Читать книгу Nobility is stronger than fear! - Ванда Михайловна Петрова - Страница 2

Nobility is always stronger than fear and self-interest

Nearby, in the sources of a swampy and shallow water, overgrown along the banks with reddish, reed and tall forbs, but from this no less beloved by all the heroes of this book and singing it as «full-flowing», «wide», «rich in all kinds of large fish», «running up to the ocean itself», the Yauza River, in one of the gardens with tall grasses and fragrant flowers, spreading apple trees, cherries, plums and other woody and shrub plants, a multitude of both songbirds and non-songbirds lived a hedgehog.

The hedgehog lived, of course, not alone in this garden. The hedgehog had dad Hedgehog, mom Hedgehog and several brothers and sisters.

The hedgehog was the youngest in the family and the biggest coward in the whole huge garden.

And maybe further.

And although daddy the Hedgehog and mommy Hedgehog, and all the older brothers and sisters, told the hedgehog many and many times that all hedgehogs are very brave and are not afraid to fight even with a poisonous snake, the hedgehog did not become any braver from this. And the hedgehog from these stories became even cowardly.

As soon as a branch rustled on a tree or the grass rustled, the hedgehog imagined that it was a snake crawling and, as befits each of the family of hedgehogs according to the stories of the elders, he would have to fight it.

And the hedgehog ran away in the opposite direction from rustling and rustling.

Out of breath from running, the hedgehog climbed into the deepest thickets of the garden, under the most overgrown bush, curled up there tightly – tightly into a thorny ball.

And the hedgehog remained in this state until hunger forced him to leave the shelter. And even then, carefully, sensitively listening to the rustles, until the obvious absence of any snake nearby returned the little hedgehog to his cheerful and sociable disposition.

He tried to cultivate fearlessness towards snakes in his son and his cheerful and good-natured dad, a hedgehog, by his benevolent nature with the help of all kinds of games and stories about fearless Hedgehogs!

And while the hedgehog was next to his strong and brave dad – the hedgehog, he was not afraid of any snakes, had fun with him and bravely looked around.

But as soon as the hedgehog dad plunged into his adult affairs, and the hedgehog was left alone, he began to sensitively listen to every rustle, ready to immediately run away from all his four legs from the insidious snake, with which he, as a representative of hedgehogs, inevitably needed would join the single combat and win!

As a result of such constant cowardice of the hedgehog, who had never seen mice, everyone began to call him the Mouse. This name turned into his name, which was not at all offensive for the hedgehog himself, because he himself did not know anything about the mouse yet.

But, as much as the hedgehog was cowardly, so, and maybe more, he was an inquisitive and passionate lover to travel and discover new places!

Many inhabitants of the neighborhood knew the little traveler – hedgehog, his good-natured, inquisitive disposition and were glad to see him. The hedgehog was not at all afraid of children in his habitat, because they did not offend him and sometimes even treated him to delicious sweets, for example, «ice cream»!

The hedgehog loved this «ice cream» even more than wild raspberries, and when he saw children in the forest, he tried to catch their eyes – what if they had this wonderful «ice cream» with them!

And every morning the little thorny traveler set off on his next journey, along the way to everyone he met, wishing good morning.

And everyone they met also smiled at the little hedgehog and wished him a good journey. And the hedgehog happily ran on. The chicken, while his mother was distracted by other chickens, ran out onto the path to greet the little Mouse and chuckled – take me with you for a walk in the forest!

Hedgehog Mouse also greeted the chicken, but he didn’t take it with him – little one, you will get lost in the forest without a mother, grow up … The chicken chuckled – yes, I am growing, growing … And he looked after the little hedgehog Mouse for a long time.

Hedgehog was glad with all his heart to every meeting on his way. And the more the hedgehog met all kinds of inhabitants in his travels, the more joyful it was for the hedgehog to travel, because there was no chance of meeting a snake, who did not like any meetings and where there was movement, did not appear. Both the hedgehog mom and the hedgehog dad talked about this to the hedgehog in order to somehow cheer up their cowardly son.

Making his way around the small swamp, the hedgehog met a beautiful frog, wished the green beauty – good luck in the hunt and recognition of her singing talent!

– Kuva – kuva – kuuvaaa … – the solo singer sang, touched by praise.

Hedgehog invited her to go with him along the banks of the Yauza! The ringing frog, having got out of the creek, also greeted the brave traveler and wished him a good mushroom hunt. But when the hedgehog proposed to go on a journey with him, she rolled her eyes, croaked affably, but she was in no hurry to go with him, she felt good here, friends, girlfriends, a lot of midges.

And the restless traveler, the little hedgehog ran on.

Here is the familiar meadow by the stream, which is in a hurry fill the Yauza with your water. Lush grass grows here and you can meet familiar inhabitants or completely new ones, and it was very cool for a little traveler curious about everything new. And indeed, the hedgehog saw a sheep from afar, which were a rarity on the banks of the Yauza. But the hedgehog was a traveler and had already met these calm, slow persons earlier, and he joyfully greeted the sheep – good morning, Sheep!

All enveloped in white fluffy wool, the lamb that nibbled the grass on the lawn nodded in response, waved its short tail back and forth and smiled after the hedgehog, as her mouth was full of juicy soft riverine grass. «Apparently, she recently settled in that house with a fence», the hedgehog decided and hurried on.

A huge watchdog in a vast estate near the forest gnawed a huge bone, trying to gnaw it and get to the middle, to the delicious filling of this bone, left his tasty occupation for the sake of greeting and good morning to the hedgehog's wish, looked carefully after the little traveler, answered affably – woof, don't get lost in the woods!

– I'm not mistaken! – the hedgehog answered cheerfully to the dog and ran happily on. The watchdog also wanted to run after the hedgehog along the forest paths, but he had to guard the entire estate with a beautiful house, which the dog loved and protected very much. The dog was also very fond of all the inhabitants of the estate and the beautiful house, him, the watchdog, the estate and his house. So, the watchdog reasoned, considering not only a cozy booth, but everything that was in the estate and the entire estate as his own. But the dog looked for a long time towards the hedgehog who ran away along the path, even for a while forgot about his tasty bone.