Читать книгу The History of House Six - Svetlana Dobychina - Страница 7

Once upon a time, there was an old and gloomy Dwarf living in a house at the forest edge. In front of the house, there were paths neatly covered with dry fir needles, and a fence built with dry twigs. The sun never got to the house, and no one actually knew what was inside.

The Dwarf wore a warm green coat year round. Elderly people often get cold, so the Dwarf was buttoned up and wore a belt even on a hot day. The buttons were his great pride: round and iron, they glittered perfectly in the sun.

He spent long winter months inside and went out only to clean the snow. In winter the unusual color of his eyes became very noticeable – they were like blue sky. None of the forest dwellers couldn’t get through to him – the grouchy spiny old Dwarf wasn’t very charming. It seemed that only the Hedgehog could earn his trust. Perhaps, they came together because of the needles: one had needles inside, while the other one had them outside.

During short summer months old Dwarf, on the contrary, spent all his time outside, making supplies for winter. He picked blueberries and lingonberries carefully in a basket. Sometimes he went to the distant swamps for cranberries, leaning on a large dry stick. This trip could take him the whole day, but still, he brought the same little basket. You can’t take much, especially if you are a dwarf.

Sometimes he picked herbs and dried them around his house or on the roof like hay. Sometimes forest dwellers sent the Hedgehog to ask for herbs or tincture if someone got ill. Dwarf never said no, but was also not very interested in the health of those who asked him for help.

The Hedgehog felt sorry for the old man, he could not understand why Dwarf was so gloom and lonely. One day he brought a large and beautiful summer bolete on his needles. Since then they always went for mushrooms together. After all, you can carry far more mushrooms on the hedgehog than in a small basket. Old Dwarf had a special love to summer boletes, with red caps or brown caps and stalks resembling birch trunks. The old and lonely Dwarf lived a quiet life, trying to be invisible, but one day everything changed…