Firefly and cloud elephants
Nikita and her mother lived in the country in the summer. One day my mother went to her neighbor’s house to buy milk.
“Just be careful,” she says to Nikita, “don’t be mischievous, don’t play with matches... The boy is left alone.” There is no television in the village hut. I was tired of the toys that I had brought from the city; Nikita even abandoned his beloved Elephant, a garden watering can, in the yard.
“Why,” the boy thinks, “did my mother forbid playing with matches?” He took the boxes from the table. He shook it, brought it to his ear... And suddenly, instead of the rustle of matches, I heard a thin voice creaking:
- Come on, let me out now!
- Who is speaking? - Nikita was surprised.
“Open it, you’ll see,” they answered from the box. The boy pushed the lid slightly, and immediately a tiny red-haired man in a red jacket jumped out onto the table.
- Now feed me! - the redhead demanded.
Nikita put out potatoes, cucumbers, sour cream. The strange guest laughed raspily:
- No, I don’t eat that. Hand me the paper!
The boy brought an old newspaper. The little man grabbed her and - whoop, whoop! — ate to the last shred.
- Oh, I’ve become more strong! - the red-haired man exclaimed. Indeed, he grew up, and his red hair began to move... Suddenly he jumped, crumpled the tablecloth, pulled the curtains off the window - and put it all into his mouth. He grinned maliciously and began to chew on the corner of the table.
The hut was filled with heat and acrid smoke. Nikita began to choke and crawled on all fours towards the door. And the red-haired man danced on the table, scattering burning sparks in all directions. There would be trouble if it were not for the garden watering can. The elephant noticed the smoke and immediately realized that the red Ognevik was in charge of the hut. And even though he was previously a simple garden watering can, the Elephant stood up on four legs, scooped up water from the barrel and stomped to put out the fire. Is it possible for such a kid to cope with a fire alone? The fireman only laughed at him.
Then the Elephant stood in the middle of the yard, raised his trunk-spout to the sky and began to call his brothers - the cloud elephants. Large elephant clouds flew in, gathered into a huge cloud and filled the burning hut with rain. All that was left of the evil Ognevik was nothing.
Nikita looked around - black and black in the hut. Now mom will come and see...
- Nikita! Nikita! Why are you crying in your sleep? Wake up, try fresh milk... What is this in your hands? I told you, don’t play with matches!
A tale about electric current
Alyosha was sitting at home one day. Mom didn't allow him to go for a walk because it was raining outside and it was very cold. Alyosha lay in his room on the carpet and played war. When he had defeated all the enemies, he became bored and began to look around in search of something interesting to do. At first he wanted to climb onto the windowsill, but then he remembered that he couldn’t climb high. And there was nothing interesting on the floor. He closed his eyes and began to play the “dark maze”. Alyosha crawled on all fours along the wall and, bumping into toys with his hands, tried to guess what he had found. He crawled and crawled, and suddenly his hand came across something round. Alyosha opened his eyes and saw a socket. She looked like a funny little face with two round eyes. He looked at her for a long time. The holes were like two mysterious caves.
“Interesting,” thought Alyosha. - What if someone lives there?
He, of course, remembered that his mother strictly forbids touching the sockets, because they contain electric current. But the holes were dark and mysterious. Alyosha tried to look there first with one eye, then with the other. Then he pressed his ear to the socket and closed his eyes: what if magical people live there, who are now hiding in the dark and whispering?
But it was quiet inside. Alyosha opened his eyes and was surprised. It was dark all around. A mysterious light flickered far ahead. He was so beautiful and looked like a small distant star. Alyosha was delighted and ran to meet him. He ran and ran, and the light was getting closer. Suddenly Alyosha noticed that another one had appeared next to him. And again, and again. There were as many lights as there were stars in the sky. They sparkled and shimmered like festive fireworks.
- How beautiful! - thought Alyosha. The lights floated towards him. There was already a whole cloud of them. Alyosha stopped and squinted. In the darkness he saw tiny figures. This sparkling cloud was hovering just above them.
- These are little people! – the boy suddenly realized.
These really were magical people. In their hands they had tiny sharp sticks, at the tips of which fiery sparks sparkled. And the eyes of the little men also burned brightly in the darkness. Only their faces were terrible. As soon as Alyosha saw their evil, wrinkled faces, he immediately wanted to run away from here as far as possible.
He ran along a dark road, and behind him the light grew stronger and brighter. Alyosha saw that he was running along a black stone wall. Behind the wall, something hummed and growled, as if thousands of terrible evil animals were rushing to freedom there.
Screams were also heard from behind. The sparkling crowd was approaching with incredible speed. Alyosha ran with all his might, but the little men overtook him. They were already reaching for his feet and stinging him with their sharp spears. Alyosha ran and ran, and two light circles appeared ahead. The closer they became, the more clearly Alyosha understood that these were two windows of an electrical outlet, through which magical forces pulled him into this dark kingdom. And the evil little men, like ants, were already crawling over him and painfully stabbing him with their fiery sticks. Alyosha closed his eyes and with the last of his strength jumped into the socket hole.
He sits on the floor: his clothes are burnt in some places, all full of holes, his burnt skin hurts, and sparks flicker in the depths of the socket. And a quiet evil voice is heard:
- Come, come to the outlet!
- Well, I do not! – Alyosha answered and crawled away from the outlet. “I won’t go near electricity now.”
He sat on the floor and, limping, went to his mother. From then on he never touched the socket again.
