Sasha Black
Fox Mickey's Diary
ABOUT ZINA, ABOUT FOOD, ABOUT THE COW, ETC.
MY mistress Zina looks more like a fox than a girl: she squeals, jumps, catches the ball with her hands (she doesn't know how to use her mouth) and gnaws sugar, just like a little dog. Everyone thinks - does she have a ponytail? She always walks in her girl's caps; but he won't let me into the bathroom - I would have peeped. Yesterday she boasted: you see, Mickey, how many notebooks I have. Arithmetic - dictation - compositions ... But you, unfortunate tsutsik, can neither speak, nor read, nor write. Woof! I can think - and this is the most important thing. Which is better: a thinking fox or a talking parrot? Aha! I can read a little - children's books with the largest letters. Write... Laugh, laugh (I can't stand it when people laugh)! I also learned to write. True, my toes do not bend, because I'm not a man and not a monkey. But I take a pencil in my mouth, step on the notebook with my paw so that it does not fidget, and write. At first, the letters looked like crushed earthworms. But foxes are much more diligent than girls. Now I write no worse than Zina. I just can't sharpen pencils. When mine freaks out, I run quietly into the office and drag the stubs honed by people from the table.* * *
I give three stars. I saw in children's books: when a person makes a leap to a new thought, he puts three stars... What is the most important thing in life? Food. Nothing to pretend! Our house is full of people. They talk, read, cry, laugh - and then sit down to eat. Eat in the morning, eat at noon, eat in the evening. And Zina eats even at night - she hides biscuits and chocolates under her pillow and slowly champs. How much they eat! How long do they eat! How often do they eat. And they also say that I am a glutton ... They put a bone from a veal cutlet (they will eat the cutlet themselves!), pour half a saucer of milk - and that's it. Do I pester, do I ask for more, like Zina and other children? Do I eat sweets: a paste called jelly, or a liquid muck of prunes and raisins, or a cold horror, which they call ice cream? I am more delicate than all dogs, because I am a thoroughbred fox. I'll gnaw on a bone, eat it, carefully taking a biscuit from Zina's hands, and that's it. But they... Why these soups? Isn't it tastier pure water? Why these peas, carrots, celery and other nasty things with which they spoil the roast? Why boil and fry at all? I recently tried a piece of raw meat (fell on the floor in the kitchen - I had full right eat it!) ... I assure you, it was much tastier than all those sizzling cutlets in a frying pan ... And how good it would be if it were not boiled and fried! There would be no cooks: they do not know how to treat decent dogs at all. If everyone ate on the floor, without dishes, it would be more fun for me. And then you always sit under the table, among other people's legs. They push, they step on their paws. Just think how fun! .. Or even better - they would eat on the grass in front of the house. A raw cutlet for each. And after dinner, everyone would flounder and squeal, like Zina with me ... Woof-woof! They call me a glutton (I drank a sip of milk from a cat's saucer, think about it) ... And themselves ... After soup, after roast, after compote, after cheese - they still drink colorful things: red - wine, yellow - beer, black - coffee ... For what? I yawn under the table to tears, I'm used to hanging around people, and they all sit, sit, sit ... Woof! And everyone is talking, talking, talking, as if everyone had a gramophone in their stomach.* * *
Three stars. New thought. Our cow is stupid. Why is she giving so much milk? She has one son - a calf, and she feeds the whole house. And in order to give so much milk, she eats all day, eats her grass, it’s even a pity to look. I wouldn't have survived. Why doesn't the horse give so much milk? Why does a cat feed her kittens and take care of no one else? Would a talking parrot come up with such an idea? And further. Why do chickens lay so many eggs? It's horrible. They never have fun, they walk like sleepy flies, they have completely forgotten how to fly, they do not sing like other birds ... It's all because of these unfortunate eggs. I can't stand eggs. Zina too. If I could talk to chickens, I would advise them not to carry so many eggs. It’s good to be a fox after all: I don’t eat soup, I don’t play this damned music that Zina runs her fingers over, I don’t give milk and “the like,” as Zina’s dad says. Fuck! The pencil broke. We must write more carefully - the office is locked, and there are all the pencils. Next time I will compose dog poems - this interests me very much.Fox Mickey,
the first dog to write
POEMS, KITTENS AND FLEAS
ADULTS always read to themselves. Boring people are these adults, like old dogs. And Zina - reads aloud, in a singsong voice and turns around all the time, slaps her knee and sticks out her tongue at me. Of course it's more fun. I lie on the mat, listen and catch fleas. It's very enjoyable while reading. And so I noticed that there are things that Zina reads in a very special way - just like chopping cutlets. He will take a break, click his tongue and rumble again. And at the end of each line - my ear is thin - similar friend pieces sound on the other: "children - the father, nets - the dead man" ... This is what poetry is. Yesterday I lay under the sofa all day, even lost weight. Everyone wanted to write one such thing. Invented - and terribly proud. On the veranda the wild wind Drives the leaves faster and faster. I'm a funny foxy Mickey, the smartest of animals! Amazing! I composed and was so worried that I could not even have dinner. Think! These are the first dog poems in the world, and yet I did not study at the gymnasium, nor at the "shop of poets" ... Would our cook compose such poems? But she is forty-three years old, and I am only two. Woof! This baby Zina does not even suspect who lives in her house ... She swaddled me in a napkin, buried me in her knees and gives me a manicure with a suede rubbing. I am silent and sigh. Can the girl come up with something worthwhile? And so, lying down, I tried to read my poems to myself in reverse. Yaw! Maybe it will be even louder?.. Wild wind across the veranda Faster drives all the leaves... Mickey fox is a cheerful one, The smartest animal... Ay-yai-yai! What is it? Kittens! Please tell me! .. Their mother, a cunning creature, disappears in the park for the whole day: sniffing - and no, like a mosquito in a Christmas tree. And I have to play with her children... One licks my nose. I licked him too, although for some reason my teeth suddenly clicked ... Another sucks my ear. Am I his mother, or what? The third one climbs onto my back and scratches like that, as if they were scraping me with a grater. Rrr! Hush, Mickey, hush... Zina laughs and chokes: you, she says, are their cousin. I'm not angry: they need to lick, suck and scratch someone ... But why is this girl laughing? Oh, how strange, how strange! Today, the shameless cat finally returned to her children. And you know, when they left me and crawled all under their mother - I looked from under the tablecloth, trembled with envy and sobbed nervously. I will definitely write a poem about it. Went down the alley. I don't want to play with kittens anymore! They didn't appreciate my heart. I don't want to play with Zina anymore! She smeared lipstick on my nose... I will become a wild fox, I will live on a chestnut tree and catch pigeons. Woo!* * *
seen on gramophone record scribbled picture: Fox sits in front of the pipe, tilted his head to one side, hanging his ear and listening. Nonsense! No decent fox will listen to this wheezing, crazy machine. If I were Zina's dad, I'd rather keep a cow in the living room. She, too, bellows and roars, and it is more convenient to milk her at home than to run to her barn. Strange people ... I made up with Zina: she rolled a toy skittle ball on the parquet, and I caught it with all my might. Oh, how I love everything round, everything that rolls, everything that can be caught!.. But a girl... will always remain a girl. She sat on the floor and yawned: "How do you, Mickey, don't get tired of doing the same thing a hundred times?" Yes? She has a doll, and books, and friends, her father smokes her, plays some stupid cards and reads newspapers, her mother dresses and undresses all the time ... But I only have my ball - and they still reproach me! I hate fleas. I don't see. They could, it seems, bite the cook (I feel sorry for Zina), but no - they gnaw at me all day, as if I were sugar ... Even from kittens, everyone jumped at me. OK! I’ll go into the hallway, lie down on the rough rug with my back down and rub them so hard that they faint. Woof woof woof! Fired up the fireplace. I look at the fire. And what is fire - no one knows.Fox Mickey,
poet dog,
There is no smarter in the world ...
MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS, MY SLEEP AND MY DOG THOUGHTS
A QUESTION is a line that ends with a fish hook - a question mark. I have five questions. Why did Zinya's dad say that his "eyes went out of his head"? They didn't go anywhere, I saw it myself. Why is he talking nonsense? I crept to the closet, sat down in front of the mirror, and rolled my eyes as hard as I could. Nonsense! Forehead up and eyes in place. Do foxes live on the Moon, what do they eat and howl at the Earth, as I sometimes at the Moon? And where do they go when the moon dish suddenly disappears for many days, who knows where? .. Mickey, Mickey, will you ever go crazy! Why do fish climb into an empty net called a top? If you don't know how to live above water, sit quietly in the pond. I feel very sorry for them! In the morning they swam and blew bubbles, and in the evening they are digested in a dark and cramped human stomach. Moreover, the vile cat scattered all the intestines around the garden ... Why was Zinina Bonna always a brunette, and today her hair is like a sheaf of straw? Zina giggled, and I got scared and thought: well, Mickey, that you are a dog ... They would marry you to such a parrot: on Tuesday it is black, on Wednesday it is orange, and on Thursday it is blue with green stripes ... Fu! Even the temperature has risen. Why, when I behave badly, they put a muzzle on me, and the gardener gets drunk twice a week, rages like a rabid bull - and at least what?! Zinin's uncle says that the gardener was shell-shocked, and therefore one must treat him condescendingly. I will certainly find out what “shell-shocked” means, and I will also be shell-shocked. Let me be treated with respect. I'll go and gnaw the bone (I hid it... where?... but I won't tell you!). Then I'll write again.* * *
Oh what I saw in my dream! It's like I'm the director of a dog school. Dogs sit in classrooms and learn "history of famous dogs", "rules of good dog behavior", "how to eat a brain bone" and other things suitable for them. I walked into the junior class and said, "Hello, tsutsiki!" - Yaw, yap, yap, mister announcer! - "Are you satisfied with them, Mr. Pug?" Mr. Pug, the melody teacher, curtsied and muttered, I can't complain. They try. "Well, all right. I order in my name to dismiss them for half an hour." My God, what's up! The kids rushed at me with the whole gang. They threw me on the floor ... One poured an inkpot on me, the other pricked me with a pen in the tip of the tail - ah! The third one began to pull my ear to the side, as if I were made of rubber... I squealed like a locomotive, and woke up. Moon. A cockroach sits on the floor and eats up a biscuit thrown by Zina. A shutter slams outside the window. Ui-yu-yu! Zinya's room is locked up. I crept into the nook behind the kitchen and curled up on the rug by the cook's bed. Of course, I don’t love her, of course, she snores so that the jars rattle on the shelf, of course, she put her fat leg out from under the blanket and moves her fingers in her sleep ... But what to do? The window turned white, and I kept lying and thinking: what does my dream mean? The cook has a tattered book - "dream book". She often leafs through it with her plump fingers and proofreads everything about some fiancé. Just think, who will marry in such a frying pan? .. But what is a "dream book" to me? There are no dog dreams in it anyway ... Or maybe the dream was in my hand? That is, in the paw.* * *
Thoughts. The water freezes in winter, and I do every morning. The most vile human invention - collars covered with dog skin. Why does our neighbor plow the land and sow bread when there is a bakery next to his estate? When the puppy makes a very, very small puddle on the floor, they poke him with his nose into it; when Zinin's younger brother does the same, they hang the diaper on a string, and kiss him on the heel ... Poke - so everyone! He fought with a hedgehog, but he is dishonest: he hid his head and has a prickly backside on all sides. Rrr! What kind of a fight is this? .. He ate sausage and accidentally swallowed a sausage string. Will I have appendicitis? Zina smells of almond milk, her mother smells like a warm bun, her father smells of an old briefcase, and the cook ... ellipsis ... More thoughts There is not. Vzy! Why does no one think to give me a sugar cube?Fox Mickey,
who really
should have been a professor
AUTUMN KAVARDAK
AUTUMN. It's raining. How does he not get tired of squishing all day? The yellow leaves keep falling, and soon the trees will be completely bald. And then the fogs will go - big dog will climb into the booth and will snore from morning to evening. I sometimes visit her. But she is stupid and uneducated: when I play with her and carefully claw at her tail, she hits me on the head with her paw and grabs me with her teeth across the stomach. Hillbilly! Mists - mists - mists. Dirt - dirt - dirt. And suddenly it's warm. Crazy birds will fly in from all sides. The sky will become like Zinin's washed blue skirt, and green lumps will appear on black sticks. Then they burst, unfold, bloom... Oh, good! It's called spring. Trees, even old ones, get younger every spring. And people and adult dogs - never. From what? Here Zinin's uncle is completely bald, all the hair has peeled off his head, exactly like a billiard ball. What if green grass grew on his skull in the spring? And flowers? Or so that every dog has a bud in April at the tip of its tail? .. I would redo everything in the world. But what can a little fox do? And the house is a mess. They take off the carpets, sprinkle them with some kind of na-fta-li-nom. Wow, how you sneeze from him! I don't go to rooms. I lie on the veranda and rub my nose with my paw. After all, I always go barefoot, it sticks to my paws. Downright misfortune!* * *
Zina collects her books and meows. Her brother lies in his pram in front of the flower bed and squeals like a puppy. And only I, fox Mickey, cough like a man, modestly and politely: I have bronchitis. Let, let it go. I'm not going to Paris for anything. I'll hide in the straw with a cow - they won't find it. Well, what is there in Paris, think? Was once, drove to the dog doctor. There are a million streets, and a million is more than ten. Everywhere you look - legs, legs and legs. Cars, like drunken rhinos, fly, wheeze - and everything is on me! .. I didn’t let Zina’s skirt out of my teeth. The chain pulls, the muzzle presses. How can they live in such a carousel city! .. No way! So that I would sit by the window and look at the sign with the lady's leg? For the concierge to call me "piggy"? To be chased from chairs and from the sofa?! To be reproached for breeding fleas in the house?! Well, I don’t fabricate them - they get divorced themselves ... Oh, what vile dogs there are! Bulldogs with splayed paws, twisted muzzle and bitten tongues; striped Great Danes, like butchers; pugs like toads sewn into dog skins; lapdogs - hairy insects with floppy ears and wet eyes... Fu! Bow-wow! ugh! Why are dogs so different, and cats are all the same style? And you know - this, however, Zina said - they all look alike: owners look at their dogs and dogs look at their owners. What about Mickey and Zina? Well, we are similar, only our bows are different: she has green, and I have yellow. Oh, how it blows from the doors! The coat is on the couch, but I don't know how to hide. No, whatever you say - hands are sometimes a useful thing. The truck took the things. In the dining room - paper and rubbish. Why do people move from place to place? Cases, lessons, apartment... "A dog's life!" - says Zinya's dad. No, doggy is better, let me know. They leave me. I'll make friends with a yard dog, there's nothing you can do. Zina tells me not to cry, promises to come once a week if I behave myself. Will! I love her very much: today I licked her in the eye, and she licked me in the nose. Wonderful girl! The gardener was ordered to feed me. Let him try not to feed - I will kill all his bottles! Yes, and the butcher loves me: every time he comes, he will give something. The kittens have grown up, they do it quickly ... They completely forgot me and rush around the park like catechumens (what are these "catechumens"?). I'll have to make friends with them too ... But the most offensive thing is that my last pencil stub ends. Everything was removed from the desk. Oh, why didn't I think to take it in reserve! Goodbye my diary. .. I already begged Zina so, so I begged - I pulled her dress, served in front of the desk, but she does not understand and puts all the chocolates in my mouth. Here is grief! It's hard without hands, but without a tongue - it's bad from the paws! .. My gold-silver-diamond notebook. I'll put you under the closet, lie there until next spring ... Ay-yai! Woof! Zina noticed that I was writing... She was coming towards me! Taking away...I AM ALONE
There is no one in the house. A dog wind blows through all the cracks (why dog?). In general, the wind is a fool: it blows in a bare park, and there is nothing to pluck there. Out in the yard, I still somehow manage to cope with it: I will stand with my back to the wind, head down, legs apart - and "do not give a damn", as the gardener says. And in the room you can’t hide anywhere from this bandit. Bursts in from under the door, through the cracks in the window, through the fireplace hole, and squeaks like that, and whines like that, and howls like that, as if his mother was a dog. He has no muzzle, no throat, no belly, no backside. What it blows - I can’t understand ... I climb under the sofa cushion, close my eyes and try not to listen. I would give a full cup of oatmeal (terrible disgusting!) If someone would explain to me why autumn, why winter? There is such impenetrable mud in the alley, which I have only seen under a rhinoceros in the zoological garden. Wet. Bare branches slap against each other and sneeze. The crow, a mangy scarecrow, teases: Kra! Why weren't you taken to the city? Because he didn't want to! And now it's a pity, but I'm doing well. Yesterday I just cried by the fireplace, it's very disgusting in the dark and damp. I found a candle, but I can't light it. Woo!* * *
Mice scratch. Although foxes are not supposed to, but I really like mice. What is their fault that they are so small and always want to eat? Yesterday one little mouse got out and began to roll last year's nut on the floor. I also like to roll everything round. I really wanted to play with him, but I resisted: lie down, fool, quietly! You are as big as an elephant, you will scare the baby, and he will not come again. Am I not smart? Today, another was so bold that he climbed onto the sofa and sniffed my paw. I bit my tongue and winced. Tyaf! How I love him! That's just how to distinguish them from one another? .. If the cat dares to touch them, I will drive her to the highest Christmas tree and I will guard all day ... Woof! Rubbish! I hate it!.. Why are Christmas trees green all winter? I think it's because they have needles. It’s not a thing for the wind to cut off the leaves, but the needles - try it! They are thin - the wind passes through them like through a sieve...* * *
I don't go to the gardener. He gets angry: why are my paws always covered in mud? Should I walk in a clog, or what? Ah, ah ... Only one joy - I found a forgotten cigar box with pencils in the closet, pulled the income and expense book into the pantry, and now I am again keeping my diary. If I were a man, I would certainly publish a magazine for dogs! How thin I have become, if you only knew. Zina's aunt would be very pleased if she looked like me now. She wants to lose weight. And all day long everything bursts and drags on. The damned gardener and the concierge agreed - they eat all the provisions themselves, and they cook only this terrible oatmeal for me. The yard dog is given big bones and soup with stale bread. He shares with me, but where can I crack such a bone when it is harder than an iron? And the soup... This soup is used to wash dishes in the bistro! Even milk spare, greedy! After all, the cow gives milk, not they. I would have milked her myself: we are friendly, and she always breathes into my eyes when I run into the barn. But how am I going to milk her with my unfortunate paws?.. I came up with a trick. It's very embarrassing, but what to do - you have to eat. When the rain subsides, I sometimes run to a nearby place to see a bistro driver I know. He dances to the gramophone in the evenings. The foxtrot is dancing. Must be a dog dance. I will stand on my hind legs, tighten my stomach, twist and nod my head. All the couples will stop dancing ... They will gather in a circle and laugh so that the gramophone is not audible. And they will order me such a portion of meat that I can hardly get home. And I’ll bring a veal bone in my teeth for breakfast ... That’s how much you have to humiliate yourself for the sake of hunger! The only pity is that there is no other small dog. We would dance together with her and always be full.* * *
I need to write down all my grief, otherwise I'll forget it later. The rooster pecked on my nose for no reason. I just came up to say hello... Why fight, you loud-mouthed impudent?! He cried, cried, stuck his nose in a trough with rainwater and could not calm down until the evening ... Zina forgot me! A black cockroach got into my bowl of oatmeal, choked and drowned. What an abomination! Birds, except for roosters, back and forth; cats are disgusting, but still animals. But who needs black cockroaches?! Nearly got hit by a car on the highway. Why didn't he buzz around the corner?! Why did you splash mud on me?! Who will wash me? I hate cars! And no way... Zina forgot me! Frightened off a wild rabbit in the garden and ran into a barbed wire. Whoa, how it hurts! Zina said that if you cut yourself with rusty iron, you should immediately smear yourself with iodine. Where can I get iodine? And iodine stings - I know ... Mice ate a hole in my diary. I will never love mice again! Zina forgot me... Today I found a piece of old chocolate in the billiard room and ate it. This, however, is not grief, but joy. But there are so few joys that I can't set aside a separate page for them.Lonely, unhappy, cold
and hungry fox Mickey
MOVING TO PARIS
Do you love attics? I am very. People put the most interesting things in attics, and put boring tables and stupid chests of drawers around the rooms. "When my heart breaks with longing," as Zina's aunt says, I run from the bare park, wipe my paws on the sofa, and run to the attic. Sparrows fly over the glass in the ceiling - they are like mice, only with wings. "Chikchivik!" - "Good morning, sil wu ple!" Then I greet old Zina's doll. She has consumption, and she lies in a dusty leaky bathtub with her heels up. I turned her over so that everything was decent ... I talked to her about Zina. Yes, of course, the girl's heart is a dandelion. Forgot the doll, forgot Mickey. And then she will have a daughter, and everything will start all over again ... new daughter, new doll, new dog. Apchi! How dusty in here! He sniffed at a broken chandelier, licked a rubber dog - she, poor thing, has a hole in her stomach ... tore the dog’s whip to shreds ... “It’s both boring and sad, and there’s no one to shake a paw!” ... If I were stronger, I I would move the old bathtub away and make myself a room in the attic. I would substitute a parrot cage under the wounded sofa - this is my bedroom. On Chinese billiards, I would arrange a desk for myself. It is sloping - very comfortable to write! I'll put a lavatory on the roof. It's both hygienic and pleasant. I will climb like a sailor up the ladder to the dormer window. And I'll throw my muzzle down the chimney!! Apchhi! .. Sneezed - so it will be. Ay! On the highway, the crew ... Whose? Whose? Whose? And-and-and! Zina has arrived...* * *
I’ve been living in Paris for the third week, rue d’Assompsion (Uspenskaya Street), building 16. Third floor to the right. You wouldn’t recognize me: I’m lying by the fireplace on a pillow like a porcelain cat. I smell of lilac soap, a green tie on the side. On the collar - silver business card with an address ... If I could speak, I would steal a franc and buy myself cuffs. Zina is at school... A hideous little dog is sitting on the neighboring balcony. Tow in the ears, tow in the eyes, tow on the lips. In general, some kind of teary muff, garbage rag, dog's caecum, squeaky rubbish! And do you know what her name is? Jio-ko-nda ... You muzzle, rotten muzzle! When no one is on the balcony, I tease her. Wow, how nice! I stand with my back to her and start to Pull with my back leg; I hold for five minutes. Oh, what a tantrum she throws! Like a cat under a car... - Yay-yay-yay! Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa! Ai-ai-ai-e!.. Her hostess comes running like a spool, the same short, shaggy, pot-bellied one, fastens her stomach on the go, and, my God, what will she not say: - My baby, little baby! Who obi-bi-bi-deal you? My poor eyes! My wonderful paws! Golden, dear tail! .. And I'll hide in the room from my balcony, as if I were not in the world, I roll on the carpet and hit my nose with my paws. This is how I laugh. Downstairs, upstairs, to the right and to the left, they play the piano. I would put muzzles on their paws! Zina at school. And why does a girl need to study so much? All the same, he will grow up, cut his hair and lie on the couch for days on end. I already know this breed. Yesterday a gardener came from the estate. Bring apples and eggs. He selected the best for the cook (we know, we know!), And the worst - for Zina's parents. Understand people: they wear glasses, they wear pince-nez, but they can’t see anything under their noses... He crept into the hallway, stood on a chair and put fish intestines in his coat pocket... Let him know!* * *
Was with Zina in the cinema. Very excited. How is it, how can it be, for people, cars, children and policemen to run on the canvas?! And why is everyone grey, black and white? Where did the colors go? And why is everyone moving their lips, but you can’t hear the words? .. I saw dried butterflies in a box in the attic, but, firstly, they did not move, and secondly, they were multi-colored ... Here, Mickey, you are a fool and I thought you understood everything! The performance was very stupid: he fell in love with her and drove his car to the bank. She also fell in love with him, but married his friend. And I went by car to the sea with a third. Then there was a fire and an earthquake in the bathroom. And pitching on the steamer. And the Negro made his way to their cabin. And then everyone reconciled ... No, dog love is smarter and higher! It is absolutely necessary to invent a cinema for dogs. It's shameless - everything is for people: newspapers, horse races, and cards. And nothing for dogs. Let them take us at least once a week, and we, having folded our paws, will enjoy culturally. "Alien Bone"... "The Funeral of a Lonely Pug"... "Poodle Bob swindled the butcher" (for puppies of both sexes)... "Dreams of an old dog"... "St. Bernard saves a frozen girl" (for elderly lapdogs). .. "Police dog Fuchs puts Pinkerton to shame" (for children and for dogs). Oh, how many topics, Mickey! .. You would write dog scripts and didn’t need anyone ... New rhyme: Buds puffed out on chestnuts - So, spring is coming soon. Zina's mother has kidney pain, that's why she is sad...Chief Canine Film Director
fox mickey
ON THE BEACH
Ah, how my life has changed! Zina flew into the room, clapped and - made a curtsey with the wheel, handles - birds, eyes - down, and blurted out: - Mickey! My beloved prince... we are going to the sea. I immediately flew down to the concierge's lap dog. She was born by the sea and treats me very nicely. - Kiki, muff... I'm being taken to the sea. What it is? - ABOUT! That's a lot of water. Ten times more than in the Luxembourg fountain. And there's a draft everywhere. My hostess felt good, she could plug her ears with cotton wool ... The sea either growls, or hisses, or is silent. No order! There are a lot of fish at the table. Children dig in the sand and step on the paws of dogs. But you are a fox: sticks will be thrown into the water, and you will pull them out ... - Wonderful! - And when you get tired, there is always a forest near the sea on a hill. You will tear open mole-holes and roll on heather. - What is this thing? - The grass is so curly. Kind of like a beard. Lilac flowers, and smells of turpentine. - Oh, thanks! Give me a paw. What can you bring from the sea? - Steal some girl's warm scarf. Mine is already worn out. - Kiki, I'm honest! I can't. But today we have guests, I'll steal a chocolate bunny for you. - Mercy. Farewell, Mikkochka... She went to the corner and wiped her eyes on the curtain. She seems to be in love with me.* * *
"Ten times the size of the Luxembourg fountain..." These lapdogs have no eye. Twenty times more! To the very sky, water and nothing else. And salty, like a herring... Why salty? After all, the rain is fresh, and the stream in the forest, which constantly pours water into the sea, is also fresh. A? People walk around naked, in striped and black caps. Legs are inserted into the holes from below. Buttons on the shoulder. Actually, it's stupid. I, thank God, swim without a suit. Oh, what are Zina and I doing in the water! I bark at the surf, and she throws a ball at me ... But it is big and slippery, and my mouth is small. And in any way, damn it, you won’t bite through it! Woof! Made friends with all the kids. There are so little ones that they can't even say "Mickey" and call me "Mi"! They sit naked on the sand and blow bubbles. And one is trying to put his foot in his mouth. Why? .. I run, pull children's boats out of the water, jump over their sandy buildings, race with Jack the poodle, and the whole coast knows me. What a wonderful fox! Whose fox is this? Zinin? Wonderful fox!.. I spied yesterday. Children don't have tails. I really doubted...* * *
Now about adults. The men wear white suits. They smoke for half a day. They read newspapers for half a day. Swimming for half a day. Half a day off. They swim well, but swim very far. I watch from the bathing stairs and keep worrying: what if it drowns ... What should I do then? Very good jump into the water from the bridge. Hands at the seams, head forward - and boom! It will turn over in the air like a fish, hands down - and straight into the water ... Foam ... There is no one ... And it will swim out in a completely different place. I also climbed onto the bridge and terribly, terribly wanted to jump. But so high! And so deep! He trembled and slowly went downstairs. So much for Mickey... The ladies keep changing and changing. Then they undress, then change again. They don't like to swim. He will try the water with his right big toe, sit down, sprinkle water on himself and lie on the bank like a turkey in a gastronomic display case. Of course, there are those who swim. But they are more like boys. Actually, I don't understand anything. They also love to shoot. I took it out myself. Some lay on the sand. Others knelt above them. And above them, there were still others in a boat. It's called: a group... At the bottom, the photographer stuck a sign with the name of our resort in the sand. And so the lower lady, whom the sign had slightly obscured, moved her quietly to the other lady in order to obscure her and open herself ... And she moved back. And the first - again to her. Wow, what angry eyes they had! Rhyme: When the ladies are filming And shielding themselves, They are ready to kick each other in the eye! .. Yes! What have I learned!.. The sea sometimes goes crazy and leaves. The resort bothers him or what, I don't know, And all sorts of shells and shrimps and slugs on the sand ... Zina says that these are all sea worms. And then the sea gets bored and comes back. It's called "ebb and flow". For some reason people call the local sea the ocean. I was somehow chasing the sea when it was leaving, but Zina tied me with a stocking to a bench. Inquisitive girl! Yesterday I met the cook Daria Galaktionovna at a nearby Russian boarding house. Her arms are as thick as Italian sausage, but overall she's pretty. She calls me Mikita and keeps grumbling that I carry sand on her paws from the beach to the kitchen. You can sweep the sand! What importance...* * *
The food is so-so. Although I'm not interested: the children feed me chocolate, meatballs and whatever you want. Zina keeps asking me not to eat so much, otherwise my heart will become fat and I will have to be taken to Marienbad. What if there was a fox resort? Foxenbad! If only there was a dog cinema... Dog racing, dog roulette, a dog sanatorium for arthritic bulldogs... I'm dying of anger! Why, why, why don't they do anything for us? There are no cats here. Not a single cat. Not a half. Not a quarter-cat... Did they all go for cutlets? Brr! No, no, I ran to the kitchen, looked: chickens, veal meat, lamb ... Otherwise, I would have run away from the resort wherever my eyes looked! Zina gave me a lunar eclipse yesterday. The moon was so round, huge, pale... Just like our host's belly. I thought, got sad and a little bit howled. Only two or three notes ... And Zina took and put bathing pants on my head. “You,” he says, “have no right to howl after ten o’clock! .. But, firstly, I don’t have a watch, and I don’t even have a pocket for them ... And secondly ... my mood does not depend on a watch. I wanted to send Kiki a postcard with greetings ... But the concierge is jealous - she won't pass it on.Weird and wonderful
fox mickey
IN THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDEN
Zina's dad always has "things to do". People have such a habit - you have to pay for everything. For a villa, for an umbrella, for meat, for rolls, for a collar ... and even, they say, there will soon be a double tax on foxes. And to pay - you need money. Money is round, metal, with holes - this is "su". Round without holes are francs. And then different paper ones. For some reason, paper ones are more expensive and start at five francs. This money somehow "falls", "rises" - completely stupid story but I'm not human and it doesn't concern me. And so, to have money, it is necessary to do "deeds". Got it? And Zina's dad went to Paris for a week, took Zina with him, and Zina took me. And while her dad "ran" on business (for some reason he always runs on business, never goes), Zina took me on a chain, got into a taxi (why does it smell so bad?) And went to the Zoological Garden. Garden! Not a garden at all, but just a prison for unfortunate animals. Wait a minute: I have a flea on my back ... I'll catch it and tell you everything in order.* * *
When I was a very short puppy, Zina told me about this garden: "What a rhino is there! And what dirt under it! And you, Mickey, don't want to wash your face ... It's a shame!" And everything is not true. There is no rhino. Either he died of boredom, or he ran into the city and hides in the subway until he is crushed ... But he saw a camel. He looks like our concierge, only the lip is larger and fur is on all sides. It’s not enough for him to have a hump on his back, so he even has hunchbacked knees! It feeds on thorns and, it seems, on vinegar. I would give him gramophone needles! He, the scoundrel, when Zina gave him a bun, snorted, ate the bun and spat on her bow! If you were free, I would show you ... The polar bear is very cute. Sits in a re-de-chaise in a stone bath and sighs. What pigs! At least they put her on ice or on ice cream, because she is hot! The little boy tossed her a biscuit. She got out, dusted herself off, politely put her paw to her forehead and ate. She will be full, how! And the boy crumbled the second biscuit into small pieces: he was afraid, apparently, that she would not choke. The sparrows ate everything. Well, why - why is she being kept in prison? Zina has an old teddy bear. Tomorrow I will certainly drag it and throw it to the she-bear: let her be instead of her son...* * *
Monkeys at all, not at all sorry! They scary muzzle and I didn't touch them at all. He approached and only turned a little to the side: they smell terribly bad ... Sour gum, rotten sprat and some other pickled pig dung. One looked at me and said to the other: "Look, what a freak of a dog ..." Me? Woof, idiot! I... freak?! And what about you? .. I’ll run to Zinya’s locker, sniff the valerian cork. How my heart is pounding!.. The tiger is nasty. Big cat and nothing else. I imagine if they put him in a dairy. He will drink a whole bath of cream, no less. And then he will eat thrush and go to the Bois de Boulogne to rest. The lion is nice... One is quite an old man. There are folds under the skin, bald and does not even jerk his tail. Zina once read that a lion loves very much if a dog is put in a cage with him. Five will break, and make friends with the sixth. I think it's better to be... seventh - and walk free. There are also some teeth. Shaggy, horned, head mop. Why are there such things? You can’t play with him or carry him in your arms ... In general, there are a lot of superfluous things in the world. Porcupine, for example. Well, where does he fit in? They clean the fireplace, or what? Or a kangaroo ... She has a purse on her stomach, and a kangaroo in the purse. And her skin, it seems, fastens on her back, like Zinya's bra. Nonsense! Thank God I'm a fox! Dogs are not put in cages. At least some should have been: bulldogs and various other Great Danes. Very unsympathetic dogs! And almost wild. Our bulldog Caesar lives opposite us, so he certainly strives to do dirty tricks in front of our door. He will have to take revenge. How?.. Very simple. After all, they also have a door ... I didn’t see people in cages. And it would not hurt to plant our gardener! Together with the cook. Write: "Dog Enemies". And give them a head of cabbage and two carrots a day - no more. Why didn't they feed me? Why did they themselves steal eggs, and cream, and cognac, and kicked me for every unfortunate bone? Saw a snake. One, large and long, like a fire gut, looked at me and hissed: "You probably won't swallow this!" Beast... So you were allowed to swallow live foxes! The elephant has two tails - in front and behind, and horns in the mouth ... And let me be assured a hundred times that this is a "trunk" and "fangs", I say: a tail and horns. Zina decided that if you look at a mouse through a telescope, you get an elephant. And what is a telescope, the dog knows it! Yes ... Birds, it turns out, are the size of a buffet. Ostriches! .. And on their tail they have the same feathers as in the album of Zina's grandmother on her hat. These feathers are no longer worn, ostriches do not give milk, so you just need to fry them, stuff them with chestnuts and eat them! Would you like to chew on an ostrich's foot, Mickey? Well, I'm curious... It's late. Gotta go to sleep. And in my head there is a carousel: monkey backsides, camel humps, elephant feathers and ostrich trunks ... I'll go and sniff a valerian cork again. My heart is beating... Like a motorcycle... I'm sick! Hic... Where's the cook's washing cup?!mox-fikki
HOW I GOT LOST
THE PENCIL trembles in my teeth... Oh, what happened! In cinema it is called "tragedy", but in my opinion, even worse. We returned from Paris to the beach, and I got a little crazy. He rushed past all the booths, jumped over the resting ladies, sniffed at the familiar children - darlings! - and barked happily. To hell with the Zoological Garden, long live dog freedom! And so ... he jumped. I turned towards the park, dived into some green lane, ended up in someone else's garden - tore my old shoe to pieces - from there to the field, from there to the highway - and everything died! I got lost... I sat down on a stone, trembled and lost my "presence of spirit". Until now, I did not know what this "presence" was ... I sniffed the highway: someone else's soles, dust, rubber and car oil ... where is my villa? The houses suddenly became all the same, the children at the gates, like mice, became similar to each other. Flew to the sea - another sea! And the sky is not the same, and the shore is empty and rough ... Old people and children peeled oysters from the cliff, no one even looked at me. Well, of course, idiotic oysters are more interesting than a homeless fox! Sand flies into your eyes. The reed mutters some nonsense. He, the fool, is well - rooted to the place, he will not get lost ... Tears rolled like peas down his face. And worst of all: I'm naked! The collar was left at home, and my address is on the collar. Any girl (I would have done!) would read it and take me home. Wow! If it hadn't been for the ebb, I would probably have drowned myself... Note: and I would have been a big fool, because I was found after all.* * *
In front of the yellow fence near the front garden, he leaned against a telegraph pole and lowered his head. I saw a lost dog in a picture in such a pose, and I really liked this pose. Well, I wasn't wrong. A pink spot appeared in the gate. A girl came out (they are always kinder than boys) and sat down in front of me on the path. - What's wrong with you, doggy? I sighed and raised my right paw. Understandable without words. - Lost? Do you want to me? Maybe they will find you too ... My mother is kind, but we can handle it with dad. What to do? Spending the night in the forest... Am I a wild camel? The stomach is empty. I followed the girl and gratefully licked her knee. If she ever gets lost, I will certainly take her home... - Mom! she squeaked. - Mommy! I brought Fifi, she got lost. Can we leave her for now? ABOUT! Why "Fifi"?! I'm Mickey, Mickey! But I, who has such beautiful thoughts, can’t even say a word to them. human language.. Let be. Whoever digs a hole for himself, he falls into it ... Mom put on her pince-nez (as if even without the pince-nez it was not clear that I was lost!) And smiled: - How pretty! Give her, my friend, milk and a roll. She has a very decent appearance ... And then we'll see. "She has" ... He has, not her! I'm a boy, after all. But I was terribly hungry, I had to submit. I ate slowly, as if I was doing them a favor. Do you cater? Thanks, I'll eat. But please don't think I'm some hungry stray dog. Then dad came. Why these dads stick their nose everywhere, I don't know... - What kind of dog is this? What is your way, Lily, of dragging all the animals to our villa? Maybe she's consumptive... Go, go away from here! Well! I? consumptive? The girl whimpered. I took a step towards the gate with dignity. But mom looked at dad sternly. He was trained: he fuked, shrugged his shoulders and went to the veranda to read his newspaper. Ate? And I stood in front of my mother on my hind legs, made three steps and jumped over the bench. Hop! Forward, tour around the room and back ... - Mommy, what a clever man he is! Still would. If I were a man, I would have been a professor long ago.* * *
New dad pretends not to notice me. I saw him too ... In a dream I saw Zina and barked with joy: she fed me eggnog with a spoon and said: "You are my treasure ... if you get lost again, I will never marry." Lily woke up - dawn was white in the window - and hung her head from the bed: - Fifi! What are you? Nothing. I suffer. The cat doesn't care: today Zina, tomorrow Lily. And I'm an honest, affectionate dog... The second day without Zina. The fat boy cousin came to visit the new girl. Dogs, thank God, have no cousins... He sat on top of me and almost crushed me. Then he harnessed me to the car - and I rested! dog? In a car?! He poked my paws at the piano. I demolished everything and, out of politeness, did not even bite him ... Lilin's mother appreciated me, and when the girl knocked over a bowl of soup, she pointed to me: - Take an example from Fifi! You see how she carefully eats... Fifi again! When they don't like something, they say: "fi!" Fi-fi, then when you don’t like it at all? They'll come up with such a chicken name ... I found cubes with letters under the cupboard and added: "Mickey." He pulled the girl by the skirt: read! It seems clear. But she did not understand anything and screams: - Mom! Fifi knows how to show magic tricks! - Fine. Give him chocolate. Oh, when, when will they find me? I even ran to the mayor's office. Perhaps Zina said there that I was lost. Nothing like this. On the threshold lay a shaggy mongrel and growled: - R-Rav! Where are you, tramp, poking around? I?! Tramp?! You're an unfortunate man!.. It's your luck that I was brought up in such a way that I don't get into a fight with mongrels...* * *
"A mountain fell off my shoulders" ... Where it fell, I don't know, but, in a word ... I was found! Lily went to the beach with me. And suddenly in the distance - a purple and white dress, a striped ball and light curls. Zina!! How we kissed, how we squealed, how we cried! Lily quietly approached and asked: - Is this your Fifi? - Yes! Only it's not Fifi, but Mickey... - Ah, Mickey! Sorry, I didn't know. Let me pass it on to you. She got lost and I took her in. And in the very eyes of "tragedy". But Zina consoled her. Thanked "very-very-very" and promised to come with me to visit. They will become friends, I already noticed it in my eyes. Of course, I served in front of Lily and folded my front paws crosswise: Merci! Very, very, very ... And he went, embarrassed, for Zina, not a single step away from her lovely swarthy legs.mickey
IN THE CIRCUS
Long houses on wheels appeared at our station. Not the vans, not the wagons. Red, with green shutters, a chimney above the roof, smoke from the chimney. A dwarf with a huge head and red eyes was sitting on a fold-down step of a house smoking a pipe gloomily. And in the depths of the yard there were also car-houses, but with gratings, and they smelled thickly of a zoological garden. There are miracles on the posters... Three lions jump over the tamer, and then play blind man's blind with her. The walrus juggles with a burning lamp and billiard balls. Walrus is such a clumsy fool ... who would have thought! The famous poodle Flux solves problems of addition and subtraction ... What is the importance ... I can divide and multiply ... However, I don’t climb into celebrity. Miss Caravel will perform a jig on a bare stallion - a sailor's dance. Bul-Pool Negro... Stop! Don't get ahead of yourself, Mickey, or you'll get completely confused - what kind of dog habit is this!* * *
Zina's dad took us a box: me and Zina. A lodge is a kind of dog house, but without a roof. Upholstered in red stinky calico. The chairs are folding and hard, because the circus is camping. The orchestra is terrible! I can't stand music at all, especially the gramophone. But when one skeleton spits into a flute, and another, a fat man, stands upright on a huge violin and fidgets along it with some kind of ruler, and a third beats the drum with sticks, elbows on copper rulers and kicks a big pot-bellied tambourine, and the fourth, a purple chicken, going back and forth on the piano and jumping... Oh! "Humble servant" - as Zinin's bachelor uncle says when he is offered to marry. Clowns are just painted idiots. I think that they needlessly pretend that they are idiots on purpose, they probably are. Will it become clever man put your face under a slap, roll on dirty sawdust and prevent the attendants from cleaning the carpet? Not funny at all. I liked one thing: that clown, whose back was painted on wide pants the sun, the forelock on the head rose and fell ... Another ear, I understand, but the forelock! Very interesting number! The stallion is a fat man, and that he is not saddled is not at all important. He has such a wide back, even with a notch, that you can dance on it, as on the master's bed, as much as you want. He jumped lazily. Like a waltzing cow ... And Miss Caravel kept looking cowardly at the barrier and pretending that she was the first rider in the world. The costume is nice - nothing at the top, but green and yellow beads in the middle. And why did she travel so long? The stallion ended up sweating so much that I sneezed. Not interested. Then they put up a round grating, rolled a cage up to the door, and the lions came out. They went out ... and yawn. Good wild animals! Zina was a little frightened (girl!), but I was sitting next to her. Why be afraid? The lions did not want to jump over the tamer for a long time: she begged them, and tickled them under the neck and whispered something in their ears, and pushed them under the belly with a whip. Agreed - and jumped over. And then she blindfolded them with white ribbons, picked up a bell and began to play hide and seek with them. One lion took three steps and lay down. Another sniffed and followed her... Deception! I saw it myself: she had a small piece of meat in her hand... Not interesting! There was also a Dutch family of tightrope walkers. Dad rode on the front wheel of the bike (separately!), Mom on the other wheel (also separately!), the son rode on a big ball, and the daughter rode a wide hoop backwards... That's great! Then plates, knives, lamps, umbrellas, boys and girls flew. Wow! I even barked for joy. And in the end, the whole family arranged a pyramid. Below, dad and mom, two daughters on their shoulders, a boy on their shoulders, a dog on his shoulders, a dog on his shoulders ... a kitten, and a kitten on his shoulders ... a sparrow! Fuck - and everything crumbled, somersaulted on the carpet and ran behind the curtain ... Bravo! Bis! Woof woof woof!* * *
The intermission was even more fun. An intermission is when one is over and the other has not yet begun. And now adults with older children went behind the curtain to watch horses and other mammals, and the tiniest children crawled out of all boxes and corners into the arena and staged their own circus. A girl with a green bow pretended to be a trained horse and pranced along the barrier on all fours, her head on one side, while she herself kicked with her right leg. The boys, of course, were lions and, perhaps, more ferocious than real ones - growling, spitting, biting and throwing sawdust at each other. Two even got into a fight: one slapped the other - clowns are slapped - and the other one hit him back ... And both roared, not at all like a clown ... And I rushed around the arena and grabbed them all (jokingly, of course!) knees. A dwarf came out in a lilac coat with copper buttons and rang the bell. Jing-ding! Down with the arena - the show continues! One of the "lions", still a little boy, did not want to leave for anything. And his mother came from the box, took the lion in her arms, slapped him and took him to the place. Here's a lion for you!* * *
Walrus - well done. I will return to our villa and will certainly try to juggle with a burning lamp. True, my nose is not so wide ... Well, I’ll take a small light bulb ... I ran behind the curtain: it turns out that the walrus in the fence has a zinc bath, and after the performance they give him live fish, fish oil sandwich and a glass of vodka. Great! Yes, what else have I noticed! Free boys crawl under the edges of the circus tent and look at the performance ... And the dwarf runs around and slaps their heels with a cane. Bul-Pool Negro is kind of crazy. He played the “march of drunken crocodiles” on a broomstick, accompanied himself on his own stomach, and did such things with his feet, as if he had four pairs of paws ... And he smelled of cinnamon and burnt cork. Fi! Then the fakir came out. A fakir is a person who cuts himself, and he is even pleased, and blood does not flow. He must be freezing himself before the performance. I pierced my lips with a knitting needle, drove a nail under my arm... I even turned away. His nerves could not stand it ... And the worst thing: he took a nickel watch from a fat soldier from the public, swallowed it, only the tip of the chain dangled from his mouth, and asked the audience to listen to the clock ticking in his chest. Horror! The skin is torn in the cold! Everything seems to be. For a snack, a tiny furry horse with a red whisk over its head and with bells flew into the arena. I didn’t even know that there was such a breed of horse lapdogs! She jumped so wonderfully through the hoop, stood on her hind legs and kicked, that Zina was delighted. Me too. I wonder why Zinya’s dad doesn’t buy her such a horse ... We would harness her to a chaise and ride along the beach. It's not for you to trample on a donkey with a snail's pace! .. And everyone would be very surprised, and I would get a lot of sugar ... "Who is going?" - "Mickey with Zina!" "Whose horse?" - "Mikkina with Zina!" Wonderful! Tired. I can't do it anymore... I'll just sign my name and run to the beach to play the circus. Boom Boom!The famous tamer of Great Danes and Bulldogs,
equilibrist and rider
fox mickey
DAMNED STEAMBOAT
At the resort pier, a white house-steamboat swayed. Chimney, balcony for the captain, at the bottom - round windows so that the fish can look into the cabins. The nose is sharp in front, blunt in the back ... Water splashes from below, the rope creaks, smoke comes from the steamer stove. "Goo-hoo!" Fu, how the pipe barks disgustingly. Everyone plugs their ears, but I can't ... Zina takes me in her arms - I'm trembling, the boards under us are also trembling - and carries me to this nasty thing. Behind is dad. Walk! There is not enough place for them on earth... At least I know how to swim, but what will they do in their boots and stockings if the house capsizes? People walked, walked, walked. Clean suits, pockets - handkerchiefs (toothbrushes in buttonholes, thank God, are not worn yet!), And everyone pushes, and everyone apologizes. Sorry! But don’t push, and your pardon is not needed, otherwise all the paws were crushed ... They sat on the benches on the sides, both above and below, like sparrows on telegraph wires ... The sky is swaying, the street is swaying, and our floor is swaying. And I completely lost my center of gravity, sat down on the floor and Spread like a frog on ice. So torment the land fox! For what?! "Hoo-hoo-hoo!" Let's go. Everyone is waving their paws, sending airless kisses. Just think ... We are leaving for three hours, and such hypocrisy. I crept up to the fence in the middle of the ship and looked down: the iron paws walk, smack and roll over, and the main leg, covered in oil, dances around itself ... The car. "Chiki-fuki, fuki-chiki, piki-Mickey, Mickey-piki..." Yes, stop for a minute!* * *
While we were walking through the spillway - nothing. And then the bay, and then ... wow! The sea is there, the sea is here, the sky converged with water all around, some horizons appeared from all sides ... Is it possible? Where is the land? There is white boiling water behind the steamer, seagulls are flying after us and screaming like hungry kittens ... There are so many fish in the sea, you can dine all day, what else do they need? Well, if it's a walk, there's nothing to crawl under the bench. He walked along the legs, legs politely parted. Sorry, sil vu ple. (Excuse me, please!) The sailors have wooden shoes - boats, the passengers have ordinary, white and yellow shoes. Practical and cute. And the ladies have a different style every time they have legs: with bows, with buckles, with a red lattice, with green heels ... Who invents these styles for them? .. Was at the captain's on the balcony. Old, plump, beard like a Christmas grandfather, blue eyes. He spread his legs and amuses himself: he will turn the wheel with sticks in one direction, then in the other, then in the third, and he growls into the phone: "Good morning! - Paul good morning! a quarter of a good morning!" - or maybe I got it wrong. I found the kitchen. Swing the floor for yourself, and she does her job. Cooks. The cook put a lobster in my nose ... but I looked at him in such a way that he felt ashamed, and he blew his nose (cook). And the floor keeps rising, the waves, like bulldogs, foam on all sides of the muzzle, and everyone is nodding at me. Ai! "The wind whistles and turns his ears inside out. Aw! .. Our neighbor's hat fell into the water. "It's fresher!" - Zinya's dad reassured him. at the feet of an unfamiliar old woman, closed his eyes and squealed softly: "The sea! My golden sea... Well, stop it, well, calm down! I'll never go again. I'm a little fox, a worthless dog, why are you angry with me? I never touched you, never barked at you (wow, how I lied!)... Yes, it will stop for you. . Just in case, if I had to save Zina, her dad and the captain. Let the cook drown... Angry fox. Why do I write such nasty things? I would have saved the cook, the dog with him ...* * *
All? No, not all! Greedy land people don't know what to come up with. The shores, forests, fields, highways are not enough for them. They need to fly! They sat down on a petrol rack... and flew off. It's scary to even look at. But some crazy people fly, they probably have no parents, and there is no one to stop them. And everyone rides on the sea: children, mothers, fathers, grandfathers and even infants. Here is fate ("fate" is like a big, evil bat) and punishes them ... They swung - and got pumped up. Dogs are said to be misbehaving. Aha! Dogs ... You should have seen how people behave on the ship in new suits, with new handkerchiefs in their pockets, when the pitching begins! I closed my eyes, tried not to breathe, sniffed the lemon peel... Brrr! But Zina - well done. And her dad is a good guy. And the captain - well done ... And I ... better not ask.* * *
When the land appeared, pretty green land, solid land with houses, dogs, butcher shops and bathhouses, I squealed so piercingly that I even shouted over the boat whistle. I swear, and I give you my word of honor, that my paw will never be on a ship again! Why do they drag me everywhere? .. Tomorrow Zinya's dad will start a walk on the clouds, so I have to fly with them ?! Sorry! Sil wu ple! Aha! I knew it. This impossible dad has hooked up a fisherman and is ordering him a boat with the moon and fishing for tomorrow night... I'll look at the moon from the shore, and eat the fish yourself... The sea is really quiet today, we know this silence. But the room is even quieter. The floor doesn't sway, the ceiling doesn't tip over, foam doesn't get in the window, and the people around don't turn green or yellow. Brr!..Old sea wolf - Fox Mickey
I RETURN TO PARIS AND MAKE A BIG POINT
And on the veranda there were suitcases: pigskin, crocodile skin and one small ... brr! .. it looks like a dog. In the front garden the yellow leaves danced a fox trot. I ran to the ocean: goodbye! .. "Booms!" Fi, how impolite. They say goodbye to him, and he is hit in the face with water ... From the linen bathing booths, only ribs remained. Sky - colors dirty dog. Asters hang with their heads down: they are bored. Farewell, goodbye! Although you are odorless, but I will never, never forget you ... I said goodbye to the forest. He probably did not understand anything: he made a noise, babbled ... What does he need a little, lively Mickey? Farewell to the shopkeeper. She is also boring. The season is over, and the rotten sprats are still not sold out. Suitcases pushed all the way and prevented me from thinking. Zina is serious, like a punished parrot. She grew up, burned out. There are lessons, friends and decals in my head - she never looked at me ... And don't! What kind of love is this for the seasons? I'll make friends in Paris with some decent fox - and "no Spaniards" (I really like to repeat stupid human words!) ...* * *
We've arrived. Riehali. Let's go. We drove. Khali. Length Lee. And ... I write this on purpose, otherwise my paw is completely numb. The concierge dog looked at me from the doorway and turned away. What a duchess! Okay... I can put on airs too. They'll take me to a dog show, I'll get the first gold medal, and you burst with envy in the concierge's lair. Completely out of touch with furniture. There is a sideboard, there is a semi-buffet, the beds are wider than a steamboat, if only they could put ladders on them ... What a disgusting thing! And they still want to buy an old chiffonier from a furniture maker downstairs! Mahogany. Even if it's purple, it's worthless. Oh, how crowded the apartment is! The horizon in front of the nose, the forest in three flowerpots, you can jump. And there is no one to jump with. Zina is at school, studying some tropics. The cook is angry and smears all her lips. Here I will take and eat your lipstick, you will walk with white lips! On the balcony, brown leaves are writhing and rustling. Sparrow alone got into the habit of flying to us. I crumbled a bun for him, and he jumps and pecks around my nose. Yesterday, out of boredom, we chatted with him. - Where do you live, birdie? - And everywhere. - Well, how is it everywhere? .. Do you have mom and dad? - Mom is in another area, and dad flew away in Saint-Cloud ... - What are you doing alone? - I'm jumping. I’ll fly over the little garden, I’ll sit on a branch. Here you are wound up with me, feeding crumbs. Fine! - Aren't you cold? After all, autumn ... - Eccentric, but I'm all down. Chivik! The sparrows are fighting on the corner... Hey hey, wait! I also want to fight ... Furh - and flew away. My God, my God, why don't I have wings?..* * *
I tremble, I tremble, but there is little sense. The central heating hissed yesterday, I only warmed the back, but it stopped. There was a test. In two weeks, only it will be brought in for the whole winter. And what am I supposed to tremble for two weeks?! I want to sleep terribly. I sleep during the day, I sleep in the evening, at night ... I also sleep. Zina says I have sleeping sickness. Mom says that I have a dog's old age. The music teacher says I have the plague... Woof! So many diseases for one dog?! And I'm just sad. I really need your autumn and winter in an apartment with chiffonieres! And my notebook ends. And there's nothing more to write about... Wow! If I were a bear, I would go to the forest, lie down in a den, smear my paw with honey and suck it until spring ... Today a piece of the sun hit the balcony: I lay down on it, but it left from under me ... Ah , My God! Before I forget, I need to write down yesterday's dream: as if all of us, I and the rest of the family, were going south to Cannes. God be with him, with winter Paris! And it was as if Zina and her mother had gone to the snack car to have breakfast ... Dad fell asleep (he always sleeps on the train), and I felt so bitter! .. Why didn’t they take me with them? And from the bag, it was as if someone meowed in a nasty cat voice: “Because dogs are not allowed into the dining car. Cats are allowed everywhere, but dogs, oh, leave them alone!” And I became furious, grabbed the bag with my teeth and ... woke up.* * *
Flipping through my pages. What if someone printed them? With my portrait and an autograph?! .. My book would fall into the paws of some girl in a green dress ... She would sit by the fireplace with my essay, read, leaf through and smile. And in every house where there are only little legs with bows and without bows, they would know my name: Mickey! Zina is sleeping, the clock is ticking. The concierge snores - oh! - I can hear through the floor ... Goodbye, notebook, goodbye, summer, goodbye, children - boys and girls, fathers and mothers of grandparents ... I wanted to cry, but instead sneezed. I put a big, big point. Woof! Again a flea has bitten me!.. In such a touching moment... A dog's bloodsucker!..Universal children's friend,
modest and sleepy Fox Mickey
1924 -- 1927 -------------------- OCR [email protected], 2002.
How did I get lost
The pencil trembles in my teeth... Oh, what happened! In cinema it is called "tragedy", but in my opinion, even worse.
We returned from Paris to the beach, and I got a little crazy. He rushed past all the booths, jumped over the resting ladies, sniffed at the familiar children - darlings! - and barked happily. To hell with the zoo, long live dog freedom!
And so… jumped. I turned to the park, dived into some green alley, ended up in someone else's garden - I tore my old shoe to pieces, from there to the field, from there to the highway - and everything died! I got lost… I sat down on a stone, trembled and lost my “presence of spirit”. Until now, I didn’t know what that “presence” was…
I sniffed the highway: someone else's soles, dust, rubber and car oil ... Where is my villa? The houses suddenly became all the same, the children at the gates, like mice, became similar to each other. Flew to the sea: another sea! And the sky is not the same, and the coast is empty and rough ... Old people and children peeled oysters from the cliff, no one even looked at me. Well, of course, idiotic oysters are more interesting than a homeless fox!
Sand flies into your eyes. The reed mutters some nonsense. It's good for him, the fool, - he's rooted to the place, he won't get lost ... Tears rolled like peas down his face. And worst of all: I'm naked! The collar was left at home, and my address is on the collar. Any girl (I would have done!) would read it and take me home. Wow! If it weren't for the ebb, I would probably have drowned myself ... Note: and I would have been a big fool, because I was still found.
* * *
In front of the yellow fence near the front garden, he leaned against a telegraph pole and lowered his head. I saw a lost dog in a picture in such a pose, and I really liked this pose.
Well, I wasn't wrong. A pink spot appeared in the gate. A girl came out (they are always kinder than boys) and sat down in front of me on the path.
What's wrong with you, doggy?
I sighed and raised my right paw. Understandable without words.
Lost? Do you want to me? Maybe they will find you too ... My mother is kind, but we can handle it with dad.
What to do? Spending the night in the forest... Am I a wild camel? The stomach is empty. I followed the girl and gratefully licked her knee. If she ever gets lost, I will definitely take her home...
Mother! she squeaked. - Mommy! I brought Fifi, she got lost. Can we leave her for now?
ABOUT! Why Fifi?! I'm Mickey, Mickey! But I, who has such wonderful thoughts, can’t say even half a word in their human language ... Let it be. Whoever digs a hole for himself, he falls into it ...
Mom put on pince-nez (as if even without pince-nez you can’t see that I’m lost!) And smiled:
How pretty! Give her, my friend, milk and a roll. She has a very decent appearance ... And then we'll see.
“She has” ... “He has”, not “her”! I'm a boy, after all. But I was terribly hungry, I had to submit.
I ate slowly, as if I was doing them a favor. Do you cater? Thanks, I'll eat. But please don't think I'm some hungry stray dog.
Then dad came. Why these dads stick their noses everywhere, I don’t know ...
What is this dog? What is your way, Lily, of dragging all the animals to our villa? Maybe she's consumptive... Go, go away from here! Well!
I? consumptive?
The girl whimpered. I took a step towards the gate with dignity. But mom looked at dad sternly. He was trained: he fuked, shrugged his shoulders and went to the veranda to read his newspaper. Ate?
And I stood in front of my mother on my hind legs, made three steps and jumped over the bench. Hop! Forward, tour around the room and back…
Mommy, he's smart!
Still would. If I were a man, I would have been a professor long ago.
* * *
The new dad pretends not to notice me. I saw him too ... In a dream I saw Zina and barked with joy: she fed me gogel-mogel from a spoon and said: “You are my treasure ... if you get lost again, I will never marry.”
Lily woke up - dawn was white in the window - and hung her head from the bed.
Fifi! What are you?
Nothing. I suffer. The cat doesn't care: today Zina, tomorrow Lily. And I'm an honest, affectionate dog...
The second day without Zina. A fat boy came to visit a new girl - a cousin. Dogs, thank God, have no cousins... He sat on top of me and almost crushed me. Then he harnessed me to the car, and I rested! dog? In a car?! He poked my paws at the piano. I demolished everything and out of politeness did not even bite him ...
Lily's mother appreciated me and when the girl knocked over a bowl of soup, she pointed at me:
Take a cue from Fifi! See how carefully she eats...
Fifi again! When they don't like something, they say: "fi!" Fi-fi, then when you don’t like it at all? They’ll come up with such a chicken name ... I found cubes with letters under the cupboard and added: “Mickey”. Pulled the girl by the skirt - read! It seems clear. But she did not understand anything and shouted:
Mother! Fifi knows how to show magic tricks!
Fine. Give him chocolate.
Oh, when, when will they find me? I even ran to the mayor's office. Perhaps Zina said there that I was lost. Nothing like this. A shaggy mongrel lay on the threshold and growled:
R-rav! Where are you, tramp, poking around?
I?! Tramp?! You are unhappy man!
Your happiness is that I was brought up in such a way that I don’t get into a fight with mongrels ...
* * *
“A mountain fell off my shoulders” ... Where it fell, I don’t know, but, in a word ... I was found!
Lily went to the beach with me. And suddenly, in the distance, a purple and white dress, a striped ball and light curls. Zina!!
How we kissed, how we squealed, how we cried!
Lily quietly approached and asked:
Is this your Fifi?
Yes! Only this is not Fifi, but Mickey ...
Ah, Mickey! Sorry, I didn't know. Let me pass it on to you. She got lost and I took her in.
And in the very eyes of "tragedy".
But Zina consoled her. She thanked “very, very, very much” and promised to come to visit with me. They will become friends, I already noticed it in my eyes.
Of course, I served in front of Lily and folded my front paws crosswise: good luck! Very very very…
And he went, embarrassed, for Zina, not a single step away from her lovely swarthy legs.
Mickey.
At the circus
Long houses on wheels appeared at our station. Not the vans, not the wagons. Red, with green shutters, a chimney above the roof, smoke from the chimney. A dwarf with a huge head and red eyes was sitting on a fold-down step of a house smoking a pipe gloomily. And in the depths of the yard there were also car-houses, but with gratings, and they smelled thickly of a zoological garden.
There are miracles on the posters ... Three lions jump over the tamer, and then play hide and seek with her. The walrus juggles with a burning lamp and billiard balls. Walrus is such a clumsy fool... who would have thought! The famous poodle Flux solves problems for addition and subtraction ... What is the importance ... I can divide and multiply ... However, I don’t climb into celebrity. Miss Caravel will perform a jig on a bare stallion - a sailor's dance. Bul-Pool Negro... Stop! Don't get ahead of yourself, Mickey, otherwise you will get completely confused - what kind of dog habit is this!
* * *
Zina's dad took us a box: me and Zina. A lodge is a kind of dog house, but without a roof. Upholstered in red stinky calico. The chairs are folding and hard, because the circus is camping.
The orchestra is terrible! I can't stand music at all, especially the gramophone. But when one, a skeleton, spits into a flute, and another, a fat man, stands upright on a huge violin and fidgets along it with some kind of ruler, and the third beats the drum with sticks, elbows on copper rulers and kicks a big pot-bellied tambourine, and the fourth, purple a chicken, going back and forth on the piano and jumping... Oh! “A humble servant,” as Zinin, a bachelor uncle, says when he is offered to marry.
Clowns are just painted idiots. I think that they needlessly pretend that they are idiots on purpose, they probably are. Would a smart person put his face under slaps, roll on dirty sawdust and prevent ministers from cleaning carpets? Not funny at all. I liked one thing: that clown, who had the sun painted on the back of his wide trousers, the forelock on his head got up and fell ... Another ear, I understand, but the forelock! Very interesting number!
The stallion is fat, and that he is unsaddled does not matter at all. He has such a wide back, even with a notch, that you can dance on it, as on the master's bed, as much as you want. He jumped lazily. Like a waltzing cow ... And Miss Caravel kept looking cowardly at the barrier and pretending that she was the first rider in the world. The costume is nice: nothing at the top, but green and yellow beads in the middle. Why did she travel so long? The stallion at the end was so sweaty that I sneezed ... Not interesting.
Then they put up a round grating, rolled a cage up to the door, and the lions came out. They came out ... and yawn. Good wild animals! Zina was a little frightened (girl!), but I was sitting next to her. Why be afraid? The lions did not want to jump over the tamer for a long time: she begged them, and tickled them under the neck, and whispered something in their ears, and pushed them under the belly with a whip. Agreed - and jumped over. And then she blindfolded them with white ribbons, picked up a bell and began to play hide and seek with them. One lion took three steps and lay down. The other sniffed and followed her... Deception! I myself saw - she had a small piece of meat in her hand ... It's not interesting!
There was also a Dutch family of tightrope walkers. Dad rode the front wheel of the bike (separately!), Mom rode the other wheel (also separately!), the son rode a big ball, and the daughter rode a wide hoop backwards ... That's great!
Then plates, knives, lamps, umbrellas, boys and girls flew. Wow! I even barked for joy. And in the end, the whole family arranged a pyramid. Below, dad and mom, two daughters on their shoulders, a boy on their shoulders, a dog on his shoulders, a dog on his shoulders ... a kitten, and a kitten on his shoulders ... a sparrow! Fuck! And everything crumbled, somersaulted on the carpet and ran behind the curtain ... Bravo! Bis! Woof woof woof!
* * *
The intermission was even more fun. An intermission is when one is over and the other has not yet begun. And now adults with older children went behind the curtain to watch horses and other mammals, and the tiniest children crawled out of all boxes and corners into the arena and staged their own circus.
A girl with a green bow pretended to be a trained horse and pranced along the barrier on all fours, her head on one side, while she herself kicked with her right leg. The boys, of course, were lions, and, perhaps, more ferocious than the real ones - growling, spitting, biting and throwing sawdust at each other. Two even got into a fight - one slapped the other - they slap clowns - and that one hit him back ... And both roared, not at all like a clown ... And I rushed around the arena and grabbed them all (jokingly, of course!) By the knees.
A dwarf came out in a lilac coat with copper buttons and rang the bell. Jing-ding! Down with the arena - the show continues! One of the "lions", still a little boy, did not want to leave for anything. And his mother came from the box, took the lion in her arms, slapped him and took him to the place. Here's a lion for you!
* * *
Walrus - well done. I will return to our villa and will certainly try to juggle with a burning lamp. True, my nose is not so wide ... Well, well, I’ll take a small light bulb ...
I ran behind the curtain: it turns out that the walrus in the fence has a zinc bath, and after the performance he is given live fish, a sandwich with fish oil and a glass of vodka. Great!
Yes, what else have I noticed! Free boys crawl under the edges of the circus tent and look at the performance ... And the dwarf runs around and slaps their heels with a cane.
Bul-Pool Negro is kind of crazy. He played the “march of drunken crocodiles” on a broomstick, accompanied himself on his own stomach, and did such things with his feet, as if he had four pairs of paws ... And he smelled of cinnamon and burnt cork. Fi!
Then the fakir came out. A fakir is a person who cuts himself, and he is even pleased, and blood does not flow. He must be freezing himself before the performance. I pierced my lips with a knitting needle, drove a nail under my arm ... I even turned away. His nerves could not stand it ... And the worst thing: he took a nickel watch from a fat soldier from the public, swallowed it, only the tip of the chain dangled from his mouth, and asked the audience to listen to the clock ticking in his chest. Horror! The skin is torn in the cold!
Everything seems to be. For a snack, a tiny furry horse with a red whisk over its head and with bells flew into the arena. I didn’t even know that there was such a breed of horse lapdogs! She jumped so wonderfully through the hoop, stood on her hind legs and kicked, that Zina was delighted. Me too.
I wonder why Zinya’s dad doesn’t buy her such a horse ... We would harness her to a chaise and ride along the beach. It’s not for you to trample on a donkey with a snail’s step! .. And everyone would be very surprised, and I would get a lot of sugar ...
"Who's driving?" - "Mickey with Zina!"
"Whose horse?" - "Mikkina with Zina!"
Wonderful!
Tired. I can’t do it anymore… Now I’ll just sign my name and run to the beach to play in the circus. Boom Boom!
The famous tamer of Great Danes and Bulldogs,
equilibrist and rider
Fox Mickey.
.................................................................................................
Copyright: Cherny Sasha for children, schools and students
HOW I GOT LOST
THE PENCIL trembles in my teeth... Oh, what happened! In cinema it is called "tragedy", but in my opinion, even worse. We returned from Paris to the beach, and I got a little crazy. He rushed past all the booths, jumped over the resting ladies, sniffed at the familiar children - darlings! - and barked happily. To hell with the Zoological Garden, long live dog freedom!
And so… jumped. I turned towards the park, dived into some green alley, ended up in someone else's garden - tore my old shoe to pieces - from there to the field, from there to the highway - and everything died! I got lost… I sat down on a stone, trembled and lost my “presence of spirit”. Until now, I didn’t know what that “presence” was…
I sniffed the highway: someone else's soles, dust, rubber and car oil ... where is my villa? The houses suddenly became all the same, the children at the gates, like mice, became similar to each other. Flew to the sea - another sea! And the sky is not the same, and the shore is empty and rough ... Old people and children peeled oysters from the cliff, no one even looked at me. Well, of course, idiotic oysters are more interesting than a homeless fox! Sand flies into your eyes. The reed mutters some nonsense. He, the fool, is well - rooted to the place, he will not get lost ... Tears rolled like peas down his face. And worst of all: I'm naked! The collar was left at home, and my address is on the collar. Any girl (I would have done!) would read it and take me home. Wow! If it weren't for the ebb, I would probably have drowned myself ... Note: and I would have been a big fool, because I was still found.
***In front of the yellow fence near the front garden, he leaned against a telegraph pole and lowered his head. I saw a lost dog in a picture in such a pose, and I really liked this pose.
Well, I wasn't wrong. A pink spot appeared in the gate. A girl came out (they are always kinder than boys) and sat down in front of me on the path.
- What's wrong with you, doggy?
I sighed and raised my right paw. Understandable without words.
- Lost? Do you want to me? Maybe they will find you too ... My mother is kind, but we can handle it with dad.
What to do? Spending the night in the forest... Am I a wild camel? The stomach is empty. I followed the girl and gratefully licked her knee. If she ever gets lost, I will definitely take her home...
- Mother! she squeaked. - Mommy! I brought Fifi, she got lost. Can we leave her for now?
ABOUT! Why Fifi?! I'm Mickey, Mickey! But I, who has such wonderful thoughts, can’t even say a half a word in their human language .. Let it be. Whoever digs a hole for himself, he falls into it ...
Mom put on pince-nez (as if even without pince-nez you can’t see that I’m lost!) And smiled:
- How pretty! Give her, my friend, milk and a roll. She has a very decent appearance ... And then we'll see.
"She has" ... He, not her! I'm a boy, after all. But I was terribly hungry, I had to submit.
I ate slowly, as if I was doing them a favor. Do you cater? Thanks, I'll eat. But please don't think I'm some hungry stray dog.
Then dad came. Why these dads stick their noses everywhere, I don’t know ...
- What kind of dog is this? What is your way, Lily, of dragging all the animals to our villa? Maybe she's consumptive... Go, go away from here! Well!
I? consumptive?
The girl whimpered. I took a step towards the gate with dignity. But mom looked at dad sternly. He was trained: he fuked, shrugged his shoulders and went to the veranda to read his newspaper. Ate?
And I stood in front of my mother on my hind legs, made three steps and jumped over the bench. Hop! Forward, tour around the room and back…
"Mommy, he's smart!"
Still would. If I were a man, I would have been a professor long ago.
***The new dad pretends not to notice me. I saw him too ... In a dream I saw Zina and barked with joy: she fed me eggnog with a spoon and said: “You are my treasure ... if you get lost again, I will never marry.”
Lily woke up - dawn was white in the window - and hung her head from the bed:
- Fifi! What are you?
Nothing. I suffer. The cat doesn't care: today Zina, tomorrow Lily. And I'm an honest, affectionate dog...
The second day without Zina. The fat boy cousin came to visit the new girl. Dogs, thank God, have no cousins... He sat on top of me and almost crushed me. Then he harnessed me to the car - and I rested! dog? In a car?! He poked my paws at the piano. I demolished everything and out of politeness did not even bite him ...
Lily's mother appreciated me, and when the girl knocked over a bowl of soup, she pointed at me:
Take a cue from Fifi! See how carefully she eats...
Fifi again! When they don't like something, they say: "fi!" Fi-fi, then when you don’t like it at all? They’ll come up with such a chicken name ... I found cubes with letters under the cupboard and added: “Mickey”. He pulled the girl by the skirt: read! It seems clear. But she did not understand anything and shouted:
- Mother! Fifi knows how to show magic tricks!
- Fine. Give him chocolate.
Oh, when, when will they find me? I even ran to the mayor's office. Perhaps Zina said there that I was lost. Nothing like this. A shaggy mongrel lay on the threshold and growled:
- R-rab! Where are you, tramp, poking around?
I?! Tramp?! You are unhappy man!
Your happiness is that I was brought up in such a way that I don’t get into a fight with mongrels ...
***“A mountain fell off my shoulders” ... Where it fell, I don’t know, but, in a word ... I was found!
Lily went to the beach with me. And suddenly in the distance - a purple and white dress, a striped ball and light curls. Zina!!
How we kissed, how we squealed, how we cried!
Lily quietly approached and asked:
Is this your Fifi?
- Yes! Only this is not Fifi, but Mickey ...
- Oh, Mickey! Sorry, I didn't know. Let me pass it on to you. She got lost and I took her in.
And in the very eyes of "tragedy".
But Zina consoled her. She thanked “very, very, very much” and promised to come to visit with me. They will become friends, I already noticed it in my eyes.
Of course, I served in front of Lily and folded my front paws crosswise: Merci! Very very very…
And he went, embarrassed, for Zina, not a single step away from her lovely swarthy legs.
Diary Fox Mickey. How I got lost. Sasha Cherny children's prose read
The pencil trembles in my teeth... Oh, what happened! In cinema it is called "tragedy", but in my opinion, even worse. We returned from Paris to the beach, and I got a little crazy. He rushed past all the booths, jumped over the resting ladies, sniffed at the familiar children - darlings! - and barked happily. To hell with the Zoological Garden, long live dog freedom!
And so ... he jumped. I turned towards the park, dived into some green lane, ended up in someone else's garden - tore my old shoe to pieces - from there to the field, from there to the highway - and everything died! I got lost... I sat down on a stone, trembled and lost my "presence of spirit". Until now, I didn't know what that "presence" was...
I sniffed the highway: other people's soles, dust, rubber and car oil ... where is my villa? The houses suddenly became all the same, the children at the gates, like mice, became similar to each other. Flew to the sea - another sea! And the sky is not the same, and the shore is empty and rough ... Old people and children peeled oysters from the cliff, no one even looked at me. Well, of course, idiotic oysters are more interesting than a homeless fox! Sand flies into your eyes. The reed mutters some nonsense. He, the fool, is well - rooted to the place, he will not get lost ... Tears rolled like peas down his face. And worst of all: I'm naked! The collar was left at home, and my address is on the collar. Any girl (I would have done!) would read it and take me home. Wow! If it hadn't been for the ebb, I would probably have drowned myself... Note: and I would have been a big fool, because I was found after all.
* * *
In front of the yellow fence near the front garden, he leaned against a telegraph pole and lowered his head. I saw a lost dog in a picture in such a pose, and I really liked this pose.
Well, I wasn't wrong. A pink spot appeared in the gate. A girl came out (they are always kinder than boys) and sat down in front of me on the path.
What's wrong with you, doggy?
I sighed and raised my right paw. Understandable without words.
Lost? Do you want to me? Maybe they will find you too ... My mother is kind, but we can handle it with dad.
What to do? Spending the night in the forest... Am I a wild camel? The stomach is empty. I followed the girl and gratefully licked her knee. If she ever gets lost, I will definitely take her home...
Mother! she squeaked. - Mommy! I brought Fifi, she got lost. Can we leave her for now?
ABOUT! Why "Fifi"?! I'm Mickey, Mickey! But I, who has such wonderful thoughts, can’t even say a half a word in their human language .. Let it be. Whoever digs a hole for himself, he falls into it ...
Mom put on pince-nez (as if even without pince-nez you can’t see that I’m lost!) And smiled:
How pretty! Give her, my friend, milk and a roll. She has a very decent appearance ... And then we'll see.
"She has" ... He has, not her! I'm a boy, after all. But I was terribly hungry, I had to submit.
I ate slowly, as if I was doing them a favor. Do you cater? Thanks, I'll eat. But please don't think I'm some hungry stray dog.
Then dad came. Why these dads stick their noses everywhere, I don't know...
What is this dog? What is your way, Lily, of dragging all the animals to our villa? Maybe she's consumptive... Go, go away from here! Well!
I? consumptive?
The girl whimpered. I took a step towards the gate with dignity. But mom looked at dad sternly. He was trained: he fuked, shrugged his shoulders and went to the veranda to read his newspaper. Ate?
And I stood in front of my mother on my hind legs, made three steps and jumped over the bench. Hop! Forward, tour around the room and back...
Mommy, he's smart!
Still would. If I were a man, I would have been a professor long ago.
* * *
The new dad pretends not to notice me. I saw him too ... In a dream I saw Zina and barked with joy: she fed me eggnog with a spoon and said: "You are my treasure ... if you get lost again, I will never marry."
Lily woke up - dawn was white in the window - and hung her head from the bed:
Fifi! What are you?
Nothing. I suffer. The cat doesn't care: today Zina, tomorrow Lily. And I'm an honest, affectionate dog...
The second day without Zina. A fat boy cousin came to visit the new girl. Dogs, thank God, have no cousins... He sat on top of me and almost crushed me. Then he harnessed me to the car - and I rested! dog? In a car?! He poked my paws at the piano. I took everything down and out of politeness did not even bite him ...
Lily's mother appreciated me, and when the girl knocked over a bowl of soup, she pointed at me:
Take a cue from Fifi! See how carefully she eats...
Fifi again! When they don't like something, they say: "fi!" Fi-fi, then when you don’t like it at all? They'll come up with such a chicken name ... I found cubes with letters under the cupboard and added: "Mickey." He pulled the girl by the skirt: read! It seems clear. But she did not understand anything and shouted:
Mother! Fifi knows how to show magic tricks!
Fine. Give him chocolate.
Oh, when, when will they find me? I even ran to the mayor's office. Perhaps Zina said there that I was lost. Nothing like this. A shaggy mongrel lay on the threshold and growled:
R-rav! Where are you, tramp, poking around?
I?! Tramp?! You are unhappy man!
Your happiness is that I was brought up in such a way that I don’t get into a fight with mongrels ...
* * *
"A mountain fell off my shoulders" ... Where it fell, I don't know, but, in a word ... I was found!
Lily went to the beach with me. And suddenly in the distance - a purple and white dress, a striped ball and light curls. Zina!!
How we kissed, how we squealed, how we cried!
Lily quietly approached and asked:
Is this your Fifi?
Yes! Only it's not Fifi, it's Mickey...
Ah, Mickey! Sorry, I didn't know. Let me pass it on to you. She got lost and I took her in.
And in the very eyes of "tragedy".
But Zina consoled her. Thanked "very-very-very" and promised to come with me to visit. They will become friends, I already noticed it in my eyes.
Of course, I served in front of Lily and folded my front paws crosswise: Merci! Very very very...
And he went, embarrassed, for Zina, not a single step away from her lovely swarthy legs.
Many stories of the writer Sasha Cherny (1880-1932), written in exile, were unknown to the general public, but gradually began to return from oblivion and find their readers. Alexander Mikhailovich Glikberg, such is the real name of the poet, did not have a very successful relationship with loved ones. A fifteen-year-old teenager, following the example of his older brother, ran away from home and began an independent life quite early.
Alexander never graduated from the gymnasium, he served in the army, worked at customs, in a newspaper, and as an official on the railway. However, the desire to engage in creativity overpowered, and the young man decides to engage in literature.
He is passionate about creating satirical works for the magazine "Satyricon". Poems bring all-Russian fame. Sasha Cherny tries to write in different genres, refers to children's topics, participates in the creation of the collection "Blue Book", the almanac "Firebird".
In Zhytomyr and St. Petersburg, the pre-revolutionary part of the life of a talented writer passed, then there were the Baltic states, Germany, Italy, France, where he continued his creative activity. In a foreign land, Sasha Cherny arranged evening parties, published books of poetry, and wrote prose for children and adults. He was only 52 years old when he died suddenly of a heart attack.
Children's stories were prepared for publication by sorting through the archives of the poet, the writer Vladimir Prikhodko. These stories were published in children's magazine"Murzilka" since the mid-90s of the last century. They are filled with special lyricism when it comes to childhood memories, communication with brothers and sisters. A rainy day turns out to be not so boring if it is spent correctly, as, for example, the heroes of the story "The Wonderful Summer". The children take turns compose a fairy tale, with each new storyteller it becomes more and more confusing and interesting.
And if you dream of mathematical problems, prescriptions and rules, then you probably need to do the same as the hero of the story “The Fakir Gift”. He received from the fakir three pieces of paper with spells and read them seven times, turning his face to the east, before going to bed, and everything, imagine, came true.
Sad irony is permeated with stories about a stray dog and a small crocodile. The hero - a lonely traveler who came to the sea and rented a room from the owner of the vineyard - shares what God sent with a skinny homeless dog. This conversation is wordless, but what a friendly and respectful! This means that you can improve relations with any neighbor, even such a dangerous one as a lizard that looks like a small crocodile...
On a rainy day
From the story "Wonderful Summer"
All four sat down in the dining room on the sofa.
Rain was pounding on the windows. Outside the window, wet roses were bowing in a flower bed. The turtledove in the linden alley fell silent - you won’t coo much in such weather ...
When it's raining, it's best to sit on the couch. Legs turn in one direction, tongues in the other. Then they look at each other, and they all snort at once. But not all the same laziness to snort.
“To the attic, perhaps, to bring them? thought Igor. - It is forbidden. Their dresses are white - with tulips, they will be smeared like rats in the cellar. Then answer for them: "Aren't you ashamed?", "Aren't you ashamed?!" etc".
Let's write a story! Igor thought. - Nina is the smallest, let her start. Then Tanyusha, then Lina. And I'll add a ponytail.
What a sly one! Any tail can tell. And you start! And so that "without a certain kingdom" and without "lived-were." So that it’s completely, not at all according to the books ... Igor, start! Cheesecake toy, start! the girls chirped.
But Igor balked.
Why must I? You are the guests, you and the first place. Such clever ones, they always set you girls as an example, but they cannot start a fairy tale without a man ...
And here we can! Excuse me, please ... - Nina straightened her skirt with a bell, sat down more tightly and sighed ...
Here. A tiny fairy lived in the park. She commanded over all the boogers, did not allow the sparrows to fight and ordered nightingale concerts for the nightingales. Here. Wait, I'm in order... She slept in the grotto, in a cobweb hammock, on a jasmine feather bed. And at night, when the temperature dropped, hairy bumblebees flew in and carefully breathed on her to keep her warm. Yes. She woke up in the morning...
I drank coffee ... - Igor prompted.
Please, no nonsense. Not coffee at all, but dew with honey in a purple bell. A shiny black beetle buzzed at the entrance, she sat on the beetle as if in a car, drove around the entire park and made comments. Why is the acacia not blooming? Shame on you, it's long overdue! Why are two insects in a blade of grass different sides dragging? Do you have to show it twenty times? Why does a wasp smell like mothballs? Again, on the balcony, stuck your nose into the hung things?! Where ladybug? Since she is with a fairy like a lap dog, there is no need to run away to the park without permission! Search now!
Oh, Tanya said. - Yes, this is not a fairy, but azhan* some...
*Azhan is a policeman.
Nothing azhan. Do not interfere! .. He will put everything in order and go down under the grotto, into his winter pantry. Dampness again! Hey beetle! Order all the boogers to sprinkle crushed charcoal on the floor... Sweep away the cobwebs. Digest apple jelly in the sun. Soon we will prepare something new... Here. And to bring more fluff into the underground living room: she does not want to shiver in winter ...
Can Ninochka install central heating? - Igor asked slyly.
It is forbidden. Who will deliver it to her, and even such a miniature one? Here. And then she went down the path and ordered the snail to crawl into the grass. “Here people walk after dinner and can break your back. Or the chicken will peck you. You are my subject, and I must take care of you…” The snail curtsied and crawled away, and the fairy sat down on a stone and raised her heel… Ah!
Again the stocking broke on the thorns. She removed the cobweb from the tree, mended the hole and thought...
Nina spread her hands and stuttered.
Now I, - said the middle one, Tanya, - The fairy raised her head: what is this noise at the gate? She flew up to a pine tree, put her hand to her eyes ... Great! The whole human family leaves for the station. Finally, she will make her way to the big house, she had been going there for a long time. She flew down...
It took off - it flew off ... Do fairies have wings? Nina corrected her. - She rides dragonflies and beetles because she herself does not fly.
And mine is flying! Don't interfere... I didn't bother you when your fairy was darning stockings... She flew off the tree, ran on tiptoe along the path. I looked into the windows - empty. She jumped from the windowsill onto the carpet: vases, paintings, toys on the table. Not interesting at all! And suddenly he sees on the couch, what would you think? Children's books! Oh, how happy she was... She can't lift it, it's hard to turn the page. She called the cat that remained in the house - the cat obeys all the fairies both during the day and in the moonlight. She put him to turn the pages, and she herself revels in it ... "The Snow Maiden", "The Prince and the Pauper", "The Snow Queen" ...
And she doesn't need to know. According to warehouses, she should learn, or what, in your opinion? Fairy means fairy. Reads and reads ... In the park, all the birds and butterflies were excited: where did the fairy go? Did the toad eat her by the pond? Didn't the rain carry it through the grate to the mill? And suddenly a sparrow flew up to the window alone and squeaked: “Here! Reading books! And everyone flew up to the windows and began to scratch softly and squeak: “Fairy! Come to us! We are bored without you ... ”- And she just shook her head and reads everything, and reads everything ...
Tanya took a breath and looked at the large bookcase.
The elder Lina stretched out round legs in bronze shoes and looked at the ceiling. Very often, even adults, when they compose something, look at the ceiling.
And suddenly the fairy yawned deafeningly ... What am I around me bookstore spread out? She even served her knees ... Cat, turn on the gramophone!
I don’t have enough strength, says the cat.
Well, call the big dog.
I am at odds with her.
No talking! - The fairy stamped her foot, and the cat brought the dog, and the dog started the spring. And the fairy began to dance on the polished table "Dance autumn leaves"... The orange skirt inflated with a parachute, the socks ran across the table like a dandelion in the wind:
The leaves in the park are dancing, dancing.
The wind blows cheeks ....
The lacquered table reflected flexible elbows, coat hangers and a flowing dress. From the dark frames, old nosed portraits leaned over the table and hissed: “Amazing!” And suddenly...
Igor grabbed Lina by the hand and repeated in a whisper: “And suddenly...”
The gramophone wheezed and stopped. But the fairy with one jump flew to the open piano and continued her captivating dance on the keys, on the highest notes...
Did you accompany yourself? Heels? Tanya asked hastily.
Yes!.. So you interrupted me, and I don't know what's next...
Igor jumped up from the sofa.
I know! - He had already had a “tail” of a fairy tale ready for a long time. There could be no other end.
Horns sounded at the castle gates. The prince has returned from hunting. Flushed, cheerful, he jumped off his horse at the entrance. Who is playing in the silence of the gloomy hall? He quickly pulled back the curtain. Fairy! She was completely at a loss and, with a raised toe, froze over the key. But the prince politely pressed his hand to his heart and said:
ABOUT! Do a great honor to my castle and don't leave. Hey servants! Give us a roast boar, which I personally killed today, and throw some oak trunks into the fireplace. We will feast! - The fairy sat down on the table on the prince's golden snuffbox in front of his device. - You must clink glasses with me, my dear guest! - She smiled shyly, dipped her little finger into the glass, sucked it and cheered. Oh, how beautiful she was... This is the most important thing, and not a word was said about it. And more girls! Her eyes sparkled like red-hot fireflies, her hair flew like a golden fluff, her cheeks bloomed like a ruddy dawn on the ocean ... And suddenly she fell asleep: the Madeira in the glass was very strong.
Hey, servants, take it to my winter garden and put the sleeping swan under the wing... - The prince was left alone and walked gloomily around the room, biting his mustache. But resolution flashed in his eyes. - Call my favorite doctor! - The old and wise doctor came. - Dear doctor, my happiness is in your hands...
I'm listening to.
Can you prepare such drops that day by day the growth of the little creature will increase? I'll cover you from head to toe...
Don't gold me, please, prince. I still carried your grandfather in my arms and I will do everything for you ...
A quarter of an hour later, the old man brought the prince an emerald vial of opal liquid.
Here! Two drops before bed every night. Keep in a cool place. - The prince quickly went into the winter garden, gently woke the fairy, brought her drops in orange juice and said: “Fairy! If you have a heart, you must drink. Don't ask me about anything...” She drank and - oh, a miracle! - increased immediately by four centimeters ... Time flew by. Three weeks later, she was already up to the shoulder of the prince and even slept on a large sofa. One evening, the prince dressed up in his best dress, girded himself with an expensive Hindu saber and said: “Fairy! You have grown enough. We finally need to explain. Do you want to be my queen, possess my precious stamp collection and command me like your own servant? .. "
Ay! Nina suddenly interrupted Igor. - They merried! And the prince... it was you... Guessed, guessed!
Igor blushed, turned on his heels and quickly left the room.
Is it worth telling stories after that?
He threw the cat off the chair, looked at the white-leaved crumbling maple swaying in the rain, and turned to the door: look how they are pouring ... Girls!
Fakir gift
Many years ago, when my nose barely reached the doorknob, I studied at Belaya Tserkov and, in my class, bore the cheerful title of “Prepaid” (you don’t even know such a word now).
I once went to the circus with my uncle in the fall. And in the intermission, I remember how now, we went with him backstage to scary person: fakir Rachka-Chikaldy, "self-piercing various parts of the body with a nail without damaging the livers and spilling blood balls."
The fakir was sitting on a stool behind a wooden partition, drinking beer, puffing and sucking his moustache. He was a very ordinary fakir. And I stood in the corner and, hiding behind my uncle, looked at him like a canary at a rattlesnake.
I remember how Ramki-Chikalli took me by the hand, pulled me to him, seated me on his fakir knees and said in a quiet voice beyond the grave:
Well, learned man, why are you trembling? Teach you a famous thing?
Without spilling blood balloons? I asked timidly, stubbornly sliding down from my knees to the floor.
Ish, you! This thing, brother, is not for mice like you ... But what, do you see dreams?
And good ones?
What good ones are there ... Everything about the dividend and about divisors. Even tired.
The fakir only shook his head at my learned words.
Oh, you dummy! Is this really a dream?..
He took out a sheet of paper from under his dressing gown embroidered with stars, tore it into three pieces, sucked on a pencil, pondered, and began to write.
Here. You see, there are three pieces of paper. If adults offend during the day, if it was raining and they didn’t let you go for a walk, if there was no sweet at dinner - unfold any piece of paper before going to bed, read seven times, facing east, everything that is written on the piece of paper, and fall asleep with God. You will see a good dream, a cheerful dream, a sweet dream - whatever you wish ... Just know: you must firmly believe these words and don’t talk about them to anyone in vain. Then everything will come true.
Uncle grinned into his mustache - he did not believe it. And I have three pieces of paper in my pocket, but rather - go. Maybe this self-piercer will change his mind and take his papers back.
And what do you think? I believed him - and I saw many good, cheerful and sweet dreams, which I wish you too.
My little friends! I am an adult. I have not seen any dreams for a long time: neither sweet nor bitter. And you, kids, my secret, maybe it will come in handy.
Here is what was written on the papers.
good dream
I want to see a good kingdom
blue state,
Where everyone smiles
Where adults do not find fault with children,
Where there are no biting wasps
No stray vipers
No child tormentors -
Divisible and divisors...
Jing-ding!
Want! Wish! Amen!
Happy dream
I want to see a happy kingdom
children's state,
Where everyone makes noise, whistles and dances,
They beat the drums and blow the pipes,
Where are the tame elephants and tigers
Playing fun games with kids
Where the hedgehog dances in a green dressing gown,
And the little ones tear grammar into pieces ...
Jing-ding!
Want! Wish! Amen!
Sleep sweet
I want to see the sweet kingdom
Turkish delight state,
Where at every turn
Selling free nougat
Vyazemskie rugs,
honey donuts,
Halva and bananas
And roasted chestnuts...
Jing-ding!
Want! Wish! Amen!
Try it. And if it doesn't work, it's not my fault. So they didn't believe well.
stray dog
Slowly swaying back from the sea to my forest lodge, I was laden like a mule with a bathing suit, a dressing gown, a net of vegetables, and wild pears picked up from the reeds. At the well, I turned around: behind me someone sighed politely, as if he wanted to say: “Turn around, please.”
Out of the reed jungle came a lean, lanky dog of the same humble breed, with a pretzel tail and dumpling ears. I stopped, the dog too. He carefully, with the experienced eye of a vagabond, examined my belongings, my sun-bleached jacket, my face, and when I began to climb the mountain again, resolutely followed me, as if I were his grandfather, whom he met after many years of separation.
It was not difficult to understand his decision: “Not from here… Not a farmer – farmers don’t bathe… He doesn’t eat meat, but you can fill an empty stomach with soup and bread. Not evil, rather kind, therefore, will not drive away. From that breed of people who every year come from all directions to Provence to lie on the sand by the sea and do nothing. Like stray dogs...
The dog was not mistaken, I did not drive him away, and at the gatehouse door I fulfilled my first duty of hospitality: I gave him cold well water in a sardine tin. The tin was much smaller than the dog's thirst, but I patiently poured water until the dog, out of politeness, wetting his tongue for the last time, looked at me with grateful eyes:
Thank you.
He was a little cunning with me, but well - if you don’t cheat, you won’t have dinner ... such is the fate of all vagabonds.
I was sitting in the gatehouse, he was at the threshold, outside. Of course, he tried to explain to me, as best he could, that he did not want to eat at all, that he followed me only because he liked me. Carefully, as if by chance, he moved his front paw over the threshold. But I really love dogs and really dislike fleas - our eyes met, and he realized that it was possible to have dinner in the yard.
I soaked dry bread in sour milk diluted with water - Nestle (do not run to the neighboring farm for cream!). The dog ate. He was very hungry - sunken sides, slightly hurried throats ... But he did not champ, he tried to eat slowly, with dignity, as even well-fed boys do not always eat.
Then I warmed up rice soup with tomatoes on a spirit stove. The dish is not quite suitable, but do I have a dog cooker?
We honestly divided the soup among ourselves, and for a snack I gave him paper from under the oil, which he carefully licked, screwing up his eyes with pleasure - he licked it so that the paper became completely transparent. He refused wine. He was even offended, as, indeed, dogs are always offended if a person offers them something absurd. And in fact: if someone offered you copy ink after dinner, wouldn't you be offended?
From the vineyard crawled out with a pick the old man Sanguinetti, the owner of my dwelling, a little man, like a cunning lizard. He looked at the dog lying on the threshold, smacked his badly shaven lip and said:
Your dog? Not yours? No one here has such a thing - I already know ... I don’t like cats or dogs! Cats are thieves, dogs bite. So you fed her, and she will tear your trousers for this, hee-hee ...
What nonsense! What dog will offend the person who fed her and greeted her at his doorstep?
The dog also did not like the old man's dry voice, like the rustle of faded corn leaves. He pushed me with his nose into my knees, wagged his tail twice (dinner was unimportant, especially not worth wagging), and, contemptuously rounding the old slanderer, disappeared over the hill in the juniper bushes. Full, the evening is quiet and warm - and what will happen tomorrow, only people think about it ...
Little crocodile
The floor in my lodge is earthen, the walls are not plastered, and there are no fewer holes in the bricks than there are stars in the sky, when you count them in the evening, lying on a bunk, through the open door ... But, thank God, not a single one on the floor or in the walls a tarantula, not a single centipede, otherwise he would have fled from his dwelling long ago, hung a hammock between the pines and lived no worse than a forest thrush.
However... I got a resident with whom not every one of you would agree to spend the night under the same roof. However, he lived in the gatehouse before me and must have thought that it was not him with me, but I wound up with him.
The first time I flung open the tight, dusty shutters, something rustled up the uneven wall towards the ceiling beams. A snake?.. A minute passed.
A most amusing creature hung down from the upper crossbar and looked timidly at me: a flat gray head, a long open mouth, a flat body with tubercles, and spread stocky paws.
“In fairy tales they talk about a boy with a finger, why not be a crocodile with a finger?” - I thought and pretended that I was not at all interested in my roommate (this is after all The best way to learn something about any creature).
I didn't move. The little crocodile lizard patiently waited for me to leave her house away. But I brought a suitcase and a camp chair through the door and began to fit the shelves. Shelves? On the wall? Or maybe I, so big and scary, will climb the shelves and get to the very ceiling? The lizard huddled under the beam, only a short, blunt tail stuck out and trembled from time to time: it was her heartbeat that was transmitted to the tail.
And when I began to drive large nails into the cracks between the bricks, the frightened animal darted about in all directions, now diving into bright holes under the tiles, now running around the house along the outer wall and looking in confusion over the edge of the window sill. What's happened?! The man wants to destroy the house! Run away or wait a little longer?
But the shelves were nailed down, and my "crocodile" calmed down: it froze over the shelf itself, keeping its tiny beady eyes on it. She was very interested in him.
My friend, when I described a strange lizard to him, told me that I was not mistaken: the local peasants call it that - “little crocodile”. And he advised me to get rid of this tenant somehow. Recently, peasants killed a half-meter-sized lizard on the road. These lizards are not poisonous, but they bite very painfully when you step on them or in general when you annoy them with something.
I came home and thought. What if my crocodile - now you can put it in your pocket - in a month will grow with my suitcase? Or will he come down at night to warm himself in my shoe, I will accidentally step on him, he will get angry and bite my heel? What's smart about it? If you stepped on me, I probably would have bitten too ... And in general, how am I going to live with such a monster now? And if he crawls in the dark into the sleeve of my jacket and I pinch him in the morning, when I get dressed? Brrr!..
Something rustled on the wall. The “little crocodile” was sitting on a shelf astride a can of condensed milk and, looking at me trustingly, licked off the sweet thick drops.
I felt ashamed. And, turning to the shelf, I said meekly and convincingly:
My friend! Drink my cream, eat my peaches and grapes, I allow it. If I don't let you, you won't listen anyway. Besides, I will try never to step on you or make you angry in any way. Just please don't bite and, for God's sake, don't crawl under my covers at night, otherwise I'll go crazy with fear.
The “little crocodile” raised its head, and it seemed to me that it squeaked softly in response: “Good. I agree".
Literature
1. Black S. On a rainy day / Murzilka. - 1993. - No. 3.
2. Black S. Fakir gift / Murzilka. - 1995. - No. 4.
3. Black S. Small crocodile / Murzilka. - 1998. - No. 6.
