Сказки / Fairy Tales. Уровень 1

Then the Elephant’s Child said through his nose, which was now nearly five feet long,

‘This is too much for me!’

Then the Python came down from the bank, and knotted himself round the Elephant’s Child’s

hind legs, and said,

‘Rash and inexperienced traveller, we must pull harder, because if we do not, this creature will vitiate your future career.’

So he pulled, and the Elephant’s Child pulled, and the Crocodile pulled. But the Elephant’s Child and the Python pulled hardest; and at last the Crocodile let the Elephant’s Child’s nose go.

Then the Elephant’s Child sat down and said ‘Thank you’ to the Python. Next he wrapped his poor nose up in cool banana leaves, and threw it in the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo river to cool.

‘What do you do?’ asked the Python.

‘Excuse me,’ said the Elephant’s Child, ‘but my nose is out of shape. It must shrink.’

‘Then you will wait a long time,’ said the Python. ‘Some people do not know what is good for them.’

The Elephant’s Child sat there for three days. But his nose did not shrink. It never grew any shorter. The Crocodile pulled it out into a real trunk same as all Elephants have today.

At the end of the third day a fly came and stung him on the shoulder. The Elephant’s Child lifted up his trunk and killed that fly with the end of it.

‘Advantage number one!’ said the Python. ‘You could not do that with an ordinary nose. Try more now.’

The Elephant’s Child plucked a large bundle of grass, and stuffed it into his own mouth.

‘Advantage number two!’ said the Python. ‘You could not do that with an ordinary nose. Try more! Don’t you think the sun is very hot here?’

‘It is,’ said the Elephant’s Child, and he took some mud from the banks of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo, and slapped it on his head, where it made a cool mud-cap behind his ears.

‘Advantage number three!’ said the Python. ‘You could not do that with an ordinary nose. Try more! Do you still want to be spanked?’

‘Excuse me,’ said the Elephant’s Child, ‘but I don’t like it at all.’

‘Do you want to spank anybody then?’ asked the Python.

‘Very much indeed!’ said the Elephant’s Child.

‘Well,’ said the Python, ‘that new nose of yours is very useful to spank somebody.’

‘Thank you,’ said the Elephant’s Child, ‘I’ll remember that; and now I think I’ll go home to see my dear family and try.’

So the Elephant’s Child went home across Africa. When he wanted fruit to eat he pulled fruit down from a tree. When he wanted grass he plucked grass up from the ground. When the flies bit him he took the branch of a tree and used it as a fly-whisk. And he made himself a new, cool, mud-cap whenever the sun was hot. When he felt lonely he sang to himself down his trunk, and the noise was very loud. He went to the broad Hippopotamus, and he spanked her very hard. The Python spoke the truth about his new trunk!

One dark evening he came back to his family, and he coiled up his trunk and said,

‘How do you do?’

They were very glad to see him, and immediately said,

‘Come here and we will spank you for your insatiable curiosity.’

‘Pooh,’ said the Elephant’s Child. ‘I don’t think you can do it. But I can, and I’ll show you.’

Then he uncurled his trunk and hit two of his brothers.

‘Oh!’ said they, ‘where did you learn that trick? And what is that with your nose?’

‘I got a new one from the Crocodile on the banks of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River,’ said the Elephant’s Child. ‘I asked him what he had for dinner, and he gave me this.’

‘It looks very ugly,’ said his hairy uncle, the Baboon.

‘It does,’ said the Elephant’s Child. ‘But it’s very useful,’ and he picked up his hairy uncle, the Baboon, by one hairy leg, and threw him into a hornet’s nest.

Then that Elephant’s Child spanked all his relatives for a long time. They were greatly astonished. He pulled out his tall Ostrich aunt’s tail-feathers. He caught his tall uncle, the Giraffe, by the hind-leg, and dragged him through a thorn-bush. He shouted at his broad aunt, the Hippopotamus, and blew bubbles into her ear. But he never let anyone touch^[16] Kolokolo Bird.

At last his relatives went off in a hurry to the banks of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River, to the fever-trees, to get new noses from the Crocodile. When they came back nobody spanked anybody any more. And ever since that day, all the Elephants have trunks precisely like the trunk of the insatiable Elephant’s Child.

Adventures of an old Kangaroo

Not always was the Kangaroo like this. It was a different animal with four short legs. He was grey and he was woolly. His pride was inordinate: he danced on an outcrop in the middle of Australia, and he went to the Little God Nqa^[17].

He went to Nqa at six before breakfast and said,

‘Make me different from all other animals by five this afternoon.’

Nqa jumped up from his seat on the sand and shouted,

‘Go away!’

The Kangaroo was grey and he was woolly, and his pride was inordinate: he danced on a rock-ledge in the middle of Australia, and he went to the Middle God Nquing^[18].

He went to Nquing at eight after breakfast and said,

‘Make me different from all other animals; make me, also, wonderfully popular by five this afternoon.’

Nquing jumped up from his burrow and shouted,

‘Go away!’

The Kangaroo was grey and he was woolly, and his pride was inordinate: he danced on a sandbank in the middle of Australia, and he went to the Big God Nqong^[19].

He went to Nqong at ten before dinner-time and said,

‘Make me different from all other animals; make me popular and famous by five this afternoon.’

Nqong jumped up from his bath in the salt-pan^[20]and shouted,

‘Yes, I will!’

Nqong called Dingo – yellow dog Dingo – always hungry, dusty in the sunshine, and showed him Kangaroo. Nqong said,

‘Dingo! Wake up, Dingo! Do you see that Kangaroo who liked to dance? He wants to be popular and famous. Dingo, make him so!’

Dingo jumped up – yellow dog Dingo – and said,

‘What, that rabbit?’

Dingo ran off – yellow dog Dingo – always hungry – ran after^[21] Kangaroo.

The proud Kangaroo went off on his four little legs like a bunny.

This is the end of the first part of the tale!

The Kangaroo ran through the desert; he ran through the mountains; he ran through the salt-pans. He ran through the forests; he ran through the valleys; he ran till his front legs ached.

Still ran Dingo – yellow dog Dingo – always hungry – ran after Kangaroo.

He had to!

The Kangaroo ran through the trees; he ran through the swaps; he ran through the long grass; he ran through the short grass; he ran through the tropics; he ran till his hind legs ached.

He had to!

Still ran Dingo – yellow dog Dingo – hungrier and hungrier; and they came to the Wollgong River^[22].

Now, there wasn’t any bridge, and there wasn’t any ferry-boat, and Kangaroo didn’t know how to get over; so he stood on his legs and hopped.

He had to!

He hopped through the valleys; he hopped through the deserts in the middle of Australia. He hopped like a Kangaroo.

First he hopped one yard; then he hopped three yards; then he hopped five yards. His legs grew stronger; his legs grew longer. He hadn’t any time for rest or refreshment, and he wanted them very much.

Still ran Dingo – yellow dog Dingo – very much bewildered, very much hungry. Dingo was very much surprised. Because the Kangaroo hopped like a cricket; like a pea in a saucepan; or a new rubber ball on a nursery floor.

He had to!

He tucked up his front legs; he hopped on his hind legs. He stuck out his tail for a balance-weight behind him; and he hopped through the plain.

He had to!

Still ran Dingo – tired dog Dingo – hungrier and hungrier, very much bewildered.

Then came Nqong from his bath in the salt-pans, and said,

‘It’s five o’clock.’

Dingo sat down – poor dog Dingo – always hungry, dusky in the sunshine. Dingo hung out his tongue and howled.

Kangaroo sat down – old Kangaroo – stuck out his tail like a stool behind him, and said,

‘Thank goodness that is the end!’

Then said Nqong,

‘Why aren’t you grateful to yellow dog Dingo? Why don’t you thank him?’

Then said Kangaroo – tired Kangaroo,

‘Why thank him? He chased me out of the homes of my childhood. He altered my shape. I’ll never get it back. He distorted my legs. And I can’t eat because of him.’

Then said Nqong,

‘Perhaps I’m wrong, but didn’t you ask me to make you different from all other animals? And now it is five o’clock.’

‘Yes,’ said Kangaroo. ‘I waited for your charms and incantations, but you just laughed at me.’

‘Laughed!’ said Nqong from his bath in the blue gums. ‘Say that again and I’ll whistle up Dingo!’

‘No,’ said the Kangaroo. ‘I must apologize. Legs are legs, and I need them. I only mean to explain to You that I have nothing to eat now. I’m very hungry.’

‘Yes,’ said Dingo – yellow dog Dingo,

‘I am just in the same situation. I made him different from all other animals; but what may I have for my tea?’

Then said Nqong from his bath in the salt-pan,

‘Come and ask me about it tomorrow, because I want to bathe.’

So they stayed in the middle of Australia, Old Kangaroo and yellow dog Dingo, and each said, ‘That’s your fault.’

The beginning of the Armadillos

This is another story of the old times. In the very middle of those times was a Stickly-Prickly Hedgehog^[23]. He lived on the banks of the turbid Amazon. He ate snails. And he had a friend, a Slow Solid Tortoise, who lived on the banks of the turbid Amazon. This Slow Solid Tortoise ate green lettuces. And that was all right, do you see?

But also, and at the same time, in those old times, there was a Painted Jaguar^[24]. He lived on the banks of the turbid Amazon too; and he ate everything that he could catch. When he could not catch deer or monkeys he ate frogs and beetles. When he could not catch frogs and beetles he went to his Mother Jaguar, and she told him how to eat hedgehogs and tortoises.

She waved her tail and said to him many times,

‘My son, when you find a Hedgehog you must drop him into the water and then he will uncoil. When you catch a Tortoise you must scoop him out of his shell with your paw.’

And that was all right, do you see?

One beautiful night on the banks of the turbid Amazon, Painted Jaguar found Stickly-Prickly Hedgehog and Slow-Solid Tortoise. They sat under the trunk of a fallen tree. They could not run away, and so Stickly-Prickly curled himself up into a ball, because he was a Hedgehog. Slow Solid Tortoise drew in his head and feet into his shell, because he was a Tortoise. And that was all right, do you see?

‘Now listen to me,’ said Painted Jaguar, ‘because this is very important. My mother taught me important lessons. When I meet a Hedgehog I must drop him into the water and then he will uncoil. And when I meet a Tortoise I must scoop him out of his shell with my paw. Now which of you is Hedgehog and which is Tortoise? Because I can’t tell.’

‘Are you sure of what your Mummy told you?’ said Stickly-Prickly Hedgehog. ‘Are you quite sure? Perhaps these are her words: when you uncoil a Tortoise you must shell him out of the water with a scoop. And when you paw a Hedgehog you must drop him on the shell.’

‘Are you sure of what your Mummy told you?’ said Slow Solid Tortoise. ‘Are you quite sure? Perhaps these are her words: when you water a Hedgehog you must drop him into your paw. And when you meet a Tortoise you must shell him till he uncoils.’

‘I don’t think it was like that,’ said Painted Jaguar, but he was a little puzzled; ‘but, please, say it again more distinctly.’

‘When you scoop water with your paw you uncoil it with a Hedgehog,’ said Stickly-Prickly Hedgehog. ‘Remember that, because it’s important.’

‘But,’ said the Slow Solid Tortoise, ‘when you paw your meat you drop it into a Tortoise with a scoop. Why can’t you understand?’

‘You talk nonsense,’ said Painted Jaguar; ‘and besides, I don’t want your advice at all. I only want to know which of you is Hedgehog and which is Tortoise.’

‘I won’t tell you,’ said Stickly-Prickly Hedgehog, ‘but you can scoop me out of my shell if you like.’

‘Aha!’ said Painted Jaguar. ‘Now I know you’re Tortoise. It was easy to guess! Now I will do it.’ Painted Jaguar darted out his paddy-paw just as Stickly-Prickly curled himself up. Of course Jaguar’s paddy-paw was just filled with prickles. Worse than that, he knocked Stickly-Prickly away and away into the woods and the bushes, where it was too dark to find him. Then he put his paddy-paw into his mouth, and of course the prickles hurt him badly. As soon as he could speak he said,

‘Now I know he isn’t Tortoise at all. But’ – and then he scratched his head with his un-prickly paw – ‘how do I know that this other is Tortoise?’

‘But I am Tortoise,’ said Slow Solid Tortoise. ‘Your mother is right. She says that you must scoop me out of my shell with your paw. Begin.’

‘You didn’t say she said that a minute ago,’ said Painted Jaguar. He sucked the prickles out of his paddy-paw. ‘You said she said something quite different.’

‘Well, if you say that I said that she said something quite different, I don’t see that it makes any difference. Because if she said what you said I said she said, it’s just the same as if I said what she said she said. On the other hand, if you think she says that you must uncoil me with a scoop, and not paw me into drops with a shell, it’s not my fault.’

‘But you said you wanted to be scooped out of your shell^[25] with my paw,’ said Painted Jaguar.

‘If you think again you’ll find that I didn’t say anything about it. I say that your mother says that you must scoop me out of my shell,’ said Slow Solid Tortoise.

‘What will happen if I do?’ said the Jaguar very cautiously.

‘I don’t know, because nobody scooped me out of my shell before. But I tell you truly, if you want to see how I swim away you just need to drop me into the water.’

‘I don’t believe you,’ said Painted Jaguar. ‘You mixed up all the things my mother told me to do with the things you say yourself. Now I don’t know whether I stand on my head or my painted tail! And you come and tell me something I can understand, and it makes me more uncertain than before. What did my mother tell me? I must drop one of you two into the water. As you seem so anxious I think you are afraid of it. So jump into the turbid Amazon and be quick!’