Story of dog for kids
Elephant And Dog Story - Bedtimeshortstories
This is the Elephant And Dog Story In English. Once upon a time, there was a royal elephant that used to recite at the premises of the King’s palace. The elephant was very dear to the King. So he was well fed and well-treated. There was a dog who used to live in the neighborhood of the elephant’s shed. He was very weak and skinny. He was always fascinated by the smell of the rich sweet rice being fed to the royal elephant.
One day, the dog could not resist the aroma of the rice and somehow he sneaked into the elephant’s shed. The dog ate the sweet rice that fell from the elephant’s mouth. He liked the rice so much. He started coming daily to eat the rice. For days, the huge elephant didn’t notice a small dog as he was busy enjoying the delicious food. Also, read The White Elephant.
elephant and dog story in english
Image Source@ play.google.com. Gradually, the dog became bigger and stronger by eating such rich food. He came under the notice of the elephant. The elephant used to enjoy the company of the dog and started sharing his food with him. Both of them also started sharing time with each other. And soon, they made good friends. They ate together, slept together and play together. It didn’t take long when neither of them was happy without the other. They became great friends and didn’t want to get separated from each other.
Then, one day, a man saw the dog and asked the elephant keeper, “I want to buy this dog! What price do you seek for the dog?” The elephant keeper didn’t own the dog. Still, he sold the dog and extracted some of the money out of this deal.
The man took the dog to his home village which was quite far away. The King’s elephant became very sad after this incident. He missed his friend a lot and started neglecting everything. He didn’t want to do anything without his dear friend. So he stopped drinking, eating and even bathing. You may also like to read, The Greedy Dog Story.
Ultimately, the elephant keeper reported this to the King. However, he didn’t tell anything about the dog. The King had a wise minister who was known for his understanding of animals. At once, the King asked the Minister, “Go to the elephant shed and find out the reason for the elephant’s condition!” The intelligent Minister went to the elephant’s shed and found the elephant very sad. He looked elephant all over and asked the elephant keeper, “There’s nothing wrong with this elephant’s body! Then, why does he looks so sad? I think this elephant is grief-stricken! Possibly due to the loss of the dear friend.”
The elephant keeper told the Minister, “There was a dog who used to eat, sleep and play with him. He had been taken by the stranger three days ago!” The Minister went back to the King and said, “Your Majesty, as per my opinion, the royal elephant is not sick, but he is lonesome without his dear friend, the dog.” “Do you know where the dog is?” asked the King. “Elephant keeper informed that a stranger took him away and he didn’t know about his whereabouts!”
“How can we bring back my elephant’s friend and make him happy again?” the King asked.
“Your Majesty, make a declaration that whoever has the dog that used to live at the royal elephant’s shed will be penalized,” advised the Minister. The King did the same and the man who took the dog instantly turned him loose when he heard the proclamation.
When the dog was free, he ran back as fast as he could be reached the elephant’s shed. The elephant was so delighted to see the dog that he picked his friend with his trunk and made him sit on his head. The dog wags its tail while the elephant’s eyes sparkled with happiness. The King was contented to see the happy elephant once again. He also rewarded the Minister for his wise judgment. Both the elephant and the dog lived happily ever after. Also, read Elephant And Ant Story.
MORAL: TRUE FRIENDS CAN NEVER BE SEPARATED.
Here is a visual depiction of “Elephant And Dog Story In English”. See the video story below,
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Fairy tale Clever dog Sonya - Andrey Usachev, read online
Royal mongrel
In one city, on the same street, in the same house, in apartment No. 66, there lived a small, but very smart dog Sonya.
Sonya had black shining eyes and long eyelashes, like a princess's, and a neat ponytail with which she fanned herself like a fan.
And she also had an owner, whose name was Ivan Ivanovich Korolev.
Therefore, the poet Tim Sobakin, who lived in a neighboring apartment, called her the royal mongrel.
And the rest thought it was such a breed.
And Sonya the dog thought so too.
Other dogs thought so too.
And even Ivan Ivanovich Korolyov also thought so. Although he knew his last name better than the others.
Every day Ivan Ivanovich went to work, and the little dog Sonya sat alone in her sixty-sixth royal apartment and was terribly bored.
That's probably why all sorts of interesting things happened to her.
After all, when it gets really boring, you always want to do something interesting.
And when you want to do something interesting, something is sure to work out.
And when something works out, you always start thinking: how did it happen?
And when you start thinking, for some reason you become smarter.
And nobody knows why.
That's why Sonya the dog was a very smart dog
Who made the puddle?
When the little dog Sonya was not yet a smart dog Sonya, but was a small smart puppy, she often wrote in the corridor.
The owner Ivan Ivanych was very angry, poked Sonya with his nose into a puddle and said:
— Who made the puddle? Who made the puddle? Well-bred dogs, - he added at the same time, - must endure and not make puddles in the apartment!
Dog Sonya, of course, did not like it terribly. And instead of enduring, she tried to quietly do this thing on the carpet, because there are no puddles left on the carpet.
But one day they went out for a walk, and little Sonya saw a huge puddle in front of the entrance.
"Who made such a huge puddle?" Sonya was surprised.
And behind it she saw a second puddle, even larger than the first. And then a third...
“That must be an elephant! - the smart dog Sonya guessed. How much did he endure? she thought with respect...
And since then she stopped writing in the apartment.
Hello, thank you and goodbye!
Once, on the stairs, a small dog Sonya was stopped by an unfamiliar elderly dachshund.
"All well-bred dogs," the dachshund said sternly, "must greet each other when they meet." Saying hello means saying "hello", "hello" or "good afternoon" - and wagging your tail!
Hello! - said Sonya, who, of course, really wanted to be a well-bred dog, and, wagging her tail, she ran on.
But before she had time to reach the middle of the dachshund, which turned out to be incredibly long, she was called again.
- All well-bred dogs, - said the dachshund, - should be polite and, if they are given a bone, candy or useful advice, say "thank you"!
— Thank you! - said Sonya, who, of course, really wanted to be a polite and well-mannered dog, and ran on.
But as soon as she ran to the tail of the taxi, they heard from behind:
— All well-bred dogs should know good manners and say goodbye when they say goodbye!
- Goodbye! Sonya shouted and, pleased that she now knew the rules of good manners, rushed to catch up with the owner.
From that day on, the dog Sonya became terribly polite and, running past unfamiliar dogs, always said:
— Hello, thank you and goodbye!
It is a pity that she came across the most ordinary dogs.
And many ended before she had time to say everything.
Which is better?
Dog Sonya was sitting near the playground and thought what is better - to be big or small?... even passers-by are afraid of you ... But on the other hand, thought Sonya, it’s better to be small too, because no one is afraid of you and is not afraid, and everyone plays with you. And if you are big, they always lead you on a leash and put a muzzle on you ... "
Just at that time, a huge and angry bulldog Max was passing by the site.
— Tell me, — Sonya asked him politely, — is it very unpleasant when they put a muzzle on you?
For some reason this question made Max terribly angry. He growled, rushed off the leash and, knocking over his mistress, chased Sonya.
“Oh-oh-oh! - thought Sonya the dog, hearing a menacing sniffing behind her. Still big to be better!…”
Fortunately, on the way they met a kindergarten. Sonya saw a hole in the fence and quickly darted into it.
The bulldog couldn't get through the hole in any way — and only puffed loudly from the other side like a steam locomotive…
“It's still good to be small,” thought Sonya the dog. “If I were big, I would never have slipped through such a small gap…
But if I were big,” she thought, “why would I have climbed here at all?…”
But since Sonya was small dog, then she still decided that it was better to be small.
Let the big dogs decide for themselves!
How Sonya learned to talk
Somehow Sonya, the dog, was sitting at the TV, watching her favorite program “In the Animal World” and thinking.
"I wonder," she thought, "why do people talk and animals can't?"
And suddenly it dawned on her!
“But the TV also talks,” thought Sonya, “when it is plugged into the socket… So, clever Sonya thought, “if you plug me into the socket, I will also learn to talk!”
The dog Sonya took it and put her tail into the socket.
And then someone will bite into it with their teeth!
- Awww! Sonya screamed. - Let go! Painfully! - And, pulling out her tail, bounced off the outlet.
A surprised owner came running from the kitchen.
- Well, well! - he said. And stroking the trembling Sonya, he added: Silly, because there is an electric current. Be careful!
“I wonder what kind of electric current it is? thought Sonya the dog, glancing apprehensively at the socket. “Small, but how evil… It would be nice to tame him!”
She brought a bone from the kitchen and placed it in front of the socket.
"Maybe he doesn't eat bones or doesn't want to be seen?" thought Sonya.
She put a chocolate candy next to the bone and went for a walk. But when she returned, everything was untouched.
“This electric current doesn't eat delicious bones!… This electric current doesn't eat chocolates!… It's kind of strange!!!” thought the smart dog Sonya.
And from that day on, I decided to stay away from the outlet.
Like the dog Sonya smelled the flowers
More than anything in the world, Sonya the dog liked to smell flowers. The flowers were so fragrant and tickled in the nose so pleasantly that, smelling them, Sonya immediately began to sneeze. She sneezed right into the flowers, which made them smell and tickle even more, and Sonya the dog sneezed even more ... and so it went on until Sonya began to feel dizzy or flew around all the flowers.
— Well, now, — Ivan Ivanovich was angry. - Gutted the whole bouquet again!
Sonya looked sadly at the crumbling petals, sighed heavily... But she couldn't help herself.
Sonya treated different colors differently. She didn't like cacti, for example. Because although they do not fly around, but when you sneeze into cacti, they pierce painfully into your nose. She liked lilacs, peonies and dahlias very much.
Most of all, Sonya the dog liked to sneeze on dandelions. Having collected more of them, she sat down somewhere on a bench - and the fluffs flew around the yard like snow.
It was extraordinarily beautiful: summer is in the yard and it is snowing!
And it seemed to be getting a little cooler outside!
And Ivan Ivanovich immediately drove Sonya home, fearing that she would catch a cold.
He didn't understand much about beauty at all.
He rarely brought flowers home.
Fortunately, in front of the house, right in front of their window, there was a large flower bed of peonies. And the dog Sonya often climbed into it with her head - and sneezed for her own pleasure. But one day the janitor Sedov ambushed her...
— Aha! he shouted. “So that’s who spoils my peonies!” - And for a long time I chased the dog Sonya with a broom.
Sonya complained to Ivan Ivanych, but he didn't think to intercede for her.
— And in general, — he said, — I don't really like it when guests come to me, and you start sneezing into their flowers. Well trained dogs don't do that! You need to sneeze not into flowers, but into a handkerchief!
Dog Sonya imagined how stupid she would look sitting in flowers with a handkerchief! - but she didn't answer.
And Ivan Ivanitch really bought her a handkerchief.
And now, when guests came to them, Sonya had to sneeze into this handkerchief.
But if there was no one around at home or on the street, the dog Sonya sneezed not into a handkerchief, but for her own pleasure. Because it's so much more fun!
Binoculars
One afternoon, when the owner was not at home, the dog Sonya was sitting on the windowsill and looking at the street through binoculars. (This is such a thing, on one side of which everything is close, close, and on the other - far, far away.)
Sonya looked at what she liked from a close end, and what she did not like, from afar.
She really liked, for example, one passer-by who had sausages in his bag. The sausages were so big and passed so close to her that Sonya even salivated...
She also liked the ice cream stand on the corner and the big lilac bush.
But Sonya did not like the janitor Sedov, who was sweeping the sidewalk nearby.
Even more she disliked the janitors' cat, impudent and huge as a typhus...
But smart Sonya quickly turned the binoculars over - and the janitor turned out to be the size of a cat, and the cat - the size of a fly.
Then Sonya looked down and almost dropped the binoculars from fright: the earth was far below - as if the dog Sonya was sitting not in the apartment, but in a space rocket ... you could get it with your paw.
— Let me go for a walk, — Sonya was delighted. She took a step ... and flew from the third floor - straight to the flower bed with peonies.
“Strange,” thought Sonya, climbing out of the flower bed. “Probably when I was falling, he turned over…”
Sonya looked through the binoculars again, and a couple of steps away she saw the huge janitor Sedov, swinging a huge broom at her...
— Ai-ai-ai! Sonya screamed and ran away.
When she ran home, she hung the binoculars on the wall and never took them again.
“This thing is too dangerous,” thought Sonya the dog.
“No matter how you look at it, it’s nothing but trouble!”
Flies
Big impudent flies were flying around the room and did not let Sonya the dog fall asleep. Sonya waved them away and gnashed her teeth, but the flies did not lag behind.
- Wait a minute! Sonya threatened them. She went into the hallway and removed the fly swatter from the nail. (It's a kind of stick with a clothespin, which is used to punish flies.)
Sonya decided to start from the kitchen. A big fat fly was sitting and scratching on the glass.
- R-time! said Sonya the dog. And a fat fly fell to the floor with a ringing sound.
The second fly walked around the sugar bowl.
— Two! Sonya said. And the fly, together with the sugar bowl, fell under the table.
The third fly sat on the grandfather's portrait (not the Dream of another, of course, grandfather, but Ivan Ivanovich, but Sonya didn't like that either).
- T-ri! said Sonya the dog.
Then Sonya said “Four!”
Then - "Five!"
When Sonya said “Six!”, the owner came home from work.
— What is this? he was surprised to see the broken glass.
“A fly,” said Sonya the dog.
— And this? He pointed to the sugar bowl.
“It’s also a fly,” Sonya said.
Is that a fly too? asked Ivan Ivanovich, raising his fallen grandfather.
— And I'm a little bit, — confessed the dog Sonya from under the sofa.
- Well, clean everything up with the flies! - Ivan Ivanovich brought a mop from the bathroom (this is the kind of thing with which they sweep garbage and small dogs from under the sofa) - and went for a walk alone.
“It's still unfair,” Sonya thought, sweeping the floor. There are so many flies ... and I'm the only one to clean everything!
How Sonya caught the echo
One day the dog Sonya decided to catch the echo. Echo is such an animal, or a bird, or someone else with whom you can talk when you sit alone in an apartment all day.
You will say “Wow-wow!” - and it’s “Wow-wow!” for you.
This is a small Echo. And the big one that lives in the forest, “Wow-wow-wow-wow!” answers.
But Sonya didn't dream big. Firstly, their apartment was small, and the owner might not allow Sonya to keep a large Echo. And secondly, it could turn out to be larger than little Sonya - and then Sonya would not have caught Echo, but Echo would have dragged Sonya into the forest.
Therefore, Sonya did not count on the big Echo, but counted on the small one, the one that lived in the yard.
Sonya didn't know where this Echo lived in the yard. Sometimes it echoed from under the arch, sometimes from somewhere under the neighboring house. But as soon as Sonya rushed to him, as it turned out to be at the other end of the yard. Sonya - back, but it sits in the same place.
“Echo is a very cunning and cautious beast, or a bird, or someone else,” Sonya thought, sticking out her tongue.
But one day, going out into the yard, Sonya saw some black manhole on the sidewalk.
- How did I not guess right away! she was delighted and ran home for a bag specially prepared for Echo.
- Hey! Sonya shouted, peering through the hatch.
- Hey! echoed from the darkness.
— What are you doing there? Sonya asked.
— I live here! Echo replied.
- Get out! Sonya screamed.
— Why is that? Echo was worried.
- We need to talk! Sonya cheated.
- No time for me! Echo replied rudely. And so I sit without lunch!
“Aha! thought Sonya. “That’s what I’ll catch you with…”
“Would you like some sausages?” she asked.
- Come on! After some thought, the echo agreed.
— There, in the bag! - Sonya shouted and began to lower the bag into the hatch.
Feeling that Echo was caught, Sonya pulled the rope with all her might and, tightening the bag, began to drag him up.
The echo was extremely heavy.
At last the sack emerged from the darkness. And behind him...
Sonya saw two huge paws in canvas mittens.
She threw the rope in terror and ran away.
Looking back at the entrance, she saw that on the edge of the hatch sat a large and black Echo with a bag on his head and waved his fist after her.
But what it was - a beast, or a bird, or someone else - Sonya did not understand.
Bone
One evening Sonya was sitting on the balcony eating cherries.
“In two years,” thought the dog Sonya, spitting the bones down, a cherry grove will grow here, and I will pick cherries right from the balcony ...”
But then one bone accidentally flew up the collar of one passerby.
— What is this?! the passer-by got angry and looked up.
- Oh! - Sonya was frightened and hid behind a box with seedlings.
Sonya sat at the box and waited. But the passer-by did not leave and was also waiting for something.
“He probably wants cherries,” smart Sonya guessed. “I would also be offended if someone ate cherries and threw bones at me .
..”
And quietly threw down a handful of cherries.
The passer-by picked up the berries, but for some reason did not eat, but began to swear.
"Probably not enough for him," Sonya thought. And threw the whole bowl down.
The passer-by grabbed the bowl and ran away.
“Ugh, what an ill-mannered one,” thought Sonya the dog. “I didn’t even say thank you!”
But a minute later the passer-by returned. And a policeman came after him. And then another passer-by stopped near them and, having learned that cherries were being thrown here, he also raised his head and also began to wait ...
“Why do they think I have a whole bag of them?” Sonya got angry and left the balcony.
She sat in the kitchen, continued to eat cherries and thought about her cherry grove. But now she was spitting the bones on the saucer.
“After all, if you think about it,” thought the smart dog Sonya, “it all started with one bone!”
Sonya and the samovar
One day the dog Sonya decided to drink tea with jam.
She put her favorite cherry jam in a saucer, turned on the samovar, sat down and waited for the water to boil.
She sat, sat, waited, waited. Then she looked at the samovar — and suddenly she saw herself in the samovar!…
“Oh-oh! thought Sonya the dog. “How did I get into the samovar?”
She sits in the samovar, looks at herself and cannot understand anything: her paws are swollen, her face is drawn out, and her ears are like two big mugs...
— Oh-oh-oh! - Dog Sonya guessed. “I must have scalded myself in the samovar!”
Here the water began to boil, and steam poured out of the samovar…
— Oh-oh-oh-oh! Sonya screamed in fright. - I can cook!
And what was the strength jumped out of the samovar!
She touched the cord, the samovar fell down and hot water gushed out of it...
But Sonya had already managed to jump aside.
“It's good that I guessed to jump out in time,” thought the smart dog Sonya, blowing on her scalded tail.
“Otherwise I wouldn’t have noticed how cooked!”
Stain
Once Sonya was eating cherry jam from a jar and dripped it on a clean white tablecloth.
"Oh-oh-oh!" she was frightened, because the owner could not stand spots and was terribly angry when Sonya sat down with unwashed paws on the table or jumped on his light trousers.
“What will happen now!” thought Sonya, looking at the bright cherry stain.
She tried to lick off the stain. But the stain did not lick, but, on the contrary, for some reason it became larger.
Sonya began to lick further: she licked - she licked - she - Sonya thought in despair, and there will be one solid spot!
And then she had a brilliant idea.
Sonya the dog poured the rest of the jam on the table and began to spread it.
“There will be no cherry stain! And there will be a beautiful cherry tablecloth without a single spot!” thought the smart dog Sonya, smearing and licking the jam all over the tablecloth.
When everything was licked, Sonya sat down to admire her work and suddenly discovered with horror that there was a stain under the jar...
A bright white stain on a beautiful cherry tablecloth!
Sonya looked into the jar, but there wasn't even a drop of jam there...
Oh, how Ivan Ivanovich cursed when he saw this stain, although it was completely white and clean.
“What would happen,” thought the smart dog Sonya, “if I left that dirty and ugly thing… It’s just scary to think!”
Rainbow
It was a warm sunny day. Dog Sonya went out to sunbathe on the balcony and suddenly something dripped from above...
— What is it? Sonya was surprised.
She looked outside and saw a little girl. At first, the girl sobbed softly, then she began to cry harder and harder, and, finally, she sobbed like a little cloud.
"Oh-oh!" - the dog Sonya was confused, not knowing what to do - to run for an umbrella or to calm the girl?
And then she saw a small rainbow appear next to the girl.
“Oh, how interesting,” thought clever Sonya. “It’s a real rainbow!”
Then the girl also saw a rainbow and was so surprised that her tears immediately dried up.
But as soon as she stopped crying, the rainbow immediately melted away.
The girl started crying again...
And the rainbow appeared again.
The girl immediately stopped crying and the rainbow disappeared again.
At that moment the girl began to cry at the top of her voice…
“Oh-oh-oh! - Sonya the dog was upset. - What does it turn out?! In order for her not to cry, she needs to cry... And in order for her to cry, she needs not to cry...”
And then a very clever thought came to Sonya's head.
"We need to make an artificial rainbow!" she thought. And she ran for a watering can with water...
The girl immediately stopped crying. The rainbow turned out to be so big and wonderful that passers-by began to stop on the street, and sellers poured out from the store opposite.
The completely bald-headed poet Tim Sobakin came to admire Sonya's rainbow, and even the gloomy janitor Sedov.
The last person to look out was Pchyolkina, who lived on the floor below, with laundry drying on her balcony.
— What the hell is this?! she shouted and looked up so menacingly ... that the rainbow hid and did not appear again.
“Why does it always turn out like this in life,” the dog Sonya thought later, that if everyone really likes something, then someone will definitely not like it?
Mustard
Sonya sat in front of a bowl of oatmeal and thought about how few pleasures there were in her life.
“These people are very strange,” she thought. - Potatoes, or cabbage soup, or porridge are eaten in large quantities, and all sorts of tasty things, such as sausage, jam or chocolates, are eaten little by little.
This is wrong, thought the smart dog Sonya. “That’s right, it’s when it’s the other way around: tasty - a lot, and tasteless - a little bit.
”
Ivana Ivanych's owner was the same as everyone else: he threw a small piece of butter into a large bowl of porridge, and put a thin slice of sausage on a thick piece of bread.
Sonya would have done things differently in his place: she would have put a small piece of porridge in a large plate of butter, and would have eaten sausage or jam without bread at all!
Sonya remembered all the delicious things she had tried in her life and licked her lips.
“But there's probably something else very, very tasty that I haven't tried,” she suddenly thought. Something that they eat quite a bit (after all, the tastier the thing, the less they eat it)…”
And then smart Sonya remembered: mustard!
- Ah-ah! she rejoiced. How could I not have guessed!
Ivan Ivanych took out a little bit of mustard - at the very tip of a knife, then carefully spread it on bread - and, closing his eyes, put it in his mouth. Then he would say: “Ah-ah-ah…” and, shaking his head in pleasure, would pounce on sour cabbage soup and other tasteless things, as if they were chocolate marmalade.
Sonya took a green jar out of the refrigerator, unscrewed the lid and, having scooped up a full large spoonful of mustard, resolutely put it into her mouth.
“Ahh,” said Sonya, closing her eyes. And then she felt that she had swallowed a hedgehog, a poisonous snake and a hot iron at once...
— Oh-oh-oh! she screamed and began to rush around the apartment, overturning everything in her path.
Everything in her mouth burned and blazed.
"Maybe I turned into a fire-breathing dragon?" Sonya thought with horror.
She wanted to look at herself in the mirror, but she rushed past with such speed that she could only see the tip of her tail in it.
“We need to urgently put something out!” Sonya thought suddenly. And rushed to the plate of water.
First she drank all the water. Then she began to stew porridge. Then yesterday's potatoes. Then she swallowed the remains of sour cabbage soup and half a loaf of black bread…
Finally the fire went out.
Sticking out her swollen tongue, Sonya sat in front of the mirror and thought about the unfortunate Ivan Ivanovich. Now she knew why he was eating that terrible mustard.
“After such a nasty thing,” thought Sonya the dog, “the most sour cabbage soup in the world seems to be tastier than cherry jam!”
How Sonya arranged fishing
Dog Sonya was interested in a variety of questions. Why, for example, is sugar sweet and salt salty? Or why do people go to work? Or where do sausages grow?
The owner thought Sonya's questions were stupid, although he could not answer any of them.
"Stupid question," he said. Sugar is sweet because it is sugar. Clear?
— What if it were salt? Sonya asked.
Ivan Ivanovich was angry and made no answer.
But the more he did not answer, the more questions Sonya had.
One day she suddenly became interested in where the tap water comes from.
"Stupid question," said Ivan Ivanovich.
- It's clear from where - from the pipe.
— And where in the pipe?
- And in the pipe - from the river.
— And in the river?
- In the river - from the sea.
— And at sea?
- From the ocean, where else.
Sonya clearly imagined how water flows from the ocean into the sea, from the sea into the river, from the river into the pipe, and from the pipe straight into the faucet! — and she really liked it.
“But if the water flows from the river,” Sonya suddenly thought, and there are fish in the river, then it means that it flows along with the fish…
I can arrange excellent fishing!”
When Ivan Ivanovich left for work, she took a net out of the closet, turned on the faucet in the bathroom and waited...
“I wonder who I'll catch,” Sonya thought. It would be nice to have a whale!”
She waited and waited, but the whale did not appear from the crane...
“Of course,” Sonya thought, the crane is too narrow for whales.
But I’ll catch gobies and sprats for sure!”
But, for some reason, bull-calves and sprats didn't show up either.
“Perhaps they look out of the faucet, see that I am here, and hide back. That's cunning!" thought Sonya.
“Nothing. You are cunning, and I am more cunning!” - Sonya plugged the bath with a cork so that the sprats would not leak to the second floor, crumbled bread into it and went about her business.
About ten minutes later there was a terrible noise and splashing in the bathroom.
“That’s right, whale!” thought Sonya and, grabbing the net, ran into the bathroom.
The river was rapidly flowing over the edge and overflowing into the lake… But there was neither a whale nor the smallest sprat in it.
Only Ivan Ivanych's rubber slippers swayed lonely on the wave.
“Where did all the fish go? thought Sonya, wringing out the doormat. “It can’t be that she doesn’t exist at all. At least ten fish are left in the river!…”
Sonya imagined ten small fishes swimming down the river, then swimming into the pipe, then climbing up it.
..
“Ah! smart Sonya guessed. - Well, of course ... they go upstairs, and there they are caught! First they are caught on the twelfth floor, then on the eleventh, then on the tenth, then on the ninth ... And then nothing remains for us on the third!
All day Sonya was thinking about those greedy people upstairs who catch all the fish themselves and leave nothing to others, and came to the conclusion that fishing in the apartment is useless.
“Maybe they have fishing up there,” she thought angrily. “And here we have one flood!”
Wallpaper
One day Ivan Ivanych decided to make repairs. (Repair is when chairs, cabinets, sofas and other things are dragged from the room to the hallway, from the hallway to the kitchen, then back to the hallway, then back to the room ... And at this time you are locked in the bathroom so as not to interfere under feet!)
Ivan Ivanych whitewashed the ceiling, painted the window sills and papered the room with new light green wallpaper.
"Now that's different," he said, looking around the room contently.
But Sonya definitely didn't like the room, especially the wallpaper.
The old ones were much better. Firstly, they were painted yellow flowers, which, although they did not smell, it was very interesting to look at them. Secondly, the wallpaper was torn in several places, and shreds stuck out of them, as if someone's ears were growing from the wall (Sonya slowly pulled them, hoping to eventually pull out a hare or a donkey). And finally, in the corner there was a large mysterious spot, similar to an alien, with whom Sonya sometimes liked to talk.
There was nothing like that - no flowers, no ears, no stains - on the new wallpaper: a solid green wall, on which there was nothing to look at! ...
Half a day Sonya wandered around the room until a great idea came to her mind. She quickly took out a can of orange slices, which contained colored pencils, and set to work.
On one wall, Sonya drew a big, big sea with waves and seagulls flying high, just under the ceiling.
The second wall turned into a meadow where flowers, butterflies, ladybugs and other insects grew.
On the third side Sonya wanted to draw a wild mysterious forest... But there was already a cupboard there.
And it would be absolutely stupid to draw on the window: what kind of wild forest is this, in which the Produkty store is visible, red flags hang and which the janitor Sedov sweeps?!
Sighing, Sonya put away her pencils. Then she took a pillow, sat down in the middle of the room and imagined that she was alone on the coast of a desert island...
— What is it? she suddenly heard a familiar voice, and opened her eyes.
Ivan Ivanych stood by the wall and touched the wave with his finger.
“This is the sea,” Sonya said.
- I'm asking you, who gave you permission to ruin the wallpaper? asked Ivan Ivanovich angrily. And without waiting for an answer, he sent Sonya into a corner.
"Why 'spoil'?" - thought the dog Sonya, looking at the drawings.
She hated to stand in the corner. But it turned out to be very interesting to stand in this corner: on one side you could see the edge of the sea, and on the other, a beautiful meadow with flowers and butterflies ...
“After all, I didn’t draw in vain!” she thought.
A week later Ivan Ivanovich again covered the room with new wallpaper. Just as clean and uninteresting.
But now Sonya knew that somewhere behind them bees were buzzing and grasshoppers were chirping, birds were singing and the sea was roaring.
How Sonya learned to read
Ivan Ivanych had a lot of books in his apartment. Twelve, or eighteen, or a whole hundred. (One hundred is such a figure that even Ivan Ivanovich rarely counted; and Sonya could only reach ten.)0007
“And why are they gathering dust!” - Sonya thought one day and asked the owner to teach her to read.
"Good," said Ivan Ivanovich. “But first you have to learn all the letters. There are thirty-three of them in the alphabet: A, B, C, D, D, E, and so on.
Clear?
- Ah! said Sonya the dog. - Af! Buff! Gaff! Daph! Eph! Sodaleeph!…
— Phew! Ivan Ivanovich sighed when Sonya finally learned all the letters correctly. “And now,” he said, let’s try to read. Which word will we learn first?
"Sausages," Sonya said.
- The word sausage consists of seven letters: Se, O, Se, I, Se, Ke, I. It turns out: sausages.
— Are the sausages big or small? Sonya asked.
“It doesn't matter,” said the owner. - Repeat.
- Se, O, Se, I, Se, Ke, I ... It turns out: sausages, Sonya repeated and thought: “How is it not important? It's very important!"
"And here's the word elephant," Ivan Ivanovich pointed out. - Consists of four letters: Se, Le, O, Ne. It turns out: an elephant.
- Se, Le, O, Ne, - Sonya repeated and thought: “That means they are big. If the elephant is only four letters, and the sausages are seven ... Just gigantic!
Sonya tried to imagine seven-letter sausages, but she didn't even have the imagination.
"Here's the cat," continued Ivan Ivanovich. - Consists of five letters: Ke, O, She, Ke, A ... Repeat.
— What nonsense! Sonya the dog was outraged. “Where has it been seen that a cat is bigger than an elephant!”
“The cat is not bigger than the elephant, but the word cat is bigger than the word elephant,” the owner explained.
“So those are the wrong words,” Sonya said. “If there are five letters in a cat, then there must be at least fifty-five in an elephant!”
— How is that? Ivan Ivanovich was surprised.
“Yes,” said Sonya. — Slo-slo-slo-slo-slo-slo-slo-slo-…
— Enough! shouted Ivan Ivanovich in fright.
Although the words were incorrect, Sonya soon learned to read them quite correctly.
Except for one word. Cat.
Sonya read instead: Af! Af! Af!
How Sonya lost everything in the world
One day Ivan Ivanych went to the store, and ordered Sonya to sit and wait for him at the entrance.
Sonya sat, sat, waited, waited, and suddenly thought:
“Why am I waiting for him here? Since he entered through the entrance, he must exit through the exit!” and ran towards the exit.
She sat, sat, waited, waited - but the owner did not come out.
“Of course,” clever Sonya thought. “Why would he go through the exit if he left me at the entrance?” and ran back to the entrance.
But Ivan Ivanych was not at the entrance.
“Strange,” thought clever Sonya. “He probably didn’t find me and went back to the store!” and ran to the store. She sniffed all the counters and barked at all the queues, but she did not find Ivan Ivanovich.
“Understood,” said clever Sonya. - Probably, while I'm looking for him here, he's looking for me at the exit!
But again there was no one at the exit.
“Oh-oh-oh! thought Sonya. “It seems that Ivan Ivanovich is lost.”
She looked around in confusion and suddenly saw the sign "Lost and Found".
“Excuse me,” she said to the old woman who was sitting behind the partition.
My owner has disappeared.
“The hosts don't bring us in,” said the old woman. - Here is a suitcase or a watch - that's another matter. Have you lost your watch?
— No, said Sonya. - I do not have them.
“It's a pity,” said the old woman. — If you had a watch and you lost it, we would definitely find it. As for the owner, contact the police.
Sonya left the bureau terribly upset and immediately saw a policeman: he was standing at the crossroads and whistling piercingly.
“Af-af, comrade sergeant,” Sonya turned to him, “my master has disappeared.
The policeman was so surprised that he even stopped whistling.
— What is the name, patronymic, surname of the missing person? he asked, taking out his notepad.
"Ivan Ivanovich..." Sonya was confused. I didn't ask for my last name.
“Bad,” said the policeman. - Do you know where he lives?
- I know! Sonya rejoiced. — We live…
And then Sonya realized that together with the owner she had lost everything: the apartment, the house, the street… and everything in the world!
“I don't know…” she said, almost crying.
What should I do?
“Put an ad in the evening newspaper,” the policeman advised her and showed her the house where the editorial office was located.
- What have you lost? - Sonya was asked in the window with the inscription: I will find (there were three more windows nearby: I will buy, sell and lose).
“That's it,” Sonya said. - Write: Little dog Sonya lost her owner Ivan Ivanych along with a beautiful one-room apartment, a twelve-story brick house, a cozy courtyard with a flower bed, a playground, a trash can and a fence under which she was buried ... Under which she was buried, do not write. You never know who gets into their heads! Sonya said. - And also a large street with a grocery store, an ice cream stall, a janitor Sedov with ...
- Enough! they said at the window. - There is not enough room for everything.
There was very little space in the newspaper, and the announcement turned out to be quite short:
“The little dog Sonya is lost.
Promised reward.
In the evening Ivan Ivanovich ran to the editorial office.
— To whom is the reward? he asked, looking around.
- Me! said Sonya the dog modestly. And I got a whole jar of cherry jam at home.
Sonya was very pleased and even wanted to get lost one more time... But she learned the owner's name and address by heart. Because without it, you can really lose everything in the world.
How Sonya turned into a tree
Autumn has come. The flowers on the lawn withered, the cats hid in the cellars, and large wet puddles appeared in the yard.
Along with the weather, Ivan Ivanovich also deteriorated. He told all passers-by that Sonya had dirty paws (because of which no one wanted to play with her). Moreover, after each walk, he drove Sonya into the bath and washed her there with shampoo. (This is such a disgusting thing, after which it stings terribly, and foam comes out of the mouth.)
And once the dog Sonya discovered that the locker in which the jam was stored was locked.
This angered her so much that Sonya decided to run away from home forever ...
In the evening, when they were walking with Ivan Ivanovich in the park, she ran away to the farthest end of the park. But I didn't know what to do next.
It was cold and dreary all around.
Sonya sat down under a tree and began to think.
"It's good to be a tree," she thought. Trees are big and not afraid of the cold. If I were a tree, I would also live on the street and never come back home.”
Then a wet and cold beetle fell on her nose.
— Brr! - Sonya shuddered and suddenly thought: "Maybe I'm becoming a tree, since the bugs are crawling on me?"
Then the wind blew... And a big maple leaf fell on her head. Behind him is another. The third one…
“That's right, Sonya thought. "I'm starting to turn into a tree!"
Soon the dog Sonya was strewn with leaves like a small bush.
Having warmed up, she began to dream about how she would grow big, big: like a birch, or an oak, or something else.
..
“I wonder what kind of tree I will grow up to be? she thought. - It would be nice, some edible: for example, an apple tree or, better, a cherry ... I will pick cherries from myself and eat. If I want to, I’ll make myself a whole bucket of jam and I’ll also eat as much as I want!”
Then Sonia imagined that she was a big beautiful cherry, and below, under her, little Ivan Ivanovich was standing and talking.
"Sonya," he says, "give me some cherries." “I won’t,” she tells him. “Why did you hide the jam from me in the closet?!”
— So-nya!… So-nya! heard nearby.
“Aha! thought Sonya. “I wanted cherries ... It would be nice if I had a couple more branches with sausages!”
Soon Ivan Ivanovich appeared between the trees. So sad that Sonya even felt sorry for him.
"I wonder if he recognizes me or not?" she thought, and suddenly, two paces away, she saw a nasty crow, looking suspiciously in her direction.
Sonya hated crows and imagined with horror how this crow would sit on her head or even build a nest on her, and then start pecking at her sausages.
- Shh! Sonya waved her branches. And from a big cherry-sausage tree, she turned into a little trembling dog.
The first large flakes of snow were falling outside the window.
Sonya lay cuddled up to a warm radiator and thought: about the frosts announced on the radio, about cats that like to climb trunks, and about the fact that trees have to sleep standing up... But for some reason she was very sorry that she was never able to become a real tree.
The water murmured softly in the battery, spring-like.
“Probably it's just the weather… not the season,” thought Sonya the dog as she fell asleep. “Well, nothing ... let's wait until spring!”
What happened next?
Sonya really enjoyed reading books. But she really didn't like the fact that all books ended the same way: The End.
— And what happened next? Sonya asked. - When the wolf's belly was torn open and Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother got out of there alive and unharmed?
— Then?… — the owner thought.
“My grandmother must have made her a wolf coat.”
— And then?
“And then…” Ivan Ivanovich wrinkled his forehead, “then the prince married Little Red Riding Hood, and they lived happily ever after.
- And then?
- I don't know. Leave me alone! Ivan Ivanovich got angry. “There was nothing after that!
Sonya resentfully went to her corner and thought.
“How so,” she thought. - It can not be that then nothing, nothing happened! Was there anything after that?!”
One day, rummaging through Ivan Ivanych's desk (this is the most interesting place in the world except for the refrigerator), Sonya found a large red folder on which was written:
"Stupid dog Sonya,
or Good manners
for small dogs»
— Is this really about me? she wondered.
— But why is it stupid? Sonya was offended. She crossed out the word stupid, wrote smart, and sat down to read the stories.
For some reason the last story turned out to be unfinished.
— And what happened next? Sonya asked when Ivan Ivanovich returned home.
— Then?… — he thought. - Then the dog Sonya won first place in the Miss Mongrel contest and received a gold chocolate medal.
- That's good! Sonya rejoiced. - And then?
- And then she had puppies: two black, two white and one red.
— Oh, how interesting! Well, then?
— And then the owner got so angry that she climbed into his table without permission and pestered him with stupid questions that he took a big one…
— No! cried the smart dog Sonya. - It didn't happen after that. All. End.
- Well, that's great! said Ivan Ivanovich, satisfied. And moving closer to the desk, he finished the last story like this:0007
- Well, that's great! said Ivan Ivanovich, satisfied. And moving closer to the desk, he finished the last story like this:
— WHAT HAPPENED THEN? asked the smart dog Sonya from under the sofa.
- Ah! said Sonya the dog. - Af! Buff! Gaff! Daph! Eph! Sodaleeph!…
— Phew! Ivan Ivanovich sighed when Sonya finally learned all the letters correctly.
“And now,” he said, let’s try to read. Which word will we learn first?
"Sausages," Sonya said.
- The word sausage consists of seven letters: Se, O, Se, I, Se, Ke, I. It turns out: sausages.
— Are the sausages big or small? Sonya asked.
“It doesn't matter,” said the owner. - Repeat.
- Se, O, Se, I, Se, Ke, I ... It turns out: sausages, Sonya repeated and thought: “How is it not important? It's very important!"
"And here's the word elephant," Ivan Ivanovich pointed out. - Consists of four letters: Se, Le, O, Ne. It turns out: an elephant.
“Se, Le, O, Ne,” Sonya repeated and thought: “That means big ones. If the elephant is only four letters, and the sausages are seven ... Just gigantic!
Sonya tried to imagine seven-letter sausages, but she didn't even have the imagination.
"Here's the cat," continued Ivan Ivanovich. - Consists of five letters: Ke, O, She, Ke, A ... Repeat.
— What nonsense! Sonya the dog was outraged.
“Where has it been seen that a cat is bigger than an elephant!”
“The cat is not bigger than the elephant, but the word cat is bigger than the word elephant,” the owner explained.
“So those are the wrong words,” said Sonya. “If there are five letters in a cat, then there must be at least fifty-five in an elephant!”
— How is that? Ivan Ivanovich was surprised.
“Yes,” said Sonya. — Slo-slo-slo-slo-slo-slo-slo-slo-…
— Enough! shouted Ivan Ivanovich in fright.
Although the words were incorrect, Sonya soon learned to read them quite correctly.
Except for one word. Cat.
Sonya read instead: Af! Af! Af!
Tyoma and Zhuchka - Garin-Mikhailovsky, read online
Night. The subject sleeps nervously and excitedly...
The obscure half-light of the night lamp faintly illuminates four children's beds and the fifth large one, on which the nanny now sits, in one shirt, with a scythe released, sits and sleepily shakes little Anya.
- Nanny, where is the Bug? Tom asks.
— And, — replies the nanny, — Some Herod threw a bug into an old well. - And after a pause, he adds: - If only he had killed first, otherwise, alive ... All day, they say, she squealed, cordial ...
Tyoma vividly imagines an old, abandoned well in the corner of the garden, sewage, its sliding liquid bottom appears, which sometimes with Ioska they liked to illuminate by throwing ignited paper into it.
— Who quit? Tom asks.
— Why, who? Will he say!
Tyoma listens with horror to the nurse's words. Thoughts swarm in his head, he flashes a lot of plans on how to save the Bug, he moves from one incredible project to another and, imperceptibly, falls asleep again. He wakes up again from some kind of shock in the midst of an interrupted dream, in which he kept pulling out the Beetle with some long loop. But the Beetle was interrupted until he decided to climb after her himself. Tyoma clearly remembers how he tied a rope to a post and, holding on to this rope, began to carefully descend the log house; he had already reached halfway when his feet suddenly slipped, and he flew headlong to the bottom of the stinking well.
He woke up from this fall and shuddered again when he remembered the impressions of the fall.
The dream stood before him with amazing clarity. Dawn glimmered faintly through the shutters.
Tyoma felt a kind of painful languor all over his body, but, having overcome his weakness, he decided to immediately complete the first half of the dream. He began to dress quickly... He went up to the nanny's bed, picked up a box of sulfur matches lying on the floor, took a handful of them into his pocket, tiptoed through the nursery and went out into the dining room. Thanks to the glass door to the terrace, it was already fairly light here.
The usual morning disorder reigned in the dining room: there was a cold samovar on the table, dirty glasses, cups, pieces of bread were lying on the tablecloth, there was a cold dish of roast with congealed white fat.
Tyoma went to a separate table on which a pile of newspapers lay, carefully pulled out several numbers from the middle, went on tiptoe to the glass door and quietly, so as not to make noise, turned the key, pressed the handle and went out onto the terrace.
He was doused with the fresh dampness of dawn.
The day was just beginning. Across the pale blue sky, shaggy fluffy clouds hung here and there, as if in tatters. Mist hung over the garden. The terrace was empty, and only the mother's handkerchief, forgotten on the bench, lay alone...
He went down the steps of the terrace into the garden. The same disorder of yesterday reigned in the garden as in the dining-room. Flowers with their upturned leaves stuck together, as the rain nailed them yesterday, bent down to the dirty ground. Wet yellow paths spoke of the strength of yesterday's flows. The trees, with foliage overturned by the wind, remained tilted, as if forgotten in a sweet predawn dream.
Tyoma went along the main alley, because in the carriage house he had to take the reins for looping. As for the poles, he decided to pull them out of the arbor... The carriage house turned out to be locked, but Tyoma knew how to get into it even without a lock: he bent down to the ground and crawled into the gateway undermined by dogs.
Finding himself in the barn, he took two reins and grabbed, just in case, a long rope that served to dry the laundry.
Looking at the lantern, he thought that it would be more convenient to illuminate the well with a lantern than with paper, because the burning paper could fall on the Beetle and burn it.
Getting out of the barn, Tyoma chose the shortest way to the gazebo - he climbed right over the wall separating the backyard from the garden. He took a lantern in his teeth, wound the reins around his neck, tied himself with a rope and climbed onto the wall. He was a master climber, but today it was difficult to climb: two hammers sounded like hammers on his head, and he almost fell.
Climbing up, he sat down for a moment, panting, then dangled his legs and bent down to choose a place to jump. He saw solid grape bushes under him and only now realized that he would be splashed all over when he hit the freshly soaked foliage. He looked back, but, cherishing time, he decided to jump.
He nevertheless outlined with his eyes a rarer place and jumped straight onto a blackened piece of earth. Nevertheless, this did not save him from splashes, since he had to make his way between solid bushes of the vineyard, and he went out onto the path completely wet. This cold bath instantly refreshed him, and he felt so vigorous and healthy that he set off at a trot to the gazebo, climbed quickly up the hill, pulled out several of the longest rods, and with long steps went down the slope of the mountain ...
Running up to the opening of an old, abandoned well, sticking out desertedly in a deaf, overgrown area only with tall grass, Tyoma called in an undertone:
— Bug, Bug!
Tyoma froze, waiting for an answer.
At first he heard nothing but the beating of his heart and the blows of hammers in his head. But from somewhere far away, from below, a plaintive, drawn-out groan reached him. From this groan, Tyoma's heart contracted painfully, and a loud cry burst out from him:
- Bug, Bug!
This time the Beetle, recognizing the owner's voice, squealed joyfully and plaintively.
Tyoma was moved to tears that Zhuchka recognized him.
- Dear Bug! Honey, honey, I'll get you out now! he shouted to her, as if she understood him.
The bug answered with a new joyful squeal, and it seemed to Tyoma that she was asking him to hurry up with the fulfillment of his promise.
“Now, Bug, now,” Tyoma answered her and, with the consciousness of all the responsibility of his obligation to Bug, to fulfill his dream.
First of all, he decided to find out the situation. He felt alert and energized, as always.
The disease has disappeared somewhere. To tie a lantern, light it, lower it into the pit was a matter of one minute.
Tyoma, bending down, began to peer.
The lantern dimly illuminated the darkened frame of the well, getting lost deeper and deeper in the darkness that enveloped it, and finally illuminated the bottom at a depth of three yards.
A thin, deep slit of some distant panorama gently sparkled in front of Tyoma in the infinite depths of darkness, the motionless, transparent, like a mirror, smooth surface of a smelly surface, closely overgrown on all sides with the slimy walls of a half-rotten log house.
Some kind of horror of death smelled on him from the bottom of this distant, gently glowing, terrible surface. He definitely felt her touch on him and shuddered for his Bug.
With a sinking heart, he noticed a black moving dot in the corner and barely recognized, or rather guessed, in this helpless figure his once frisky, cheerful Beetle, now holding on to the ledge of the log house. There was no time to waste. From fear, whether the Bugs will have enough strength to wait until he cooks everything, Tema's energy doubled. He quickly pulled the lantern back, and so that the Beetle would not think, finding herself again in the darkness, that he had abandoned her, Tyoma shouted all the time of preparation:0007
- Bug, Bug, I'm here!
And he was glad that the Beetle answered him constantly with the same joyful squeal. Finally everything was ready. With the help of the reins, the lantern and two poles with a crossbar at the bottom, on which the noose lay, began to slowly descend into the well.
But this so thoroughly thought out plan suffered an unexpected and unforeseen fiasco thanks to the swiftness of the Beetle, which ruined everything.
The bug apparently understood only one side of the idea, namely that the projectile that descended was intended to save her, and therefore, as soon as it reached her, she made an attempt to grab onto it with her paws. This touch was enough to make the loop jump off, and the Beetle, having lost its balance, fell into the mud.
She began to flounder, screeching frantically and searching in vain for the ledge she had left.
The thought that he worsened the situation, that Zhuchka could still be saved and now he himself is to blame for her death, that he himself arranged the death of his favorite, makes Tyoma, without thinking, since the plan is ready, decide to carry out the second part of the dream is to go down into the well yourself.
He ties the rein to one of the uprights supporting the crossbar and climbs into the well.
He is aware of only one thing, that there is not a second to lose time.
The stench and stench filled him. For a moment, fear creeps into the soul, as if not to suffocate, but he remembers that the Beetle has been sitting there for a whole day; this calms him down and he descends further. With his descending leg, he carefully feels a new support for himself and, having found it, first tries it, then rests and lowers the next leg.
Having reached the place where the abandoned pole and lantern got stuck, he strengthens the lantern, unties the end of the reins and descends further. The stench still makes itself felt and again disturbs and frightens him. Darkness begins to breathe through his mouth. The result is brilliant: there is no stench, fear finally disappears. Good news from below. The bug, having already sat down again in its former place, has calmed down and, with a cheerful squeak, expresses sympathy for the insane enterprise.
This calmness and firm confidence of Bugs are transferred to the boy, and he safely reaches the bottom.
A touching rendezvous of friends takes place between him and Bug, who no longer hoped to see each other again in this world. He leans over, strokes her, she licks his fingers, and—since experience forces her to be prudent—she does not move, but instead she squeals so touchingly, so tenderly, that Tyoma is ready to cry...
Wasting no time, he , carefully holding the fouled rein with his teeth, he ties the Beetle with its free end, then hurriedly climbs up. The bug, seeing such a betrayal, raises a desperate squeal, but this screech only encourages Tyoma to rise faster.
But going up is harder than going down! We need air, we need strength, and Tyoma has not enough of both. He convulsively catches the air of the well with all his lungs, rushes forward, and the more he hurries, the sooner his strength leaves.
Tyoma raises his head, looks up into the distant clear sky, sees somewhere high above him a small cheerful bird galloping carelessly along the edge of the well, and his heart shrinks with longing: he feels that he will not make it
Fear seizes him.
He stops in confusion, not knowing what to do: scream, cry, call for mom? A feeling of loneliness, impotence, the consciousness of death creeps into his soul...
— Don't be afraid, don't be afraid! he says in a voice trembling with fear. - It's a shame to be afraid! Cowards are only afraid. Whoever does bad things is afraid, but I don’t do bad things: I pull out the Bug, both mom and dad will praise me for this. Dad was in the war, it's scary there, but is it really scary here? There is not a bit of fear here. I’ll rest and climb again, so I’ll get out, then I’ll pull out the Bug. The bug will be happy, everyone will be surprised how I pulled it out.
Tyoma speaks loudly, his voice grows stronger, sounds more energetic, firmer, and finally calmed down, he continues to climb further.
When he feels that he is starting to get tired again, he again says loudly to himself:
— Now I'll rest again and then I'll climb again. And when I get out and tell how funny I was shouting at myself, everyone will laugh, and so will I.
Tyoma smiles and again calmly waits for a surge of strength.
Thus, imperceptibly, his head finally protrudes above the upper frame of the well. He makes the last effort: he gets out himself and pulls out the Beetle.
Now that the job is done, his strength quickly leaves him.
Feeling himself on solid ground, the Bug vigorously shakes himself, frantically throws himself on Tyoma's chest and licks him right on the lips. But this is not enough, too little to express all her gratitude - she throws herself again and again. She goes into a kind of crazy frenzy.
Tyoma weakly, with weakening hands, waves her off, turns his back on her, hoping by this maneuver to save at least his face from sticky, smelly dirt.
Preoccupied with one thought — not to get his face dirty about the Beetle — Tyoma doesn't notice anything, but suddenly his eyes accidentally fall on the cemetery wall, and Tyoma freezes in place.
He sees someone's black, terrible head slowly rising from behind the wall.
