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Boris Zhitkov - stories about animals. Read online "stories about animals" What stories did Boris Zhitkov write about animals

Jackdaw

The brother and sister had a tame jackdaw. She ate from her hands, let herself be stroked, flew free and flew back.

Once my sister began to wash. She took the ring off her hand, put it on the sink and lathered her face with soap. And when she rinsed the soap, she looked: where is the ring? But there is no ring.

She shouted to her brother:

- Give me the ring, don't tease! Why did you take it?

“I didn’t take anything,” my brother replied.

The sister quarreled with him and cried.

Grandma heard.

- What have you got here? - He speaks. - Give me glasses, now I will find this ring.

We rushed to look for glasses - no glasses.

“I just put them on the table,” the grandmother cries. - Where can they go? How am I going into a needle now?

And she screamed at the boy:

- It's your business! Why are you teasing grandma?

The boy was offended and ran out of the house. He looked - and a jackdaw was flying over the roof, and something glittered under its beak. Looked closely - yes, these are glasses! The boy hid behind a tree and began to look. And the jackdaw sat on the roof, looked around to see if anyone could see, and began to shove the glasses on the roof with its beak into the slot.

Grandmother came out onto the porch, said to the boy:

- Tell me, where are my glasses?

- On the roof! The boy said.

The grandmother was surprised. And the boy climbed onto the roof and pulled out of his grandmother's glasses. Then he pulled out the ring. And then he took out the glass, and then there are many different pieces of money.

The grandmother was delighted with the glasses, and the sister said the ring to her brother:

- Forgive me, I was thinking at you, and this is a jackdaw-thief.

And they made up with their brother.

Grandma said:

- It's all of them, jackdaws and magpies. What glitters, everything is dragged.

How an elephant saved its owner from a tiger

The Indians have tame elephants. One Hindu went with an elephant to the forest for firewood.

The forest was deaf and wild. The elephant trampled the owner's way and helped to cut down trees, and the owner loaded them onto the elephant.

Suddenly the elephant stopped obeying its owner, began to look around, shake its ears, and then raised its trunk and roared.

The owner also looked around, but did not notice anything.

He became angry with the elephant and beat him on the ears with a branch.

And the elephant bent its trunk with a hook to lift the owner onto his back. The owner thought: "I will sit on his neck - so it will be even more convenient for me to rule them."

He sat down on the elephant and began whipping the elephant over the ears with a branch. And the elephant backed up, stomped and twisted its trunk. Then he froze and became alert.

The owner raised a branch to hit the elephant with all his might, but suddenly a huge tiger jumped out of the bushes. He wanted to attack the elephant from behind and jump on its back.

But he hit the wood with his paws, the wood fell. The tiger wanted to jump another time, but the elephant had already turned, grabbed the tiger with its trunk across the belly, squeezed it like a thick rope. The tiger opened its mouth, stuck out its tongue and shook its paws.

And the elephant already lifted him up, then slammed down on the ground and began to trample with his feet.

And the elephant's legs are like pillars. And the elephant trampled the tiger into a cake. When the owner came to his senses from fear, he said:

- What a fool I am to beat an elephant! And he saved my life.

The owner took out of the bag the bread he had prepared for himself and gave it all to the elephant.

Mongoose

And here is our steamer off the island of Ceylon. I wanted to run to the shore as soon as possible, as soon as possible to find where they are sold, these animals. And suddenly a black man comes to our steamer (the people there are all black), and all the comrades surrounded him, crowd, laugh, make noise. And someone shouted: "Mongoose!" I rushed, pushed everyone apart and I see: a black man has a cage in his hands, and in it are gray animals. I was so afraid that someone would intercept that I shouted right in the face of this man:

- How many?

He even got scared at first, so I shouted. Then I understood, showed three fingers and thrust the cage into my hands. So, only three rubles, with the cage together, and not one, but two mongooses! I immediately paid off and took a deep breath: I was completely out of breath with joy. He was so glad that he forgot to ask this black man what to feed the mongoose, tame or wild. What if they bite? I caught myself, ran after the man, but his trace was gone.

I decided to find out for myself whether mongooses bite or not. I put my finger through the bars of the cage. And I didn't have time to put it in, as I already hear - it's ready: they grabbed my finger. They grabbed small paws, tenacious, with claws. Fast, fast, the mongoose bites me on the finger. But it doesn’t hurt at all - it’s on purpose, she’s acting like that. And the other is huddled in the corner of the cage and looks askance with a black shiny eye.

I rather wanted to take it in my arms, stroke this one that bites for a joke. And as soon as I opened the cage, this very mongoose is a yurk! - and already ran around the cabin. She fussed, ran on the floor, sniffed everything and quacked: krryk! crack! - like a crow. I wanted to catch her, bent down, held out my hand, and in an instant a mongoose flashed past my hand, and already in my sleeve. I raised my hand - and it's done: the mongoose is already in the bosom. She peeked out of her bosom, grunted cheerfully, and hid again. And now I hear - she is already under the arm, sneaks into the other sleeve and jumped out of the other sleeve to freedom. I wanted to stroke her and just raised my hand, when suddenly the mongoose jumped up on all four paws at once, as if there was a spring under each paw. I even pulled my hand away, as if from a shot. And the mongoose from below looked at me with cheerful eyes and again: krryk! And I looked - she herself had climbed onto my knees and then she showed her tricks: it would curl up, then instantly straighten, then the tail like a pipe, then suddenly its head would stick between its hind legs. She was playing with me so affectionately, so merrily, and then suddenly they knocked on the cabin and called me to work.

It was necessary to load about fifteen huge trunks of some Indian trees on the deck. They were gnarled, with broken branches, hollow, thick, in the bark - as they were from the forest. But from the sawn-off end it was clear how beautiful they were inside - pink, red, completely black! We put them in a heap on the deck and fastened them tightly with chains so that they would not get loose in the sea. I worked and kept thinking: “What are my mongooses? After all, I didn’t leave them anything to eat ”. I asked the black movers, the people there who came from the shore, if they knew what to feed the mongoose, but they did not understand anything and only smiled. And ours said:

- Come on whatever, she will figure out what she needs.

I begged the cook for meat, bought bananas, brought bread, a saucer of milk. He put all this in the middle of the cabin and opened the cage. He climbed onto the bed and began to look. A wild mongoose jumped out of the cage, and they, together with the manual one, rushed directly to the meat. They tore it with their teeth, grunt and grumble, lapped milk, then hand grabbed a banana and dragged it into a corner. Wild - jump! - and already next to her. I wanted to see what would happen, jumped out of bed, but it was too late: the mongooses were running back. They licked their faces, and from the banana there were only skins on the floor, like rags.

In the morning we were already at sea. I hung my whole cabin with garlands of bananas.

They swayed on ropes from the ceiling. This is for the mongoose. I'll give a little - that's enough for a long time. I released a tame mongoose, and now it ran over me, and I lay there, half-closed my eyes and motionless.

I looked - a mongoose jumped onto the shelf where there were books. Here she climbed onto the frame of the round steamer window. The frame wobbled slightly, the steamer rocked.

The mongoose settled down more firmly, looked down at me. I hid. The mongoose pushed its paw against the wall, and the frame went sideways. And at the very moment when the frame was against the banana, the mongoose jerked, jumped and grabbed the banana with both paws. She hung for a moment in the air, under the very ceiling. But the banana came off, and the mongoose hit the floor. Not! Banana splashed. The mongoose jumped on all four legs. I jumped up to look, but the mongoose was already fumbling under the bunk. A minute later she came out with a smeared muzzle. She quacked with pleasure.

Hey! I had to outweigh the bananas to the very middle of the cabin: the mongoose had already tried to climb higher on a towel. She climbed like a monkey; her paws are like pens. Tenacious, dexterous, agile. She was not afraid of me at all. I let her out on the deck for a walk in the sun. She immediately sniffed everything in a businesslike manner and ran around the deck as if she had never been anywhere else and her house was here.

But on the steamer we had our long-time master on deck. No, not the captain, but the cat. Huge, well-fed, with a brass collar. He walked importantly on the deck when it was dry. It was dry that day too. And the sun rose above the mast itself. The cat came out of the kitchen to see if everything was in order. He saw a mongoose and walked quickly, and then began to sneak cautiously. He walked along an iron pipe. She stretched across the deck. It was just at this pipe that a mongoose was scurrying about. She didn't seem to have seen the cat. And the cat was completely above her. All he could do was stretch out his paw to grab his claws into her back. He waited to get comfortable. I immediately realized what would happen now. The mongoose does not see, she has her back to the cat, she sniffs the deck as if nothing had happened; the cat has already taken aim.

I started running. But I didn't get there. The cat extended its paw. And at the same moment, the mongoose stuck its head between its hind legs, opened its mouth, croaked loudly, and set its tail - a huge fluffy tail - upside down, and it became like a lamp hedgehog that cleaned the glass. In an instant, she turned into an incomprehensible, unprecedented monster. The cat was thrown back as if from a red-hot iron.

He immediately turned and, lifting his tail with a stick, rushed away without looking back. And the mongoose, as if nothing had happened, again fussed and sniffed something on the deck. But since then, the handsome cat has rarely been seen. A mongoose on deck - you won't find a cat. His name was both "kitty-kitty" and "Vassenka". The cook lured him with meat, but the cat could not be found, even though the whole ship was searched. But the mongooses were now spinning around the kitchen; they quacked, demanded meat from the cook. Poor Vassenka only made his way to the cook's cabin at night, and the cook fed him meat. At night, when the mongooses were in the cage, it was Vaska's time.

But one night I was awakened by a scream on the deck. People shouted alarmingly, frightenedly. I dressed quickly and ran out. The fireman Fyodor shouted that he was now walking from the watch, and from these very Indian trees, from this heap, a snake crawled out and immediately hid back. What a snake - in! - a hand thick, almost two fathoms long. And so she even poked her head at him. Nobody believed Fedor, but nevertheless they looked at the Indian trees with apprehension. What if there really is a snake? Well, not as thick as an arm, but poisonous? So go here at night! Someone said: "They love warmly, they crawl into people's beds." Everyone fell silent. Suddenly everyone turned to me:

- Well, animals here, your mongooses! Well, let them ...

I was afraid that the wild would run away at night. But there was no time to think: someone had already run to my cabin and was already carrying a cage here. I opened it near the pile itself, where the trees ended and the back passages between the trunks were visible. Someone lit an electric chandelier. I saw the tame one duck into the black passage first. And wild behind her. I was afraid that their paws or tail would be pinched among these heavy logs. But it was already too late: both mongooses had gone there.

- Bring the crowbar! Someone shouted.

And Fedor was already standing with an ax. Then they all fell silent and began to listen. But nothing was heard, except for the creak of decks. Suddenly someone shouted:

- Look, look! Tail!

Fyodor swung his ax, the others shoved away further. I grabbed Fyodor by the arm. With fright, he almost hit the tail with an ax; the tail was not a snake, but a mongoose - it protruded and then retracted. Then the hind legs appeared. The legs clung to the tree. It can be seen that something was pulling the mongoose back.

- Help someone! You see, she can't do it! - shouted Fyodor.

- And then what? What a commander! - answered from the crowd.

Nobody helped, but everyone backed away, even Fedor with an ax. Suddenly the mongoose contrived; you could see how she excused herself, clinging to the decks.

She lunged and drew the serpentine tail behind her. The tail wobbled, he threw up the mongoose and banged it on the deck.

- Killed, killed! - shouted around.

But my mongoose - it was wild - instantly jumped on its feet. She held the snake by the tail, she dug into it with her sharp teeth. The snake shrank, pulled the wild again into the black passage. But the wild one rested with all her paws and pulled out the snake more and more. The snake was two fingers thick, and it beat its tail against the deck like a whip, and at the end it held a mongoose, and it was thrown from side to side. I wanted to chop off this tail, but Fedor disappeared somewhere along with the ax. His name was, but he did not respond. Everyone waited in fear for the snake's head to appear. Now is the end, and the whole snake will break out. What's this? This is not a snake head - this is a mongoose! So the tame one jumped onto the deck: it dug into the snake's neck from the side. The snake wriggled, torn, it knocked on the deck with mongooses, and they held on like leeches.

Suddenly someone shouted:

- Hit! - and hit the snake with a crowbar.

All rushed and, with what, began to thresh. I was afraid that the mongoose would be killed in the commotion. I tore off the wild one from the tail.

She was so angry that she bit my hand; she was torn and scratched. I tore off my hat and wrapped it in the face. The hand was torn off by my friend. We put them in a cage. They shouted and torn, grabbed the bars with their teeth. I tossed them a piece of meat, but they paid no attention. I put out the light in the cabin and went to burn my bitten hands with iodine.

And there, on the deck, the snake was still thrashed. Then they threw it overboard.

From that time on, everyone began to love my mongoose very much and dragged them to eat what anyone had. The tame one got to know everyone, and it was difficult to get through to her in the evening: she was always visiting someone. She briskly climbed the tackle. And once in the evening, when the electricity was already lit, the mongoose climbed onto the mast along the ropes that went from the side. Everyone admired her dexterity, looked with raised heads. But then the rope reached the mast. A bare, slippery tree went further. But the mongoose twisted its whole body and grabbed the copper pipes. They walked along the mast. They contain electrical wires to the lamp above. The mongoose quickly climbed even higher. Everyone downstairs clapped their hands. Suddenly the electrical engineer shouted:

- There are bare wires! - and ran to put out the electricity.

But the mongoose has already grabbed the bare wires with its paw. She was given an electric shock and fell from a height. They picked her up, but she was motionless.

She was still warm. I quickly carried her to the doctor's cabin. But his cabin was locked. I rushed to my room, carefully laid the mongoose on the pillow and ran to look for our doctor. "Maybe he will save my animal?" I thought. I ran all over the ship, but someone had already told the doctor, and he was walking quickly towards me. I wanted to hurry up and pulled the doctor by the hand.

They came to me.

- Well, where is she? The doctor said.

Indeed, where is it? It was not on the pillow. I looked under the bunk.

He began to fumble there with his hand. And suddenly: krryk-krryk! - and the mongoose jumped out from under the bed as if nothing had happened - healthy.

The doctor said that the electric current probably only stunned her for a while, but while I was running after the doctor, the mongoose recovered. How happy I was! I pressed and stroked everything to her face. And then everyone began to come to me, everyone was happy and stroked the mongoose - they loved her so much.

And the wild then completely tamed, and I brought the mongoose to my home.

About the monkey

I was twelve years old and I was in school. Once at recess, my friend Yukhimenko comes up to me and says:

- Do you want me to give you a monkey?

I did not believe it - I thought he would arrange something for me now, so that sparks would fall from his eyes, and he would say: this is the "monkey". I'm not like that.

- Okay, - I say, - we know.

- No, - he says, - in fact. A live monkey. She is good. Her name is Yashka. And dad is angry.

- On whom?

- Yes, on me and Yashka. Take it away, says where you know. I think everything is best for you.

After lessons we went to him. I still didn't believe. Did I really think I would have a live monkey? And he kept asking what she was. And Yukhimenko says:

- You will see, do not be afraid, she is small.

Indeed, it turned out to be small. If it stands on its paws, then no more than a half-arshin. The muzzle is wrinkled, old woman, and the eyes are lively, shiny.

The coat on it is red, and the legs are black. As if human hands in black gloves. She was wearing a blue vest.

Yukhimenko shouted:

- Yashka, Yashka, go, what will I give!

And put his hand in his pocket. The monkey shouted: “Ay! ay! " - Yukhimenka jumped into her arms in two leaps. He immediately thrust it into his greatcoat, into his bosom.

- Let's go, - he says.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. We walk down the street, carry such a miracle, and no one knows what we have in our bosom.

Dear Yukhimenko told me what to feed.

- Everything is eating, everything is coming. Sweet love. Candy is a disaster! If it bursts, it will certainly be devoured. He loves tea that is liquid and sweet. You don't give her up. Two pieces. Do not give a bit of a bite: the sugar will gobble up, but he will not drink tea.

I listened and thought: I won’t regret three pieces for her, dear one, like a toy man. Then I remembered that she had no tail either.

- You, - I say, - cut off her tail at the very root?

- She's a monkey, - says Yukhimenko, - they don't grow tails.

We came to our home. Mom and the girls were sitting at lunch. Yukhimenka and I entered right in our greatcoats.

I say:

- And who do we have!

They all turned around. Yukhimenko threw open his overcoat. No one has yet had time to make out anything, and Yashka will jump from Yukhimenka onto his mother's head; pushed his legs - and onto the sideboard. He reined in my mother's entire hairstyle.

Everyone jumped up, shouted:

- Oh, who, who is it?

And Yashka sat down on the sideboard and builds muzzles, chomps, grins his teeth.

Yukhimenko was afraid that they would scold him now, and go to the door as soon as possible. They didn't even look at him - everyone was looking at the monkey. And suddenly the girls all in one voice pulled out:

- What a pretty one!

And my mother adjusted her hair.

- Where does it come from?

I looked around. Yukhimenka is gone. So I remained the master. And I wanted to show that I know how to deal with a monkey. I put my hand in my pocket and shouted, like Yukhimenko had done earlier:

- Yashka, Yashka! Go, I'll give you something!

Everyone was waiting. But Yashka did not even look - he began to scratch himself small and often with a black paw.

Until the evening, Yashka did not go downstairs, but jumped on the tops: from the sideboard to the door, from the door to the wardrobe, from there to the stove.

In the evening, the father said:

- You can't leave her like that overnight, she will turn the apartment upside down.

And I started to catch Yashka. I go to the sideboard - it is on the stove. I brush him out of there - he jumped on the clock. The clock swung and steel. And Yashka is already swinging on the curtains.

From there - to the picture - the picture looked askance - I was afraid that Yashka would throw himself at the hanging lamp.

But then everyone gathered and began to chase Yashka. They threw a ball, coils, matches at him and finally drove him into a corner.

Yashka pressed himself against the wall, bared his teeth and clicked his tongue - he began to frighten. But they covered him with a woolen shawl and wrapped him up, entangled.

Yashka floundered, shouted, but they soon turned him around so that only one head remained sticking out. He turned his head, blinked his eyes, and it seemed that now he would cry from resentment.

Do not swaddle the monkey every night! Father said:

- Snap. By the vest and to the leg, to the table.

I brought the rope, felt a button on Yashka's back, put the rope in a loop and tied it tightly. Yashka's waistcoat on the back was fastened with three buttons.

Then I brought Yashka, as he was, wrapped up, to the table, tied the rope to the leg and only then unwound the handkerchief.

Wow, how he started to ride! But where can he break the rope! He screamed, got angry and sat down sadly on the floor.

I took sugar from the sideboard and gave it to Yashka. He grabbed a piece with a black paw, tucked it behind his cheek. This made his whole face twist.

I asked Yashka for a paw. He held out his pen to me.

Then I looked at what pretty black nails she was wearing. A toy living pen! I began to stroke the foot and think: just like a child. And he tickled his palm. And the baby somehow jerks his paw - once - and me on the cheek. I didn't even have time to blink, but he slapped me in the face and jumped under the table. He sat down and grins.

Here is the baby!

But then they drove me to sleep.

I wanted to tie Yashka to my bed, but they wouldn't let me. I kept listening to what Yashka was doing, and thought that he certainly needed to make a bed so that he could sleep like people and cover himself with a blanket. I would put my head on a pillow. I thought and thought and fell asleep.

In the morning he jumped up - and, without dressing, to Yashka. There is no Yashka on the rope. There is a rope, a vest is tied on a rope, but there is no monkey. I look, all three buttons in the back are unbuttoned. It was he who unbuttoned his vest, left it on the rope, and ran away himself. I search around the room. I spank with bare feet. Nowhere. I got scared.

How did you run away? I haven't been a day, and here you are! I looked at the cabinets, in the stove - nowhere. He ran away, then, into the street. And on the street frost - freeze, poor! And it became cold myself. I ran to get dressed. Suddenly I see something fumbling in my own bed. The blanket moves. I even shuddered. There he is! It became cold for him on the floor, he ran away to my bed. Huddled under the covers.

And I was asleep and did not know. Yashka did not shy away from sleep, he fell into his hands, and I put on a blue vest on him again.

When they sat down to drink tea, Yashka jumped on the table, looked around, immediately found a sugar bowl, launched his paw and jumped on the door. He jumped so easily that he seemed to fly, not jump. The monkey had fingers on the legs, as on hands, and Yashka could grab with his legs. He did just that. He sits like a child, in the arms of someone and folded his hands, and he himself pulls something from the table with his foot.

He pulls off a knife and, well, jump with a knife. This is to be taken away from him, and he will run away. Yasha was given tea in a glass. He hugged the glass like a bucket, drank and smacked. I have not regretted the sugar.

When I left for school, I tied Yashka to the door, to the handle. This time he tied it around his waist with a rope so that he could not break loose. When I came home, I saw from the hallway what Yashka was doing. It hung on the doorknob and rolled on the doors like a merry-go-round. Will push off the jamb and ride to the wall.

He kicks his foot into the wall and drives back.

When I sat down to prepare my lessons, I put Yashka on the table. He really enjoyed basking himself near the lamp. He dozed like an old man in the sun, swayed and, squinting, watched me poke my pen into the ink. Our teacher was strict, and I wrote a page cleanly. I didn't want to get wet so as not to spoil it.

Left to dry. I come and see: Yakov is sitting on a notebook, dipping his finger into an inkwell, grumbles and draws out ink Babylon according to my writing. Oh, you rubbish! I almost cried with grief. I rushed to Yashka. Yes, where! He's on the curtains - all the curtains are stained with ink. That's why Yukhimenkin's dad was angry with him and Yashka ...

But once my dad was angry with Yashka. Yashka was picking off the flowers that stood at our windows. Tear off a leaf and tease. The father caught and gave Yashka. And then he tied him up as punishment on the stairs that led to the attic. Narrow ladder.

And the wide one went down from the apartment.

Here father goes to the service in the morning. He cleaned himself, put on his hat, and descends the stairs. Clap! The plaster falls. My father stopped and shook it off his hat.

He looked up - no one. Just went - bang, again a piece of lime right on the head. What?

And I could see from the side how Yashka was operating. He broke some lime from the wall, spread it along the edges of the steps, and he himself lay down, hid on the stairs, just above his father's head. As soon as the father went, Yashka quietly pushed the plaster from the step with his foot and tried it on so deftly that he was taking revenge on his father's hat - it was he who took revenge on him because his father had blown him up the day before.

But when the real winter began, the wind howled in the chimneys, the windows were covered with snow, Yashka became sad. I kept heating him, holding him to me. Yashka's muzzle became sad, sagging, he squealed and pressed against me. I tried to put it in my bosom, under my jacket. Yashka immediately settled down there: he grabbed the shirt with all four paws and hung as he stuck. He slept there, not unclenching his paws. Forget another time that you have a living belly under your jacket, and lean against the table. Yashka will now scratch my side with his paw: he lets me know to be more careful.

Once on Sunday the girls came to visit. We sat down to breakfast. Yashka sat quietly in my bosom, and he was not at all noticeable. At the end, candy was handed out. As soon as I began to unfold the first, suddenly from behind the bosom, right from my belly, a shaggy handle stretched out, grabbed the candy and back.

The girls screamed in fear. And it was Yashka who heard that the paper was rustling, and guessed that they were eating sweets. And I say to the girls: “This is my third hand; I put candy in my stomach with this hand, so as not to mess around for a long time. " But everyone guessed that it was a monkey, and from under the jacket one could hear the crunch of candy: it was Yashka gnawing and chomping, as if I were chewing on my stomach.

Yashka was angry with his father for a long time. Yashka reconciled with him because of the sweets. My father had just quit smoking and instead of cigarettes carried small sweets in a cigarette case. And every time after dinner, my father opened the tight lid of the cigarette case with his thumb, fingernail, and took out sweets. Yashka is right there: he sits on his knees and waits - fidgets, stretches. Here father once gave the whole cigarette case to Yashka; Yashka took it in his hand, and with his other hand, just like my father, began to pry the lid with his thumb. His finger is small, and the lid is tight and dense, and nothing comes out of Yashenka. He howled in annoyance. And the candy is blurry. Then Yashka grabbed his father by thumb and with his fingernail, like a chisel, he began to pick out the lid. Father was amused by this, he opened the lid and brought the cigarette case to Yashka. Yashka immediately launched his paw, grabbed a full handful, quickly into his mouth and ran away. Not every day is such happiness!

We had a doctor we knew. Loved to chat - trouble. Especially at lunch.

Everyone has already finished, everything is cold on his plate, then he will just miss it - he will pick it up, hastily swallow two pieces:

- Thank you, I'm full.

Once he is having dinner with us, he poked a fork into the potatoes and brandished this fork - he says. Dispersed - not to appease. And Yasha, I see, is climbing up the back of the chair, quietly crept up and sat by the doctor's shoulder. The doctor says:

- And you understand, this is just ... - And he stopped a fork with potatoes near his ear - for one moment only. Yashenka with his paw gently grabbed the potatoes and took them off the fork - carefully, like a thief.

- And imagine ... - And poke an empty fork into your mouth. He was embarrassed - he thought, shook off the potatoes, when he waved his hands, he looked around. And Yashka is no longer there - he is sitting in the corner and cannot chew potatoes, he scored his whole throat.

The doctor himself laughed, but nevertheless he took offense at Yashka.

They made a bed for Yasha in a basket: with a sheet, a blanket, a pillow. But Yashka did not want to sleep like a human: he wrapped everything around himself in a ball and sat like a stuffed animal all night. They sewed him a dress, green, with a cape, and he looked like a girl with a haircut from an orphanage.

Once I hear a ringing in the next room. What? I make my way quietly and see: Yashka is standing on the windowsill in a green dress, in one hand he has a lamp glass, and in the other - a hedgehog, and he is furiously cleaning the glass with a hedgehog. I was so furious that I did not hear how I entered. He saw how the glass was cleaned, and let's try it for himself.

Otherwise, you leave him in the evening with a lamp, he will turn the fire away with a full flame - the lamp smokes, soot flies around the room, and he sits and growls at the lamp.

The trouble was with Yashka, even put him in a cage! I scolded and beat him, but for a long time I could not be angry with him. When Yashka wanted to be liked, he became very affectionate, climbed onto his shoulder and began to search in his head. This means that he already loves you very much.

It is necessary for him to beg for something - candy there or an apple - now he will climb on his shoulder and carefully begin to fiddle with his paws in his hair: he looks for it and scratches it with a nail. He finds nothing, but pretends to have caught the beast: he bites something off his fingers.

Once a lady came to visit us. She thought she was pretty.

Discharged. Everything is so silky and rustles. There is not a haircut on the head, but a whole gazebo of hair is wound - in curls, in curls. And on the neck, on a long chain, a mirror in a silver frame.

Yashka cautiously jumped up to her on the floor.

- Oh, what a pretty monkey! - says the lady. And let's play with Yashka with a mirror.

Yashka caught the mirror, turned it over and jumped on to the lady's knees and began to try the mirror with his teeth.

The lady took away the mirror and held it in her hand. And Yasha wants to get a mirror.

The lady carelessly stroked Yashka with her glove and slowly pushes him off her knees. So Yashka decided to please, to flatter the lady. Jumped onto her shoulder. He gripped the lace tightly with his hind legs and took hold of his hair. I dug up all the curls and began to search.

The lady blushed.

- Come on, let's go! - He speaks.

It was not so! Yashka tries even more: he scratches with his nails, clicks with his teeth.

This lady always sat down in front of the mirror to admire herself, and in the mirror she saw that Yashka had ruffled her - she almost cried. I moved to the rescue. Where there! Yashka grabbed his hair with all his strength and looked at me wildly. The lady tugged at his collar, and Yashka tore off her hair. I looked at myself in the mirror - a stuffed animal. I swung, frightened off Yashka, and our guest grabbed her head and - at the door.

- Disgrace, - he says, - disgrace! - And I didn't say goodbye to anyone.

“Well,” I think, “I’ll keep it until spring and will give it to someone if Yukhimenko doesn’t take it. I've gotten so much for this monkey! " And now spring has come. It got warmer. Yashka came to life and played even more mischief. He really wanted to go out into the yard, free. And our yard was huge, with a tithe.

In the middle of the courtyard, government coal was piled up like a mountain, and around were warehouses with goods. And from the thieves, the watchmen kept a whole pack of dogs in the yard. Dogs are big, angry. And all the dogs were commanded by the red dog Kashtan. At whom Chestnut growls, all the dogs rush at him. Whom Chestnut will miss, and the dogs will not be touched. And the stranger's dog was beaten by Kashtan with a running start. She would hit her, knock her down and stand over her, growls, and she's afraid to move.

I looked out the window - I see there are no dogs in the yard. Let me, I think, go, take Yashenka out for the first time. I put a green dress on him so that he would not catch a cold, put Yashka on my shoulder and walked away. As soon as I opened the doors, Yashka jumped to the ground and ran across the yard. And suddenly, out of nowhere, the whole pack of dogs, and Chestnut in front, right on Yashka. And he, like a green doll, stands small. I already decided that Yashka was gone - they will tear him apart now. Kashtan poked his head towards Yashka, but Yashka turned to him, sat down, took aim. Chestnut stood a step away from the monkey, bared his teeth and grumbled, but did not dare to rush to such a miracle. The dogs all bristled and waited for Chestnut.

I wanted to rush to help out. But suddenly Yashka jumped and at one moment sat on Kashtan's neck. And then the wool flew in tufts from the Chestnut tree. Yashka beat him in the face and eyes, so that the paws were not visible. Chestnut howled, and in such a terrible voice that all the dogs scattered about. Chestnut started to run at breakneck speed, and Yashka sits, clutching the wool with his feet, holding on tightly, and tearing Chestnut by the ears with his hands, pinching the wool in shreds. Chestnut has gone mad: he rushes around the coal mountain with a wild howl. Three times Yashka ran around the yard on horseback and jumped down on the coal as he walked. Climbed slowly to the top. There was a wooden booth; he climbed onto the booth, sat down and began scratching his side as if nothing had happened. Here, they say, I - I do not care!

And Chestnut is at the gate from a terrible beast.

Since then, I boldly began to let Yashka out into the yard: only Yashka from the porch - all the dogs in the gate. Yashka was not afraid of anyone.

Carts will come to the courtyard, the whole courtyard will be clogged, there is nowhere to go. And Yashka flies from cart to cart. The horse will jump on its back - the horse is trampling, shaking its mane, snorting, and Yashka slowly jumps over to another. The cabbies only laugh and wonder:

- Look what Satan is jumping. Look you! Ooh!

And Yashka - for the bags. Looking for cracks. He will stick his paw and feel what is there.

He gropes where the sunflowers are, sits and immediately clicks on the cart. It happened that Yashka also felt for nuts. He will beat him by the cheeks and with all his four hands tries to whip.

But then Jacob found an enemy. Yes, what! There was a cat in the yard. Nobody's. He lived at the office, and everyone fed him scraps. He got fat, became big as a dog. He was angry and scratchy.

And then one evening Yashka was walking around the yard. I couldn't get through to him at home. I see the cat went out into the yard and jumped on the bench that was under the tree.

Yashka, when he saw the cat, went straight to him. He sat down and walked slowly on four legs. He does not take his eyes off the cat straight to the bench. The cat picked up his paws, bent his back, got ready. And Yashka is crawling closer and closer. The cat widened his eyes, backs away. Yashka on the bench. The cat is all backwards to the other edge, to the tree. My heart sank. And Yakov is crawling on the cat on the bench. The cat has already shrunk into a ball, crawled all over. And suddenly - he jumped, but not on Yashka, but on a tree. He clung to the trunk and looked down at the monkey. And Yashka made the same way to the tree. The cat scratched itself higher - used to flee in the trees. And Yashka is at the tree, and all slowly, aiming at the cat with black eyes. The cat higher, higher, climbed onto a branch and sat down from the very edge. Looks at what Yashka will do. And Yakov is crawling along the same branch, and so confidently, as if he had never done anything else, but only caught cats. The cat is already at the very edge, on a thin twig, barely holding, swinging. And Yakov crawls and crawls, tenaciously fingering with all four handles.

Suddenly the cat jumped from the very top onto the pavement, shook himself and walked away without looking back. And Yashka from the tree chasing him: "Yau, yau", - in some terrible, animal voice - I have never heard that from him.

Now Jacob has become completely tsar in the courtyard. At home he didn't want to eat anything, he just drank tea with sugar. And since he ate raisins in the courtyard, they barely left him. Yashka groaned, there were tears in his eyes, and looked at everyone capriciously. At first, everyone was very sorry for Yashka, but when he saw that they were being fiddled with, he began to break down and throw his arms around, throw his head back and howl at different voices. We decided to wrap him up and give him castor oil. Let him know!

And he liked the castor oil so much that he started yelling to be given more.

They swaddled him and did not let him outside for three days.

Yashka soon recovered and began to rush to the yard. I was not afraid for him: no one could catch him, and Yashka spent whole days jumping around the yard. At home it became calmer, and I felt less for Yashka. And when autumn came, everyone in the house unanimously:

- Wherever you want, take your monkey or put it in a cage, and so that this Satan does not rush around the whole apartment.

They said how pretty, and now, I think, Satan has become. And as soon as the training began, I began to look in the classroom for someone to float Yashka.

Finally he found a comrade, called aside and said:

- Do you want me to give you a monkey? I'm alive.

I don’t know to whom he then fused Yashka.

But at first, when Yashka was gone, I saw that everyone was a little bored, even though they didn’t want to confess.

Bear

In Siberia, in a dense forest, in the taiga, a Tungus hunter lived with his whole family in a leather tent. Once he went out of the house to break firewood, he saw: on the ground there were traces of a moose elk. The hunter was delighted, ran home, took his gun and knife and said to his wife:

- Soon, don't wait back - I'll go for the elk.

So he followed the tracks, suddenly he sees more tracks - bearish. And where the elk's tracks lead, there the bear's ones lead.

“Hey,” thought the hunter, “I'm not alone after the elk, the bear is driving the elk in front of me. I can't catch up with them. The bear will catch the elk before me. "

After all, the hunter followed in the footsteps. I walked for a long time, I already ate all the stock that I took from home with me, but everything goes on and on. The footprints began to rise up the mountain, but the forest does not thin out, still the same dense.

The hunter is hungry, exhausted, but everything goes on and looks under his feet, as if not to lose traces. And along the way, pines lie, piled up by a storm, stones overgrown with grass. The hunter is tired, stumbles, barely pulls his legs. And everything looks: where is the grass crushed, where is the ground pressed by a deer hoof?

"I have already climbed high," the hunter thinks, "where is the end of this mountain."

Suddenly he hears: someone is chomping. The hunter hid and crawled quietly. And I forgot that I was tired, where the strength came from. The hunter crawled, crawled and now he sees: there are very few trees, and here the end of the mountain - it converges at an angle - there is a cliff on the right and a cliff on the left. And in the very corner lies a huge bear, gnawing at the elk, grumbling, chomping and not smelling the hunter.

“Aha,” thought the hunter, “you drove the elk here, into the very corner, and then you ate him. Stop! " The hunter got up, knelt down and began to aim at the bear.

Then the bear saw him, got scared, wanted to run, ran to the edge, and there was a cliff. The bear roared. Then the hunter fired a gun at him and killed him.

The hunter tore the skin off the bear, and cut the meat and hung it on a tree so that the wolves would not get it. The hunter ate bear meat and quickly go home.

He folded the tent and went with the whole family, where he left the bear meat.

- Here, - said the hunter to his wife, - eat, and I will rest.

Hunter and dogs

Early in the morning the hunter got up, took a gun, cartridges, a bag, called his two dogs and went to shoot the rabbits.

There was a bitter frost, but there was no wind at all. The hunter was skiing and warmed up from walking. He felt warm.

The dogs ran ahead and chased the hares to the hunter. The hunter deftly shot and filled five of them. Then he noticed that he had gone far.

“It's time to go home,” thought the hunter. - You can see traces from my skis, and before it gets dark, I will follow the tracks home. I’ll cross the ravine, and there it’s not far. ”

He went downstairs and saw that in the ravine it was black-black from jackdaws. They were sitting right in the snow. The hunter realized that the matter was amiss.

And rightly so: he had just left the ravine when the wind blew, it started snowing, and a blizzard began. There was nothing to be seen ahead, the tracks were covered with snow.

The hunter whistled to the dogs.

If the dogs do not lead me out onto the road, he thought, I am lost. I do not know where to go, I will get lost, it will bring me in snow, and I will freeze. "

He let the dogs go ahead, and the dogs will run off five steps - and the hunter cannot see where to follow them. Then he took off his belt, untied all the straps and ropes that were on him, tied the dogs by the collar and let them go forward. The dogs dragged him, and he came to his village on skis, like on a sleigh.

He gave each dog a whole hare, then took off his shoes and lay down on the stove. And he kept thinking:

"If it weren't for the dogs, I would have disappeared today."

Jackdaw

The brother and sister had a tame jackdaw. She ate from her hands, let herself be stroked, flew free and flew back.
Once my sister began to wash. She took the ring off her hand, put it on the sink and lathered her face with soap. And when she rinsed the soap, she looked: where is the ring? But there is no ring.
She shouted to her brother:
- Give me the ring, don't tease! Why did you take it?
“I didn’t take anything,” my brother answered.
The sister quarreled with him and cried.
Grandma heard.
- What have you got here? - He speaks. - Give me glasses, now I will find this ring.
We rushed to look for glasses - no glasses.
“I just put them on the table,” the grandmother cries. - Where can they go? How am I going into a needle now?
And she screamed at the boy.

- It's your business! Why are you teasing grandma?
The boy was offended and ran out of the house. He looked - and a jackdaw was flying over the roof, and something glittered under its beak. Looked closely - yes, these are glasses! The boy hid behind a tree and began to look. And the jackdaw sat on the roof, looked around to see if anyone could see, and began to shove the glasses on the roof with its beak into the slot.
Grandmother came out onto the porch, said to the boy:
- Tell me, where are my glasses?
- On the roof! the boy said.
The grandmother was surprised. And the boy climbed onto the roof and pulled out of his grandmother's glasses. Then he pulled out the ring. And then he took out the glass, and then there are many different pieces of money.
The grandmother was delighted with the glasses, and the sister said the ring to her brother:
- Forgive me, I was thinking at you, and this is a jackdaw-thief.
And they made up with their brother.
Grandma said:
- It's all of them, jackdaws and magpies. What glitters, everything is dragged.

Evening

The cow Masha is going to look for her son, a calf Alyoshka. You can't see him anywhere. Where did he go? It's time to go home.
And the calf Alyoshka ran over, tired, lay down in the grass. The grass is high - Alyoshka is not to be seen.
The cow Masha was frightened that her son Alyoshka was gone, but how he will blur that there is strength:
- Moo!
Alyoshka heard his mother's voice, jumped to his feet and went home in full spirit.
At home, Masha was milked, they drank a whole bucket of fresh milk. We poured Alyoshka into a bowl:
- Come on, drink, Alyoshka.
Alyoshka was delighted - he had wanted milk for a long time - he drank everything to the bottom and licked the bowl with his tongue.

Alyoshka got drunk, he wanted to run around the yard. As soon as he ran, suddenly a puppy jumped out of the booth - and well, bark at Alyoshka. Alyoshka was frightened: this is, of course, a terrible beast, if it barks so loudly. And he started to run.
Alyoshka ran away, and the puppy did not bark anymore. It became quiet all around. Alyoshka looked - no one was there, everyone went to sleep. And I wanted to sleep myself. I lay down and fell asleep in the yard.
Masha the cow fell asleep on the soft grass.
The puppy fell asleep at his booth - he was tired, barking all day.
The boy Petya also fell asleep in his bed - he was tired, he ran all day.
And the bird has long since fallen asleep.
She fell asleep on a branch and hid her head under the wing so that it was warmer to sleep. I'm tired too. I flew all day, caught midges.
Everyone fell asleep, everyone is asleep.
Only the night wind does not sleep.
It rustles in the grass and rustles in the bushes.

About the monkey

I was twelve years old and I was in school. Once at recess, my friend Yukhimenko comes up to me and says:
- Do you want me to give you a monkey?
I didn’t believe it - I thought he’d arrange something for me now, so that sparks would fall from his eyes, and he would say: this is the "monkey." I'm not like that.
- Okay, - I say, - we know.
- No, - he says, - in fact. A live monkey. She is good. Her name is Yashka. And dad is angry.
- On whom?
- Yes, on us with Yashka. Take it away, says where you know. I think everything is best for you.
After lessons we went to him. I still didn't believe. Did I really think I would have a live monkey? And he kept asking what she was. And Yukhimenko says:
- You will see, do not be afraid, she is small.
Indeed, it turned out to be small. If it stands on its paws, then no more than a half-arshin. The muzzle is wrinkled, old woman, and the eyes are lively, shiny. The coat on it is red, and the legs are black. As if human hands in black gloves. She was wearing a blue vest.
Yukhimenko shouted:
- Yashka, Yashka, go, what will I give!
And put his hand in his pocket. The monkey shouted: “Ay! ay! " - and in two leaps Yukhimenka jumped into her arms. He immediately thrust it into his greatcoat, into his bosom.
- Let's go, - he says.
I couldn’t believe my eyes. We walk down the street, carry such a miracle, and no one knows what we have in our bosom.
Dear Yukhimenko told me what to feed.
- Everything is eating, everything is coming. Sweet love. Candy is a disaster! If it bursts, it will certainly be devoured. He loves tea that is liquid and sweet. You don't give her up. Two pieces. Do not give a bit of a bite: the sugar will gobble up, but he will not drink tea.
I listened and thought: I won’t regret three pieces for her, dear one, like a toy man. Then I remembered that she had no tail either.
- You, - I say, - cut off her tail at the very root?
- She's a monkey, - says Yukhimenko, - they don't grow tails.
We came to our home. Mom and the girls were sitting at lunch. Yukhimenka and I entered right in our greatcoats.
I say:
- And who do we have!
They all turned around. Yukhimenko threw open his overcoat. No one has yet had time to make out anything, and Yashka will jump from Yukhimenka onto his mother's head; pushed his legs - and onto the sideboard. He reined in my mother's entire hairstyle.
Everyone jumped up, shouted:
- Oh, who, who is it?
And Yashka sat down on the sideboard and builds muzzles, chomps, grins his teeth.
Yukhimenko was afraid that they would scold him now, and go to the door as soon as possible. They didn't even look at him - everyone was looking at the monkey. And suddenly the girls all in one voice pulled out:
- What a pretty one!
And my mother adjusted her hair.
- Where does it come from?
I looked around. Yukhimenka is gone. So I remained the master. And I wanted to show that I know how to deal with a monkey. I put my hand in my pocket and shouted, like Yukhimenko had done earlier:
- Yashka, Yashka! Go, I'll give you something!
Everyone was waiting. But Yashka did not even look - he began to scratch himself small and often with a black paw.
Until the evening, Yashka did not go downstairs, but jumped on the tops: from the sideboard to the door, from the door to the wardrobe, from there to the stove.
In the evening, the father said:
- You can't leave her like that overnight, she will turn the apartment upside down.
And I started to catch Yashka. I go to the sideboard - it is on the stove. I brush him out of there - he jumped on the clock. The clock swung and steel. And Yashka is already swinging on the curtains. From there - to the picture - the picture looked askance - I was afraid that Yashka would throw himself at the hanging lamp.
But then everyone gathered and began to chase Yashka. They threw a ball, coils, matches at him and finally drove him into a corner.
Yashka pressed himself against the wall, bared his teeth and clicked his tongue - he began to frighten. But they covered him with a woolen shawl and wrapped him up, entangled.
Yashka floundered, shouted, but they soon turned him around so that only one head remained sticking out. He turned his head, blinked his eyes, and it seemed that now he would cry from resentment.
Do not swaddle the monkey every night! Father said:
- Snap. By the vest and to the leg, to the table.
I brought the rope, felt a button on Yashka's back, put the rope in a loop and tied it tightly. Yashka's waistcoat on the back was fastened with three buttons. Then I brought Yashka, as he was, wrapped up, to the table, tied the rope to the leg and only then unwound the handkerchief.
Wow, how he started to ride! But where can he break the rope! He screamed, got angry and sat down sadly on the floor.
I took sugar from the sideboard and gave it to Yashka. He grabbed a piece with a black paw, tucked it behind his cheek. This made his whole face twist.
I asked Yashka for a paw. He held out his pen to me.
Then I looked at what pretty black nails she was wearing. A toy living pen! I began to stroke the foot and think: just like a child. And he tickled his palm. And the baby somehow jerks his paw - once - and me on the cheek. I didn't even have time to blink, but he slapped me in the face and jumped under the table. He sat down and grins. Here is the baby!

But then they drove me to sleep.
I wanted to tie Yashka to my bed, but they wouldn't let me. I kept listening to what Yashka was doing, and thought that he certainly needed to make a bed so that he could sleep like people and cover himself with a blanket. I would put my head on a pillow. I thought and thought and fell asleep.
In the morning he jumped up - and, without dressing, to Yashka. There is no Yashka on the rope. There is a rope, a vest is tied on a rope, but there is no monkey. I look, all three buttons in the back are unbuttoned. It was he who unbuttoned the vest, left it on the rope, and he tore it up. I search around the room. I spank with bare feet. Nowhere. I got scared. How did you run away? I haven't been a day, and here you are! I looked at the cabinets, in the stove - nowhere. He ran away, then, into the street. And on the street frost - freeze, poor! And it became cold myself. I ran to get dressed. Suddenly I see something fumbling in my own bed. The blanket moves. I even shuddered. There he is! It became cold for him on the floor, he ran away to my bed. Huddled under the covers. And I was asleep and did not know. Yashka did not shy away from sleep, he fell into his hands, and I put on a blue vest on him again.
When they sat down to drink tea, Yashka jumped on the table, looked around, immediately found a sugar bowl, launched his paw and jumped on the door. He jumped so easily that he seemed to fly, not jump. The monkey had fingers on the legs, as on hands, and Yashka could grab with his legs. He did just that. He sits like a child, in the arms of someone and folded his hands, and he himself pulls something from the table with his foot.
He pulls off a knife and, well, jump with a knife. This is to be taken away from him, and he will run away. Yasha was given tea in a glass. He hugged the glass like a bucket, drank and smacked. I have not regretted the sugar.
When I left for school, I tied Yashka to the door, to the handle. This time he tied a rope around his waist so that he could not break loose. When I came home, I saw from the hallway what Yashka was doing. It hung on the doorknob and rolled on the doors like a merry-go-round. Will push off the jamb and ride to the wall. He kicks his foot into the wall and drives back.
When I sat down to prepare my lessons, I put Yashka on the table. He really enjoyed basking himself near the lamp. He dozed like an old man in the sun, swayed and, squinting, watched me poke my pen into the ink. Our teacher was strict, and I wrote a page cleanly. I didn't want to get wet so as not to spoil it. Left to dry. I come and see: Yakov is sitting on a notebook, dipping his finger into an inkwell, grumbles and draws out ink Babylon according to my writing. Oh, you rubbish! I almost cried with grief. I rushed to Yashka. Yes, where! He's on the curtains - all the curtains are stained with ink. That is why Yukhimenkin's dad was angry with him and Yashka ...
But once my dad was angry with Yashka. Yashka was picking off the flowers that stood at our windows. Tear off a leaf and tease. The father caught and gave Yashka. And then he tied him up as punishment on the stairs that led to the attic. Narrow ladder. And the wide one went down from the apartment.
Here father goes to the service in the morning. He cleaned himself, put on his hat, and descends the stairs. Clap! The plaster falls. My father stopped and shook it off his hat. He looked up - no one. Just went - bang, again a piece of lime right on the head. What?
And I could see from the side how Yashka was operating. He broke some lime from the wall, spread it along the edges of the steps, and he himself lay down, hid on the stairs, just above his father's head. As soon as the father went, Yashka quietly pushed the plaster from the step with his foot and tried it on so dexterously that he took revenge on his father's hat - it was he who took revenge on him for blowing him up the day before.
But when the real winter began, the wind howled in the chimneys, the windows were covered with snow, Yashka became sad. I kept heating him, holding him to me. Yashka's muzzle became sad, sagging, he squealed and pressed against me. I tried to put it in my bosom, under my jacket. Yashka immediately settled down there: he grabbed the shirt with all four paws and hung as he stuck. He slept there, not unclenching his paws. Forget another time that you have a living belly under your jacket, and lean against the table. Yashka will now scratch my side with his paw: he lets me know to be more careful.
Once on Sunday the girls came to visit. We sat down to breakfast. Yashka sat quietly in my bosom, and he was not at all noticeable. At the end, candy was handed out. As soon as I began to unfold the first, suddenly from behind the bosom, right from my belly, a shaggy handle stretched out, grabbed the candy and back. The girls screamed in fear. And it was Yashka who heard that the paper was rustling, and guessed that they were eating sweets. And I say to the girls: “This is my third hand; I put candy in my stomach with this hand, so as not to mess around for a long time. " But everyone guessed that it was a monkey, and from under the jacket one could hear the crunch of candy: it was Yashka gnawing and chomping, as if I were chewing on my stomach.

Boris Zhitkov is a Russian Soviet writer. Among his professions were: ichthyologist, captain of a research vessel, navigator of a sailing ship, naval officer, engineer. His work had a great influence on the development of Soviet children's literature. "Stories about Animals" for Boris Zhitkov's children became classics of Soviet animalistic literature.

Boris Zhitkov describes various non-fictional cases of saving people by animals, their devotion, strong friendship and no less strong affection. He created his stories about animals in such a way that they vividly reflect his entire rich and sincere inner world, his principles and moral ideals.

Wolf

One collective farmer woke up early in the morning, looked out the window at the courtyard, and there was a wolf in his courtyard. The wolf stood near the barn and scraped the door with its paw. There were sheep in the barn.

The collective farmer grabbed a shovel - and into the yard. He wanted to hit the wolf on the head from behind. But the wolf instantly turned and caught the shovel by the handle with his teeth.

The collective farmer began to pull out a shovel from the wolf. It was not so! The wolf gripped his teeth so tightly that he couldn't pull it out.

The collective farmer began to call for help, but at home they were asleep, they did not hear.

“Well,” the collective farmer thinks, “the wolf will hold the shovel for a long time; and as soon as he lets go, I will break his head with a shovel ”.

And the wolf began to touch the handle with his teeth and closer and closer to the collective farmer ...

“Start the shovel? - the collective farmer thinks. - The wolf will also throw a shovel at me. I won't even have time to escape. "

And the wolf is getting closer and closer. The collective farmer sees: things are bad - so the wolf will soon grab the hand.

The collective farmer got together with all his might, and as soon as he would throw the wolf together with the shovel over the fence, and quickly into the hut.

The wolf ran away. And the collective farmer woke everyone up at home.

- After all, - he says, - under your window the wolf almost got stuck. Eco sleep!

- How, - the wife asks, - did you manage?

- And I, - says the collective farmer, - threw him over the fence.

The wife looked, and behind the fence there was a shovel; all gnawed by wolf teeth.

Jackdaw

The brother and sister had a tame jackdaw. She ate from her hands, let herself be stroked, flew free and flew back.

Once my sister began to wash. She took the ring off her hand, put it on the sink and lathered her face with soap. And when she rinsed the soap, she looked: where is the ring? But there is no ring.

She shouted to her brother:

- Give back the ring, don't tease! Why did you take it?

“I didn’t take anything,” my brother replied.

The sister quarreled with him and cried.

Grandma heard.

- What have you got here? - He speaks. - Give me glasses, now I will find this ring.

We rushed to look for glasses - no glasses.

“I just put them on the table,” the grandmother cries. - Where can they go? How am I now threading a needle?

And she screamed at the boy.