Читать книгу The Fox Skin - Ира Шилова - Страница 3

One day, the mother sent her sons to run with deer between the woods, sat her daughters on aspen stumps away from the hut, and admonished the girls to learn a Song. Three girls obediently closed their eyes, held hands, and sang a subtle melody. Three girls, three voices, the single Song for the Living Kingdom, for the Hidden Kingdom, and for the Kingdom of the Dead. But this momentary and shaky musical balance did not interest Lelya. The girl relished looking at the strangers beside the hut. The mother hid the children behind the study from them, and Lelya wondered why.

The strangers were ordinary people, there was nothing unique about them. One was an adult broad-shouldered, a mature man, and a little human being with him, in a oversized caftan and with a snotty nose. There was a girl, similar to Lelya.

The stranger-girl sensed this kinship too, as she stopped pulling on her father's kozhukh and stared at Lelya with interest.

"Call her," the fox's unexpectedly tender voice washed Lelya's thrill away like a rowan water washes away an itch on reddened skin. The girl crossed her eyes at the wild red companion, who, contrary to custom, began a talk in the light of day, and Lelya answered in a barely clear voice, "It is forbidden. Mother does not allow to know people or their customs."

"People are not some bizarre creatures!" the fox sniffed the edge of Lelya's dress with a sharp nose. "They live like everyone else in this world. They sleep, they eat, like all of us. They like packs and friendly company," the fox said as his black, tight moustache touched the girl's hands. "While the elders are whispering, call her, call the girl and make sure there is nothing bad about people."

Lelya did not answer anything, only nodded timidly. And this nod pleased the wild red companion, the desires of Lelya, and the curiosity of stranger-girl, who, fascinated by the sight of a tame fox, was slowly approaching unfamiliar children and her pet.

A short while later, the two worlds reached and eagerly began to look into the depths of each other. And when the unruly girl's eyes saw similar grains of stardust in one another's, when Lelya's heart and the heart of stranger girl beat the eternal rhythm of joy, when the blood rushed to the blood, the girls realised they had been friends since ancient times. And as a note of this good bond, the stranger girl held out her hand to Lelya. And Lelya accepted the gift and shook the warm hand.

This secret hit the girl's Dola and Nedola. Although the girlfriends never met again after having been thrown apart, the secret of their acquaintance distorted their lives, as autumn withering distorts the blooming serenity of summer.