Михаил Белиловский - Чудо веточка

- А вот, хочу, - и мрачный, - огрызнулся Хом.

- А я вот хочу, и веселая такая, - задиристо крикнула белка и пулей взметнулась вверх по веткам высоко к сияющим небесам. А эхо разносило по лесу ее слова, повторяя их много раз:

- Ааа яяя воот хохоччуу и вееселаяяя.

Сделав большой круг, белочка вернулась к хомяку и говорит ему, задыхаясь от быстрого бега.

- Я думала, развеселю тебя, а ты по-прежнему невеселый.

- Разве ты поймешь меня, - Хом от досады отвернулся от своего товарища, - Вот скажи мне, что ты здесь делаешь целый день? - с тоской в голосе спросил он белку.

- Как что? Прыгаю с ветки на веточку, орешки ем, а лишние прячу на зиму.

- И все?

- Нет не все, - подумав, сказала белочка.

- А что же еще?

Белка подвинулась вплотную к хомяку и говорит почти шепотом.

- А ты никому не расскажешь?

- Никому, - ответил Хомик и подумал: "Какие такие тайны могут быть у белки?" - Ну, давай, говори!

- А ты меня не торопи. Мне вот нужно подумать, говорить тебе это или нет.

Чтобы ее тайна выглядела, как можно более загадочной, хитрюга белка решила несколько подождать и не рассказывать сразу.

- Нет, пока не скажу, - сказала она после некоторого раздумья.

- Подумаешь, ну и не говори. Проживу как-нибудь без твоей тайны.

- А вот и не проживешь, потому, что жить без чудес все равно что вообще не жить.

- Хрр-уп, - проскрипел Хом, - Ну и задавака же ты! По-твоему только у тебя тайны и чудеса, больше ни у кого.

- Но такого чуда, что я знаю, нет ни у кого на всем белом свете.

- Так уж и нет.

- Ну что ж пошли со мной - увидишь.

- Что ж, пройдусь с тобой. Все равно делать нечего. Посмотрю, какие у тебя чудеса.

Поднялись они по склону горы, белка и говорит тихо и загадочно:

- Вот здесь.

- Что здесь?

- Сейчас услышишь.

Оглянулся Хомяк. Стоят несколько сухих деревьев вокруг и больше ничего такого особенного.

- Где же тайна твоя?

- Молчи и слушай.

Со стороны подул ветерок, и полилась тихая трель:

- Тра-ля, тра-ля-ля.

То затихнет, то опять раздается.

- Так это же птенец выпал из гнезда. Тоже мне чудо.

- А вот и нет! Подойди к той сухой веточке, которая пустотелая и с дырочками на боку.

Хом подобрался к ветке и остановился. Она действительно играла каждый раз когда задувал ветер.

-Э-хэ-хэ-! - закричал он на весь лес и стал бегать по кругу от радости.

- Ты это чего? - белка была поражена, - Или тебя муха укусила?

- Мне нужна эта веточка-флейта, мне она очень нужна!

- Не дам я тебе ее, не дам! Это моя тайна.

Белка от возмущения развернулась и прошлась своим пышным хвостом прямо по мордочке Хомячка так, что тот на некоторое время перестал видеть. А Хом опомнился и с разбегу ткнул носом белку в бок.

- Стойте! - вдруг услышали они голос со стороны густого куста, который рос недалеко.

Перед ними стоял Джон с длинной палочкой в руках.

- Хом, не смей драться! Я тебя искал долго и вот нашел. - Джон подошел поближе, - Смотрите оба, у меня такая же веточка. Я ее здесь срезал и успел уже сделать из нее флейту. А у тебя я вижу - друг. Давайте вместе споем.

- Давайте! - обрадовался Хом, что Джон его нашел, и будет играть на флейте.

- Давайте! - обрадовалась белочка, что тайна ее осталась на месте.

И двинулись они по лесу с песенкой.

На веточке я прыгала, взлетала высоко,

Зеленую и гибкую любила я ее,

И вдруг поблекла веточка, засохла на корню,

Но не погибла веточка, играет на ветру.

Белочка пела, Джон играл на флейте, а Хом им радостно похрюкивал. Теперь-то он опять будет крутить свое колесо и рано или поздно все-таки доберется до заветной вершины.

Конец.

M. Belilovskiy

For Grandpa and Grandma whose courageous study of English and for your Grand child not to will forget his Russian

The Wonder Twig

In the dark, thickset forest stood a wooden house. There lived a father, mother, and their young son Johnny.

Once, the parents presented to him a live creature - a brown, downy, and very tiny hamster. He was named Ham.

The small beast was awfully curios. Everything was interesting for him. Generally, he was like a playful puppy. He had to muzzle everything, touching and smelling with his nose, viewing with his eyes. He intended to know everything.

Naturally, there was no end to his numerous monkey tricks.

Mama reasoned with Johnny, "Maybe it would be better to put the hamster into the cage."

"No, Mama, I beg you, let him be loose."

Mama agreed. And this is what soon happened....

It was a deep, dark night. The pale, round moon looked through the window. Everybody in the house was fast asleep. The silence was so deep, as they say, that there was a whistle in the ears. Fidgety Ham woke up from a tiresome fly and couldn't fall asleep again. He scratched one ear and then the other with his paws, snorted a couple of times, and began to walk toward the living room in the half darkness.

Afterward, Ham climbed up on the piano cover, slipped on the edge, and crashed with his whole body on the keyboard.

"Tararam-bamm!!!"

A piano accord sounded loudly in the darkness.

The hamster calmed down a few minutes from the surprise, lying on the keyboard. He soon collected himself, rising on his back paws and with his front paws began clambering again over the cover. But he was unsuccessful. So, he was playing his own whimsical melody and admiring it.

Who is to know how long Ham would have been playing if the light hadn't suddenly turned on. The small beast was frightened and disappeared deep into the Papa's boot.

Mama had lit the lamp. Half asleep, she was waking Papa,

"Dear, I can't believe it! Our son decided to play the piano himself. Now I hope he likes it. He will be playing! Our Johnny is a clever boy!"

"You're probably right," grumbled Papa, waking and feeling displeased, "but why so late at night?"

This thought compelled Mama and Papa, not realizing what the matter was, to jump up from the bed. First, they darted to the living room and didn't realize their son was hurrying to his room.

Meanwhile, Johnny was lying in his bed absolutely quiet with open eyes. He just wasn't frightened, but surprised of the piano sounds. He merely guessed what happened.

"Sweety," started Mama, "because of all that, I think the hamster's place has to be in the cage. Otherwise, it will prevent you from doing schoolwork and playing the piano."

Johnny frowned.

"Am I wrong?" Mama demanded.

"Please, Mama, don't take offense. I don't like playing the piano. Let me play the flute. My teacher began teaching me to play a little."

"I hope you know that the piano is the main instrument of almost any orchestra. You can use it for many more melodies. Sorry, my darling, you are wrong. I don't have anything against the flute, but it's nonsense to stop playing the piano. Your teacher plays the flute and piano, too."

However, Johnny tried to get his way, "The flute can be used in any place - at home, in the street, and even in the forest."

Ham sat in Papa's boot, heard everything, and thought, if a person doesn't like playing the piano, why make him do it? Let him play the flute if he enjoys it. It may be much better.

The small beast thought during the night and decided to somehow express his thoughts to Mama. But how would he do it?

Ham did it like a hamster could. It was so...

A fine sunny morning had set in. Mama drank coffee in the kitchen and read the big newspaper very attentively. The small creature emerged secretly onto the table and slipped quickly between the pages so that he was invisible.

At that moment, Mama heard a rustle of the paper. She raised her head and, with what she suddenly saw, threw down the paper with terror. The newspaper pages were billowing and moving to and fro like a sea surf. Mama almost dropped her cup. She looked with wide open eyes and cried,

"Gracious me! What is happening? Look everybody, the page is moving by itself!!! This is really magic!" Mama stammered as she turned pale and held her heart with her hand.

But, in the next moment, she noticed a small tail swinging cheerily from behind the remote edge of the page, and she smiled brightly. Johnny and Papa smiled, too.

It's difficult to say whether the small beast was able to thus tell his trouble about Johnny. Anyway, Ham liked the following conversation that he heard. This happened after everybody calmed down, and Johnny asked his parents,

"Please, have pity on him. He is too bored. Let's buy a squirrel wheel for our hamster!"

"What's that?" Papa asked.

"It's a wheel the pet runs inside of and turns, but stays in once place."

"OK, I agree to look for such a wonder," said Mama. Johnny had a kindly mother!

Thus, the wheel was bought and put by the window. What an unexpected surprise for the whole family when the small, clever beast suspiciously approached the unknown thing, touched the wheel with his sharp nose, and suddenly stood stock-still looking at how it began to turn. But the real wonder came later. The hamster himself climbed up the wheel rungs and, with a gaze of amazement, quickly rushed to attempt to reach the peak. However, it was in vain. Ham was running, nevertheless, staying at almost the same place. The hard toiler was panting, puffing, and snorting very loudly,

"Puff-piff, puff-ffrr!" and he moved so quickly that the wheel was invisible.

It was two o'clock in the afternoon. The hamster that had been running since early in the morning had not had one break. He was very tired and his strength had run out. But small Ham did not give in. He tried to keep his spirits up in such a song,

"Oh, stairs up, oh, stairs up, oh how they're a lot,

My feet escape, my feet escape, and heart beats hard,

Not so lightly, not so lightly rotates the hugest wheel,

If I could reach a darling peak, it would be, oh, the biggest deal!"

So, he was running and happy.

Somebody emerged and called to him.

"Hello, chap! What are you doing?"

At the sill of the opened window was running to and fro a very brisk squirrel. It would run and suddenly curdle, run and curdle. And its tail was bending like a saxophone.

"Please, don't bother me! I'm very busy!" the hamster snapped and continued puffing like a locomotive.

"Hruph-hruph-puph..."

The squirrel jumped up on the edge of the top of window and hung with his head down.

"Stupid cuss, listen to what I have to say to you."

"I...pruph-truph...don't want to listen to you!"

The catchy squirrel thought of what to do and screamed,

"Be careful!!! Stop!!! A big bee is sitting on your belly! Stop, bulky guy!"

The scared hamster stumbled over and fell down the stairs. The untwisted wheel continued to rotate, turning him with his short tail back up, then stopped. Ham could not hold himself and flew to the floor.

The squirrel sprang to him and said,

"Now listen to me. Try to keep your spirits up, ninny! Don't dream of touching the top of the wheel! It's quite impossible. Do you not believe me?"

"How do you know?"

"My grandmother told me long ago that people invented this wheel to amuse themselves. They like to see how we uselessly try to get to the top. For us it's much better to be running in the forest. If you still want to climb up high, we can do it more easily. Let's go!"

With much difficulty the squirrel urged the hamster, and, after several times, they strolled through the wonderful woods with tall, powerful green pines and oaks. Sunny glades were strewn with plenty of various colored flowers, over which soared beautiful butterflies waving their decorated wings.

The hamster was so amazed at such a striking landscape that big tears formed in his eyes.

The squirrel didn't lie to the hamster. It was really simple and easy climbing high toward the trunk of the tree. There they chose a long, flexible branch waving from the wind.

"Look what a wonderful scenery is around," the squirrel said, delighted, and continued, "There in the South early in the morning behind the mountains the sun rises. It sets on the other side in West straight over the ocean."

"Indeed, it's very nice," Ham agreed.

He watched, fascinated, how the ocean waves glittered like silver, then how the woodpecker furiously knocked with his long beak the nearest tree trunk, and was abstract of a small spider who dropped on the shiny web past his nose.

There was real beauty throughout the forest. Nevertheless, something was constantly bothering the hamster.

"I feel sorry for Johnny," said Ham on the branch. He thought, his parents force him to play the piano. Will it only be so? Besides, I left home, and Johnny will look for me.