged at her, shook her, but grandma didn’t even think about waking up.
In despair, he sat down on the floor and began to look at the pictures. But from the pictures it was difficult to understand what was happening there next.
He brought the book to class. But his classmates refused to read to him. Not only that: Masha immediately left, and Grisha defiantly reached under the desk.
Goga pestered the high school student, but he flicked him on the nose and laughed.
That's what a home meeting is all about!
This is what the public means!
He soon read the entire book and many other books, but out of habit he never forgot to go buy bread, wash the floor or wash the dishes.
That's what's interesting!
Who cares what's surprising?
Tanka is not surprised by anything. She always says: “That’s not surprising!” - even if it happens surprisingly. Yesterday, in front of everyone, I jumped over such a puddle... No one could jump over, but I jumped over! Everyone was surprised except Tanya.
“Just think! So what? It’s not surprising!”
I kept trying to surprise her. But he couldn't surprise me. No matter how hard I tried.
I hit a little sparrow with a slingshot.
I learned to walk on my hands and whistle with one finger in my mouth.
She saw it all. But I wasn't surprised.
I tried my best. What didn’t I do! Climbed trees, walked without a hat in winter...
She still wasn't surprised.
And one day I just went out into the yard with a book. I sat down on the bench. And he began to read.
I didn't even see Tanka. And she says:
Marvelous! I wouldn't have thought that! He reads!
Prize
We made original costumes - no one else will have them! I will be a horse, and Vovka will be a knight. The only bad thing is that he has to ride me, and not me on him. And all because I'm a little younger. True, we agreed with him: he will not ride me all the time. He’ll ride me a little, and then he’ll get off and lead me like horses are led by the bridle. And so we went to the carnival. We came to the club in ordinary suits, and then changed clothes and went into the hall. That is, we moved in. I crawled on all fours. And Vovka was sitting on my back. True, Vovka helped me - he walked on the floor with his feet. But it was still not easy for me.
And I haven't seen anything yet. I was wearing a horse mask. I couldn’t see anything at all, although the mask had holes for the eyes. But they were somewhere on the forehead. I was crawling in the dark.
I bumped into someone's feet. I ran into a column twice. Sometimes I shook my head, then the mask slipped off and I saw the light. But for a moment. And then it's dark again. I couldn't shake my head all the time!
At least for a moment I saw the light. But Vovka saw nothing at all. And he kept asking me what was ahead. And he asked me to crawl more carefully. I crawled carefully anyway. I didn’t see anything myself. How could I know what was ahead! Someone stepped on my hand. I stopped immediately. And he refused to crawl any further. I told Vovka:
Enough. Get off.
Vovka probably enjoyed the ride and didn’t want to get off. He said it was too early. But still he got down, took me by the bridle, and I crawled on. Now it was easier for me to crawl, although I still couldn’t see anything.
I suggested taking off the masks and looking at the carnival, and then putting the masks back on. But Vovka said:
Then they will recognize us.
It must be fun here,” I said. “But we don’t see anything...
But Vovka walked in silence. He firmly decided to endure until the end. Get first prize.
My knees started to hurt. I said:
I'll sit on the floor now.
Can horses sit? - said Vovka. “You’re crazy!” You're a horse!
“I’m not a horse,” I said. “You’re a horse yourself.”
“No, you’re a horse,” Vovka answered. “Otherwise we won’t get a bonus.”
Well, so be it,” I said. “I’m tired of it.”
“Be patient,” said Vovka.
I crawled to the wall, leaned against it and sat on the floor.
You are sitting? - asked Vovka.
“I’m sitting,” I said.
“Okay,” Vovka agreed. “You can still sit on the floor.” Just don't sit on the chair. Do you understand? A horse - and suddenly on a chair!..
Music was blaring all around and people were laughing.
I asked:
Will it end soon?
Be patient,” said Vovka, “probably soon...
Vovka couldn’t stand it either. I sat down on the sofa. I sat down next to him. Then Vovka fell asleep on the sofa. And I fell asleep too.
Then they woke us up and gave us a bonus.
In the closet
Before class, I climbed into the closet. I wanted to meow from the closet. They'll think it's a cat, but it's me.
I was sitting in the closet, waiting for the lesson to start, and didn’t notice how I fell asleep.
I wake up - the class is quiet. I look through the crack - there is no one. I pushed the door, but it was closed. So, I slept through the entire lesson. Everyone went home, and they locked me in the closet.
It's stuffy in the closet and dark as night. I got scared, I started screaming:
Uh-uh! I'm in the closet! Help!
I listened - silence all around.
ABOUT! Comrades! I'm sitting in the closet!
I hear someone's steps. Someone is coming.
Who's bawling here?
I immediately recognized Aunt Nyusha, the cleaning lady.
I was delighted and shouted:
Aunt Nyusha, I'm here!
Where are you, dear?
I'm in the closet! In the closet!
How did you, my dear, get there?
I'm in the closet, grandma!
So I hear that you are in the closet. So what do you want?
I was locked in a closet. Oh, grandma!
Aunt Nyusha left. Silence again. She probably went to get the key.
Pal Palych knocked on the cabinet with his finger.
There’s no one there,” said Pal Palych.
Why not? “Yes,” said Aunt Nyusha.
Well, where is he? - said Pal Palych and knocked on the closet again.
I was afraid that everyone would leave and I would remain in the closet, and I shouted with all my might:
I'm here!
Who are you? - asked Pal Palych.
I... Tsypkin...
Why did you go there, Tsypkin?
I was locked... I didn't get in...
Hm... He's locked up! But he didn’t get in! Have you seen it? What wizards there are in our school! They don't get into the closet when they are locked in the closet. Miracles don’t happen, do you hear, Tsypkin?
How long have you been sitting there? - asked Pal Palych.
Don't know...
Find the key,” said Pal Palych. - Fast.
Aunt Nyusha went to get the key, but Pal Palych stayed behind. He sat down on a chair nearby and began to wait. I saw his face through the crack. He was very angry. He lit a cigarette and said:
Well! This is what prank leads to. Tell me honestly: why are you in the closet?
I really wanted to disappear from the closet. They open the closet, and I’m not there. It was as if I had never been there. They will ask me: “Were you in the closet?” I will say: “I wasn’t.” They will say to me: “Who was there?” I will say: “I don’t know.”
But this only happens in fairy tales! Surely tomorrow they will call mom... Your son, they will say, climbed into the closet, slept there during all classes, and all that... as if it’s comfortable for me to sleep here! My legs ache, my back hurts. One torment! What was my answer?
I was silent.
Are you alive there? - asked Pal Palych.
Well, sit tight, they'll open soon...
I am sitting...
So... - said Pal Palych. - So will you answer me why you climbed into this closet?
Who? Tsypkin? In the closet? Why?
I wanted to disappear again.
The director asked:
Tsypkin, is that you?
I sighed heavily. I simply couldn't answer anymore.
Aunt Nyusha said:
The class leader took the key away.
“Break down the door,” said the director.
I felt the door being broken down, the closet shook, and I hit my forehead painfully. I was afraid that the cabinet would fall, and I cried. I pressed my hands against the walls of the closet, and when the door gave way and opened, I continued to stand in the same way.
Well, come out,” said the director. - And explain to us what that means.
I didn't move. I was scared.
Why is he standing? - asked the director.
I was pulled out of the closet.
I was silent the whole time.
I didn't know what to say.
I just wanted to meow. But how would I put it...
Carousel in my head
By the end school year I asked my father to buy me a two-wheeler, a battery-powered submachine gun, a battery-powered airplane, a flying helicopter and a table hockey game.
I really want to have these things! - I told my father. “They are constantly spinning in my head like a carousel, and this makes my head so dizzy that it is difficult to stay on my feet.”
“Hold on,” said the father, “don’t fall and write all these things on a piece of paper for me so that I don’t forget.”
But why write, they are already firmly in my head.
Write,” said the father, “it doesn’t cost you anything.”
“In general, it’s worth nothing,” I said, “just extra hassle.” And I wrote in large letters on the entire sheet:
VILISAPET
PISTAL GUN
VIRTALET
Then I thought about it and decided to write “ice cream”, went to the window, looked at the sign opposite and added:
ICE CREAM
The father read it and said:
I'll buy you some ice cream for now, and we'll wait for the rest.
I thought he had no time now, and I asked:
Until what time?
Until better times.
Until what?
Until the next end of the school year.
Yes, because the letters in your head are spinning like a carousel, this makes you dizzy, and the words are not on their feet.
It's as if words have legs!
And they’ve bought me ice cream a hundred times already.
Betball
Today you shouldn’t go outside - today is the game... - Dad said mysteriously, looking out the window.
Which? - I asked from behind my dad’s back.
“Wetball,” he answered even more mysteriously and sat me down on the windowsill.
A-ah-ah... - I drawled.
Apparently, dad guessed that I didn’t understand anything and began to explain.
Wetball is like football, only it is played by trees, and instead of a ball, they are kicked by the wind. We say hurricane or storm, and they say wetball. Look how the birch trees rustled - it’s the poplars that are giving in to them... Wow! How they swayed - it’s clear that they missed a goal, they couldn’t hold back the wind with branches... Well, another pass! Dangerous moment...
Dad spoke just like a real commentator, and I, spellbound, looked at the street and thought that wetball would probably give 100 points ahead to any football, basketball and even handball! Although I didn’t fully understand the meaning of the latter either...
Breakfast
Actually, I love breakfast. Especially if mom cooks sausage instead of porridge or makes sandwiches with cheese. But sometimes you want something unusual. For example, today's or yesterday's. I once asked my mother for an afternoon snack, but she looked at me in surprise and offered me an afternoon snack.
No, I say, I would like today’s one. Well, or yesterday, at worst...
Yesterday there was soup for lunch... - Mom was confused. - Should I warm it up?
In general, I didn’t understand anything.
And I myself don’t really understand what these today’s and yesterday’s ones look like and what they taste like. Maybe yesterday's soup really tastes like yesterday's soup. But what then does the taste of today’s wine taste like? Probably something today. Breakfast, for example. On the other hand, why are breakfasts called that? Well, that is, according to the rules, then breakfast should be called segodnik, because they prepared it for me today and I will eat it today. Now, if I leave it for tomorrow, then it’s a completely different matter. Although no. After all, tomorrow he will already be yesterday.
So do you want porridge or soup? - she asked carefully.
How the boy Yasha ate poorly
Yasha was good to everyone, but he ate poorly. All the time with concerts. Either mom sings to him, then dad shows him tricks. And he gets along well:
- Don't want.
Mom says:
- Yasha, eat your porridge.
- Don't want.
Dad says:
- Yasha, drink juice!
- Don't want.
Mom and Dad are tired of trying to persuade him every time. And then my mother read in one scientific pedagogical book that children do not need to be persuaded to eat. You need to put a plate of porridge in front of them and wait until they get hungry and eat everything.
They set and placed plates in front of Yasha, but he didn’t eat or eat anything. He doesn’t eat cutlets, soup, or porridge. He became thin and dead, like a straw.
-Yasha, eat porridge!
- Don't want.
- Yasha, eat your soup!
- Don't want.
Previously, his pants were difficult to fasten, but now he was hanging out completely freely in them. It was possible to put another Yasha in these pants.
And then one day a strong wind blew. And Yasha was playing in the area. He was very light, and the wind blew him around the area. I rolled to the wire mesh fence. And there Yasha got stuck.
So he sat, pressed against the fence by the wind, for an hour.
Mom calls:
- Yasha, where are you? Go home and suffer with the soup.
But he doesn't come. You can't even hear him. He not only became dead, but his voice also became dead. You can't hear anything about him squeaking there.
And he squeaks:
- Mom, take me away from the fence!
Mom began to worry - where did Yasha go? Where to look for it? Yasha is neither seen nor heard.
Dad said this:
“I think our Yasha was blown away somewhere by the wind.” Come on, mom, we'll take the pot of soup out onto the porch. The wind will blow and bring the smell of soup to Yasha. He will come crawling to this delicious smell.
And so they did. They took the pot of soup out onto the porch. The wind carried the smell to Yasha.
Yasha smelled the delicious soup and immediately crawled towards the smell. Because I was cold and lost a lot of strength.
He crawled, crawled, crawled for half an hour. But I achieved my goal. He came to his mother’s kitchen and immediately ate a whole pot of soup! How can he eat three cutlets at once? How can he drink three glasses of compote?
Mom was amazed. She didn't even know whether to be happy or sad. She says:
“Yasha, if you eat like this every day, I won’t have enough food.”
Yasha reassured her:
- No, mom, I won’t eat that much every day. This is me correcting past mistakes. I will, like all children, eat well. I'll be a completely different boy.
He wanted to say “I will,” but he came up with “bubu.” Do you know why? Because his mouth was stuffed with an apple. He couldn't stop.
Since then, Yasha has been eating well.
Secrets
Do you know how to make secrets?
If you don't know how, I'll teach you.
Take a clean piece of glass and dig a hole in the ground. Place a candy wrapper in the hole, and on the candy wrapper - everything that is beautiful.
You can put a stone, a fragment of a plate, a bead, a bird feather, a ball (can be glass, can be metal).
You can use an acorn or an acorn cap.
You can use a multi-colored shred.
You can have a flower, a leaf, or even just grass.
Maybe real candy.
You can have elderberry, dry beetle.
You can even use an eraser if it’s pretty.
Yes, you can also add a button if it’s shiny.
Here you go. Did you put it in?
Now cover it all with glass and cover it with earth. And then slowly clear away the soil with your finger and look into the hole... You know how beautiful it will be! I made a secret, remembered the place and left.
The next day my “secret” was gone. Someone dug it up. Some kind of hooligan.
I made a “secret” in another place. And they dug it up again!
Then I decided to track down who was involved in this matter... And of course, this person turned out to be Pavlik Ivanov, who else?!
Then I made a “secret” again and put a note in it:
“Pavlik Ivanov, you are a fool and a hooligan.”
An hour later the note was gone. Pavlik did not look me in the eyes.
Well, did you read it? - I asked Pavlik.
“I haven’t read anything,” Pavlik said. - You yourself are a fool.
Composition
One day we were told to write an essay in class on the topic “I help my mother.”
I took a pen and began to write:
"I always help my mom. I sweep the floor and wash the dishes. Sometimes I wash handkerchiefs.”
I didn't know what to write anymore. I looked at Lyuska. She scribbled in her notebook.
Then I remembered that I washed my stockings once, and wrote:
“I also wash stockings and socks.”
I didn’t really know what to write anymore. But you can’t submit such a short essay!
Then I wrote:
“I also wash T-shirts, shirts and underpants.”
I looked around. Everyone wrote and wrote. I wonder what they write about? You might think that they help their mother from morning to night!
And the lesson did not end. And I had to continue.
“I also wash dresses, mine and my mother’s, napkins and bedspreads.”
And the lesson did not end and did not end. And I wrote:
“I also like to wash curtains and tablecloths.”
And then the bell finally rang!
They gave me a high five. The teacher read my essay out loud. She said that she liked my essay the most. And that she will read it at the parent meeting.
I really asked my mother not to go to the parent meeting. I said that my throat hurts. But mom told dad to give me hot milk with honey and went to school.
The next morning at breakfast the following conversation took place.
Mom: Do you know, Syoma, it turns out that our daughter writes essays wonderfully!
Dad: It doesn't surprise me. She was always good at composing.
Mom: No, really! I’m not kidding, Vera Evstigneevna praises her. She was very pleased that our daughter loves to wash curtains and tablecloths.
Dad: What?!
Mom: Really, Syoma, this is wonderful? - Addressing me: - Why have you never admitted this to me before?
“I was shy,” I said. - I thought you wouldn’t let me.
Well, what are you talking about! - Mom said. - Don't be shy, please! Wash our curtains today. It's good that I don't have to drag them to the laundry!
I rolled my eyes. The curtains were huge. Ten times I could wrap myself in them! But it was too late to retreat.
I washed the curtains piece by piece. While I was soaping one piece, the other was completely blurry. I'm just exhausted with these pieces! Then I rinsed the bathroom curtains bit by bit. When I finished squeezing one piece, water from neighboring pieces was poured into it again.
Then I climbed onto a stool and began hanging the curtains on the rope.
Well, that was the worst! While I was pulling one piece of curtain onto the rope, another fell to the floor. And in the end, the whole curtain fell to the floor, and I fell onto it from the stool.
I became completely wet - just squeeze it out.
The curtain had to be dragged into the bathroom again. But the kitchen floor sparkled like new.
Water poured out of the curtains all day.
I put all the pots and pans we had under the curtains. Then she put the kettle, three bottles and all the cups and saucers on the floor. But water still flooded the kitchen.
Oddly enough, my mother was pleased.
You did a great job washing the curtains! - Mom said, walking around the kitchen in galoshes. - I didn’t know you were so capable! Tomorrow you will wash the tablecloth...
What is my head thinking?
If you think that I study well, you are mistaken. I study no matter. For some reason, everyone thinks that I am capable, but lazy. I don't know if I'm capable or not. But only I know for sure that I am not lazy. I spend three hours working on problems.
For example, now I’m sitting and trying with all my might to solve a problem. But she doesn’t dare. I tell my mom:
Mom, I can’t do the problem.
Don’t be lazy, says mom. - Think carefully, and everything will work out. Just think carefully!
She leaves on business. And I take my head with both hands and tell her:
Think, head. Think carefully... “Two pedestrians went from point A to point B...” Head, why don’t you think? Well, head, well, think, please! Well what is it worth to you!
A cloud floats outside the window. It is as light as feathers. There it stopped. No, it floats on.
Head, what are you thinking about?! Aren `t you ashamed!!! “Two pedestrians went from point A to point B...” Lyuska probably left too. She's already walking. If she had approached me first, I would, of course, forgive her. But will she really fit, such a mischief?!
“...From point A to point B...” No, she won’t do. On the contrary, when I go out into the yard, she will take Lena’s arm and whisper to her. Then she will say: “Len, come to me, I have something.” They will leave, and then sit on the windowsill and laugh and nibble on seeds.
“...Two pedestrians left point A to point B...” And what will I do?.. And then I’ll call Kolya, Petka and Pavlik to play lapta. What will she do? Yeah, she'll play the Three Fat Men record. Yes, so loud that Kolya, Petka and Pavlik will hear and run to ask her to let them listen. They've listened to it a hundred times, but it's not enough for them! And then Lyuska will close the window, and they will all listen to the record there.
“...From point A to point... to point...” And then I’ll take it and fire something right at her window. Glass - ding! - and will fly apart. Let him know.
So. I'm already tired of thinking. Think, don’t think, the task will not work. Just an awfully difficult task! I'll take a walk a little and start thinking again.
I closed the book and looked out the window. Lyuska was walking alone in the yard. She jumped into hopscotch. I went out into the yard and sat down on a bench. Lyuska didn’t even look at me.
Earring! Vitka! - Lyuska immediately screamed. - Let's go play lapta!
The Karmanov brothers looked out the window.
“We have a throat,” both brothers said hoarsely. - They won't let us in.
Lena! - Lyuska screamed. - Linen! Come out!
Instead of Lena, her grandmother looked out and shook her finger at Lyuska.
Pavlik! - Lyuska screamed.
No one appeared at the window.
Whoops! - Lyuska pressed herself.
Girl, why are you yelling?! - Someone's head poked out of the window. - A sick person is not allowed to rest! There is no peace for you! - And his head stuck back into the window.
Lyuska looked at me furtively and blushed like a lobster. She tugged at her pigtail. Then she took the thread off her sleeve. Then she looked at the tree and said:
Lucy, let's play hopscotch.
Come on, I said.
We jumped into hopscotch and I went home to solve my problem.
As soon as I sat down at the table, my mother came:
Well, how's the problem?
Does not work.
But you’ve been sitting over it for two hours already! This is just terrible! They give the children some puzzles!.. Well, show me your problem! Maybe I can do it? After all, I graduated from college. So. “Two pedestrians went from point A to point B...” Wait, wait, this problem is somehow familiar to me! Listen, you and your dad decided it last time! I remember perfectly!
How? - I was surprised. - Really? Oh, really, this is the forty-fifth problem, and we were given the forty-sixth.
At this point my mother became terribly angry.
It's outrageous! - Mom said. - This is unheard of! This mess! Where is your head?! What is she thinking about?!
About my friend and a little about me
Our yard was large. There were a lot of different children walking in our yard - both boys and girls. But most of all I loved Lyuska. She was my friend. She and I lived in neighboring apartments, and at school we sat at the same desk.
My friend Lyuska had straight yellow hair. And she had eyes!.. You probably won’t believe what kind of eyes she had. One eye is green, like grass. And the other one is completely yellow, with brown spots!
And my eyes were kind of gray. Well, just gray, that's all. Completely uninteresting eyes! And my hair was stupid - curly and short. And huge freckles on my nose. And in general, everything with Lyuska was better than with me. Only I was taller.
I was terribly proud of it. I really liked it when people called us “Big Lyuska” and “Little Lyuska” in the yard.
And suddenly Lyuska grew up. And it became unclear which of us is big and which is small.
And then she grew another half head.
Well, that was too much! I was offended by her, and we stopped walking together in the yard. At school I didn’t look in her direction, and she didn’t look in mine, and everyone was very surprised and said: “Between the Lyuskas black cat ran through,” and pestered us about why we had quarreled.
After school, I no longer went out into the yard. There was nothing for me to do there.
I wandered around the house and found no place for myself. To make things less boring, I secretly watched from behind the curtain as Lyuska played rounders with Pavlik, Petka and the Karmanov brothers.
At lunch and dinner I now asked for more. I choked and ate everything... Every day I pressed the back of my head against the wall and marked my height on it with a red pencil. But strange thing! It turned out that not only was I not growing, but, on the contrary, I had even decreased by almost two millimeters!
And then summer came, and I went to a pioneer camp.
In the camp, I kept remembering Lyuska and missing her.
And I wrote her a letter.
“Hello, Lucy!
How are you? I'm doing well. We have a lot of fun at camp. The Vorya river flows next to us. The water there is blue-blue! And there are shells on the shore. I found a very beautiful shell for you. It is round and with stripes. You'll probably find it useful. Lucy, if you want, let's be friends again. Let them now call you big and me small. I still agree. Please write me the answer.
Pioneer greetings!
Lyusya Sinitsyna"
I waited a whole week for an answer. I kept thinking: what if she doesn’t write to me! What if she never wants to be friends with me again!.. And when a letter finally arrived from Lyuska, I was so happy that my hands even shook a little.
The letter said this:
“Hello, Lucy!
Thank you, I'm doing well. Yesterday my mother bought me wonderful slippers with white piping. I also have a new one big ball, you'll just rock! Come quickly, otherwise Pavlik and Petka are such fools, it’s no fun to be with them! Be careful not to lose the shell.
With pioneer salute!
Lyusya Kositsyna"
That day I carried Lyuska’s blue envelope with me until the evening. I told everyone what a wonderful friend I have in Moscow, Lyuska.
And when I returned from the camp, Lyuska and my parents met me at the station. She and I rushed to hug... And then it turned out that I had outgrown Lyuska by a whole head.
A funny story about a mischievous deceiver, schoolgirl Ninochka. Story for junior schoolchildren and middle school age.
Harmful Ninka Kukushkina. Author: Irina Pivovarova
One day Katya and Manechka went out into the yard, and there sat on a bench Ninka Kukushkina in a brand new brown school dress, a brand new black apron and a very white collar (Ninka was a first grader, she boasted that she was an A student, but she herself was a D student) and Kostya Palkin in a green cowboy jacket, sandals on bare feet and a blue cap with a large visor.
Ninka enthusiastically lied to Kostya that she had met a real hare in the forest in the summer and this hare made Ninka so happy that he immediately climbed into her arms and did not want to get off. Then Ninka brought him home, and the hare lived with them for a whole month, drinking milk from a saucer and guarding the house.
Kostya listened to Ninka with half an ear. Stories about hares did not bother him. Yesterday he received a letter from his parents saying that perhaps in a year they would take him to Africa, where they were now living and building a dairy canning plant, and Kostya sat and thought about what he would take with him.
“Don’t forget the fishing rod,” thought Kostya. “A trap for snakes is a must... A hunting knife... I need to buy it at the Okhotnik store.” Yes, there's still a gun. Winchester. Or a double-barreled shotgun."
Then Katya and Manechka came up.
- What's this! - said Katya, after hearing the end of the “rabbit” story. “It’s nothing!” Just think, a hare! Hares are nonsense! A real goat has been living on our balcony for a whole year now. Call me Aglaya Sidorovna.
“Yeah,” said Manechka. “Aglaya Sidorovna.” She came to visit us from Kozodoevsk. We have been eating goat's milk for a long time.
“Exactly,” said Katya. “Such a kind goat!” She brought us so much! Ten bags of chocolate-covered nuts, twenty cans of goat’s condensed milk, thirty packs of Yubileinoye cookies, and she eats nothing but cranberry jelly, bean soup and vanilla crackers!
“I’ll buy a double-barreled shotgun,” Kostya said respectfully. “You can kill two tigers at once with a double-barreled shotgun... Why specifically vanilla ones?”
- So that the milk smells good.
- They're lying! They don't have any goats! — Ninka got angry. “Don’t listen, Kostya!” You know them!
- Just as it is! She sleeps in a basket at night fresh air. And during the day he sunbathes in the sun.
- Liars! Liars! If a goat lived on your balcony, it would bleat throughout the entire yard!
- Who bleated? For what? - Kostya asked, having managed to immerse himself in thoughts about whether or not to take his aunt’s lotto to Africa.
- And she bleats. You'll hear it for yourself soon... Now let's play hide and seek?
“Come on,” said Kostya.
And Kostya began to drive, and Manya, Katya and Ninka ran to hide. Suddenly a loud goat bleating was heard in the yard. It was Manechka who ran home and bleated from the balcony:
- B-e-e... Me-e-e...
Ninka crawled out of the hole behind the bushes in surprise.
- Kostya! Listen!
“Well, yes, he’s bleating,” said Kostya. “I told you...
And Manya ran back last time and ran to help.
Now Ninka was driving.
This time Katya and Manechka ran home together and began bleating from the balcony. And then they went down and, as if nothing had happened, ran to the rescue.
- Listen, you really have a goat! - said Kostya. “What were you hiding before?”
- She's not real, not real! - Ninka shouted. “They have a groovy one!”
- Here's another one, catchy! Yes, she reads our books, counts to ten and even knows how to speak like a human being. Let's go and ask her, and you stand here and listen.
Katya and Manya ran home, sat down behind the balcony bars and bleated in one voice:
- Ma-a-ma! Ma-a-ma!
- Well, how? - Katya leaned out. - Do you like it?
“Just think,” said Ninka. - “Mom” every fool can say. Let him read some poem.
“I’ll ask you now,” Manya said, squatted down and shouted to the whole yard:
Our Tanya cries loudly:
She dropped a ball into the river.
Hush, Tanechka, don’t cry:
The ball will not drown in the river.
The old women on the benches turned their heads in bewilderment, and the janitor Sima, who at that time was diligently sweeping the yard, became wary and raised her head.
- Well, isn’t it great? - said Katya.
- Amazing! — Ninka made a sly face. “But I don’t hear anything.” Ask your goat to read poetry louder.
Here Manechka starts screaming obscenities. And since Manya had the right voice, and when Manya tried, she could roar so that the walls shook, it is not surprising that after the poem about the whiny Tanya, people’s heads began to poke out of all the windows with indignation, and Matvey Semyonicheva Alpha, who at this ran around in the yard for a while, barking deafeningly.
And the janitor Sima... There’s no need to talk about her! Her relationship with the Skovorodkin children was not the best anyway. They are sick of Sima to death with their antics.
Therefore, having heard inhuman screams from the balcony of apartment eighteen, Sima rushed straight into the entrance with her broom and began pounding on the door of apartment eighteen with her fists.
And the most mischievous Ninka, pleased that she managed to teach Frying Pans a lesson so well, glanced at the angry Sima, and sweetly said, as if nothing had happened:
- Well done, your goat! Excellent poetry reader! Now I’ll read something to her.
And, dancing and sticking out her tongue, but not forgetting to adjust the blue nylon bow on her head, the cunning, harmful Ninka squealed very disgustingly.
