The Tale of the Lilliputians. Little people. In the nursery - Hans Christian Andersen

Tonechka lived on Stroiteley Street, in house number 3, in apartment 23, on the third floor of a 5-storey building, during the day she studied at school, walked in the yard, taught her homework, and in the evening, if she went to bed on time, Mom would tell her a story.

So it was that day.
And the fairy tale that day was about the midgets.

“Far, far away in the forest,” Mom began slowly: “Where no man's foot has stepped, in a place that is not on any map, there were little people - midgets.”
They built tree houses, laid paths and real big roads, picked apples and strawberries, flower honey and nuts for the winter, together they protected themselves from birds of prey and animals. They were doing well, just like real people.
Lilliputians lived in several cities, which were at a very large (by Lilliputian standards) distance from each other (two weeks' journey, or even three if it rains or winds). The cities were named after the colors of the rainbow and they all differed from each other in something special.
For example, in the Orange City (which we are talking about) there was a tall, tall tower made of wood, hard as a stone, which was taller than all the trees, and seemed to rest against the sky with its spire. And only the most daring of the Lilliputians could reach the pointed top, look into the distance from there and see the endless green sea of ​​the forest and the huge orange Sun.

It was an ordinary day, and nothing special had happened yet, but a kind of painful expectation still hung in the air. And in the evening came the sad news from the Green City. There began a real famine - the birds destroyed the storehouse and ate all the food supplies.
It was early spring, and the next harvest was still very far away.
At the city council in the Orange City, a clear decision was made - to help.

The expedition was equipped quickly, selected ten of the largest apples, and decided to roll them on the ground. Many wanted to get on this expedition, but chose only those from whom the trip would be more useful.
Another group, according to the plan, was supposed to fly in an airship, fly faster and warn that help was already close. Flying such a long distance in an airship was also a rather dangerous undertaking, but the dangers in the sky, of course, were in no way comparable to those that could lie in wait for midgets on the ground.

The journey began on a clear, sunny day, and the road could have been easy:
if the apples weren't so heavy
if the rain that began on the third day of the journey had not washed away all the roads,
if it were not for the need to stop - and build rafts and continue to sail on them, and not along the shortest route, until the weather has improved,
if after it did not have to climb the mountain after,
if on the tenth day of the journey the apple eaters had not attacked the midgets, from which they barely fought off, losing the two largest apples in the process.

But by the end of the third week of the journey, the Lilliputians, despite any difficulties, still reached the Green City. At the same time, an airship flew in. The weather was not windy, and it was not possible to fly faster.
The whole city went out to meet the airship, from which, even before it landed, they spoke about mutual assistance and friendship.
They decided not to show the tortured, unwashed and dirty midgets from the walking expedition to anyone at the holiday, which began immediately after the airship landed. True, they were washed, fed and put to bed, and they didn't need anything else.

And you, Tonechka, if you were a midget, would you like to fly to the aid of other midgets in an airship or wade across the Earth? - Mama asked unexpectedly.

Tonya thought about it.

“Fly high in the sky,” Mom continued: “Slowly and calmly swim, touching the treetops, admiring the blue sky, snow-white clouds, far from adversity and dangers.

Tonya clearly presented this mesmerizing picture, clouds like white soft cotton wool, blue-blue sky, bright sunlight and a huge gray balloon of an airship overhead.

"Or roll huge apples through a forest full of dangers, frightened by every rustle, hide at night in the darkness of dense trees from wild animals, so that in the morning with the first rays of the first rays continue the endless path", - Mom quietly finished the phrase.

(What would you choose, dear children?)

Tonya felt that for some reason she didn’t want to choose, something that she had to choose without any hesitation. She noted that for the first time in her life she was solving such a difficult task when everything was clearer than clear, but something did not allow her to make a choice. What is this?

This is what lives in you, Mom guessed her thoughts, you can be wrong, but what you have there is never wrong. It knows exactly who you are and what you need to do, just listen and you will hear everything!

I would be the one who sent them there, - Tonya had an unexpected thought.

Not tricky! - Mama said softly, - Listen to yourself and tell me what you will hear.

(What did Tonechka answer - what do you think?)

Yes, she chose that.

JOURNEY TO LILIPUTIUS

1
The three-masted brig "Antelope" sailed to the Southern Ocean.

In the stern stood the ship's doctor Gulliver and looked through a telescope at the pier. His wife and two children remained there: son Johnny and daughter Betty.
It was not the first time that Gulliver went to sea. He loved to travel. While still in school, he spent almost all the money that his father sent him on sea charts and on books about foreign countries. He diligently studied geography and mathematics, because these sciences are most needed by a sailor.
Father gave Gulliver to study with a famous London doctor at that time. Gulliver studied with him for several years, but did not stop thinking about the sea.
Medicine was useful to him: after completing his studies, he entered the ship's doctor on the ship "Swallow" and sailed on it for three and a half years. And then, after living for two years in London, he made several trips to East and West India.
During the voyage, Gulliver never got bored. In his cabin, he read books taken from home, and on the shore he looked closely at how other peoples lived, studied their language and customs.
On the way back, he recorded his travel adventures in detail.
And this time, going to sea, Gulliver brought with him a thick notebook.
On the first page of this book was written: "On May 4, 1699, we weighed anchor in Bristol."

2
The Antelope sailed across the Southern Ocean for many weeks and months. Fair winds blew. The journey was successful.
But then one day, during the transition to East India, the ship was overtaken by a storm. The wind and waves drove him to no one knows where.
And in the hold, the supply of food was already running out and fresh water... Twelve sailors died of fatigue and hunger. The rest could barely move their legs. The ship was thrown from side to side like a nutshell.
One dark, stormy night the wind carried the Antelope straight to the sharp rock. The sailors noticed this too late. The ship hit a cliff and smashed to pieces.
Only Gulliver and five sailors managed to escape in the boat.
For a long time they rushed across the sea and at last they were completely exhausted. And the waves became more and more, and now the highest wave tossed and overturned the boat. The water covered Gulliver's head.
When he emerged, there was no one near him. All his companions were drowned.
Gulliver swam alone, aimlessly, driven by the wind and tide. Every now and then he tried to find the bottom, but there was still no bottom. And he could no longer swim further: the wet caftan and heavy, swollen shoes were pulling him down. He choked and choked.
And suddenly his feet touched solid ground. It was a sandbank. Gulliver stepped carefully on the sandy bottom once or twice and walked slowly forward, trying not to stumble.

It became easier and easier to walk. At first, the water reached his shoulders, then to the waist, then only to the knees. He already thought that the shore was very close, but the bottom in this place was very shallow, and Gulliver had to wade knee-deep in water for a long time.
Finally, the water and sand were left behind. Gulliver walked out onto a lawn covered with very soft and very low grass. He sank to the ground, put his hand under his cheek and fell fast asleep.

3
When Gulliver woke up, it was already quite light. He was lying on his back, and the sun was shining directly in his face.
He was about to rub his eyes, but he could not raise his hand; wanted to sit down, but could not move.
Thin ropes entwined his entire body from armpits to knees; arms and legs were tied tightly with a rope net; ropes wrapped around each finger. Even Gulliver's long, thick hair was tied tightly on small pegs driven into the ground and tied with strings.
Gulliver looked like a fish caught in a net.

"Right, I'm still sleeping," he thought.
Suddenly something alive quickly climbed onto his leg, reached his chest and stopped at his chin.
Gulliver squinted one eye.
What a miracle! Almost under his nose there is a man - a tiny, but a real man! In his hands is a bow and an arrow, behind his back is a quiver. And he himself is only three fingers tall.
Following the first man, another dozen of the same small shooters climbed onto Gulliver.
Gulliver screamed loudly in surprise.

The little men rushed about and scattered.
As they ran, they stumbled and fell, then jumped up and one by one jumped to the ground.
For two or three minutes no one approached Gulliver anymore. Only under his ear there was a noise like the chirping of grasshoppers all the time.
But soon the little men again became brave and again began to climb up his legs, arms and shoulders, and the bravest of them crept up to Gulliver's face, touched his chin with a spear and shouted in a thin but distinct voice:
- Gekina degul!
- Gekina degul! Gekina degul! - picked up thin voices from all sides.
But what these words meant, Gulliver did not understand, although he knew a lot foreign languages.
Gulliver lay on his back for a long time. His arms and legs were completely numb.

He gathered strength and tried to lift his left hand off the ground.
Finally he succeeded.
He yanked out the pegs around which hundreds of thin, sturdy ropes were wrapped, and raised his hand.
At the same moment, someone squeaked loudly:
- Only a phonak!
Hundreds of arrows plunged into Gulliver's hand, face, and neck at once. The little men had arrows as thin and sharp as needles.

Gulliver closed his eyes and decided to lie still until night fell.
It will be easier to free yourself in the dark, he thought.
But he did not have to wait for the night on the lawn.
Not far from his right ear, there was a quick, pounding thud, as if someone nearby was hammering a carnation into the board.
The hammers pounded for an hour.
Gulliver slightly turned his head - the ropes and pegs were no longer allowed to turn it - and near his very head he saw a newly built wooden platform. Several men were fitting a ladder to him.

Then they ran away, and a man in a long cloak slowly climbed the steps to the platform. Behind him walked another, almost half his height, and carried the hem of his cloak. It must have been a page boy. He was no bigger than Gulliver's little finger. The last to climb the platform were two archers with drawn bows in their hands.
- Langro degul san! - three times shouted a man in a raincoat and unrolled a scroll as long and as wide as a birch leaf.
Now fifty men ran up to Gulliver and cut the ropes tied to his hair.
Gulliver turned his head and began to listen to what the man in the cloak was reading. The little man read and spoke for a long, long time. Gulliver did not understand anything, but just in case he nodded his head and put his free hand to his heart.
He guessed that before him some important person, most likely the royal ambassador.

First of all, Gulliver decided to ask the ambassador to be fed.
Since he left the ship, he hasn't had a crumb in his mouth. He raised his finger and brought it to his lips several times.
The man in the cloak must have understood this sign. He stepped down from the platform, and immediately several long ladders were put on the sides of Gulliver.
Less than a quarter of an hour later, hundreds of hunched-over porters dragged baskets of food down these stairs.
In the baskets were thousands of loaves the size of a pea, whole hams about the size of a walnut, fried chicken smaller than our fly.

Gulliver swallowed two hams at once along with three loaves. He ate five roast bulls, eight jerky rams, nineteen smoked pigs, and two hundred chickens and geese.
Soon the baskets were empty.
Then the little men rolled up two barrels of wine to Gulliver's hand. The barrels were huge - each with a glass.
Gulliver kicked the bottom out of one barrel, kicked it out of the other, and drained both barrels in a few gulps.
The little men threw up their hands in surprise. Then they signaled to him to drop the empty barrels on the ground.
Gulliver threw both at once. The barrels tumbled in the air and rolled with a crash in different directions.
The crowd on the lawn parted, shouting loudly:
- Bora mevola! Bora mevola!
After the wine, Gulliver immediately felt like sleeping. Through a dream, he felt how little men were running all over his body up and down, rolling down from the sides, as if from a mountain, tickling him with sticks and spears, jumping from finger to finger.
He really wanted to throw off a dozen or two of these little jumpers, which prevented him from sleeping, but he pitied them. After all, the little men had just hospitably fed him a delicious, hearty dinner, and it would be ignoble to break their arms and legs for this. In addition, Gulliver could not help but marvel at the extraordinary bravery of these tiny people who ran back and forth across the giant's chest, which would have cost nothing to destroy them all with one click. He decided not to pay attention to them and, intoxicated by strong wine, soon fell asleep.
The little people were just waiting for this. They deliberately poured sleepy powder into the wine barrels to lull their huge guest to sleep.

4
The country into which the storm brought Gulliver was called Lilliputia. Lilliputians lived in this country.
The tallest trees in Lilliput were no taller than our currant bush, the largest houses were below the table. No one has ever seen such a giant as Gulliver in Lilliput.
The emperor ordered to bring him to the capital. For this, Gulliver was put to sleep.
Five hundred carpenters built on the orders of the emperor a huge cart with twenty-two wheels.
The cart was ready in a few hours, but it was not so easy to load Gulliver on it.
Here's what the Lilliputian engineers came up with for this.
They put the cart next to the sleeping giant, at its very side. Then they drove eighty posts with blocks at the top into the ground and put on these blocks thick ropes with hooks at one end. The ropes were no thicker than ordinary twine.
When everything was ready, the Lilliputians got down to business. They grabbed Gulliver's torso, both legs and both arms with strong bandages and, having hooked these bandages with hooks, began to pull the ropes through the blocks.
Nine hundred selected strongmen were assembled for this work from all parts of Lilliput.
They rested their feet on the ground and, drenched in sweat, pulled the ropes with all their might with both hands.
An hour later they managed to lift Gulliver off the ground by half a finger, after two hours - on a finger, after three - they loaded him onto a cart.

One and a half thousand of the largest horses from the court stables, each the size of a newborn kitten, were harnessed to a cart, ten in a row. The coachmen swung their whips, and the cart slowly rolled along the road to the main city of Lilliput - Mildendo.
Gulliver was still asleep. He probably would not have woken up until the end of the journey if he had not been accidentally awakened by one of the officers of the Imperial Guard.
It happened like this.
A wheel bounced off the cart. I had to stop to fix it.
During this stop, several young people took it into their heads to see what kind of face Gulliver has when he sleeps. Two climbed onto the wagon and quietly crept up to his very face. And the third - a Guards officer - without getting off his horse, raised himself on the stirrups and tickled his left nostril with the tip of his lance.
Gulliver involuntarily wrinkled his nose and sneezed loudly.
- Apchhi! Echoes repeated.
The brave ones were blown away by the wind.
But Gulliver woke up, heard the drivers clicking the whips, and realized that he was being taken somewhere.
All day long, lathered horses dragged the bound Gulliver along the roads of Lilliput.
Only late at night the cart stopped and the horses were unharnessed to feed and water.
Throughout the night, a thousand guards stood guard on both sides of the cart: five hundred with torches, five hundred with bows at the ready.
The riflemen were ordered to shoot five hundred arrows at Gulliver, if only he decided to move.
When morning came, the cart moved on.

5
Not far from the city gates on the square there was an old abandoned castle with two corner towers. No one has lived in the castle for a long time.
The Lilliputians brought Gulliver to this empty castle.
It was the largest building in all of Lilliput. Its towers were almost human-sized. Even such a giant as Gulliver could freely crawl on all fours in his door, and in the main hall he would probably be able to stretch out to his full height.

Here the emperor of Lilliput was going to settle Gulliver. But Gulliver did not know this yet. He was lying on his cart, and crowds of Lilliputians were running towards him from all sides.
The horse guards drove away the curious, but still a good ten thousand people managed to walk over Gulliver's legs, over his chest, shoulders and knees, while he lay bound.
Suddenly something hit him on the leg. He raised his head slightly and saw several midgets with their sleeves rolled up and in black aprons. Tiny hammers glittered in their hands. It was the court blacksmiths who chained Gulliver.
From the wall of the castle to his leg, they stretched ninety-one chains, as thick as is usually done for watches, and locked them on his ankle with thirty-six padlocks. The chains were so long that Gulliver could walk around the site in front of the castle and crawl freely into his house.
The blacksmiths finished their work and departed. The guards cut the ropes, and Gulliver got to his feet.

- A-ah, - shouted the Lilliputians. - Queenbus Flestrin! Queenbus Flestrin!
In Lilliputian it means: “Man-Mountain! Mountain Man! "
Gulliver carefully shifted from foot to foot, so as not to crush any of the local residents, and looked around.
He had never seen such a beautiful country before. The gardens and meadows here looked like colorful flower beds. The rivers ran in fast, clear streams, and the city in the distance seemed like a toy.
Gulliver gazed so deeply that he did not notice how nearly the entire population of the capital had gathered around him.
Lilliputians swarmed at his feet, fingering the buckles of his shoes and lifting their heads so that their hats fell to the ground.

The boys argued over which of them would throw the stone right up to Gulliver's nose.
Scholars have been interpreting among themselves where Queenbus Flestrin came from.
- In our old books it is written, - said one scientist, - that a thousand years ago the sea threw a terrible monster to our shore. I think that Queenbus Flestrin also emerged from the bottom of the sea.
“No,” replied another scientist, “a sea monster must have gills and a tail. Queenbus Flestrin fell off the moon.
The Lilliputian sages did not know that there were other countries in the world, and they thought that only Lilliputians lived everywhere.
Scientists walked around Gulliver for a long time and shook their heads, but did not have time to decide where Queenbus Flestrin came from.
Black horse riders with spears at the ready dispersed the crowd.
- Ashes of the villagers! Ashes of the villagers! The riders shouted.
Gulliver saw a golden box on wheels. The box was carried by six white horses. Nearby, also on a white horse, galloped a man in a golden helmet with a feather.
The man in the helmet galloped straight to Gulliver's shoe and reined in his horse. The horse began to snore and reared up.
Now several officers ran up to the rider from both sides, grabbed his horse by the bridle and carefully led him away from Gulliver's leg.
The rider on the white horse was the emperor of Lilliput. And the empress sat in the golden carriage.
Four pages spread a velvet patch on the lawn, put a small gilded armchair and opened the carriage doors.
The Empress went out and sat down in a chair, straightening her dress.
Around her on golden benches sat her ladies of the court.
They were so sumptuously dressed that the whole lawn looked like a spread skirt, embroidered with gold, silver and multicolored silks.
The emperor jumped off his horse and walked around Gulliver several times. His retinue followed him.
To get a better look at the emperor, Gulliver lay down on his side.

His Majesty was at least a fingernail taller than his courtiers. He was more than three fingers tall and, probably, was considered very tall man.
In his hand the emperor held a naked sword slightly shorter than a knitting needle. Diamonds glittered on its golden hilt and scabbard.
His Imperial Majesty threw his head back and asked Gulliver something.
Gulliver did not understand his question, but just in case he told the emperor who he was and where he had come from.
The Emperor just shrugged his shoulders.
Then Gulliver said the same thing in Dutch, Latin, Greek, French, Spanish, Italian and Turkish.
But the emperor of Lilliput, apparently, did not know these languages. He nodded his head to Gulliver, jumped on his horse and rushed back to Mildendo. The Empress followed him with her ladies.
And Gulliver remained sitting in front of the castle, like a chain dog in front of a booth.
By evening, at least three hundred thousand Lilliputians crowded around Gulliver - all the city dwellers and all the peasants from the neighboring villages.
Everyone wanted to see what Queenbus Flestrin - Mountain Man is.

Gulliver was guarded by guards armed with spears, bows and swords. The guard was ordered not to admit anyone to Gulliver and to make sure that he did not break off the chain and run away.
Two thousand soldiers lined up in front of the castle, but still a handful of townspeople broke through the line.
Some examined Gulliver's heels, others threw pebbles at him or aimed their bows at his waistcoat buttons.
A well-aimed arrow scratched Gulliver's neck, the second arrow almost hit him in the left eye.
The chief of the guard ordered to catch the mischievous people, tie them up and give them to Queenbus Flestrin.
It was worse than any other punishment.
The soldiers tied six midgets and, pushing the blunt ends of the peak, drove them to Gulliver's feet.
Gulliver bent down, grabbed everyone with one hand and put them in the pocket of his jacket.
He left only one little man in his hand, took it carefully with two fingers and began to examine.
The little man grabbed Gulliver's finger with both hands and screamed shrilly.
Gulliver felt sorry for the little man. He smiled affectionately at him and took out a penknife from his waistcoat pocket to cut the ropes that bound the hands and feet of the midget.
Lilliputian saw Gulliver's shiny teeth, saw a huge knife and screamed even louder. The crowd below was completely silent with horror.
And Gulliver quietly cut one rope, cut another and put the little man on the ground.
Then he, in turn, let go of those midgets who were rushing about in his pocket.
- Glum glaive Queenbus Flestrin! The whole crowd shouted.
In Lilliputian it means: "Long live the Mountain Man!"

And the chief of the guard sent two of his officers to the palace to report everything that happened to the emperor himself.

6
Meanwhile, in the palace of Belfaborak, in the farthest hall, the emperor convened a privy council to decide what to do with Gulliver.
The ministers and advisers argued among themselves for nine hours.
Some said that Gulliver should be killed as soon as possible. If the Mountain Man breaks his chain and runs away, he can trample the entire Lilliputia. And if he does not run away, then the empire is threatened with a terrible famine, because every day he will eat more bread and meat than is needed to feed a thousand seven hundred and twenty-eight Lilliputians. This was calculated by one scientist who was invited to the Privy Council, because he was very good at counting.
Others argued that killing Queenbus Flestrin was as dangerous as keeping him alive. From the decomposition of such a huge corpse, a plague can begin not only in the capital; but throughout the empire.
Secretary of State Reldressel asked the emperor to speak and said that Gulliver should not be killed, at least until a new fortress wall was built around Meldendo. The Mountain Man eats more bread and flesh than one thousand seven hundred and twenty-eight Lilliputians, but it is true that he will work for at least two thousand Lilliputians. In addition, in case of war, he can defend the country better than five fortresses.
The Emperor sat on his throne under a canopy and listened to what the ministers were saying.
When Reldressel had finished, he nodded his head. Everyone understood that he liked the words of the Secretary of State.
But at this time, Admiral Skairesh Bolgolam, the commander of the entire fleet of Lilliput, rose from his place.
“The Mountain Man,” he said, “is the strongest man in the world, it’s true. But that is precisely why he should be executed as soon as possible. After all, if during the war he decides to join the enemies of Lilliput, then ten regiments of the imperial guard will not be able to cope with him. Now he is still in the hands of the Lilliputians, and we must act before it is too late.

Treasurer Flimnap, General Limtok, and Judge Belmaffe agreed with the admiral's opinion.
The Emperor smiled and nodded his head to the Admiral - not even once, like Reldressel, but twice. It was evident that he liked this speech even more.
Gulliver's fate was sealed.
But at this time the door opened, and two officers rushed into the room of the privy council, who were sent to the emperor by the chief of the guard. They knelt in front of the emperor and reported on what had happened in the square.
When the officers told how graciously Gulliver treated his prisoners, Secretary of State Reldressel again asked to speak.

He made another long speech in which he argued that one should not be afraid of Gulliver and that he would be much more useful to the emperor alive than dead.
The emperor decided to pardon Gulliver, but ordered to take away from him a huge knife, which the guards officers had just told about, and at the same time any other weapon, if found during a search.

7
Two officials were assigned to search Gulliver.
With signs they explained to Gulliver what the emperor required of him.
Gulliver did not argue with them. He took both officials in his hands and put them first into one pocket of the caftan, then into the other, and then transferred them into the pockets of his trousers and waistcoat.
Only in one secret pocket Gulliver did not let the clerks. There he had hidden glasses, a telescope and a compass.
The officials brought with them a lantern, paper, quills and blacken. For three hours they fiddled in Gulliver's pockets, looked at things and made an inventory.
Having finished their work, they asked the Mountain Man to take them out of his last pocket and lower them to the ground.
After that, they bowed to Gulliver and carried their inventory to the palace. Here it is - word for word:
"Inventory of items,
found in the pockets of the Mountain Man:
1. In the right pocket of the caftan, we found a large piece of rough canvas, which in its size could serve as a carpet for the ceremonial hall of the Belfaborak Palace.
2. A huge silver chest with a lid was found in the left pocket. This lid is so heavy that we ourselves could not lift it. When, at our request, Queenbus Flestrin lifted the lid of his trunk, one of us climbed inside and immediately plunged above his knees into some kind of yellow dust. A whole cloud of this dust rose up and made us sneeze to tears.
3. There is a huge knife in the right pocket of the pants. If you put him upright, he will be taller than human growth.
4. In the left pocket of his trousers, an unprecedented machine made of iron and wood was found. It is so large and heavy that, despite our best efforts, we were unable to move it. This prevented us from inspecting the car from all sides.
5. In the upper right pocket of the vest there was a whole pile of rectangular, completely identical sheets, made of some kind of unknown to us white and smooth material. This whole pile — half a man's height and three girths thick — is sewn with thick ropes. We carefully examined several of the top sheets and noticed rows of black mysterious signs on them. We believe that these are letters of an alphabet unknown to us. Each letter is the size of our palm.
6. In the upper left pocket of the vest, we found a net no less than a fishing net, but arranged in such a way that it could be closed and opened like a wallet. It contains several heavy objects made of red, white and yellow metal. They are of different sizes, but the same shape - round and flat. The red ones are probably copper. They are so heavy that the two of us could hardly lift such a disc. The white ones are obviously, the silver ones are smaller. They look like the shields of our warriors. The yellow ones must be gold. They are slightly larger than our plates, but very weighty. If only it is real gold, then they must be very expensive.
7. From the lower right pocket of the vest hangs a thick metal chain, apparently silver. This chain is attached to a large, round object in your pocket, made of the same metal. What this object is is unknown. One of its walls is transparent, like ice, and through it twelve black signs arranged in a circle and two long arrows are clearly visible.
Inside this round object, obviously, some mysterious creature sits, which never ceases to knock with either its teeth or its tail. The Mountain Man explained to us - partly with words and partly with hand movements - that without this round metal box he would not know when to get up in the morning and when to go to bed in the evening, when to start work and when to finish it.
8. In the lower left pocket of the vest, we saw a thing that looked like the grate of the palace garden. With the sharp bars of this lattice, the Mountain Man is combing his hair.
9. Having finished examining the camisole and vest, we examined the Mountain Man's belt. It is made from the skin of some huge animal. On the left side of it hangs a sword five times the average human height, and on the right - a sack, divided into two sections. Each of them can easily accommodate three adult midgets.
In one of the compartments we found many heavy and smooth metal balls the size of a human head; the other is full to the brim with some kind of black grains, rather light and not too large. We could place several dozen of these grains in our palm.
This is the exact inventory of the items found during the search of the Mountain Man.
During the search, the aforementioned Mountain Man behaved politely and calmly. "
Under the inventory, officials stamped and signed:
Clefrin Frelok. Marcy Frelok.

The tale of the boy Jacob, the son of a shoemaker. While trading vegetables with his mother in the market, he insulted an ugly old woman who turned out to be a witch.
The old woman asked Jacob to bring the bags home. Then she fed him a magic soup, from which he had a dream that he had served with a witch in the guise of a squirrel for seven years. When Jacob woke up, it turned out that seven years had really passed, and he had become an ugly dwarf with a big nose. His parents did not recognize him and drove him out of the house, he got a job as an assistant cook to the duke.
Once Jacob bought the goose Mimi at the market, which turned out to be an enchanted girl ...

Dwarf Nose read

A shoemaker Friedrich with his wife Hannah once lived in a large German city. All day he sat by the window and put patches on his shoes and shoes. He undertook to sew new shoes if anyone ordered, but then he had to buy leather first. He could not stock up the goods in advance - there was no money. And Hannah sold fruits and vegetables from her small garden at the market. She was a neat woman, knew how to arrange goods beautifully, and she always had many buyers.

Hannah and Friedrich had a son, Jacob, a slender, handsome boy, rather tall for his twelve years. He usually sat next to his mother in the bazaar. When a cook or cook bought a lot of vegetables from Hannah at once, Jacob helped them carry the purchase home and rarely came back empty-handed.

Hannah's customers loved the pretty boy and almost always gave him something: a flower, a cake, or a coin.

One day Hannah, as always, was trading at the bazaar. In front of her were several baskets of cabbage, potatoes, roots and all kinds of herbs. There were early pears, apples, apricots in a small basket.

Jacob sat next to his mother and shouted loudly:

Here, here, cooks, cooks! .. Here is a good cabbage, greens, pears, apples! Who needs? Mother will give away cheap!

And suddenly some poorly dressed old woman with small red eyes, a sharp face wrinkled from old age and a long, long nose that went down to the very chin came up to them. The old woman leaned on a crutch, and it was surprising that she could walk at all: she limped, slid and waddled, as if she had wheels on her feet. It seemed that she was about to fall and poke her sharp nose into the ground.

Hannah looked at the old woman curiously. For almost sixteen years now, she has been trading in the bazaar, and I have never seen such a wonderful old woman. She even felt a little creepy when the old woman stopped by her baskets.

Are you Hannah, the vegetable vendor? the old woman asked in a raspy voice, shaking her head all the time.

Yes, said the shoemaker's wife. - Do you want to buy something?

We'll see, we'll see, the old woman muttered to herself. - Let's see the greens, we'll see the roots. Do you still have what I need ...

She bent down and fumbled with her long brown fingers in the basket of tufts of greenery that Hannah had arranged so nicely and neatly. He will take a bunch, bring it to his nose and sniff from all sides, and behind it - another, third.

Hannah's heart was breaking - it was so hard for her to watch the old woman handle the herbs. But she could not say a word to her - after all, the buyer has the right to inspect the goods. Moreover, she became more and more afraid of this old woman.

Having turned over all the greens, the old woman straightened up and grumbled:

Bad product! .. Bad greens! .. Nothing that I need. Fifty years ago it was much better! .. Bad product! Bad product!

These words angered little Jacob.

Hey you, shameless old woman! he shouted. - I smelled all the greens with my long nose, crumpled the roots with gnarled fingers, so now no one will buy them, and you still swear that it is a bad product! The Duke's chef himself buys from us!

The old woman glanced sideways at the boy and said in a hoarse voice:

Don't you like my nose, my nose, my lovely long nose? And you will have the same, right up to your chin.

She rolled over to another basket - with cabbage, took out of it some wonderful, white heads of cabbage and squeezed them so that they creaked pitifully. Then she somehow threw the heads of cabbage back into the basket and said again:

Bad product! Bad cabbage!

Don't shake your head so disgustingly! - shouted Jacob. - Your neck is no thicker than a stump - and look, it will break off, and your head will fall into our basket. Who will buy what then?

So my neck is too thin for you? - said the old woman, still grinning. - Well, and you will be completely without a neck. Your head will stick right out of your shoulders - at least it won't fall off your body.

Don't tell the boy such nonsense! Hannah finally said, furiously angry. - If you want to buy something, buy it soon. You will disperse all the buyers from me.

The old woman glared at Hannah.

Okay, okay, she grumbled. - Let it be your way. I'll take these six cabbages from you. But only I have a crutch in my hands, and I cannot carry anything myself. Let your son bring the purchase home to me. I will reward him well for that.

Jacob really did not want to go, and he even cried - he was afraid of this terrible old woman. But his mother strictly ordered him to obey - it seemed to her a sin to force an old, weak woman to bear such a burden. Wiping away his tears, Jacob put the cabbage in the basket and followed the old woman.

She didn’t walk very quickly, and almost an hour passed before they reached a distant street on the outskirts of the city and stopped in front of a small, dilapidated house.

The old woman took a rusty hook out of her pocket, deftly stuck it into the hole in the door, and suddenly the door swung open with a noise. Jacob entered and froze in place with surprise: the ceilings and walls in the house were marble, the chairs, chairs and tables were made of ebony decorated with gold and precious stones, and the floor was glass and so smooth that Jacob slipped and fell several times.

The old woman put a small silver whistle to her lips and whistled in a special, rolling way - so that the whistle rang throughout the house. And now the guinea pigs quickly ran down the stairs - quite extraordinary guinea pigs that walked on two legs. Instead of shoes, they had nutshells, and these pigs were dressed just like people - they didn't even forget to bring their hats.

Where did you put my shoes, you scoundrels! - shouted the old woman and hit the pigs with a stick so that they jumped up with a squeal. - How long will I stay here? ..

The pigs ran up the stairs at a run, brought two leather-lined coconut shells and deftly put them on the old woman's legs.

The old woman immediately stopped limping. She flung her stick aside and glided quickly and quickly across the glass floor, dragging little Jacob with her. It was even difficult for him to keep up with her, so quickly she moved in her coconut shells.

Finally the old woman stopped in a room where there was a lot of all kinds of dishes. It must have been a kitchen, although the floors were covered with carpets and embroidered pillows lay on the sofas, like in some palace.

Sit down, sonny, - the old woman said affectionately and sat Jacob on the sofa, moving the table to the sofa so that Jacob could not leave his place anywhere. - Take a good rest - you must be tired. After all, human heads are not an easy note.

What are you chatting! - shouted Jacob. - I'm really tired, but I was not carrying heads, but heads of cabbage. You bought them from my mother.

You are wrong to say that, - said the old woman and laughed.

And, opening the basket, she pulled a human head out of it by the hair.

Jacob almost fell, he was so frightened. He immediately thought of his mother. After all, if someone finds out about these heads, they will instantly report on her, and she will have a bad time.

We still need to reward you for being so obedient, ”the old woman continued. - Be patient a little: I will cook you such a soup that you will remember it to death.

She blew her whistle again, and guinea pigs rushed into the kitchen, dressed like people: in aprons, with ladles and kitchen knives in their belt. Squirrels came running after them - many squirrels, also on two legs; they wore wide trousers and green velvet caps. These, apparently, were cooked. They quickly climbed the walls and brought bowls and pans, eggs, butter, roots and flour to the stove. And at the stove, the old woman was bustling about, rolling back and forth on her coconut shells, apparently, she really wanted to cook something good for Jacob. The fire under the stove flared up more and more, something hissed and smoked in the pans, a pleasant, tasty smell spread through the room.

The old woman rushed here and there and now and then poked her long nose into the pot of soup to see if the food was ready.

Finally, something gurgled and gurgled in the pot, steam poured out of it, and a thick foam poured onto the fire.

Then the old woman took the pot off the stove, poured the soup out of it into a silver bowl, and set the bowl in front of Jacob.

Eat, son, she said. - Eat this soup and you will be as beautiful as me. And you will become a good cook - you need to know some trade.

Jacob did not understand very well that it was the old woman who was muttering to himself, and he did not listen to her - he was more busy with the soup. His mother often cooked all kinds of delicious things for him, but he had never tasted anything better than this soup. It smelled so good of herbs and roots, it was sweet and sour at the same time, and also very strong.

When Jacob had almost finished his soup, the pigs lit some kind of smoke with a pleasant smell on a small brazier, and clouds of bluish smoke drifted across the room. It grew thicker and thicker, wrapping the boy more and more densely, so that Jacob finally felt dizzy. In vain he told himself that it was time for him to return to his mother, in vain he tried to get to his feet. As soon as he got up, he again fell on the sofa - before that he suddenly wanted to sleep. Less than five minutes later, he really fell asleep on the sofa, in the kitchen of an ugly old woman.

And Jacob had an amazing dream. He dreamed that the old woman took off his clothes and wrapped him in a squirrel skin. He learned to jump and hop like a squirrel and made friends with other squirrels and pigs. They were all very good.

And Jacob, like them, began to serve the old woman. At first he had to be a shoe shiner. He had to grease the coconut shells that the old woman wore on her legs with oil and rub them with a cloth so that they shine. At home, Jacob often had to clean his shoes and boots, so things quickly went smoothly for him.

About a year later, he was transferred to another, more difficult position. Together with several other squirrels, he caught dust particles from the sunbeam and sifted them through the smallest sieve, and then they baked bread for the old woman from them. She didn't have a single tooth in her mouth, that's why she had to, there are rolls of sun dust, softer than which, as everyone knows, there is nothing in the world.

A year later, Jacob was instructed to get the old woman drinking water. Do you think she had a well dug in her yard or put a bucket to collect rainwater in it? No, the old woman did not even take simple water into her mouth. Jacob with squirrels collected dew from flowers in nutshells, and the old woman drank only it. And she drank a lot, so the work of the water carriers was up to her throat.

Another year passed, and Jacob went to serve in the rooms - to clean the floors. This, too, turned out to be not a very easy thing: the floors were of glass - you can die on them, and you can see it. Jacob brushed them and rubbed them with a cloth, which he wrapped around his feet.

In the fifth year, Jacob began working in the kitchen. It was an honorable job, which was admitted with analysis, after a long trial. Jacob went through all the positions, from cook to senior pastry master, and became such an experienced and skillful chef that he even wondered at himself. What hasn't he learned to cook! The most intricate dishes - two hundred varieties of pastries, soups from all herbs and roots that are in the world - he knew how to cook everything quickly and tasty.

So Jacob lived with the old woman for seven years. And then one day she put her nutshells on her feet, took a crutch and a basket to go to town, and ordered Jacob to pluck the chicken, stuff it with herbs and brown it well. Jacob set to work at once. He rolled the bird's head, scalded it all with boiling water, deftly plucked the feathers from it. scraped off the skin. so that she became tender and shiny, and took out the insides. Then he needed herbs to stuff the chicken with. He went to the pantry, where the old woman kept all kinds of greens, and began to select what he needed. And suddenly he saw in the wall of the pantry a small cabinet, which he had never noticed before. The locker door was ajar. Jacob looked into it with curiosity and saw that there were some small baskets. He opened one of them and saw strange herbs that he had never come across before. Their stems were greenish, and on each stem was a bright red flower with a yellow rim.

Jacob raised one flower to his nose and suddenly felt a familiar smell - the same as the soup that the old woman fed him when he came to her. The smell was so strong that Jacob sneezed loudly several times and woke up.

He looked around in surprise and saw that he was lying on the same sofa, in the old woman's kitchen.

“Well, it was a dream! As if in reality! - thought Jacob. “That’s why my mother will laugh when I tell her all this! And I will get it from her because I fell asleep in someone else's house, instead of returning to her bazaar! "

He quickly jumped up from the sofa and wanted to run to his mother, but he felt that his whole body was as if made of wood, and his neck was completely numb - he could barely move his head. Every now and then he touched the wall or the closet with his nose, and once, when he quickly turned, he even hit the door painfully. Squirrels and pigs ran around Jacob and squeaked - apparently, they did not want to let him go. Leaving the old woman's house, Jacob beckoned them to follow him - he, too, was sorry to part with them, but they quickly drove back to the rooms on their shells, and the boy heard their plaintive squeak from afar for a long time.

The old woman's house, as we already know, was far from the market, and Jacob made his way through the narrow, winding alleys for a long time until he reached the market. The streets were crowded with people. Somewhere nearby, they probably showed a dwarf, because everyone around Jacob shouted:

Look, here is an ugly dwarf! And where did he come from? Well, his nose is long! And the head - sticks out right on the shoulders, without a neck! And hands, hands! .. Look - to the very heels!

At another time Jacob would have gladly run to look at the dwarf, but today he was not up to it - he had to hurry to his mother.

Finally Jacob got to the market. He was rather afraid that he would get from his mother. Hannah was still sitting in her seat, and she had a fair amount of vegetables in her basket, which meant Jacob hadn't slept very long. From a distance he noticed that his mother was saddened by something. She sat in silence, her cheek propped on her hand, pale and sad.

Jacob stood for a long time, not daring to approach his mother. Finally he gathered his courage and, sneaking up behind her, put his hand on her shoulder and said:

Mom, what's wrong with you? Are you mad at me? Hannah turned around and, seeing Jacob, screamed in horror.

What do you want from me, scary dwarf? she screamed. - Go away, go away! I hate such jokes!

What are you, mother? - said Jacob, frightened. “You must be unwell. Why are you chasing me?

I tell you, go your way! Hannah shouted angrily. “You’ll get nothing from me for your jokes, you nasty freak!”

"She went crazy! thought poor Jacob. "How can I take her home now?"

Mommy, take a good look at me, ”he said, almost crying. - I'm your son Jacob!

No, this is too much! Hannah shouted to her neighbors. - Look at this awful dwarf! He scares away all buyers and even laughs at my grief! Says - I am your son, your Jacob, such a scoundrel!

The merchants, Hannah's neighbors, jumped to their feet at once and began to scold Jacob:

How dare you joke about her grief! Her son was kidnapped seven years ago. And what a boy he was - just a picture! Get out now, or we'll scratch your eyes out!

Poor Jacob did not know what to think. After all, this morning he came with his mother to the market and helped her to arrange the vegetables, then he took the cabbage to the old woman's house, went to her house, ate her soup, slept a little, and now he's back. And the traders talk about some seven years. And he, Jacob, is called a nasty dwarf. What happened to them?

With tears in his eyes, Jacob walked out of the market. Since his mother does not want to acknowledge him, he will go to his father.

“We’ll see,” thought Jacob. - Will my father also drive me away? I will stand at the door and speak to him. "

He went to the shop of the shoemaker, who, as always, was sitting there and working, stood by the door and looked into the shop. Frederick was so busy with his work that at first he did not notice Jacob. But suddenly, by chance, he raised his head, dropped the awl and dratva from his hands, and cried out:

What it is? What?

Good evening, master, - said Jacob and entered the shop. - How are you doing?

Bad, sir, bad! - answered the shoemaker, who, apparently, did not recognize Jacob either. - The work is not going well at all. I have been for many years, and I am alone - there is not enough money to hire an apprentice.

Don't you have a son to help you? Jacob asked.

I had one son, his name was Jacob, - answered the shoemaker. - Now he would be twenty years old. He would be great to support me. After all, he was only twelve years old, and he was such a clever girl! And in the craft he was already savvy, and the handsome man was written. He would have been able to lure customers, I would not have to put on patches now - he would have sewed only new shoes. Yes, apparently, such is my destiny!

Where is your son now? Jacob asked timidly.

Only God knows about that, ”the shoemaker answered with a heavy sigh. - It has already been seven years since he was taken away from us at the bazaar.

Seven years! - Jacob repeated with horror.

Yes, sir, seven years old. As I remember now, my wife came running from the bazaar, howling screaming: it's already evening, but the child has not returned. She searched for him all day, asked everyone if they had seen him - and did not find him. I've always said that this will end. Our Jacob - what is true, what is true - was a good-looking child, his wife was proud of him and often sent him to bring vegetables to kind people or something else. It's a sin to say - he was always well rewarded, but I often said:

“Look, Hannah! The city is big, there are many evil people in it. No matter what happens to our Jacob! " And so it happened! That day some woman, old, ugly, came to the bazaar, she was choosing, choosing a product and in the end she bought so much that she herself could not be carried. Hannah, kind shower, ”and send the boy with her ... So we never saw him again.

And that means seven years have passed since then?

It will be seven in the spring. We already announced him, and walked around the people, asked about the boy - after all, many knew him, everyone loved him, handsome, - but no matter how much we looked for, we never found him. And the woman who bought the vegetables from Hannah has not been seen since. One old woman - she has been living for ninety years already - told Hannah that she might be the wicked sorceress Kreiterways, who came to town once every fifty years to buy provisions.

This is what Jacob's father used to say, tapping his boot with a hammer and pulling out a long waxed dratva. Now Jacob finally understood what had happened to him. This means that he did not see it in a dream, but really was a squirrel for seven years and served with an evil witch. His heart was breaking with frustration. An old woman stole seven years of his life, and what did he get for that? Learned how to peel coconut shells and scrub glass floors and learned to cook all kinds of delicious food!

For a long time he stood on the threshold of the shop, not saying a word. Finally the shoemaker asked him:

Perhaps you have something of my liking, sir? Will you take a pair of shoes, or at least - then he burst out laughing suddenly - a case for a nose?

What's with my nose? - said Jacob. - Why do I need a case for him?

Your will, ”the shoemaker replied,“ but if I had such a terrible nose, I would, dare I say, hid it in a case — a nice case made of pink huskies. Take a look, I just have a suitable piece. True, your nose will need a lot of skin. But as you please, my sir. After all, you, probably, often touch the door with your nose.

Jacob could not say a word in surprise. He felt his nose - the nose was thick and long, a quarter to two, no less. Apparently, the evil old woman turned him into a freak. That is why his mother did not recognize him.

Master, ”he said, almost crying,“ don't you have a mirror here? I need to look in the mirror, I definitely need to.

To tell you the truth, sir, "replied the shoemaker," your appearance is not such as to be proud of. You don't need to look in the mirror every minute. Give up this habit - it doesn't suit you at all.

Give, give me a mirror soon! - begged Jacob. - I assure you, I really need it. I really am not out of pride ...

Oh, you at all! I have no mirror! - the shoemaker was angry. - My wife had one tiny thing, but I don't know where she hurt him. If you are so impatient to look at yourself, there is Urban the barber's shop across the street. He has a mirror, twice your size. Look at him as much as you like. And then - I wish you good health.

And the shoemaker gently pushed Jacob out of the shop and slammed the door behind him. Jacob quickly crossed the street and entered the barber, whom he had known well before.

Good morning Urban, he said. - I have a big request for you: please, let me look in your mirror.

Do me a favor. There it stands in the left pillar! - Urban shouted and laughed loudly. - Admire, admire yourself, you are a real handsome man - thin, slender, a swan's neck, hands like a queen, and a snub nose - there is no better in the world! You, of course, flaunt it a little, but anyway, look at yourself. Let them not say that out of envy I did not allow you to see my mirror.

Visitors who came to Urban to shave and have their hair cut deafening laughter as they listened to his jokes. Jacob walked over to the mirror and involuntarily recoiled. Tears came to his eyes. Is it really him, this ugly dwarf! His eyes became small, like a pig's, a huge nose hung down below his chin, and his neck seemed to be gone. The head was deep in his shoulders, and he almost could not turn it at all. And he was the same height as seven years ago - very small. Other boys have grown up over the years, and Jacob has grown in width. His back and chest were wide, wide, and he looked like a large, tightly packed bag. Slender short legs barely carried his heavy body. And hands with hooked fingers were, on the contrary, long, like an adult man's, and hung almost to the ground. Such was now poor Jacob.

“Yes,” he thought, sighing deeply, “no wonder you didn’t recognize your son, mother! He was not like that before, when you liked to boast of him in front of your neighbors! "

He remembered how the old woman had approached his mother that morning. Everything he laughed at then - both the long nose and the ugly fingers - he received from the old woman for his ridicule. And she took his neck from him, as promised ...

Well, have you seen enough of yourself, my handsome? - Urban asked with a laugh, going up to the mirror and looking at Jacob from head to toe. - Honestly, you will not see such a funny dwarf in a dream. You know, kid, I want to offer you one thing. There are decent people in my barber shop, but not as many as before. And all because my neighbor, the barber Schaum, got himself somewhere a giant who lures visitors to him. Well, becoming a giant, generally speaking, is not so cunning, but such a baby like you is another matter. Come to my service, kid. You will receive everything from me, housing, food, and clothing, but the work of all - to stand at the door of the barber shop and call the people. Yes, perhaps also beat the lather and serve a towel. And I’ll tell you for sure, we will both remain in the advantage: I will have more visitors than Shaum and his giant, and each one will give you more for seagulls.

Jacob was deeply offended in his soul - how he is being offered to be bait in the barber shop! - but what can you do, I had to endure this insult. He calmly replied that he was too busy and could not take on such a job, and left.

Although Jacob's body was mutilated, his head worked as well as before. He felt that during these seven years he had become quite an adult.

“It’s not a problem that I became a freak,” he mused as he walked down the street. “It's a shame that both my father and mother drove me away like a dog. I'll try to talk to my mother again. Maybe she will recognize me after all. "

He went to the market again and, going up to Hannah, asked her to calmly listen to what he wanted to tell her. He reminded her of how the old woman had taken him away, listed everything that happened to him in childhood, and said that he had lived for seven years with a witch, who first turned him into a squirrel, and then into a dwarf for laughing at her.

Hannah didn't know what to think. Everything that the dwarf said about his childhood was correct, but she could not believe that he was a squirrel for seven years.

It's impossible! - she exclaimed. Finally Hannah decided to consult with her husband.

She gathered her baskets and invited Jacob to go with her to the shoemaker's shop. When they arrived, Hannah said to her husband:

This dwarf says that he is our son Jacob. He told me that he was stolen from us seven years ago and bewitched by a sorceress ...

Oh, that's how! the shoemaker interrupted angrily. - So he told you all this? Wait, silly! I myself just told him about our Jacob, and he, you see, straight to you and let's fool you ... So, you say, they have bewitched you? Come on, I’ll disenchant you now.

The shoemaker grabbed the belt and, jumping up to Jacob, whipped it so hard that he jumped out of the shop with a loud cry.

The whole day the poor dwarf wandered about the city without eating or drinking. No one took pity on him, and everyone only laughed at him. He had to spend the night on the church stairs, right on the hard, cold steps.

As soon as the sun rose, Jacob got up and again went to wander the streets.

And then Jacob remembered that while he was a squirrel and lived with an old woman, he had managed to learn how to cook well. And he decided to become a cook for the duke.

And the duke, the ruler of that country, was a famous gourmand and gourmet. His favorite food was good food, and he ordered cooks for himself from all over the world.

Jacob waited a little, until it was full daylight, and headed towards the ducal palace.

His heart pounded loudly as he approached the palace gates. The gatekeepers asked him what he needed and began to make fun of him, but Jacob was not at a loss and said that he wanted to see the chief chief of the kitchen. They led him into some courtyards, and all who only saw him among the duke's servants ran after him and laughed loudly.

Jacob soon formed a huge retinue. The grooms abandoned their scrapers, the boys raced to keep up with him, the polishers stopped knocking out carpets. Everyone crowded around Jacob, and there was such a noise and hubbub in the courtyard, as if enemies were approaching the city. Shouts were heard everywhere:

Dwarf! Dwarf! Have you seen the dwarf? Finally, the palace caretaker came out into the courtyard - a sleepy fat man with a huge whip in his hand.

Hey you dogs! What is this noise? he shouted in a thunderous voice, mercilessly beating his whip on the shoulders and backs of the grooms and attendants. "Do you not know that the duke is still asleep?"

Sir, - answered the gatekeepers, - look who we have brought to you! A real dwarf! You have probably never met anything like this.

Seeing Jacob, the caretaker made a terrible grimace and pressed his lips together as tightly as possible so as not to laugh - the importance did not allow him to laugh in front of the grooms. He dispersed the audience with his whip and, taking Jacob by the hand, led him into the palace and asked what he needed. Hearing that Jacob wanted to see the head of the kitchen, the superintendent exclaimed:

Not true, son! You need me, palace caretaker. You want to go to the Duke as a dwarf, don't you?

No, sir, - Jacob answered. - I am a good cook and I can cook all sorts of rare dishes. Please take me to the head of the kitchen. Maybe he will agree to try my art.

Your will, kid, - replied the caretaker, - you are still, apparently, a stupid guy. If you were a court dwarf, you could do nothing, eat, drink, have fun and walk in beautiful clothes, and you want to go to the kitchen! But we'll see. You are hardly a chef skillful enough to cook for the duke himself, and you are too good for a chef.

Having said this, the caretaker took Jacob to the head of the kitchen. The dwarf bowed low to him and said:

Dear sir, do you need a skilled cook?

The head of the kitchen looked Jacob up and down and laughed out loud.

Do you want to be a chef? he exclaimed. - Well, do you think our kitchen stoves are so low? After all, you will not see anything on them, even if you stand on tiptoe. No, my little friend, the one who advised you to come to me as a cook played a nasty joke with you.

And the head of the kitchen burst out laughing again, followed by the palace superintendent and all those who were in the room. Jacob, however, was not embarrassed.

Mister head of the kitchen! - he said. - You probably do not mind giving me one or two eggs, some flour, wine and spices. Instruct me to prepare a dish and order all that is needed for this to be served. I will cook up a meal in front of everyone, and you will say: "This is a real cook!"

For a long time he persuaded the chief of the kitchen, glittering with his small eyes and convincingly shaking his head. Finally, the boss agreed.

Okay! - he said. - Let's try for a joke! Let's go all to the kitchen, and you too, Master of the Palace.

He took the palace caretaker by the arm and ordered Jacob to follow him. They walked for a long time through some large luxurious rooms and long ones. corridors and finally came to the kitchen. It was a high, spacious room with a huge stove with twenty burners, under which a fire burned day and night. In the middle of the kitchen was a pool of water containing live fish, and along the walls were marble and wooden cabinets full of precious utensils. Near the kitchen, in ten huge pantries, were stored all kinds of supplies and delicacies. Cooks, cooks, dishwashers rushed back and forth through the kitchen, rattling pots, pans, spoons and knives. When the chief of the kitchen appeared, everyone froze in place, and the kitchen became quite quiet; only the fire continued to crackle under the stove and the water still gurgled in the pool.

What did the Duke order for his first breakfast today? - asked the head of the kitchen of the chief breakfast manager - an old fat cook in a high cap.

His Grace was pleased to order a Danish soup with red Hamburg dumplings, ”the cook replied respectfully.

Okay, - continued the head of the kitchen. - Did you hear, dwarf, what the Duke wants to eat? Can you be trusted with such difficult dishes? There's no way you can cook Hamburg dumplings. This is the secret of our chefs.

Nothing could be easier, - answered the dwarf (when he was a squirrel, he often had to cook these dishes for the old woman). - For the soup, give me such and such herbs and spices, wild boar lard, eggs and roots. And for the dumplings, ”he spoke more quietly so that no one but the head of the kitchen and the breakfast manager could hear him,“ and for the dumplings I need four kinds of meat, a little beer, goose fat, ginger and a herb called “stomach comfort”.

I swear on my honor, right! the surprised cook shouted. - What sorcerer was it that taught you to cook? You have listed everything to subtlety. This is the first time I've heard about the “stomach comfort” herb. With her, the dumplings will probably come out even better. You are just a miracle, not a cook!

I would never have thought that! - said the head of the kitchen. - However, let's make a test. Give him supplies, utensils, and whatever he needs, and let him prepare the duke's breakfast.

The cooks obeyed his order, but when they put everything that was needed on the stove, and the dwarf wanted to start cooking, it turned out that he barely reached the top of the stove with the tip of his long nose. I had to move a chair to the stove, the dwarf climbed on it and began to cook.

Cooks, cooks, dishwashers surrounded the dwarf in a tight ring and, wide-eyed in surprise, watched how agile and dexterous he was with everything.

Having prepared the dishes for cooking, the dwarf ordered to put both pans on the fire and not remove them until he ordered. Then he began to count: "One, two, three, four ..." - and, counting exactly to five hundred, shouted: "Enough!"

The cooks removed the pots from the fire, and the dwarf invited the chief of the kitchen to taste his concoctions.

The head chef ordered a golden spoon to be served, rinsed it in the pool and handed it over to the head of the kitchen. He solemnly walked to the stove, removed the lids from the steaming pans and tasted the soup and dumplings. After swallowing a spoonful of soup, he closed his eyes with pleasure, clicked his tongue several times and said:

Fine, fine, I swear on my honor! Would you like to be convinced too, Mr. Palace Overseer?

The palace caretaker took the spoon with a bow, tasted it, and almost jumped with pleasure.

I don’t want to offend you, dear breakfast manager, ”he said,“ you are a wonderful, experienced cook, but you have never been able to concoct such a soup and such dumplings.

The cook also tasted both dishes, respectfully shook the dwarf's hand and said:

Kid, you are a great master! Your stomach comfort herb gives the soup and dumplings a special flavor.

At this time, a servant of the duke appeared in the kitchen and demanded breakfast for his master. The food was immediately poured into silver bowls and sent upstairs. The head of the kitchen, very pleased, took the dwarf to his room and wanted to ask him who he was and where he had come from. But as soon as they sat down and began to talk, a messenger from the duke came for the chief and said that the duke was calling him. The head of the kitchen quickly put on his best dress and followed the sent one into the dining room.

The Duke was sitting there, lounging in his deep chair. He ate everything on the plates clean and wiped his lips with a silk handkerchief. His face was beaming and he blinked sweetly with pleasure.

Listen, ”he said when he saw the head of the kitchen,“ I have always been very pleased with your cooking, but today breakfast was especially tasty. Tell me the name of the chef who cooked it: I will send him some ducats as a reward.

Mister, an amazing story happened today, - said the head of the kitchen.

And he told the duke how they brought a dwarf to him in the morning, who certainly wants to become a palace chef. The Duke, after hearing his story, was very surprised. He ordered to call the dwarf and began to ask him who he was. Poor Jacob did not want to say that he had been a squirrel for seven years and served with an old woman, but he did not like to lie either. Therefore, he only told the duke that he now had neither father nor mother, and that an old woman had taught him how to cook. The duke made fun of the strange appearance of the dwarf for a long time and finally said to him:

So be it, stay with me. I will give you fifty ducats a year, one festive dress and, besides, two pairs of trousers. For this you will cook my breakfast every day, watch how they cook dinner, and generally manage my table. And besides, I give nicknames to everyone who serves me. You will be called Dwarf Nose and you will receive the title of assistant chief of the kitchen.

The dwarf Nose bowed to the ground to the duke and thanked him for his mercy. When the Duke dismissed him, Jacob returned joyfully to the kitchen. Now, at last, he could not worry about his fate and not think about what would happen to him tomorrow.

He decided to thank his master well, and not only the ruler of the country himself, but all his courtiers could not praise the little cook. Since the Dwarf Nose settled in the palace, the duke has become, one might say, a completely different person. Before, he had often thrown plates and glasses at cooks if he did not like their cooking, and once he got so angry that he threw a badly cooked veal leg at the head of the kitchen. The poor man's leg hit the forehead, and after that he lay in bed for three days. All the chefs trembled with fear as they prepared the food.

But with the advent of the Dwarf Nose, everything changed. The Duke now ate not three times a day, as before, but five times, and only praised the dwarf's art. Everything seemed delicious to him, and he was getting fatter day by day. He often invited the dwarf to his table with the head of the kitchen and made them taste the food they had prepared.

The inhabitants of the city could not marvel at this wonderful dwarf.

Every day, many people crowded at the door of the palace kitchen - everyone begged and begged the head chef to allow at least one eye to see how the dwarf was preparing food. And the city's rich tried to get permission from the duke to send their cooks to the kitchen so that they could learn to cook from the dwarf. This gave the dwarf a considerable income - for each student he was paid half a day a day - but he gave all the money to other cooks so that they would not envy him.

So Jacob lived in the palace for two years. He would, perhaps, even be pleased with his fate, if he did not think so often of his father and mother, who did not recognize him and drove him away. This was the only thing that upset him.

And then one day such an incident happened to him.

Dwarf Nose was very good at buying supplies. He always went to the market himself and chose geese, ducks, herbs and vegetables for the ducal table. One morning he went to the market for geese and for a long time could not find enough fat birds. He walked through the bazaar several times, choosing a better goose. Now no one laughed at the dwarf. All bowed low to him and respectfully made way. Every merchant would be happy if he bought a goose from her.

Pacing up and down, Jacob suddenly noticed at the end of the bazaar, away from other merchants, a woman whom he had not seen before. She also sold geese, but she did not praise her goods like others, but sat in silence, not saying a word. Jacob went up to this woman and examined her geese. They were exactly what he wanted. Jacob bought three birds with a cage - two ganders and one goose - put the cage on his shoulder and went back to the palace. And suddenly he noticed that two birds were cackling and flapping their wings, as befits a good gander, and the third - a goose - was sitting quietly and even seemed to sigh.

“This goose is sick,” thought Jacob. "As soon as I come to the palace, I will immediately order her to be slaughtered before she dies."

And suddenly the bird, as if guessing his thoughts, said:

Don't cut me -

I'll peck you.

If you break my neck

You will die before time.

Jacob nearly dropped the cage.

Here are miracles! he shouted. - You, it turns out, know how to speak, lady goose! Do not be afraid, I will not kill such an amazing bird. I bet you didn't always wear goose feathers. After all, I was once a little squirrel.

Your truth, - answered the goose. - I was not born a bird. No one thought that Mimi, the daughter of the great Wetterbock, would end her life under the knife of the cook on the kitchen table.

Don't worry, dear Mimi! - exclaimed Jacob. “I’m not an honest man and his lordship’s head chef, if someone touches you with a knife!” You will live in a beautiful cage in my room, and I will feed you and talk to you. And I will tell other cooks that I feed the goose with special herbs for the duke himself. And in less than a month, I’ll figure out a way to set you free.

With tears in her eyes, Mimi thanked the dwarf, and Jacob fulfilled everything he promised. He said in the kitchen that he would feed the goose in a special way that no one knows, and put her cage in his room. Mimi did not receive goose food, but cookies, sweets and all sorts of delicacies, and as soon as Jacob had a free minute, he immediately resorted to chatting with her.

Mimi told Jacob that she was turned into a goose and brought to this city by an old sorceress, with whom her father, the famous wizard Wetterbock, had once quarreled. The dwarf also told Mimi his story, and Mimi said:

I understand something about witchcraft - my father taught me a little of his wisdom. I guess the old woman has bewitched you with the magic herb that she put in the soup when you brought her cabbage home. If you find this weed and smell it, you may become like all people again.

This, of course, did not particularly console the dwarf: how could he find this weed? But he still had a little hope.

A few days after that, one prince came to visit the duke - his neighbor and friend. The duke immediately called the dwarf to him and said to him:

Now it's time to show if you serve me faithfully and if you know your art well. This prince, who came to visit me, loves to eat well and understands a lot about cooking. Look, prepare such dishes for us that the prince would be surprised every day. And do not even think, while the prince is visiting me, two times to serve one dish to the table. Then there will be no mercy for you. Take everything you need from my treasurer, even if you give us the baked gold, just not to disgrace yourself before the prince.

Don't worry, Your Grace, ”Jacob replied, bowing low. - I will be able to please your gourmet prince.

And the Dwarf Nose set to work fervently. All day he stood at the burning stove and incessantly gave orders in his thin voice. A crowd of cooks and cooks rushed about the kitchen, catching his every word. Jacob did not spare himself or others in order to please his master.

For two weeks the prince had been visiting the duke. They ate at least five times a day, and the duke was delighted. He saw that his guest liked the dwarf's concoctions. On the fifteenth day, the duke called Jacob into the dining room, showed him to the prince and asked if the prince was pleased with the art of his cook.

You cook well, - said the prince to the dwarf, - and you understand what it means to eat well. During the entire time that I have been here, you have not served a single meal on the table twice, and everything was very tasty. But tell me, why haven't you given us Queen's Pie yet? This is the most delicious cake ever.

The dwarf's heart sank: he had never heard of such a cake. But he did not even show that he was embarrassed, and replied:

Oh sir, I hoped that you would stay with us for a long time, and I wanted to treat you to the “queen's pie” goodbye. After all, this is the king of all pies, as you yourself well know.

Oh, that's how! - said the duke and laughed. “You never gave me a queen's pie either. Perhaps you will bake it on the day of my death to pamper me one last time. But think of another dish for this case! And the “queen's pie” to be on the table tomorrow! Do you hear?

Yes, Mister Duke, - Jacob answered and left, worried and distressed.

That's when the day of his shame came! How does he know how this cake is baked?

He went to his room and began to cry bitterly. The goose Mimi saw it from her cage and felt sorry for him.

What are you crying about, Jacob? - She asked, and when Jacob told her about the "queen's pie", she said: - Dry your tears and do not be upset. This cake was often served at our house, and I seem to remember how to bake it. Take so much flour and put in such and such seasoning - here's the cake and it's ready. And if something is not enough in it, the trouble is not great. The duke and the prince will not notice anyway. They don't have that picky taste.

The dwarf Nose jumped with joy and immediately began to bake the cake. First, he made a small pie and gave it to the head of the kitchen to taste. He found it very tasty. Then Jacob baked a large cake and sent it straight from the oven to the table. And he himself put on his festive dress and went into the dining room to see how the duke and the prince would like this new cake.

As he entered, the butler had just cut off a large piece of the pie, handed it to the prince on a silver spatula, and then another similar piece to the duke. The Duke took a half bite at once, chewed the pie, swallowed it, and sat back in his chair with a contented look.

Oh, how delicious! he exclaimed. - No wonder this pie is called the king of all pies. But my dwarf is also the king of all cooks. Isn't that so, prince?

The prince carefully bit off a tiny piece, chewed it well, rubbed it with his tongue and said, smiling condescendingly and pushing the plate away:

Thumbs up food! But only he is far from the "queen's pie". I thought so!

The Duke blushed with annoyance and frowned angrily.

Bad dwarf! he shouted. “How dare you disgrace your master so much? You ought to chop off your head for such a concoction!

Master! - Jacob shouted, falling to his knees. “I baked this cake properly. Everything you need is put into it.

You're lying, you scoundrel! - shouted the duke and kicked the dwarf away. - My guest would not say in vain that there is something missing in the cake. I will order you to grind and bake in a pie, you freak!

Have pity on me! the dwarf cried piteously, grabbing the prince by the hem of his dress. - Don't let me die for a handful of flour and meat! Tell me, what is missing in this cake, why did you dislike it so much?

This will not help you much, my dear Nose, - answered the prince with a laugh. - I already thought yesterday that you cannot bake this cake the way my cook bakes it. It lacks one herb that no one else knows about you. It's called “sneeze for health”. The queen's pie doesn’t taste right without this weed, and your master will never have to taste it the way mine does.

No, I'll try it, and very soon! cried the duke. “By my ducal honor, either you will see such a pie on the table tomorrow, or the head of this scoundrel will stick out on the gates of my palace. Get out, dog! I give you twenty-four hours to save your life.

The poor dwarf, crying bitterly, went to his room and complained to the goose about his grief. Now he can no longer escape death! After all, he had never heard of the grass, which is called "sneeze for health."

If that’s the whole point, ”Mimi said,“ then I can help you. My father taught me to recognize all herbs. If it had been two weeks ago, perhaps you really would have been threatened with death, but, fortunately, now is the new moon, and at this time that grass is blooming. Are there old chestnuts anywhere near the palace?

Yes! Yes! the dwarf shouted joyfully. “There are several chestnuts growing in a garden not far from here. But why do you need them?

This herb, replied Mimi, grows only under old chestnuts. Let's not waste time and go look for her now. Take me in your arms and carry me out of the palace.

The dwarf took Mimi in his arms, walked with her to the palace gates and wanted to go out. But the gatekeeper blocked his way.

No, my dear Nose, - he said, - I am strictly ordered not to let you out of the palace.

Can't I take a walk in the garden too? the dwarf asked. “Kindly send someone to the caretaker and ask if I can walk around the garden and gather grass.

The gatekeeper sent to ask the inspector, and the inspector allowed: the garden was surrounded by a high wall, and it was impossible to escape from it.

Going out into the garden, the dwarf carefully put Mimi on the ground, and she, hobbled, ran to the chestnuts that grew on the shore of the lake. Jacob, disheartened, followed her.

If Mimi doesn't find that weed, he thought, I'll drown in the lake. It's still better than letting your head be cut off. ”

Mimi, meanwhile, had been under every chestnut tree, turned over every blade of grass with her beak, but in vain - the grass "sneeze for health" was nowhere to be seen. The goose even cried out of grief. The evening was approaching, it was getting dark, and it became more and more difficult to distinguish the stalks of the grasses. By chance, the dwarf glanced at the other side of the lake and shouted joyfully:

Look, Mimi, you see - there is another big old chestnut on the other side! Let's go there and look, maybe my happiness grows under it.

The goose flapped its wings heavily and flew away, and the dwarf at full speed ran after her on his little legs. Crossing the bridge, he approached the chestnut tree. The chestnut was thick and spreading; under it, in the semi-darkness, almost nothing was visible. And suddenly Mimi flapped her wings and even jumped with joy.She quickly thrust her beak into the grass, picked a flower and said, carefully holding it out to Jacob:

Here is the herb “sneeze for health”. There is a lot of it growing here, so it will be enough for you for a long time.

The dwarf took the flower in his hand and looked at it thoughtfully. A strong pleasant smell emanated from him, and for some reason Jacob remembered how he stood by the old woman in the pantry, picking up herbs to stuff a chicken with, and found the same flower - with a greenish stalk and a bright red head decorated with a yellow border.

And suddenly Jacob trembled all over with excitement.

You know, Mimi, - he cried, - it seems to be the same flower that turned me from a squirrel into a dwarf! I'll try to smell it.

Wait a little, ”Mimi said. - Take a bunch of this herb with you, and we will return to your room. Collect your money and everything you made while serving with the duke, and then we will try the power of this wonderful herb.

Jacob obeyed Mimi, although his heart was beating loudly with impatience. He ran to his room at a run. After tying a hundred ducats and several pairs of dresses in a knot, he stuck his long nose into the flowers and sniffed them. And suddenly his joints cracked, his neck stretched out, his head immediately lifted from his shoulders, his nose began to become smaller and smaller, and his legs became longer and longer, his back and chest straightened out, and he became the same as all people. Mimi looked at Jacob with great surprise.

How beautiful you are! she screamed. "You don't look like an ugly dwarf now!"

Jacob was very happy. He wanted to immediately run to his parents and show himself to them, but he remembered his savior.

If it weren't for you, dear Mimi, I would have remained a dwarf for the rest of my life and, perhaps, would have died under the executioner's ax, ”he said, gently stroking the goose on the back and wings. - I have to thank you. I will take you to your father and he will disenchant you. He's smarter than all the wizards.

Mimi burst into tears of joy, and Jacob took her in his arms and pressed her to his chest. He quietly left the palace - no man recognized him - and went with Mimi to the sea, to the island of Gotland, where her father, the wizard Wetterbock, lived.

They traveled for a long time and finally reached this island. Wetterbock immediately removed the spell from Mimi and gave Jacob a lot of money and gifts. Jacob immediately returned to his hometown. Father and mother greeted him with joy - after all, he became so handsome and brought so much money!

I must also tell you about the duke.

On the morning of the next day, the duke decided to fulfill his threat and chop off the dwarf's head if he did not find the herb that the prince was talking about. But Jacob could not be found anywhere.

Then the prince said that the duke hid the dwarf on purpose, so as not to lose his best cook, and called him a deceiver. The duke became terribly angry and declared war on the prince. After many battles and battles, they finally made up, and the prince, in order to celebrate the peace, ordered his chef to bake a real “queen's pie”. This world between them was named so - “Cake world”.

That's the whole story about the Dwarf Nose.

In the nursery - Hans Christian Andersen

The story of how the godfather came up with a whole performance for the girl Ani. Books were used as decorations, and various objects were used as actors. Thanks to the skill of the storyteller of the godfather and the girl's imagination, it turned out to be a real performance that brightened up the evening while waiting for the parents ... ...

In one great place of Nimechchini, there is a kolis alive, at a long time ago, one Shvets. Mav win sob zhinku, i lived it, yak it will happen - if it is good, but if it is awkward. Vrantzi shvets ishov to his maysterenka - a small chalabudi on a rose street - and for a day, old chobots and little wiggles were patched, and if he had changed it, then he had shrugged it off and new. Alle that day, you need to be able to find a place here for a cupuvati shkiru, but when you have a bad day, there are no wines. The woman traded in every town that garden, yaku vyroshuvala herself in a small cage. People were bathing in her clothes, they drew in a clean, chepurny one, before that the viclast lost so much to show their goods, but to the skin, buvalo, to be lured to take it.
First they have a glorious cotton: і from denouncing garnies, і strings, і in their twelve rockets chimel. Win was a supervisor of the mater to the bazaar and a seed for her, and if the buyers have taken a lot of vegetables at once, the lad is willing to help him to bring the purchases to the house. I drank a little, turning back with my empty hands.
One day an otak Shevtseva woman was sitting in the market, and in front of her stood cats and a basket of cabbage, carrots and all kinds of small towns. Maliy Yakob - that was the name of the lad - sitting here after all, beating the mother, and calling out to the buyers in a quick voice.
Already the axis of the bazaar is like an old woman in shabby clothes, with little guest disguises, get shaved with big little snouts. Eyes in a woman's chervony, pour over with tears, but not so zakarlyuchivshis, scho on the pidboriddya sound. Shkutilgaє is old, to spiral on the fire: so and build up, so that the axis-axis spins and rises with our nose just into the ground.
Shevtseva's woman marveled at the woman. The axis has already sixteen years of trade in the bazaars, and Nicholas did not bother with old things here. The woman was already cold in the overlap, if the woman went and spinned bilya її cats.
- That tseti Ganna, how do I trade in gorodinoy? - slept old, bridic, moody voice.
- So, tse I, - said the woman. - Why don't you see what?
- I want to look at that axis, I want to punch it! I will be amazed at the zillyachko, at the botvinnyachko: and why do you have those who need me? - she was old, having healed over the cat and built in that brudnie, mov of ganchirka, gidky hands. Vona overrun the whole town, so the bully was laid out so well, twisted around, like a spindle, with lousy bunches, then those, then іnshe, sniffing the skin with an iron nose.
Hanna tilki zitkhala, marvel, as it was old to see the town, but to tell the story, she didn’t get infatuated, but the skin buyer has the right to look at the goods, so much brave wondrous zhakh in front of the woman.
And just by that hour, old, having overwhelmed the whole cat from the bottom to the top, muttering sobi pid nis: "Chortzna-yake-zilla, no one who needs me ... Fifty rocky in that was a lot more beautiful ... Treasury-scho, like a bur'yan!"
Little Jacob got a taste of burmotinnya.
- Hear, - calling out vin disagreeable, - chi in you, babo, є rubbish: she got into the cat with her wet, naughty fingers, turned it over there with her feet, then she blinded the whole town with her nose, so now she is nyachto who , not like kupuvati, but now our product. Do you know that the duke's cook is taking over the town?
The old bevel glanced at the boy, she laughed at the unkindness and squealed:
- He is a yak, little tit! Tobi not to be like my nis, my garniy dovgy nis? Well, well, if I’m in you, it’s like that from the middle of the face right up to the very beginning.
Having said tse, she turned again to the basket, there was a cabbage, vibrated my head, took it in her hands and squeezed it so much, she already squeaked, and then timidly threw it back at the basket, promoting for the first time: cabbage!"
- Don't be so cowardly on all sides with your head! - perelyakano shrieking lad. - You have a shia, mov kapustaniy korinets - the axis-axis will break, and your head will fall into the basket. Who is todi kupuvatime in us?
- Toby not befitting a thin shia? - I know old mumbled, fluidly. - Garazd, you won’t have any call, but your head can be easily washed on your shoulders and you don’t get rid of it for a little bit!
- Do not seem to be silly guys! - Gann couldn’t tolerate it, as the process had already come to grips, looking at that sniffing of the town. - If you want to get a cup, then take shvidshe, but for you it is not possible to access me.
“Well, well, you can tell the truth,” the old woman said, glaring maliciously at her. - Garazd, I will appreciate the number of heads in you. If I’m just bachish, I’m hovering around on the campfire and I don’t try to carry anything myself, then just guess your own lads, let’s bring cabbage to the house, and I’ll pay for that.
Jacob didn’t want to, it’s scary for the girl. However, mothers rang to hear, more respect for the greed, and the old, nemichna granny herself was carrying a lot of trash. Do not cry a little, the lad heard the mother, poklav cabbage from the cats and followed the old one.
Mayzhe for a whole year shkutilgal is old to the edge of the place. Nareshty was spinning in front of a small, ramshackle hut, a knight from a clutch of an old rusty key; That yak zdivuvsya Yakob, if you zashov in the middle of the hut! There it has been tidied up in writing: the stele of the wall is made of marble, the furniture is of black wood with rose-colored beads of gold and stone, the podlog is from a clean bed and such a slimy, well, the little boy has developed a dash. The old whistle from the cish was a common whistle, as if especially in a new whistle - the moon was moving all over the booth. Two guinea pigs arrived at the infection. Jacob's bulo is even more marvelous bachiti on its hind legs, in peasant shkaralupkakh it replaces the chereviks, in human clothes and navi in ​​droplets, crumbling behind the rest of the fashion.
- Devi podіli my chereviki, syakі-takі icing? - the old buzzed and swung a fire at them. - Why am I still standing here?
The pigs rushed along the hillside and turned around with two coconut shkaralupki, pіdbitіm in the middle with my yakoi shkіroy. The stench of a shrewd spritically took the old one into the cribs, and the shkutilgannya mov sickened with his hand. Vona spurted the fire, and nervously swiftly noticed the lads, not letting out the hands of the lads and pulling them behind her. Nareshty was old in a room filled with small dishes, she threw herself into the kitchen, wanting tables from a red tree and a sofa, sent with expensive kilims, more boules before speech here in the living room.
- Sitay, - the old woman was pleasantly moving, pidshtovhuyuchi the boy into the corner of the sofa and zagorodzhuyuchi in front of the table, so that he didn’t want to go. - Come and see me! And I carry a good load for a year, because human heads are not so easy, oh not easy! ..
- Vi, grandma, it seems weird, - calling Jacob. - I want to be right, but instead of cabbage, I bought yaku in my mother.
- E nі, tse ti you will have mercy, - the old woman laughed, opening the basket and vityagayuchi to go by the hair of the human head.
Cotton from the rework has already become milky. It’s not a mistake, because it’s become that way, and immediately thinking about the mother: “If there’s no way to tell about the heads of people, then, without question, call my mother at that”.
- And at the same time I will give you for those who have become a dear child, - the burmotila is old. - Be patient with three, I’m eating such a little boy that you’re zgaduvatimesh until death!
Vaughn hung down again. A collection of richly guinea pigs arrived, dressed in human clothes, in cook's aprons, with girdles and great knives. Behind them was stripped a tangle of bricks in Turkish trousers, with oxamite caps on their heads. Tsi, mabut, they boiled cooks, for the whole hour they threw themselves wildly, throwing themselves up to the wall on the frying pan, then in the egg of butter, then in the comor with seasoning and flourish, - and they all pulled to the plate. There, at the same time, they were pounded and old, fresh and witty in their coconut shanks, and the boy bachiv, I would like to make a tasty yushka for the new one. On the slabs there was a gurgle of gurgle, with a smelling spirit to the room, and the woman once looked at the housekeeper, stumbling through her nose.
Nareshty yushka Bula is ready. Todi was old enough to know the housekeeper in the fire, hung the yushka in the middle of the tarilka and put it in front of Jacob.
- Axis, little bitch, on! - said youmu. - Pooizh-but my little yushechka, then the first thing is that you have been honored in me. And yet we are such a master-cook, we want kudi, but we also want that treba bootie. You don’t know anything from a zillyachka, you don’t know, even a cat of your mother ...
Jacob is not smart, she is old to talk about, but Ale Yushka was honored to do so - she didn’t cook such a delicious taste of my mother. From the yushka ish you accept the spirit of grass and korintsiv, and for the savor there is a water hour and licorice, and in the world of sour, and even a nourishing one.
Leaving the boy, after finishing the savory yushka, the guinea pigs put on the yakims like that, so they poured thick gray dim on the room. The stench thickened, descended until the end of Jacob's grief, like a wine, a bidolakha, a callous ochman. Vіn zvsіm forgetting about those who need to turn to mother, and sleepily sleep on the sofa in an old woman.
Wondrous speeches have gotten used to Jacob in the first place. Youmu was feeling good, well old knew all the clothes and sucked in all the clothes in the farmhouse. Win my strident and climb trees, like a good balka, once you know yourself with the help of the little women, and the guinea pigs - well, for the glorious and wonderful people! - and at the same time servicing the old ones. First of all, I had only cleaned the skulls, tobot those coconuts that I wore on my feet old, - win mastiv ive oliyu і ter until quietly, already leave to blink. Jakob shvidko prizvichavsya to the tsієї of robots at home more than once cleaning the suppositories of the daddy's chobots. Rock didn’t pass, - so far away in a dream, - as an old one put it to the last bit: at the same time with the small bits of wine, catching the powder, then they played in the sleepy prom, then, picking up contentment, overriding it through the tightly diligently thin they are not small teeth, and they baked the lower dormant powders.
Even through the river, having already served as a water carrier with the old water carrier, she didn’t drink the little water, the jars, and with them, Jacob, they were picking up the dew in the mountains. The old drank a lot, and the water-bearer of the mali was an unabatable bug, and she didn’t. Having passed the next rik - and Jacob was put to watch over the pidlogs. Pidlogs in the houses of boules of sklyans and their days were rubbed with brushes and cloths. For the first quarter of the year they were allowed into the kitchen. All the same, the service was honored, before which they were given only a drink for a long time to drink. Here Jacob went through the science of a cook right up to the first pâté maister, and such a master of viyshov, who is in my heart and in the show, and if I am a stranger, I am amazed myself.
So passed a whole series of years of service with the old. From one day, she rang yomu to turn over the curly, stuff it with all sorts of herbs and roots and grease it, and she herself used to eat her coconuts, took the cat in her hands, and where it went. Jakob shattered the mustache yak to lay it down: twisting the curly head, scalding it with sprinkle, scraping the pir’ya and letting the telbuchs. Todi have finished picking herbs and roots for the filling. If you go to the komori, you beat it up, it’s worth a head in a squint, as it didn’t mind a little before. The door of the shafi buli was caused innocently, and I wondered if it was there є. Win zazirnuv in the middle and punching a lot of cats, with a lot of sweet smelling spirit. Jacob saw one cat and I know there was a marvelous herb: the stem and leaf of the boule were blakit-green, and a small, clear-cut quote appeared from above. Having sniffed the quote and recognized the smell, he was whisking away from this yushka, as I felt it was old. І such a mіtsniy buv that spirit, scho Jacob pochav chhati - once, udruga, all arched arc - and kіnets kіnts, chhayuchi, prokynuvsya.
Vin was lying on the old sofas and looking round at all his sides. “I can see it like this! - having promoted wine to himself. - That I am alright to swear, that these rockies will not be so bad, comrade with guinea pigs and animals and vivivshis on a good cook. Well, laugh, my mother, if I tell you about everything! And why don't you grimati, why am I falling asleep at someone else's hut to take additional assistance at the bazaars? "
With a dummy, Jacob holed up to do it home. All the time I went to sleep was stuck, especially the muzzles, and I didn't even have to turn my head around. Winning himself, he’s so clever: he’s already chiseling now for the shafu, now for the wall of the house. Biscuits and guinea pigs, skiglyachi, were spinning at Jacob's feet, but I wanted to drink with him at once. Already from the doorstep, I started to walk behind me, more of a glorious little animal, that stench turned back, at the room, kovzayuchi on their bitter shkarulupkas, and only a little bit, as if the stench was slow to wiggle.
The part of the place, where it started, was old, it was far away from the bazaar, and it brought Jacob to it all through deserted high streets. That only, but vin viyshov on hominki central streets, as if he had naped at the hospital's walkers. Singingly, here a dwarf was shown close by, more than a star bulo chuti viguki: “Hey, wonder, good people, what a dwarf onda! What are the first signs of being recognized? Yaky have a pre-iron n_s, and the head just grew over the shoulder! And the hands are yaky chorny and gidky, mov of firebrands! " At the very same time, Jacob and himself wondered about the dwarf, but he needed to sleep until his mother.
If she came to the bazaar, my mother still sat there and in her cats there were a lot of towns. “Otzhe, I’m not so much asleep already,” thought Jacob. However, even though I’m starting to beat it, my mother is still dim. Vona did not even call out to the buyers, but they passed by, but sat with a sniff of her head, and the bully, as if he were good, if he was closer, it was uninvited. Jacob standing on the edge, I don’t know, scho robiti. Nareshty win dear, quietly went to the mother backwards, clutching his hand on his shoulder, promising:
- Matusyu, what about you? Are you abhorrent to me?
The woman turned around and suddenly sounded, shrieking in a voice that was not her own:
- What do you need from me, dwarf dwarf? Come get it, see me! I do not like bad twists!
- That scho tse take, mamo? - perelyakano sleeping Jacob. - Who is with you, why do you proganyєsh see your blue?
- I already told you, - said Ganna, having slept with a bitter nip, - go get it! For my bad vigados, I don’t have a zarobish, a fiddler for me!
“Mabut, God has taken her mind! - from the zhakhom thinking cotton. - Well, me robiti, how can I bring this home? "
- Matusu, love! Marvel at me good: if you don’t know your blue, your Jacob?
- Well, it’s already busy! - Ganna wiggled and turned to the stern. - You can only marvel at the whole filthy dwarf: having become over your soul, having insured all your customers, and yet there is no lack of obscenity. I’m yoursin, I’m Jakob ... From a bezsoromna condolence!
Todi Hannin's siblings posed for the ride and barked Jacob like that, just like they thought, and even hto-hto, but outbid, like, seemingly, barking in! That yak vіn smіє, syakiy-takiy, mock a big woman! All I know is that they've already stolen from her a gargant, mov namalovanny boy. And if it’s a watery dwarf, you don’t see her at once, then the stench is like a herd of so nam your sides, as much as the bunches are crumbling.
Goropakha Yakob is not smart at all. Also, this is the season's wages, as it was so inviting, he came from the mater to the bazaar, and went from the old woman to the hut, there were three yushki, and I described three little children, the new axis here. Why and mother, and all outbidings talk about something like this lit? I can sound like a dwarf dwarf! Well, did it also become with him?
Having repaired, scho mother already didn’t want to know it, Jacob didn’t cry a little and, in the midst of torment, pishov to his father’s master. “We'll be surprised, let's say it,” the lad thinks. - Neither wien doesn’t fit me? "
When you came to halabudi shevtsya, you stood at the door and zazirnuv in the middle. The meister is so screwed up by the robot, so he didn’t mind the boy. If he glanced at the door inadvertently, then letting in everything up to the bottom: shawls, drats, awls - and viciously
- Holy, holy! Wont you take it? ..
- Good day, sir maistre, - grateful to the lads and vivyshov at the maisternyu. - What about yours?
- Pogany, call to pogany, pan to the dwarf! - in that, and Jacob on his own, and a great punch, but daddy's call is not good. - I roam alone, but my lita is no longer young. Demand b me pidmaister, so dumb dumb.
- And you have a dumb little tit, who helped you with giblets? - raspituvav dali lad.
- Buv kolis ... Jacob was his name ... Now buv bi is already a boy of rock for twenty years, a helpmate for me, from bulo b life! ..
- And de wien now, your sin? - having slept Jacob in a three-tone voice.
“God knows all things,” said the Swiss. - Already seven rockies ... and so, seven rockets have passed since they were stolen from us in the bazaars.
- Sem rockiv! - yelling Jacob iz zhakhom.
- So, so, pan dwarf, already seven rocky. And at first I’ll guess at once, as my squad turned to the bazaar - crying, wailing, well, the lad doesn’t turn around for a whole day. Vona was already everywhere, she was joking, and she did not know anywhere. I’ve more than once before, and I have shown, and thought, how it will become so. Jakob would be a rather ugly lad - not a skinny one, - the squad wrote and praised him, if people praised him, and often pushed him from the city to the top of the house. True, it’s overwhelming, it’s overwhelming and generous. That I have repeatedly shown: beware, woman, great place, dashing people you want to live here! Saw, I think, my lads! So it came to my mind ... To come to the bazaar is a small woman, sorting through the whole city and garden and a little bit of style, but she doesn’t bother to bring it by herself. My squad, a kind soul, did the lads with it ... only my yogo and bachili.
- Do you think that all of these rockets have passed?
- Sem lit will be in the spring. They whispered to me, walked around the place, fed all of them - people knew and loved and also helped shukati - that is all marno. First of all, I bought cabbage without knowing anything. Only one is a little too old granny - already їy, mabut, years old and ninety years old - said, well, singingly, then the dashing fairy Znayzilla, like once for fifty years come to the place to buy something.
Otake rozpov_v old shvets, lightly hitting the cherevik with a hammer. I Yakob gradually became aware of it, but not for the first time, but for the good of the whole family, having served with the dashing fairy bilkoy. His heart clenched against the grief. She stole seven childish litas in a new old age, but what did she give in return? Tilki th addition, wіn thаt wіn hаνе wіth guinea pigs wіth wіth cook divas. So, after standing there, a kilka khviliin, think about your shortage, already leave the dad asleep:
- Perhaps, you, I panic, vouchsafed something like my robots? Maybe you wanted to get a couple of new chereviks, or ... - the Swiss smirked, - perhaps a case for your nose?
- What a dilemma to you for my nose? - formed Jacob. - Why should I put on a new case?
- Well, - having promoted the Sweets, - to whom does the yak befit ... Tilki yakbi in me is such a terrible nis, then I would have made a case for a new one with a horny sap'yanu. Wonder, the axis at me є yakraz a good-natured sap'yanu's shmat. True, such a case requires no less than a whole elbow. Then, I panic, as good as we have saved the nose! Aje vi, mabut, cheat him for all the odds, for the leather carriage, if you want to give the road.
Cotton skeleton from a rework. Winning his nose - no buv tovsty and in the two valleys of the head! Otzhe, old has changed the look! Through those I didn’t know yogi mother, through those th they pounded him everywhere as a dwarf dwarf! ..
- Maistre, - having foresaw the wine, not crying a little, - and why did you mirror for an hour, why should I look at myself?
- Et, I panic, - having said to your daddy, - not so ugly, you should be cute on yourself and, like on me, I call you a little bit wondering in the mirror. Throw taku a little call, for people will be confused, yak to wiggle.
- Oh, let me look in the mirror! - blessing Jacob. - I’m not calling for that, I’ll need it, I don’t want to.
- Give me some peace, mute in me a mirror. Having been here at the woman’s ulamok, she don’t know where she’d got it. If you are already so screwed up to wonder at the mirror, then onde through the street is Urban, the barber, at the new one є also has a mirror, two more for your head. Go here and wonder, and just be healthy!
Having said tse, the Swiss are no less viphav the lads outside the door and

I know siv for the robot. And Jacob, calling out the invitations, pishov through the street to the barber Urban, who knew better than before.
- Good day to you, Pan Urbana, - win. - Chi wouldn’t be allowed to use your mirror?
- With great desire I permit, panic! It’s worth it, ”the barber said, laughing slyly, and all the clients, who came across their beards, started cheerfully. And Urban didn’t go in. - And vi, nіvroku, braviy parubchina: the stringy that cheepy, shia lebedin, pens, mov at the queen, and even for the toe of the garnishes, then, I think, there is no more garnishing! Just think of it, I’m panicky, it’s true, it’s a bogeyman, wondering how healthy it is, you want it, people didn’t say anything, but I didn’t let you go to the mirror for fun.
So spacious the barber, and all around so the thick regit was spreading out. Tim spent an hour Yakob went to the mirror and wondered at himself, so he was like a fog and became in his eyes. “Matinko, my dear! It’s not marvelous that she didn’t recognize her own Jacob, having promoted the wine to herself. - Not so vіn buv at those radio days, since ti boasted of him in front of people! " The eyes in the new boule are small, the swine's move, it is hefty, it was already hanging down at the bottom of the podboriddya, but it wasn’t big - the head was sitting on the side of my shoulders and was terribly painful, if Jacob had tried to turn it around. For growth, they have lost such a self, as it is for this reason, albeit the growth in breadth: the breasts and back were so depressed, so that the whole tulub was thrown off on a small kind of air of bears. Tsey neokovirniy tulub, washing on small thin scabbards, scho led the yogo wagu. The arms grew large, like those of a grown-up people, and the bridle of tila hung down. The shkira on his hands was worn out and tattered, and the bunches of boules koschavi and dovgi, the spindle move, if the lad was making a gesture and stretching his hands down, then they did not screw up, reaching them to the pidlog. With such indulgence became the heart of Jacob: the dashing charms rocked a wicked, watery, neokoviry dwarf.
I rapt at the same wounds, since an old woman has gone to the bazaars before them. All that was wrong with her todd it up: dovgiy nis, gidky bunches, - all those who have been fed up, and only the deputy of the date has chosen three times.
- Well, dear prince, do you want to wonder at yourself? - having slept the barber, walked up to Jacob, and didn’t do it, they were talking: “If someone else wanted to see it, it’s unlikely that it’s like a bastard.” And you know, what am I thinking up, mile a panic? Before me, the barbarian people were less likely to go to the barbers, but the rest of the hour still has no style, as I wanted to be bi. And all through those scho my susida, the barber Shaum, having found his command, and that one, he brought the clientele. Well, that pridetnya veletnya is not divine now, but from this, yak vi, cholovichka vishukati - oh, then it’s called іnsha rіch! Go home to my service, a panic, I'll give you a mustache - everything, drink, hut, clothes, - and behind those you stand at my doors and you will call a publication to create cute and cute servet clientele. I sing to you, my offense at that is not intolerable: I will have more clientele, lower at the side of the year, and you are skinny eager to give tea.
In the soul of Jacob, he was drunk with the words of a khazyain, who, if I wanted to grow out of it, would give it to my barber, and a little more, I would prod the image to the image. The dwarf was quietly in addition to the barber, for such a service at a new mute hour, and for so long.
That dashing fairy showed her soul, she didn’t shit her soul - it’s good to see it. True, I thought, and I felt wrong now, for the same reason: for a whole hour I’ve got a little more intelligent. Vin was not afraid of his ruined kind, not embarrassed by his guiding post, only one of him was tormented: yogo, my dog, they drove out of my father’s house. Tom wondered again and again tried to talk to the mother.
I know I’m going to the bazaar and since the blessings of the mother, I’ll hear it quietly. Winning that day, if an old woman had gone to the bazaars before them, talked about everything that was eating with him, like I’m a little boy. Having told me, I’ve served as a dashing fairy in a dashing fairy and as a dwarf dwarf for those who have been pricked and wowed. Ganna didn’t know what she was doing, - check out yomu chi ni. All that has informed about the children of litas, has a wide truth, ala, having felt the history of those who have been told about the children, the woman has distrustfully prompted: "This is not possible, but some wonderful fairies." And if she wondered at the dwarf again, then I won’t be happy - the hiba could have wondered at those who are - ї sin! Nareshty Hannah virishila, shou to be happy about everything with the cholovik, and, having picked up her cats, went with Jacob to the maisterna, de Swiss patched the cribs.
- Hey, - she turned up to the cholovik, - Otsey dwarf, it’s like vin is our syn. Win me all rozpoviv, as for the seven rockies that they stole in the bazaars and as they were enchanted by the dashing fairy ...
- What ?! - obnoxiously viguknuv shvets. - What are you talking about? Trim the same, neh_dniku! The same I have told you everything, and I have to fool you! So ty boo of enchantments, my little one? Wait, but, dove, I will charm you at once! ..
I, having grabbed a lot of pressure, press the repair, but also darted in front of him, dad rushed at the big Jacob and so slammed him down his hunchbacked back in his hands, so that he screamed out from the pain and choked to cry.
An unhappy dwarf stretched out a whole day, not drinking and not drinking, but nestling at church schools, just on hard and cold stones.
On svitanka, if Sonechko woke Jacob up with his first exchange, he wondered if he was so far away from life. Father's mother looked around. It’s not like the barber didn’t want to. Show yourself for a penny? Hi, for a whole lot of wine he is proud ... So what do you want to do? I todi Jacob, having guessed, well, bushi with a little, nagging good cookery. Having respected - and not having pardoned, - in all the time you can think of being a mayor, and being victorious at the same time, you can think of your mind.
And you need the nobility, the duke of this land, buv vidomy nenazhera y lasun. Win loving good things and vyshukuvav some cooks from all lands. To the yogo palace and pishov Yakob. Bilya brahmi yogo zupinili vartov and pochali kepkuvati znogo, Ale Yakob said, what a need for Bachiti niigolovnіshy chief-kuhmeister, and vartovі let him into the courtyard. Win ishov to the palace, and all the servants threw the robot, looked at the new eyes, already went to the regot. Then our brothers followed him, so soon the majestic tail of the duke's servants stretched out across the entire courtyard, and once there was such an element, a thief was standing behind the brahma. From each side there was just a bit of a buzz: “Dwarf, dwarf! Bach the dwarf? "
Feeling the galas, at the door there was a discourse of the Duke's palace.
- Bey you the power of God! - having shouted win, you threaten the servants with a majestic scourge. - Vi scho tse, mov dog, did you fix a harmider here? Do you know if Pan Duke is still sleeping?
Winning a whip and no less deliberately overtaking him from any of his pidleglichs.
- Oh, panochku, - they shouted, - that look, a dwarf has come before us, such a brave dwarf, which has never been bummed at all!
Glancing at Jacob, waiting for a moment to wait, he should not be full of his throat and not steal his authority in the eyes of the efforts of the servants. Winning with a scourge of NATO, having taken the dwarf to the palace and slept, which one came. If you feel like Jacob wants to get to the chief-kitchen master, then he republishes the boy:
- Ty, mabut, have mercy, little one, you need to go to me, to the chief-chamberlain, who will look after all the duke's palace. Aje you want to be a dwarf life with the duke, right?
- Hi, pan, - Jacob replied, - I am a cook and a kind mumble in many found countries. That is kindling, let me be the chief-kitchen master, maybe I know you.
- Skinny - his own will, maliy choloviche! And all the same, you are a non-judgmental lad, if you want to go to the kitchen. That in life-dwarfs ti nichogisinko does not robitymesh, if you will be so baidikuvati, I may even get enough of this drink and garnu. And the protest is bad. It’s unlikely that he’s such a master, he’s a duke’s cook, but for a cook, he’s a garni.
I, taking Jacob by the hand, waiting for him to see him in the repose of the chief-kuhmeister.
- Laskaviy pane, - having promoted the dwarf and leaning so low, having already pointed his nose against the kilim on pidloz, - why don't you need a hassling cook?
The chief kitchenmaster glanced over Jacob from his head to nig, then registered so, as much as the stiffness snapped.
- So you cook? Neither gadaysh, how are we so low plates? The same is not far from them, you will not be able to move if you are nailed and you will turn your head over your shoulders. Eh, cotton, cotton! The one who sent you this one to hire a cook, just cheating on you! - The th chief-kuhmeister once again cheerfully registered, and at the same time they regotted the palace, and all the servants, who were in peace.
That Jacob didn’t get bent.
- Do not poke one or two more yachts, do not spoil the syrup of the wine, some of the wine is rich in seasoning, - having said the wine, - and let me prepare you a yak you want. Give everything that is needed for that - and everything will be broken in your eyes, and you will say: "So, good chef cook!"
Jakob blinked with his tiny little ones, yogi didn’t telepair from side to side, and dovgі krubatі bundles collapsed innocently, unable to help you speak.
- Garazd! - after a while, nareshty kitchenmaster. - I'll try it for a smile. Go to the kitchen.
Having walked through the numerically filled that corridor, the stench was consumed to the kitchen. Tse bulo majesty primitennya, bright and spacious. Twenty slabs have a day and no fire. In the middle there is a pool with clear flowing water, de trimal I live riba. Above the walls stood the great Shafis from the stocks of all sorts of things, so that the needs of the mother of the kukharev could be found. And on offending the sides of the kitchen there were ten lumps, damaging them with naughty weasels. Kukhari, small and great, fluttered, like flies in sprinkles, - hurried and brushed with cauldrons, frying pans, knives and opoloniks. If you are a pan-chief-kitchenmaster, you must have become mov onimili, and a little bit of fire, like the firebrands were cracking and the water squelched in the pool.
- Who zvelyv prigotuvati, on a dream, Pan Duke? - having slept the kitchenmaster of the first snidank cook.
- Pan Duke letting me replace the Danish yushka with red hamburzki dumplings.
- Garazd, - having prompted the kitchenmaster and turning to Jacob: - Ty chuv, what will Pan Duke see? Chi Zumієsh Ti Zvariti Tsі Vishukanі Stravi? I bet you shouldn’t cook some dumplings: only we will see the recipe.
“There’s a lot of nothing easy,” we took a dwarf on a zedivannya, because I’ve often cooked such a yushka, if it’s too big. - Don’t give me for the yushka otaki and such pretties, those leaves, lard of wild boar, korintsiv and yaets. And for the dumplings, - after promising the wine quietly, for the dumplings only the kitchenmaster and the snidankovy cook, - for the dumplings, I need a chotiri sort of meat, trocha wine, rocking fat, іmbir and tієї herbs, wow shlunkovtіkha.
- Holy Benedict! Yakim wonder you know everything? - viguknuv hostilities snidankovy cook. - Having said so cleanly, like a slid, but I don't know anything about the herb, the dumplings will be even more delicious. Oh, you are a miracle mіzh cooks!
- Well, I wasn’t able to do this, - the chief-kuhmeister said good-bye. - Otzhe, give yom everything you want, dishes and everything else, and let him know you are ready to eat.
That, if all the bulo was brought in, it was revealed that Jacob had his nose up to the plate. I had a chance to bring two styles to put a dwarf on them. In a small circle, cooks, cooks, servants, and any other people were making themselves up. The stinks were amazed and marveled at how it was all right to go to the little cholovichka. And that, having finished cooking, zvelyv put on the heat two miners and boil doti, docks win, say. Todi Yakob pochav rakhuvati: one, two, three and all the distant, even leave the deishov up to five hundred, and todi guknuv: "Stiy!" But the mountaineers were infected by the heat, and the dwarf asked the kitchenmaster to pokushtuvati strava.
One of the cooks called the cooks of tribute to the yom, a golden opolonik, rinsing him in the running water and simpletons to the chief cook. That go down to the plate, scooping up trochas of yushka with an ovalon, poking, flattening his eyes, pleasingly kissing his tongue and even promising:
- Wonderful, beat me God, wonderful! Chi do not eat yi we want a spoon, don't you guess?
After bowing to the palace, he took an opolonik, knocked it down to the edge of pleasure.
- Wee, a shanovny snidankovy cook, tying and pre-existing kulinar. Ale, vibachayte, it is so wonderful to make no Danish yushka, you cannot make any Gamburian dumplings!
The cook pokushtuv and sob, and with great trick, he poured Jacob's hand and promulgated:
- To the dwarf, you are a great master of our dili. And the grass of the shlunkovt_ha and the truth gives the dumplings a special relish.
In an hour before the kitchen, the Duke's valet arrived and said that the Duke had sent in to serve the sisters. Stravi bully visipan in the middle of the tarilka and messengers of the dukes. And Jacob was the chief-kuhmeister, having called to himself in the room and afterward with him rozmovu. That messenger arrived without a bar and called the chief-kitchen master to the duke. That shvidenko pulled into his dress clothes and pishov after the messenger.
The Duke of Bouv is a dupe of pleasure. Win a mustache, which they brought you, і, if the chief-kuhmeister, he wore his beard himself.
- Hey, kitchenmaster, - having said to win, - I should be looking forward to the pleasures of your cooks; Such a juicy nicoli has not been brewed in the whole hour, as I sit on the throne of my daddy. Seems like it’s like to call that cook, I want to give you a donut of worms.
- Pan the Duke! Tse divovizna іstorіya, - the chief-kitchenmaster told about those, as a dwarf who came to the new year's shit, as a dwarf in one soul, although he was a cook and as a whole boiled down.
The Duke was still happy, ringing the dwarf to himself, and becoming a thirsty, hto vin I zvіdki. For the rest of the time, the b_dny Yakob didn’t bother to open up, as if he had been enchanted and served as a boy. Vin said, it's not my daddy, not mothers, but cooks that are in the same old pan. "
“If you want to stay with me for services,” the duke said to him, “then I’ll put fifty wares on the rik, ceremonial clothes, and, besides, two pants. And your rule will be a day for me to get to know me and to look after him, so that I’m going to miss you. And through those who, in my palats, are skinny, you will be called the Nose, and the rank of you will be a non-kukhmeister.
Jacob having fallen nakolishki in front of the mighty Duke, kissing him the skull and swearing to serve for conscience. Now, I’m not fiddling about tomorrow afternoon, but robbing my own mind and unbroken goodness to the great shan. Usi became the Cossacks, who led the way to the palace of the dwarf Nis, the duke became the dwarf of the people. Earlier, it was not so often that the duke was banging the tarilki and tats just between the eyes of the cooks, and once, having already burst into flames, it was the chief of the kitchen masters who threw a greased veal foot in front of his face, and so, like that lying ailments. True, after the Duke has settled down to the right, I’m crushed in the middle of the school, having twisted the worms with zhmen, and nevertheless, the leather cook, who served them with strains, and tremies, and a hundred in the overlap. That is why, as a dwarf appeared at the palace, it was all withered. The Duke is now no longer three for a day, but five times, and he hasn’t been drinking it, so he’s willing to dig up his lip once. Everything boomed to the relish, to the people it became even more affectionate and stroked with a skin day.
Often, densely, sitting at the table, the duke wicked up to himself the chief-kitchen master and dwarf Nose, and if they came, then having grown up to themselves - one right-hander, and the other one-handed -– and himself, with a mastery of hands, pkhav їm just into the mouth of the lasi shmatochka.
Tse Bula is a nonabiyak weasel;
So the dwarf Nis is alive, not two rocky, all the pleasure, only just scurrying for the daddy-mother. Everything went without any kind of prominent pod_y, as much as one good thing didn’t go to bed. Dwarfs are especially happy todi, if they are kupuvav. To him, if he allowed one hour, he loved himself to go to the market and buy a bird and a garden there.
I, from what seems to be wines in the goose row of important and smooth geese, to those of the duke, especially weasels. Kilka razіv vіn proishov usdovzh ushoy bazaar, look, who is not coming. Yogo post no longer winked at the regotta and mockery, yakraz navpaki, everyone marveled at the new one, knowing more of the skin, well, the glorious life-cook of the duke himself. I now have a skin lord, who traded in geese, the bully is happy, if he has turned his own nose to her.
In the end of the row, here at the kutochka, Jacob, having hit one woman, was also responsible for the sale of geese, ale there were wheelies, not wiggling their goods, not grabbing for the polish of purchases, as in the outbid. Jacob pidijshov and having looked around the geese and tried them on the wagu. The stinks will be the same, as if they wanted, and to that one, having bought this three at once with a cat, knocking it on the shoulders of the pishov to the palatz. On the way, Jacob was amazed by the fact that two geese loped and gagged like they should, and the third was sitting quietly, at first in great thoughts, and only the child had a hard time - well, people call. “Chi is not sick? - having promoted wine to himself. - You need to be asleep, sooner to get the money out of your budget ”. And here the guska vividly voicedly responded to you:

Try tilki zachepi me -
I will taste the infection for you.
And yak, tilki, you want me less
Tee muffle -
Todi ryastu tobi, cotton,
Do not trample anymore!

The dwarf Nis already let the cat go to the door, and the guska wondered at the miraculous clever eyes and knew it.
- Ovva! - viguknuv Nis. - Then go, scho vi, panel gusko, just talk! Niyak is not able to do it. Tilki, are we also worse than Kazati? Whoever is in the world of life, that does not keep such wild birds. I bet you didn’t have a pir on you earlier, for I myself would have been injecting myself with nothing.
“It's true,” the guska said, “I was born in the world, not in this ganebny skin. Ah, oh, oh, how would you like to think, how Mimi, don the great Veterbock, ignite and patrate someone like a duke in the kitchen!
- Calm down, any panel Mimi, - having opened the dwarf Nis. - Yak honest lyudin and sergeant-kuhmeister of your light, I vouch for you that you will not overtake your throat. I’ll make you die at my master’s room, let’s give you a little bit of it, and I’ll assign a rose with you. And in the kitchen I will tell you that you will be given special herbs for the Duke himself. If you have a good time to eat, I will let you loose.
Dyakuvala dwarf gusts with tears on our eyes, and winn’s mustache, as if finding out: having deprived two geese, and for Mimi having made a big clue and saying that you will be seen for the Duke himself in a special way. It’s true that it’s not a good time for Mimi team, who is so fond of geese, but wears a delicious and varied malt. If a new one had a vilna chilinka, the wine had grown a spike of lumps and recovered from a rose sum. The stench told one of them about their usefulness, the dwarf Nis, and the dwarf Nis told about those that the guska Mimi is the daughter of the enchanter Veterbok, who lives on the islands of Gotland. If you cooked yourself with one old fairy, she transformed his daughter into a lump.
If the dwarf Ніс rozpovіv hustsі his history, she promoted:
- In these right-hand sides, I dumble for a while, and my daddy is a charmer. True, I didn’t think that it’s possible to transfer it, but your rozmova belya cat from the town, you don’t want to be transformed into a man because you feel the spirit of that evil, do you think the old words are tricky - all about those sorts of things if you know that little grass, the old thought about yaku, if you charmed you, then you can do it.
The whole thing is not great for the dwarf Nose: de f її shukati, that grass? Protest me by podyakuvav Mimi for the joy and in the heart of the heart of the hopes.
Himself at that hour came to the guest before the Duke, his friend, the Prince of Sisterhood. The Duke called to himself the dwarf Nose and said to the youmu:
- Well, now you are guilty of showing all your mastery. Tsey prince, who is a guest in me, the sound of good help and the glory of the best lasun, sending me, slyly. Then look it up and podbay, how is my style today diving in wonderful nespodivankami. And remember about those who do not laugh, leave it here, gotuvati two of the same strava, otherwise I will spare you my affection. For everything that is needed, those brothers see the style of pennies, skilki zabazhaєsh. If, for goodness, you will need to put gold and diamanti in the lard - put it in! More beautifully, I will become an old man, less harsh in front of the prince.
So having said the duke. Dwarf Ніс bowing low and promising:
- Yak vi, your svitlosta, tell me, so I will! God judge me that I ruin everything in order for the princes to come and go.
The dwarf Ніс has turned himself over. Win not shkoduvav nor duke pennies, nor vlast forces. On a regular day, they bached the middle of the dim to the fire, and to the crypts of the kitchen, once they heard their voice, if they were commanding the young cooks and cooks.
The suspicious prince has already been visiting the duke for two years now, and he will be pleased with his wishes. Five times on the day, they sat for the stench, and the duke did not let him remind himself of his dwarf. From on the fifteenth day, the Duke called to call Jacob to the table and introduced him to his guest, energized those who were pleased by the non-commissioned kitchen master.
- Ty is a wondrous cook, - the prince turned to Jacob, - і tyamish, which means - kindness. For the whole hour, like I’m here, I haven’t ever given two of the same poison, i. all the bulo is wonderfully cooked. Just tell me, why do you not frequent us as the king of all passions - the pate "suzerain"?
The dwarf is even more angry, because he does not feel about the king's pate.
However, we haven’t found our own alteration, but we have spoken about it:
- Your svitlosta, I am encouraged that you will always be a guest at this courtyard, but you will not be able to do so. Why would it be fair for cooks to mark the day of the visit of a distinguished guest, as not the king of pâtés?
- He's a yak! - after promising the duke, laugh. - And what about me? Add even more nicoli without serving me a paste to the table. However, come up with this for this year, and tomorrow you will not be surprised to see a paste!
- It will be so, like your lightness! - dwarf and viyshov. Tilki and pishov is not happy, because he didn’t know how to cook that pâté. Closing himself in his room, wine crying with great tears over his underweight. Guska Mimi was asleep, why should I blame, and if she thought about the pate "suzerain", she prompted:
- Do not blame, stick your lips! They often cooked the whole pate from my father, and I know roughly what it’s for a great need: for that particular style, and if it’s not called like that, then in our panes there is not such a delicate relish, the stench has got a sense.
The dwarf Ніс already pіdstribnuv o joy, blessing that day, if he bought a gusk, and went to getuvati the king of pâtés. A couple of winners had broken trochas for a test, and, having smacked, it turned out to be even better for gusto, giving a new strain to the chief-kitchenmaster, who had also lost her satisfaction with her.
The other day, Jacob broke the paste at the great vessel and decorated it with quilts from the oven, but at the same time we warm up to the table. And he himself put on his finest clothes and might have gone to bed. If he is here, the butler himself has put the pate into skibki and poklavi on the door. Serve tarilochki, serving one to the Duke, and to the Friend - the first guest. The duke took a paté to the company at once, prokovtnuv, flattened his eyes from the nasol and viguknuv:
- Oh, oh, oh! Well, the whole truth is the king of the middle of pastes, then the dwarf is the king of the middle of cooks! Am I telling the truth, my dear friend? - beckoning to the guest.
That little knotty little piece of pate, good chewing and laughing.
- Strava is shattered by goodness, - I made a win, we read a tarilka, - only, like I guess, it’s not fair “suzerain”.
The Duke frowned at the cholo from the grudge and dissatisfaction and the heart from the sorrow.
- Nice dog! - fiercely vilayav vin dwarf. - Did you get too much of your own panovi? Do you want me to show you the twists and turns of your majesty and cut your head?
- Oh, your svitlosta, have mercy on God for the sake of! And even I have broken the strava in such a way as to dictate the rules of our science, and there can’t be any setbacks! - said the dwarf Ніс, dumbfounded in fear.
- Tse nonsense, ice-cold! - having repented the duke with his foot and got out of himself with his foot. - My guest is not thrown to the wind. I'll chop it for you myself and bake a paste for you!
- Look! - screaming the dwarf, falling navkolіshki in front of the prince and hugging his legs. - Tell me, why is it that the strav is not enough, why is it not enough for your relish? Don’t let me get bogged down for yak, a handful of bush with meat.
- There is no way you can do anything, dear Nose, - the prince said, smile. - I already knew that you didn’t make the noise of the battle like that, like my cook. Here there is no single herb, which I don’t know in your land, - herbs of savor, and without it, the pate will be deprived without a glimpse, and your pan-nicoli will not eat such a “suzerain” like me.
Todi the Duke just showed himself to the fierce.
- Hi, I still enjoy yogo! - not samovito viguknuv vin, viryachshi eyes. - I swear on my ducal honor: for tomorrow I will give you pate, whatever you want, or else the head of this neviglas is washed on the list in front of my palats. Go, dog! Once again I give you twenty chotiri godini.
The first dwarf is familiar with his room, crying gusts for his week. Now, it’s no doubt that it’s already a bit of a zagine, because about that grass, it’s not a chuv.
- Tilki y bidi? - promissed the guska. “Well, then I’ll help you in any way, more of my dad’s insisting on thinking about all sorts of herbs and zillah.” Perhaps, in the last part, having zaginu bi, ale now, for happiness, a young man, and the very time of blooming that grass. Tell me just a little bit, why near the palace of the old chestnut tree?
- That, praise God, you are content, - said the dwarf Nis. - At the park there are a lot of chestnuts. And what about the stench?
- Grass, which is necessary, is only necessary for the growth of the old chestnut tree, - said Mimi. - Don't go for an hour, it’s running. Take me in your arms, and then let me go to the bottom, and I will help you to know the evil.
The dwarf, with his mustache, yak said a guska, and, having taken її on the frame, pishov until the exit from the palace. That bastard, having kicked yogo, stitched his copy and blocked the road.
- Not possible, friend Nose! We have been fenced in to let you out of the palace.
- Can I have me near the park? - locking the dwarf. - Take a caress, go kogos, let’s sleep in the eye of a palatse, who can I go to the park to poop there herbs.
Vartoviy heard, and the dwarf was allowed to enter the park, near
There were also some temporarily muri, how many years of thought to climb over them and in tekti.
Having fallen free, the dwarf Nis carefully letting go of the Mimi dough, and she quickly ran to the camp, and they stood there in a chestnut tree. The dwarf Nis shkandibav is behind her at the great trivos: there is one more hope. Having already thought of it, it’s robiti, if Mimi doesn’t know the necessary grass: it’s more beautiful to rush into becoming, not to admit that they cut off your head.
Tim spent an hour of guska marno joking with herb. Vona was popid with old chestnuts, fingered with dziob zilla, and all the necessary herbs were not buzzing. Bidna Mimi because of fear, I regret already cried. And the outside was already getting dark, and it was getting darker all around, so it was still important to grow up between the ills. Looking around the dovkola, Jacob, casting a glance at the other bik, set up.
- Wonder, wonder, - zradiv vin, - onde, on that boat, there is one more majestic old tree. Hodimo vile thudi and poshukamo, do not bloom there may be a happy share!
Guska was angry and flew just over the water, and Jacob, touching his soul with short slickers, flew along the shore behind her. The chestnut tree was more majestic, and the widest of them didn’t miss the light, and because the stove was bulging it was dark. That rapt of a guska spun the mov dug, cheerfully rubbed the krill, stuck her head at the temple’s zillya and, which was there, stuck it in the dzhobi to the dead Jacob.
- Otse і that grass itself, as you need it, і here ії style, how to brush up on all your life! - said won.
The dwarf respectfully looked at the grass. There is a luscious, sweet-smelling spirit of hers, who guessed the scene of his re-creation. The stem and leafy boules were blakit-green, and from the top there was a clear-zhovta quote.
- Yake is a miracle! - having said vin nareshty. “You know, I’m going to be built, but the grass itself is the one that turned me over from the bricks into a neo-woven dish. Don't you try to get me Happiness?
- Hi, ni, check, - zupinila yogo guska. - Collect a handful of herbs, go to your room, take away all the pennies and goodness, like ti maash, and even try the grass.
So the stench was churning: they went back to the palace and put a mustache in one vuzlik, which buzzed into the dwarf Nose, - five hundred worms, three clothes and trolleys. Having tied a vuzlik, a dwarf having promoted:
- If the will of Heaven will be on those, I will awaken at once the tsya tyagar.
Win thrusting his nose into the grass and deeply inhaling the smell. First, all the time soon began to play with a crunch. Jacob saw that his head was going over his shoulder, his eyes were squinting down on his nose, and he shook like that shvidko menshaє. The breasts and shoulders began to swirl, and the legs began to shake.
Guska marveled at all those marvels and wondered.
- Oh, how great are you, how ugly! - vigukuwala won. - That on the next step has not lost sight of the dwarf!
Jacob duzhe zradіv i, clasping his hands on his breasts, praying to the gods. Protecting wines, not forgetting about those who, with their own order, are responsible for the gustsi Mimi. I wish my heart had already fallen to the old people of my fathers, the sight of them overpowered them.
- Who, yak not you, Mimi, am I to blame for those who are not suddenly born? Even without you, I don’t know anything about biotin of grass, and I’ll become a dwarf dwarf, and maybe I’ll bend it over with a kata. I want to see you and I will carry you to your daddy: in the enchanting on the right there is a master and without a great trouble I will allow you to see all the enchantments.
Guska already cried out of joy and immediately got lucky. Jacobov spared it inconceivably to lick out from the palace at once because of her, and they, in no time, were demolished on the road.
How can we add it to the history of history? Hiba those, who Jacob happily reached the enchantor Veterbok, who knew from the daughter of Chari and overwhelmed Jacob with generous darunks; becoming a bagaty that happy.
I still lost the information about those in the Duke's palace, because of the dwarf Nose's knowledge, a great deal of fusion. The next day, if the duke was planning to visonati his threat and the ringing of the dwarf's head, because that was not available for the necessary herbs, Jacob could not be known anywhere. Todi is a great guest of the virgin, but not the duke himself allowed the dwarfs to flow away, abi did not entrap his most beautiful cook, and when the dukes were dying, so that he ruined his word. So there is a winikla vіyna, in the history under the name "Grassy vіyny". In the tsіy vіynі bulo bogato baked battles, ala kіnets kіnets instruct the world, bouv the nicknames "Pashtnym mirom", for a clean benquet, the guests were presented with the king of pies - the prince cook's baked pâté "suzerain". I’ll get to the end of the duke!

A long time ago, an old blacksmith lived in a mountain village. And he had a son named Sulemen. He grew by leaps and bounds and soon became so strong that none of his peers could overcome him. If Sulemen happened to fight them, he always remained the winner.

And a rumor about Sülemen spread throughout the village: "He is the strongest, most courageous man!" Once a horseman drove up to the house of a blacksmith on the outskirts of the village.

- Hey, who's alive here? Help me get off my horse! He shouted.

The old blacksmith was at home alone at that time. He went out to scream, and so he froze ... He saw: a dwarf was sitting astride a rooster - himself from an inch, and his beard stretched for a whole mile. The old man took the dwarf off the cock, and the dwarf pulled a hair out of his beard and tied the old man hand and foot with it. Then he entered the house, ate the dinner prepared for the whole family, took all the foodstuffs from the pantry, and rode off on a rooster.

Since then, the dwarf on a rooster has become a frequent visitor to the village: either he takes the ram away, then he grabs the chicken, then he takes away the bread. And it happens, and people are carried away somewhere ... Life has completely disappeared from him. And the strength of the dwarf, as the people said, is all in his beard. The villagers came to Sülemen and asked:

- You, the strongest and most courageous, protect us from the villain!

Sülemen thought and said to his father:

- Make a sword for me, but so sharp and heavy that with one swing he chopped iron. I want to test my strength, to fight with a bearded dwarf.

Father forged a sword from all the iron that he had. Shulemen struck the anvil with his sword, and the sword shattered to pieces.

- No, - said Sulemen, - such a sword is not good for me! .. Then the aul people collected all the iron that they had, and forged the old blacksmith a miracle sword for his son.

Sulemen took the sword in his hands and struck it on the anvil. The anvil split into two halves.

- This sword will suit me! He exclaimed. - Well, now hold on, bearded dwarf!

As soon as Sülemen said this, he heard some noise in the street. He looked out the window of the smithy and saw: a bearded dwarf on a rooster drove up to the next house.

- Hey, who's there? Come out and be quick! Meet the guest! Shouted the dwarf.

But there was no answer. Everyone hid in the house. Nobody gets out. Then the dwarf got off the cock and stamped his foot. The door opened by itself, and the dwarf entered the house.

Sulemen took the sword, crept quietly to the porch, grabbed the rooster by the tail and raised the sword over it. And the rooster speaks to him in a human voice:

- Do not ruin me, good man! Let go! I'll still be useful to you! ..

Sulemen was amazed.

"Some miracles! .." - he thought.

- Well, live! - said the rooster and let him go.

And he immediately disappeared. And in Sülemen's hand the feather from the rooster's tail remained. He put it in his pocket, turned around, and a bearded dwarf was standing in the doorway.

Sulemen contrived and caught the dwarf by the beard. And she slipped out of her hands, soared and whipped Sülemen so that he fell, hitting his head on the ground. The dwarf laughed and curled up into a ball.

The ball rolled along the street, and Sulemen followed him. It seems that the dwarf is already very close, Sülemen is about to catch up with him! But dust curls before Sulemen, blinds his eyes. Sulemen falls. And the dwarf laughs and rushes forward.

The ball rolled to the end of the street and suddenly fell into a hole, only a dwarf beard is still on the ground. Sulemen ran to the pit, grabbed the beard, and she slipped out and disappeared. Only one hair remained in Sülemen's hands. Sülemen looked into the pit where the dwarf had fallen, and it was dark there.

He rushed after the dwarf, jumped into the pit and ended up in the dungeon.

'What to do?! Where to go? ”- thinks Sülemen. Suddenly he sees: a rooster rushes to him. He ran up and said in a human voice:

- Listen to me: now two rams, one black and one white, will come here and start fighting. Try to grab the white ram by the horns and sit on it. If it succeeds, the white ram will carry you up to the ground. But if you sit on a black ram, it will take you to the underworld of an evil wizard - a dwarf with a beard.

He said and disappeared. And now two rams appeared from both sides - black and white - and began to fight.

Sulemen wanted to grab the white ram by the horns, but missed, grabbed the black one and he himself does not remember how he ended up on his back.

And the black ram took him deep underground, to the kingdom of an evil dwarf. Threw it to the ground and disappeared.

Sülemen looks: in front of him is a luxurious garden and a narrow path between the bushes stretches, and a dwarf runs along it, a beard behind him, like a snake, twists.

Sulemen rushed after him, and the dwarf - from him, and faster, faster ... He ran to a large lake and dived into the water.

"What to do? - thinks Suelemen. - How to lure an evil dwarf out of the lake? Looked around and saw: not far from the lake - a large village.

"I'll go to this village," decided Suemen. - I’ll find out who lives here, and I’ll ask about the villainous dwarf, and then - to the lake. I will sit on the shore and lie in wait: as soon as the villain comes out of the water, we will fight ... ”Sülemen noticed that smoke was rising from the chimney of the outer house. He came closer, knocked on the door and entered this house.

An old woman sat by the hearth and wept bitterly.

- Long your life, mother! - Suemen greeted her from the doorway.

- Hello, son, come in, be a guest.

- Thank you, mother! I'm starving. Do you have something to eat? - asked Sulemen.

“I’d love to feed you, son, but I can only give this cake — I don’t know if you’ll eat it: it is half and half with straw and mixed with dirty water,” the old woman said, serving the cake and continuing to cry bitterly.

- Tell me, mother, why are you still crying? And why do you eat bread in half with straw, and take only dirty water when there is a clean lake nearby? - Sulemen asked in surprise.

- Uh ... uh ... son, if you only knew how the villain dwarf mocks us! Day and night we work for him, and bake bread in half with straw. We take water from a dirty pit. He gives a jug of clean water from the lake only if we give him a young girl. He has already taken almost all the girls from the people of our village, keeps them in his underwater kingdom and forces them to wash and comb his beard, which is no end in sight. I hid my daughter everything. But recently the villain saw her and demands that I bring her. And if I disobey, he will drown me and my daughter in the lake. So I cry day and night, and I don't know what to do! .. - the old woman said, sobbing.

- Calm down, mother, do not cry, do not grieve! Don't take your daughter anywhere. I will deal with this villain! - Said Sulemen and went to the lake.

He came close and saw: a bird with a heavy chain around its neck was sitting on the shore of unprecedented beauty. The end of the chain went into the lake. The bird lowered its wings, hung its head.

- Why are you chained? Who tied you up? - asked Sulemen.

“The bearded dwarf is to blame,” replied the bird. - I was a girl, I lived in the village above, I saw the sun. The dwarf kidnapped me from my parents, forced me to wash and scratch his beard, but I refused ... So he turned me into a bird, keeps me here on a chain.

Sülemen came closer, wanted to break the chain, and the bird would beat it with its wings.

- Don't touch the chain! .. - she whispers. - Your hand will stick to the iron, the chain will drag you into the lake! ..

Sulemen obeyed, did not touch the chain with his hands, but drew his sword and struck it. The chain shattered into a thousand pieces and fell into the water. The miracle bird flapped its wings, rose above the lake.

- Ah! .. What have you done, good man! You saved me, but you yourself will perish! Run away from here soon!

Only she said that - the water in the lake became turbid, seethed, came in waves ... One-eyed monsters appeared from the water ...

- Wow ... ho! .. - exclaimed Sülemen. - A lot of them! A whole horde! ..

- Do not be afraid, Sulemen! You have a hair from a dwarf's beard. Throw it at one-eyed monsters! ..

Sülemen looked around - no one was around ... He dipped his hand into his pocket, and there was a feather from a rooster's tail and a hair from the dwarf's beard.

Sülemen let the monsters come closer and threw a hair from the dwarf's beard into the lake. At the same moment, all the monsters went into the depths of the lake, only the circles on the water remained.

Before Sülemen had time to catch his breath, the lake seethed again, became agitated, and the long-bearded dwarf himself emerged from the water. He ascended over Suelemen, his beard curls in the air, strives to hook Suelemen. Sulemen gathered his strength, with his left hand grabbed the dwarf by the beard and pulled him to the ground, and with his right he swung his sword and cut off his beard. Then the dwarf spun around and crumbled into dust ...

As soon as Sulemen put his sword into its scabbard, the broad wings of a bird rustled. Selemen sees: the miracle bird saved by him flies to him. She hit the ground and turned into a beautiful girl.

- Thank you, kind person, - said the girl, - you freed me from the spell of an evil dwarf. Now I am a human again! ..

Suemen is looking, and residents of the village are already running towards them from all sides ... People rushed to the lake and began to greedily drink clean water.

Then they surrounded Sulemen and thanked him.

- We will always remember the good that you did for us! .. - they said. “You saved us from the villainous dwarf! We worked day and night for him - they mined gold, silver, precious stones from the depths of the earth ... He took everything for himself ... And he starved us. He didn't give me water. You saved us! We are now free! Stay with us.

- Thank you, kind people! I am glad that I helped you, - answered Sulemen. - But I can't live without high mountains, without blue sky, without sun. I have to go home! .. But how can I get out of here? ..

As soon as he said these words, he heard a whisper:

- Throw my feather into the lake!

Sulemen took a cock's feather out of his pocket and threw it into the lake ... And immediately the cock appeared. He flapped his wings and turned into a black horse.

- You are a kind man, Sulemen! He saved me from the spell of an evil dwarf! .. He regretted not killing me, when, by the will of this villain, I was a rooster. Thank you! .. I took an oath to serve you with faith and truth all my life. And now I will help to get out of here ... Sit on me and hold on to the reins more tightly! ..

Sulemen said goodbye to the inhabitants of the underground village. He jumped on his horse, gave his hand to the girl, and together they rushed back ...

They raced for a long time ... Finally we found ourselves in front of an iron gate, on which hung such a huge lock that you couldn't open it with a key or cut it with a sword ...

- What are we to do now! The girl exclaimed. - After all, this lock was unlocked only by a dwarf! ..

The horse struck the gate three times with its hoof, and it opened. Overhead, the riders saw a blue sky and a bright sun!

The horse soared up, carried them to the surface of the earth, and they rushed again ...

Some time passed, and Sülemen with a beautiful girl drove up to his home.

The old blacksmith, the father of Sülemen, seeing his son safe and sound, and even with a beautiful girl, was so delighted that he did not know where to seat them and what to treat them to. The horse was fed, petted, and he remained to live with them.

And the inhabitants of the village, as soon as they learned about the return of Sülemen, ran to the old blacksmith. We cried with joy, hugged Sulemen. Soon the wedding of Sülemen was played.

As we have not seen a bearded dwarf, so let us never know misfortunes and troubles.