Читать книгу Adventures of Indi, the Little Princess. Part 1 «Yoly» - Danil Dzha - Страница 4

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Meanwhile, little Princess awakened from the spell. She lay on soft moss under a huge spruce tree, and, covered by a veil, did not even feel that she was far away from home in a mysterious forest. Cuckoos were cuckooing, green parrots were flying from branch to branch, spotted deer were grazing not far off in a meadow, and egrets walked by the river. She was not scared and did not even think to call to her guards… she was terribly curious about what happened while she slept!

A rustle in the bushes attracted her attention. Indi got up and peered from behind a tree. A furry hare nibbled berries from all over a bush. The little girl had never seen a wild hare, so she tried to get a closer look, but it scampered away. Indi ran after it, forgetting about her strange situation. Just as they reached the top of a hill, the hare suddenly disappeared into a hole. But Indi beheld a wonderful view of a vast plain, in the fields of which some girls were at work. The Princess descended the hill and approached them. The girls immediately surrounded her.

“Are you new here?!” the first girl asked her.

“What’s your name?” said another one.

“I am Princess Indi. I am seven years old.”

Indi was different to the other girls. Her skin was lighter, her brown eyes bigger, and her long hair shone and bore the sweet incomparable scent of rose oil. And her royal upbringing had taught her to always be polite and attentive.

“And my name is Kavita. All of us here are seven years old,” the third girl said. “And princesses don’t belong here. We all work equally, and now you will have to. Put on some gloves and start weeding the beds. You will meet other girls later.”

The princess was not accustomed to being told what to do, but there was no one to complain to, so she obediently put on gloves and began to work.

“Why do you plant all of these trees? Already, there’s forest all around,” Indi asked.

“Once the fir forest was very dense, but people, through negligence, almost destroyed it. Now we need to help it recover.”

Indi ran a hand over the prickly spruce branches and immediately smelled the soft coniferous aroma. She had never seen trees like that, and she very much wanted to plant just such a sapling in the royal garden.

“And what about your parents?” she asked, thinking about her own mother and father. “Don’t you miss them?”

“We have no time for that here. We are all busy with work,” the girls replied. “Now this is our common home, where we feel good and comfortable together. You’ll love it here too.”

After finishing with the seedlings, the girls went to sort through the cones and put them in baskets. Indi went with them. The valley was covered with various new plants and trees, and beautiful red flowers with an exotic and alluring aroma surrounded it. All responsibilities were fairly divided between the little workers. While some worked in the field, others cooked meals and cleaned up. They slept in small huts, carved like nests, hanging from huge century-old spruces. During their rest time, the girls played in the meadow, looked after the forest animals, watered flowers, and studied botany.

The girls busied themselves tirelessly until evening, but as soon as the sun went below the horizon, Indi heard a familiar melody and felt her eyes closing…

The next morning, Indi woke up with a strange feeling that someone was watching her. Opening her eyes, she squealed with surprise. Before her, there stood an old dwarf dressed in rough canvas clothes, staring at her with huge green eyes. On his head was a hat overgrown with grass and sprouting whimsical form mushrooms, and under a nose like a long twisted twig there hung a beard of silver moss; his feet were bound in plaited shoes and a huge owl perched on his staff.

“Well, hello, Indi!” he said in a kind voice. “I am Yoly, the keeper of this forest. And this is my old friend, owl Ullu.”

Indi was not frightened at all, but rather curious!

“How old are you? And what’s this thing in your hand, like a wreath with bells?”

“I am more than two hundred years old,” Yoly answered. “These bells are magical and made from cones of special spruce tree.”

He handed her the wreath, but the silver bells immediately changed into ordinary spruce cones in her hands.

“You see,” Yoly said, “these bells have power only in my hands. I use their soporific chime when I need to go quietly amongst the people.”

“So that’s how you managed to drag me out,” Indi said thoughtfully, “but why?”

“I need you!” the forest dwarf exclaimed. “Now let’s go, I’ll show you to your new dwelling.”