When Mishka and I were very young, we really wanted to drive a car, but it just didn’t work out. No matter how much we asked the drivers, no one wanted to ride us. One day we were walking in the yard. Suddenly we look - on the street, near our gates, a car stopped. The driver got out of the car and left. We ran. I say:

This is the Volga.

No, this is Moskvich.

You understand a lot! I say.

Of course, Moskvich, - says Mishka. - Look at his hood.

What, - I say, - bonnet? It's the girls who have a hood-hood, and the car has a hood! Look at the body. The bear looked and said:

Well, such a belly, like a Moskvich.

It's you, - I say, - a belly, but the car has no belly.

You said it yourself.

I said the body, not the belly! Oh you! You don't understand, but you climb!

The bear approached the car from behind and said:

Does the Volga have a buffer? This is Moskvich's buffer.

I say:

You'd better be silent. Invented another buffer of some kind. The buffer is at the car on the railway, and the car has a bumper. Both Moskvich and Volga have a bumper.

The bear touched the bumper with his hands and says:

You can sit on this bumper and go.

Don't, I tell him.

Don't be afraid. Let's drive a little and jump. Then the driver came and got into the car. The bear ran up from behind, sat on the bumper and whispered:

Sit down quickly! Sit down quickly!

I say:

No need!

Go quickly! Oh you coward! I ran up and clung to it. The car started and how it will rush!

The bear got scared and says:

I'll jump! I'll jump!

No need, - I say, - you will hurt yourself! And he keeps saying:

I'll jump! I'll jump!

And he has already begun to lower one leg. I looked back, and behind us another car rushes. I'm screaming

Do not dare! Look, now the car will crush you!

People on the sidewalk stop, look at us. At the crossroads, a policeman blew his whistle. The bear was frightened, jumped down onto the pavement, but his hands would not let go, he was holding on to the bumper, his legs were dragging along the ground. I got scared, grabbed him by the collar and dragged him up. The car stopped, and I'm dragging everything. The bear finally climbed onto the bumper again. People gathered around. I'm screaming

Hold on, you fool!

Everyone laughed at that. I saw that we had stopped and I started to cry.

Get down, - I say to Mishka.

And he doesn't understand anything. Forcibly, I tore it off this bumper. A policeman ran up and wrote down the number. The driver got out of the cab - everyone attacked him:

Can't you see what's going on behind you?

And they forgot about us. I whisper to Misha:

We moved to the side and ran into the alley. They ran home, out of breath. Mishka has both knees peeled to the point of blood and his pants are torn. This is when he rode on the pavement on his stomach. He got it from his mom!

Then Mishka says:

Pants are nothing, you can sew them up, but your knees will heal on their own. I just feel sorry for the driver: he will probably get it because of us. Did you see the policeman write down the number of the car?

I say:

I should have stayed and said that the driver was not to blame.

And we will write a letter to the policeman, - says Mishka.

We began to write a letter. They wrote, wrote, ruined twenty sheets of paper, finally wrote:

“Dear Comrade Policeman! You entered the number incorrectly. That is, you wrote down the number correctly, only wrong that the driver is to blame. The driver is not to blame: Mishka and I are to blame. We clung, but he did not know. The driver is good and drives correctly.”

On the envelope they wrote:

"Corner of Gorky and Bolshaya Gruzinskaya streets, get a policeman."

The letter was sealed and thrown into a box. It will probably come.

Important decision

It happened after the steam engine that Mishka and I made from a tin can exploded. The bear heated the water too much, the jar burst, and the hot steam burned his hand. It’s good that Mishka’s mother immediately smeared his hand with naftalan ointment. This is a very good tool. Who does not believe, let him try. You just need to smear it as soon as you burn yourself, until the skin has come off.

After the car burst, Mishkin's mother forbade us to mess with it and threw it into the trash. We had to hang around for a while. The boredom was deadly. Spring has begun. Snow melted everywhere. Streams gurgled through the streets. The sun was already shining through the windows. But nothing made us happy. Such is our character with Mishka - we definitely need some kind of occupation. When there is nothing to do, we get bored and we get bored until we find something to do.

Once I come to Mishka, and he is sitting at the table, his nose buried in some book, his head wrapped in his hands and nothing in the world, except for this book, does not see and does not even notice that I have come. I deliberately slammed the door louder so that he would pay attention to me.

Ah, it's you, Nikoladze! Mishka rejoiced. He never called me by my first name. Instead of just saying “Kolya”, he calls me either Nikola, or Mikola, or Mikula Selyaninovich, or Miklukho-Maclay, and once he even began to call me in Greek - Nikolaki. In a word, every day, then a new name. But I'm not offended. Let him call if he likes.

Yes, it's me, I say. - What is your book? Why are you clinging to her like a tick?

A very interesting book, says Mishka. - I bought it this morning at the newsstand.

I looked: on the cover - a rooster and a hen and it says "Poultry", and on each page - some kind of chicken coops and drawings.

What is interesting here? I say. - This is some kind of scientific book.

It's good that it's scientific. This is not some fairy tale for you. Everything is true here. This is a useful book.

Mishka is such a person - he definitely needs everything to be useful. When he has extra money, he goes to the store and buys some useful book. Once he bought a book called "Inverse Trigonometric Functions and Chebyshev Polynomials". Of course, he did not understand a word in this book and decided to read it later, when he had become a little wiser. Since then, this book has been sitting on his shelf - waiting for him to grow wiser.

Mishka marked the page on which he was reading and closed the book.

Here, brother, everything is there, - he said, - how to breed chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys.

Are you going to breed turkeys? I asked.

Who doesn't know this! I say. - Last year I was with my mother on a collective farm and saw an incubator. There, chickens were bred every day, five hundred or a thousand each. They were forced to take them out of the incubator.

What are you saying! Mishka was surprised. - I didn't know about it before. I thought chickens were always hatched by hens. When we lived in the village, I saw a mother hen hatching chickens.

I also saw a mother hen. But the incubator is much better. You put a dozen eggs under the hen - and that's it, but you can lay a thousand at once in the incubator.

I know, says Mishka. - Here about it it is written. And then, while the hen sits on the eggs and raises the chickens, she does not lay eggs, and if the chickens are incubated, the chicken rushes all the time, and there are much more eggs.

We began to calculate how many extra eggs would be obtained if all the hens did not hatch chickens, but instead laid eggs. It turned out that a hen hatches chicks for twenty-one days, then she raises little chicks, so it takes three months before she starts laying again.

Three months is ninety days, - said Mishka. - If the hen did not hatch chickens, she could lay ninety more eggs in a year. In some small farm, where there are only ten hens, nine hundred more eggs would be produced in a year. And if you take such a farm as a collective farm or state farm, where there are a thousand chickens on a poultry farm, then there will be ninety thousand more eggs. Just think - ninety thousand!

We talked for a long time about the benefits of an incubator. Then Mishka said:

But what if we ourselves make a small incubator so that chickens hatch from eggs in it?

How can we do it? I say. - After all, you need to know how to do everything.

There is nothing tricky, says Mishka. - It's all in the book. The main thing is that the eggs are heated for exactly twenty-one days in a row, and then chickens will hatch from them.

I suddenly really wanted to have little chickens, because I really love all kinds of birds and animals. In the fall, Mishka and I even signed up for a youth group and worked in a living corner, and then Mishka came up with the idea of ​​​​making this steam engine, and we stopped going to the circle. Vitya Smirnov, who was our headman, said that he would cross us off the list if we did not work, but we said that we would, and he did not cross it off.

The bear began to tell how good it will be when we hatch little chickens.

They will be so pretty! he said. - It will be possible to fence off a corner in the kitchen for them, and let them live there, and we will feed them and take care of them.

But after all, it will take three weeks to mess around until they hatch! I say.

Why bother? Let's make an incubator - they will hatch. I thought.

The bear looked at me with concern. I saw that he really wanted to get down to business as soon as possible.

OK! I say. - We still have nothing to do, let's try.

I knew that you would agree! Mishka rejoiced. “I would take on this business myself, but I’m bored without you.

Exit found

That night I could not sleep for a long time.

For an hour I lay in bed and thought about the incubator. At first I wanted to ask my mother to let us burn a kerosene lamp, but then I realized that my mother would not allow us to mess with the fire, as she was very afraid of fire and always hides matches from me. In addition, Mishka's mother took away our kerosene lamp and would never give it back. Everyone had been asleep for a long time, and I thought about it and could not sleep at all.

Suddenly a very good thought came into my head: “What if we heat water with an electric light bulb?”

I slowly got up, lit the table lamp and put my finger on it to see if the electric bulb generated a lot of heat. The light bulb quickly heated up, so that it became impossible to hold a finger. Then I took the thermometer off the wall and leaned it against the light bulb.

Mercury quickly rose and rested against the upper end, so that even divisions on the thermometer were not enough. So there was a lot of heat.

I calmed down and hung the thermometer in its place. Subsequently, after a while, we discovered that this thermometer began to lie and show the wrong temperature. When it was cool in the room, for some reason it showed forty degrees of heat, and when it became warmer, the mercury climbed to the very top and stuck there until it was shaken off. He never showed less than thirty degrees of heat, so that even in winter we could live without heating if he did not lie.

Maybe it happened because I applied the thermometer to the lamp? Don't know.

The next day I told Mishka about my invention.

When we returned from school, I begged my mother for an old table lamp that we had in the closet, and we decided to try heating water with electricity. We put a table lamp instead of a kerosene one in a box, and in order for the lamp to be closer to the jar of water and heat it better, Mishka placed several books under it. I turned on the electricity, and we began to monitor the thermometer. At first, the mercury in the thermometer stood still for a long time, and we even began to fear that nothing would come of it. Then the electric bulb gradually heated the water, and the mercury began to slowly rise upwards.

In half an hour it rose to thirty-nine degrees. The bear clapped his hands for joy and shouted:

Hooray! Here it is, real chicken temperature! .. It turns out that electricity is no worse than kerosene.

Of course, - I say - not worse. Electricity is even better, because kerosene can start a fire, but nothing will work with electricity.

Then we noticed that the mercury in the thermometer climbed higher and rose to forty degrees.

Stop! Mishka shouted. - Stop! Watch where she goes!

We have to stop it somehow, I say.

And how will you stop it? If it was a kerosene lamp, you could twist the wick.

What kind of wick is there when it's electricity!

It's no good, your electricity! Mishka got angry.

Why my electricity? - I was offended. It's just as mine as it is yours.

But it's you who invented heating with electricity. Look, it's already forty-two degrees! If it goes like this, then all the eggs will boil and no chickens will come out.

Wait, I say. - In my opinion, it is necessary to lower the light bulb lower, then it will become weaker to heat the water and the temperature will drop.

We pulled out the thickest book from under the lamp and began to see what would happen. Mercury slowly crawled down and dropped to thirty-nine degrees. We breathed a sigh of relief, and Mishka said:

Well, it's all right now. You can start hatching chickens. Now I will ask my mother for money, and you run home and ask for money too. We'll get together and buy a dozen eggs from the store.

I hurried home and began to ask my mother for money for eggs.

Mom couldn't understand why I needed eggs. Forcibly, I explained to her that we had set up an incubator and wanted to hatch chickens.

It won't work for you," Mom said. - Is it a joke to bring chickens out without a hen! You will only waste your time.

But I did not lag behind my mother and asked for everything.

Okay, Mom agreed. - Where do you want to buy eggs?

In the store, I say. - Where else?

Eggs from the store are not suitable for such a thing, my mother says. - For chickens, you need the freshest eggs that the hen has recently laid, and from those eggs that have been lying for a long time, the chickens will no longer hatch.

I returned to Mishka and told him what my mother had told me.

Oh, I'm crazy! Mishka says. - After all, it is written in the book. Completely forgot!

We decided to go the next day to the village to Aunt Natasha, with whom we lived last year in the country. Aunt Natasha has her own chickens, and we were sure that we would get the freshest eggs from her.

living hat

The hat lay on the dresser, the kitten Vaska sat on the floor near the dresser, and Vovka and Vadik sat at the table and painted pictures. Suddenly, behind them, something plopped down - fell to the floor. They turned and saw a hat on the floor near the chest of drawers.

Vovka went up to the chest of drawers, bent down, wanted to pick up his hat - and suddenly he screamed:

- Ah ah ah! - and run to the side.

- What are you? Vadik asks.

–　She is alive!

–　Who is alive?

–　Hat-hat-hat-pa.

- What you! Are hats alive?

–　Po-see for yourself!

Vadik came closer and began to look at the hat. Suddenly the hat crawled straight towards him. He screams like:

–　Ay! - and jump on the couch. Vovka is behind him.

The hat crawled out into the middle of the room and stopped. The boys look at her and tremble with fear. Then the hat turned and crawled towards the sofa.

–　Ay! Ouch! the guys shouted.

They jumped off the couch and ran out of the room. They ran into the kitchen and closed the door behind them.

–　I ho-ho-ho-zhu! Vovka says.

- Where ?

“　I’m going to my house.

- Why ?

　I'm afraid of hats! This is the first time I see a hat walking around the room.

　Maybe someone is pulling her string?

–　Well, go and have a look.

- Let's go together. I'll take a stick. If she climbs to us, I'll crack her with a stick.

　Wait a minute, I'll take a stick too.

–　Yes, we don’t have another stick.

–　Well, I'll take a ski pole.

They took a stick and a ski pole, opened the door and looked into the room.

　Where is she? Vadik asks.

　Over there, by the table.

–　Now I’m going to crack her with a stick! Vadik says. - Just let him crawl closer, such a vagabond!

But the hat lay near the table and did not move.

–　Yeah, scared! - the guys rejoiced. - Afraid to climb to us.

–　Now I will frighten her away,　– said Vadik.

He started pounding on the floor with a club and shouting:

　Hey you hat!

But the hat didn't move.

“　Let’s collect potatoes and shoot potatoes at her,” suggested Vovka.

They returned to the kitchen, took potatoes from the basket and began to throw them at the hat. They threw them, they threw them, and finally Vadik hit. The hat will jump up!

–　Meow! - shouted something. Look, a gray tail stuck out from under the hat, then a paw, and then the kitten itself jumped out.

–　Vaska ! - the guys rejoiced.

–　Probably, he was sitting on the floor, and the hat fell on him from the chest of drawers,　 Vovka guessed.

Vadik grabbed Vaska and let's hug him!

–　Vaska, dear, how did you get under the hat?

But Vaska did not answer, he only snorted and squinted from the light.

Patch

Bobka had wonderful trousers: green, or rather, khaki. Bobka loved them very much and always boasted:

Look guys, what my pants are. Soldier!

All the guys, of course, were jealous. No one else had such green pants.

Once Bobka climbed over the fence, caught on a nail and tore those wonderful pants. From annoyance, he almost cried, went home as soon as possible and began to ask his mother to sew up.

Mom got angry:

You will climb fences, tear your pants, and I have to sew up?

I won't do it again! Shut up, mom!

I sew it myself.

So I can't!

Managed to tear, manage and sew.

Well, I'll walk like that, - Bobka grumbled and went into the yard.

The guys saw that he had a hole in his pants, and began to laugh.

What kind of soldier are you, they say, if your pants are torn?

And Bobka justifies himself:

I asked my mother to sew it up, but she does not want to.

Do mothers sew up pants for soldiers? - say the guys. - A soldier himself must be able to do everything: put a patch and sew on a button.

Bob was embarrassed.

He went home, asked his mother for a needle, thread and a piece of green cloth. From the cloth he cut out a patch the size of a cucumber and began sewing it to his pants.

The matter was not easy. In addition, Bobka was in a hurry and pricked his fingers with a needle.

What are you up to? Oh you disgusting! - Bobka said to the needle and tried to grab it by the very tip, so as not to prick himself.

Finally the patch was sewn on. It stuck out of his pants like a dried mushroom, and the fabric around him was wrinkled so that one leg even became shorter.

Well, where does it fit? Bobka grumbled, looking at his pants. - Even worse than before! Everything will have to be redone.

He took a knife and ripped off the patch. Then he smoothed it out, put it back on his pants, carefully traced the patch around the patch with an ink pencil and began to sew it on again. Now he sewed slowly, carefully and all the time making sure that the patch did not crawl out of the line.

He fiddled for a long time, sniffling and groaning, but when he did everything, it was a pleasure to look at the patch. It was sewn on evenly, smoothly, and so firmly that even teeth could not tear it off.

Finally, Bobka put on his pants and went out into the yard. The guys surrounded him.

Well done! they said. - And the patch, look, circled in pencil. It is immediately obvious that he sewed.

And Bobka turned in all directions, so that everyone could see, and said:

Oh, I would like to learn how to sew on buttons, but it’s a pity, none of them came off! That is OK. Someday it will come off - I will definitely sew it myself.

Entertainers

Valya and I are entertainers. We are always playing some games.

Once we read the fairy tale "The Three Little Pigs". And then they started playing. At first we ran around the room, jumping and shouting:

We are not afraid of the gray wolf!

Then mom went to the store, and Valya said:

Come on, Petya, let's make ourselves a house, like those piglets in a fairy tale.

We pulled the blanket off the bed and covered the table with it. Here is the house. We climbed into it, and it's dark, dark!

Valya says:

It's good that we have our own house! We will always live here and will not let anyone in, and if the gray wolf comes, we will drive him away.

I say:

It’s a pity that we don’t have windows in the house, it’s very dark!

Nothing, Valya says. - Piglets have houses without windows.

I'm asking:

Do you see me?

No, and you me?

And I, I say, no. I don't even see myself.

Suddenly, someone grabs me by the leg! How I scream! I jumped out from under the table, and Valya followed me!

What you? - asks.

I, - I say, - someone grabbed my leg. Maybe a gray wolf?

Valya was frightened and ran out of the room. I am behind her. They ran out into the hallway and slammed the door.

Come on, - I say, - keep the door so that he does not open it. We held the door, held. Valya says:

Maybe there is no one there?

I say:

And who then touched my leg?

It's me, - says Valya, - I wanted to know where you are.

What didn't you say before?

I, he says, was scared. You scared me.

We opened the door. There is nobody in the room. But we are still afraid to approach the table: suddenly a gray wolf will crawl out from under it!

I say:

Go take off your blanket. Valya says:

No, you go! I say:

There is no one there.

And maybe there is! I crept on tiptoe to the table, pulled the edge of the blanket and ran to the door. The blanket has fallen and there is no one under the table. We rejoiced. They wanted to fix the house, only Valya says:

Suddenly, someone grabs his leg again!

So they didn’t play the Three Little Pigs anymore.

Blot

I will tell you about Fedya Rybkin, about how he made the whole class laugh. He had a habit of making guys laugh. And he didn't care: change now or lesson. So. It began with the fact that Fedya had a fight with Grisha Kopeikin over a bottle of mascara. Only to tell the truth, there was no fight here. Nobody beat anyone. They simply snatched a bottle from each other's hands, and the mascara splashed out of it, and one drop fell on Fedya's forehead. From this, a black blot the size of a penny turned out on his forehead.

At first, Fedya got angry, and then he saw that the guys were laughing, looking at his inkblot, and decided that it was even better. And did not wash off the blot.

Soon the bell rang, Zinaida Ivanovna came, and the lesson began. All the guys looked back at Fedya and quietly laughed at his blot. Fedya really liked that he could make the guys laugh with just his appearance. He put his finger into the bottle on purpose and smeared mascara on his nose. No one could look at him without laughing. The classroom became noisy.

Zinaida Ivanovna at first could not understand what was the matter, but soon noticed Fedya's inkblot and even stopped in surprise.

“Is that what you stained your face with, mascara?” she asked.

"Yeah," Fred nodded.

- And what ink? This one? Zinaida Ivanovna pointed to the bottle, which stood on the desk.

“This one,” Fedya confirmed, and his mouth parted almost to his ears.

Zinaida Ivanovna put spectacles on her nose and with a serious look examined the black spots on Fedya's face, after which she shook her head sadly.

"You shouldn't have done it, you shouldn't have done it!" she said.

- And what? - Fedya got worried.

- Yes, you see, this ink is chemical, poisonous. It corrodes the skin. From this, the skin first begins to itch, then blisters pop up on it, and then lichen and sores go all over the face.

Fedya got scared. His face fell, his mouth opened of its own accord.

“I won’t wear mascara anymore,” he murmured.

“Yes, I think that you won’t be again!” Zinaida Ivanovna grinned and continued the lesson.

Fedya hurriedly began to wipe off the ink stains with a handkerchief, then turned his frightened face to Grisha Kopeikin and asked:

“Yes,” Grisha said in a whisper. Fedya again began rubbing his face, rubbing it with a handkerchief and a blotter, but the black spots were deeply ingrained into the skin and did not rub off. Grisha handed Fedya an eraser and said:

- On here. I have a wonderful gum. Rub it, try it. If she does not help you, then write wasted.

Fedya began rubbing Grisha's face with a rubber band, but that didn't help either. Then he decided to run away to wash and raised his hand. But Zinaida Ivanovna, as if on purpose, did not notice him. He stood up, then sat down, then rose on tiptoe, trying to stretch his arm as high as possible. Finally Zinaida Ivanovna asked him what he needed.

“Let me go and wash,” Fedya asked in a plaintive voice.

“What, is your face already itchy?”

- No, - Fedya hesitated. - It doesn't seem to itch yet.

- Well, then sit down. You can take a shower during the break.

Fedya sat down and again began rubbing his face with a blotter.

“It itches?” Grisha asked anxiously.

- No, it doesn't seem to itch... No, it seems to itch. I can't tell if it itches or not. Looks like it's already itchy! Well, look, there are no more blisters?

“There are no blisters yet, and everything around has already turned red,” Grisha said in a whisper.

- Flushed? - Fedya was frightened. - Why did you blush? Maybe blisters or sores are already starting?

Fedya again began raising his hand and asking Zinaida Ivanovna to let him go to wash.

“It itches!” he whimpered.

Now he was not laughing. And Zinaida Ivanovna said:

- Nothing. Let it scratch. But next time you will not smear your face with anything.

Fedya sat as if on pins and needles and kept clutching his face with his hands. It began to seem to him that his face actually began to itch, and in place of the spots, bumps were already beginning to swell.

“You better not three,” Grisha advised him.

Finally the bell rang. Fedya was the first to jump out of the classroom and ran at full speed to the washstand. There he rubbed his face with soap throughout the break, and the whole class made fun of him. He finally wiped the mascara stains clean and walked around seriously for a week afterwards. I kept waiting for blisters to pop up on my face. But the blisters never popped up, and during this week Fedya even forgot how to laugh in class. Now he laughs only at breaks, and even then not always.

On the hill

The guys worked all day - they built a snow hill in the yard. They raked snow with shovels and dumped it under the wall of the barn in a pile. The hill was ready only for dinner. The guys poured water on it and ran home for dinner.

–　Let’s have lunch,　– they said,　– while the hill freezes over. And after lunch we will come with sleds and go for a ride.

And Kotka Chizhov from the sixth apartment is cunning! He didn't build a hill. He sits at home and looks out the window as others work. The guys shout to him to go build a hill, but he only spreads his arms outside the window and shakes his head, 　 as if he was not allowed. When the guys left, he quickly dressed, put on his skates and ran out into the yard. Chirk with skates in the snow, teal! And he doesn't know how to ride! Went up to the hill.

–　Oh , he says　– it turned out to be a good slide! I'm jumping now.

Just climbed up the hill - bang your nose!

- Wow ! - He speaks. - Slippery!

He got to his feet and again - bang! Fallen ten times. Can't climb the hill.

"What to do?" - thinks.

Thought and thought - and came up with:

“Now I’ll sprinkle sand and climb on it.”

He grabbed the plywood and rolled to the janitor's. There is a box of sand. He began to carry the sand up the hill from the box. Sprinkles in front of him, and he climbs higher and higher. Climbed to the very top.

–　Now,　– he says,　– I’m jumping!

He pushed off with his foot and again - bang his nose! Skates don't ride on sand! Kotka lies on his stomach and says:

–　How to ride on the sand now?

And climbed down on all fours. Here come the guys. They see - the hill is sprinkled with sand.

　Who messed up here? they shouted. - Who sprinkled the hill with sand? Have you seen it, Kitty?

–　No,　– says Kotka,　– I didn’t see it. I sprinkled this myself, because it was slippery and I could not climb it.

–　Oh, you smart guy! Look what you came up with! We worked, worked, and he - sand! How to ride now?

Kitty says:

–　Maybe someday it will snow, it will cover the sand, so it will be possible to ride.

–　So it may snow in a week, but we have to ride today.

-　Well, I don't know,　- says Kotka.

- You do not know! You know how to ruin a slide, but you don’t know how to fix it! Grab a shovel now!

Kotka untied his skates and took a shovel.

–　Sand with snow!

Kotka began to sprinkle snow on the hill, and the guys poured water again.

–　Now,　– they say,　– it will freeze, and it will be possible to ride.

And Kotka liked working so much that he made steps on the side with a shovel.

–　This,　– says,　– so that it is easy for everyone to climb, otherwise someone else will sprinkle sand again!

steps

One day Petya was returning from kindergarten. That day he learned to count to ten. He reached his house, and his younger sister Valya was already waiting at the gate.

They began to climb the stairs, and Petya loudly counted the steps:

–　Well, why did you stop? Valya asks.

-　Well, remember,　- says Valya. They stood on the stairs, they stood. Petya says:

　No, I can't remember that. Well, let's start over.

They went down the stairs. They started going up again.

–　One,　– says Petya,　– two, three, four, five…

And stopped again.

　Forgot again? Valya asks.

- Forgot ! How is it! Just remembered, I suddenly forgot! Well, let's try again.

They went down the stairs again, and Petya started over:

–　One, two, three, four, five…

　Maybe twenty-five? Valya asks.

- Well no! You just stop thinking! You see, I forgot because of you! Will have to start over again.

　I don't want to at first! Valya says. - What it is? Up, then down, then up, then down! My legs already hurt.

–　If you don’t want to, don’t,　 Petya replied. “I won’t go any further until I remember.”

Valya went home and said to her mother:

–　Mom, there Petya counts steps on the stairs: one, two, three, four, five, and then he doesn’t remember.

Valya ran back to the stairs, and Petya kept counting the steps:

–　One, two, three, four, five…

- Six ! Valya whispers. - Six! Six!

- Six ! Petya was delighted and went on. - Seven eight nine ten.

It’s good that the stairs ended, otherwise he would never have reached the house, because he only learned to count up to ten.

Perhaps there is no person in our country who did not read the works of Nosov in childhood or did not know at least one hero of his wonderful books and stories. This article is about the amazing children's writer, Nikolai Nikolaevich Nosov.

Childhood years of the writer

Born in Tsarist Russia, in the beautiful city of Kyiv, on November 23, 1908. The childhood and youth of the writer were associated with the small town of Irpen, located not far from Kyiv. Nicolas' father was a pop artist, and, most likely, the boy inherited a vivid imagination from him. After the death of Nosov, the autobiographical story "The Secret at the Bottom of the Well" was published, where he described his childhood years.

Being a passionate and quickly addicted nature, little Kolya tried to make music, but quickly realized that this was not for him. He was very fond of the theater, played chess well, was interested in electrical engineering, photography and chemistry.

The childhood and youth of the writer fell on very difficult years - the First World War and the Civil War, the revolution. From the age of 14, he began working to help his family, and after graduating from school he became a laborer.

The writer graduated from the Moscow Institute of Cinematography and for 19 years, until 1951, worked as a director of scientific, animated and educational films.

Self awareness and imagination

According to the writer's memoirs, he began to realize himself and things around him by the age of four. The objects surrounding the boy had a character for him and their own special life. The closet is immersed in thought and speaks in a strange creaking language, the sideboard is a frivolous creature, and the armchairs are like two stiff aunts who really want to gossip, but you can’t show them that they can be interested in all sorts of trifles. All these childhood impressions then helped the writer a lot, and some of them subsequently entered Nosov's works for children. For example, one of his famous stories “The Hat” can be recalled. In it, the boys first of all think not that the kitten hid under her, but in a panic they decide that she came to life. In general, it must be said that all the stories of Nosov show an excellent knowledge of child psychology.

The beginning of the creative path

Nosov's debut as a writer took place in 1938. It was the story "Entertainers". The author was then 30 years old. As the writer himself admitted, his arrival in literature was an accident. The little son demanded more and more new fairy tales and interesting stories, and Nosov began to compose them first for him, and then for his friends. The writer realized that this work requires both great knowledge and understanding of child psychology. And most importantly, respect. And all Nosov's works are permeated with such great love and attention to children.

First collections of short stories

Then Nosov's other children's stories appear - "The Living Hat", "Mishkin's Porridge", "Cucumbers", "Dreamers". Each of them was already impatiently awaited by little readers, who immediately highly appreciated the works of the new writer. It was printed then in the best children's magazine "Murzilka". A little later, these stories were combined into a still thin book "Knock-knock-knock". This event did not happen immediately, in 1945. But a year later, a new collection of the writer's funny stories appeared - "Steps".

Nosov's works come out one after another. Their list is extensive:

- "Bobik visiting Barbos".

- Happy family.

- "Funny stories".

- "Vitya Maleev at school and at home."

- Diary of Kolya Sinitsyn.

- Gardeners.

- "The Adventures of Kolya Klyukvin".

- "Telephone".

- "Wonderful trousers."

Children like Nosov's works, but general popularity comes to him after the publication of the story "Vitya Maleev at school and at home." Taking as a basis a completely ordinary story about a schoolboy and his studies, the writer was able to write about the real, real life of ordinary boys, sincere and naive.

Tale of the Dunno

Even those who do not know the writer Nosov have heard of Dunno - the most famous and beloved literary character by children. The author characterized his hero as follows: “This is a generalized idea of ​​a child with an irrepressible thirst for activity, with a great desire to learn everything, but at the same time uncollected and unable to hold his attention. This is a completely normal child. He has great potential that he will develop in the future, and shortcomings that need to be dealt with.”

Dunno - a representative of the short people living in beautiful cities with the poetic names Flower, Sunny. Very active and cheerful, the main character sincerely wants to help all his friends, but because of his restlessness and haste, he constantly helps them. Friends forgive Dunno, although his actions often cause great trouble. In total, the writer created three stories about little men.

By the way, Nosov did not come up with the name of his hero himself, but borrowed it from a book about forest men. Dunno was not the main character there, but one of the most insignificant. The writer never hid this fact. This, by the way, is now preventing Nosov's heir, his grandson, from fighting piracy in relation to his grandfather's work. Several times his claims were rejected with the wording that Dunno was not invented by Nikolai Nosov.

They say that the restless little man was written off by the writer from his son Petya, and Nosov gave the hat to the hero, because he himself loved to wear them.

Heroes of Nosov's works

The most amazing thing is that all the works of Nosov, which are considered funny, were written by him not at all for laughter and entertainment. He never set himself the task of making the reader laugh. Nosov described the ordinary daily life of children, filled with victories and failures, small discoveries and great joy of life. Even if the heroes of his works are lazy or losers, they still evoke sympathy for the fact that they sincerely repent of their actions.

Screen adaptation of Nosov's works

According to the books of the writer, 6 feature films and a huge number of animated films were shot. Among them are two series about the adventures of Dunno.

The work of the remarkable writer Nikolai Nosov is in demand even now. His books are still as popular and loved by both young children and their parents as they were many years ago.

Stories and fairy tales written by the great writer Nikolai Nosov did not leave every little reader without attention, even despite the fact that a large selection of stories by contemporaries is offered on store shelves. The works of Nikolai Nosov for children are the standard of children's literature, and we offer a brief overview of some of them.

This is one of the favorite stories of readers, which consists of twenty-one chapters. It describes the life of schoolchildren, their thoughts and anxieties, followed by actions based on personal conclusions, even if they are children. Funny stories that happen in Viti's life give a humorous touch to the story and amuse the reader.

The story written by Nosov in three volumes about the unusual character Dunno originates from the book The Adventures of Dunno and His Friends. Events begin in the Flower City, where one of the residents comes up with the idea of ​​traveling in a hot air balloon. The adventures of friends are gaining momentum, and in order to find the way home, you will have to make a lot of effort and ingenuity.

The second part of the Dunno trilogy, but here the behavior of the protagonist changes from a naughty little man, he reincarnates into a sympathetic kid who does only good deeds. Thanks to this, Dunno receives a magic wand as a gift and sets off on new journeys to the Sunny City, where new friends and adventures await on the way.

The final part of Nosov's trilogy, which consists of thirty-six chapters, and the writer put a deep meaning into each of them, while the text is presented in an accessible form. The main events take place on the Moon along with Dunno's true friends, who also talk like adults. No wonder this part is called the textbook of life for kids.

A short story by Nosov, which describes a dispute between two young boys who saw a car in the yard and disagreed whether it was Volga or Moskvich. Then one of the comrades had the idea to ride on the bumper of the car, because before that the guys had a dream to ride, but none of the drivers agreed to the request.

This story is about how Vadik and Vova saw a hat on the floor and, to their surprise, it turned out to be “alive”. The guys saw her start crawling on the floor all of a sudden and scared them. Friends decided to look into the situation and, in the end, found the answer. The hat fell on the cat Vaska, who was sitting on the floor.

The story tells that a simple putty can lead to the adventures of two comrades Kostya and Shurik. They got it when the glazier was plastering the windows and after that the funny adventures that took place in the cinema began. A stranger sat on the putty, it was confused with a gingerbread, and in the end it was completely lost.

An informative story by Nosov, in which the boy Bobka himself learns to put a patch on his pants, since his mother refused to sew them up. And he tore them like this: he climbed over the fence, caught on and tore. As a result of many trials and errors, the young tailor manages to make an excellent patch.

A short story where events develop based on the famous fairy tale "The Three Little Pigs". The guys read it and decided to start a game. They built a small house and found that it had no windows and therefore nothing could be seen. And here it suddenly seemed to them that a gray wolf had come to them ...

The story of how a mother made a gift to her son Vitalik. And it was an aquarium with a beautiful fish - carp. At first, the child looked after her, and then he got tired, and he decided to exchange with a friend for a whistle. When my mother did not find the fish at home, she decided to find out where she had gone. Vitalik was cunning and did not want to tell his mother the truth, but in the end he confessed.

Nikolai Nosov in the story "Dreamers" shows how children come up with stories and spread them to each other. But at the same time, they compete in who makes up the most. But here they meet Igor, who ate the jam himself, and told his mother that his younger sister did it. The guys felt sorry for the girl, and they bought her ice cream.

One of the funniest stories ever. It tells about how mother and son Mishka lived in the country and a little friend came to visit them. The guys were left alone, as my mother had to go to the city. She told the boys how to cook porridge. Friends had fun all day, but then they got hungry, and the most interesting thing began, cooking porridge.

An instructive story about the good and bad behavior of children. The main character, Fedya Rybkin, is a funny kid who comes up with funny stories. But the problem is that he has fun at school during lessons too. And one day the teacher decided to wisely teach him a lesson, and she successfully succeeded.

The story of how Misha's mother told her son to behave properly and promised to give a lollipop as a reward. Misha tried hard, but then he climbed into the sideboard, pulled out a sugar bowl, and there were candies in it. He could not resist and ate one, and with sticky hands took the sugar bowl and here it broke. When my mother came, the broken sugar bowl and the eaten lollipop were found.

The main character of the story is Sasha, he really wanted a gun for himself, but his mother forbade it. Once his sisters gave him a long-awaited toy. Sasha played with a pistol and decided to scare his grandmother by shooting right next to her face. Suddenly, a policeman came to visit. Here the most interesting began, and the child remembered forever that it was impossible to frighten people.

This story is about schoolboy Fed Rybkin, who was doing his homework in mathematics. He turned on the radio and began to solve problems. He thought it would be more fun that way. Of course, the songs on the radio were much more interesting than the lessons, so all the songs were carefully listened to, but the problem was not solved correctly by Fedya.

Shurik at grandfather's

A story about two little brothers who spent the summer in the village with their grandparents. The guys decided to fish, and for this in the attic, at first, they decided to find a fishing rod, but she was alone. But a galosh was also found, with which, as it turned out, you can also come up with a lot of interesting things. Fishing on the pond was not so easy...

The story of how three children were left at home alone and decided to play hide and seek. Despite the fact that there were not many places to hide, one of them hid so that they could not find him. During the search, the whole apartment was in complete disarray, after which it took another hour to clean it.

Nosov's story about the little boy Pavlik, who went to the dacha in the spring and decided to plant something in the garden, although his peers did not believe in his strength. Mom gave me a shovel for the garden, and my grandmother gave me some grains and explained how to plant. And as a result, it turned out that it was a turnip, which, thanks to Pavlik, rose and grew.

In the story, Nosov tells about boys who loved to play hide and seek, but it always turned out that one was constantly hiding, and the second was always looking. Slavik, who was looking for a friend in the game, was offended. He decided to close his friend Vitya in the closet. After sitting in the closet for some time, the boy did not understand why he was locked up by a friend.

An instructive story about three hunters who went to the forest for prey, but did not catch anyone and stopped to rest. They sat down and began to tell each other funny stories. As a result, they realized that it is not at all necessary to kill animals, but you can have fun in the forest.

The events of this story by Nosov take place in a children's camp, to which three friends arrived, but one day earlier than the others. During the day they had fun, they even decorated the house, but when night fell, and suddenly there was a knock on the door, the boys got scared. When they asked who it was, there was no answer, and all night the guys could not understand who it was. Everything cleared up in the morning.

A comic story about the dog Barboska, who invited Bobik to visit, while grandfather and cat Vaska were not at home. The watchdog boasted of the things that were in the house: either a mirror, or a comb, or a whip. During the conversation, the friends fell asleep right on the bed, and when the grandfather came and discovered this, he began to kick them out, so much so that Barbos hid under the bed.

A story about a little five-year-old girl, Ninochka, who spent most of her time with her grandmother, since her mother and father worked. And one day she had the idea to help adults in search of iron for the delivery of scrap metal. When she showed the way to two adult boys, she forgot the way and got lost. The boys helped find the way home.

An interesting instructive story about an excellent student named Kolya Sinitsyn, who decided to keep a diary during the summer holidays. Kolya's mother promised to buy him a pen if he wrote everything neatly. The boy tried to write down all his thoughts and events, and got so carried away that he ran out of a notebook.

Underground

A story about the journey of two little boys who got into the Moscow metro while visiting their aunt. Having seen enough of the moving stairs, stops and ride in the train, the boys realized that they were lost. And suddenly they met their mother and aunt, who laughed at the situation. And in the end, they got lost.

Rstories Nosov a. Nikolai Nikolaevich Nosov (November 10 (23), 1908, Kyiv - July 26, 1976, Moscow) - Soviet prose writer, playwright, screenwriter, laureate of the Stalin Prize.

Born in Kyiv in the family of a stage actor. In 1927-1929 he studied at the Kiev Art Institute, from where he transferred to the Moscow Institute of Cinematography (graduated in 1932). In 1932-1951 - director of animated, popular science and educational (including for the Red Army, earning this in 1943 the Order of the Red Star) films.

He began publishing stories in 1938: Entertainers, Lively Hat, Cucumbers, Wonderful Trousers, Mishkina Porridge, Gardeners, Dreamers, and others, printed mainly in the "baby" magazine Murzilka ” and formed the basis of Nosov’s first collection Knock-Knock-Knock, 1945. Nosov introduced a new hero into children’s literature - a naive and sensible, mischievous and inquisitive fidget, obsessed with a thirst for activity and constantly getting into unusual, often comical situations.

Particularly popular were his stories for teenagers The Merry Family (1949), The Diary of Kolya Sinitsyn (1950), Vitya Maleev at School and at Home (1951; Stalin Prize, 1952; film, 1954).

The greatest fame and love of readers were his fabulous works about Dunno. The first of them is the fairy tale "Cog, Shpuntik and the vacuum cleaner." Later, the hero appeared in the famous trilogy, including the fairy tale novels "The Adventures of Dunno and His Friends" (1953-1954), "Dunno in the Sunny City" (1958) and "Dunno on the Moon" (1964-1965; State Prize of the RSFSR. N. K. Krupskaya, 1969). The first illustrator of Dunno, the artist who gave this literary hero an image well known to everyone, was Alexei Mikhailovich Laptev (1905-1965). An equally famous illustrator of Nosov was Heinrich Valk.

In 1969, the satirical collection “Ironical Humoresques” was published - a series of articles by the writer about literature (“On Literary Mastery”, “Let's Talk About Poetry”, “A Treatise on Comedy”), the Russian alphabet (“A, B, C ...”), the relationship of teachers and students (“The second time in the first class”) and about some social phenomena - philistinism (“One more, boring question for everyone”), drunkenness (“On the use of alcoholic beverages”), the relationship between fathers and children (“Is it necessary to name parents ancestors and horses and other similar issues”), etc.

The writer's autobiographical work - "The Tale of My Friend Igor" (1971-1972), written in the form of diary entries from the life of grandfather and grandson (1st part - "Between a year and two", 2nd part - "From two up to two and a half years") and the memoir story "The Secret at the Bottom of the Well" (1977; its two original versions - "The Tale of Childhood" and "Everything Ahead", both 1976).

Died in Moscow.

In 1997, the FAF Entertainment studio created the cartoon "Dunno on the Moon" based on the book of the same name by N. N. Nosov.

In 2008, for the 100th anniversary of the birth of N. N. Nosov, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation issued a silver coin.

According to the definition of S. Ya. Marshak, this is a writer "with a distinct creative personality", in works which manifested itself "a combination of humor, lyricism and the recollective vigilance of a writer of everyday life." Nikolai Nosov created mainly children's works.

Nosov's works for children: a list

• "Entertainers"
• "Knock-Knock!"
• "Gardeners"
• "Mishkina porridge"
• "Telephone"
• "Step"
• "About the turnip"
• "Dreamers"
• "The Adventures of Tolya Klyukvin"
• "Under the same roof"
• "Merry family"
• "Diary of Kolya Sinitsyn"
• "Vitya Maleev at school and at home"
• "The Adventures of Dunno and His Friends"
• "Dunno in a Sunny City"

And that's not all list of Nosov's children's works loved by many generations.

How did Nikolai Nosov become a children's writer?

Nikolai Nikolaevich Nosov was born in Kyiv, in the family of an actor. At the age of 15, he entered the concrete plant as a laborer. In 1927 he began to study at the Kiev Art Institute. Two years later, he moved to the Moscow Institute of Cinematography, and then worked as a film director - he shot educational and animated films. During the war, Nosov was awarded the Order of the Red Star for creating military-technical films.

Which parent has not had to compose poems, fairy tales, stories their children? Nikolai Nikolaevich also had to do this: he had a boy. The experiments were successful. In 1938, Nosov's story appeared in the Murzilka magazine. "Entertainers". But he became a professional writer only in 1945, when his first book was published.

"Knock-Knock!"- with this heading, Nosov, as it were, knocked on the doors of great literature for little ones. The subtitle "Funny Stories" was a claim for the birth of a humorist writer. Here we first get acquainted with Mishka, whom we later meet in a whole cycle of Nosov's small works: "Gardeners", "Mishkina porridge", "Telephone" and others. This boy is always trying to do something good, but does not measure this desire with his strengths and skills. Hence, situations arise that cause laughter, but not condemning, but benevolent. Nosov believes that "humor is ridicule with a touch of sympathy." Others enjoy great success with readers. Nosov's works for children: "Step", "About the turnip", "Dreamers", "The Adventures of Tolya Klyukvin", "Under the same roof".

Children's works by N. Nosov

The story "Merry family"

In 1949, Nosov's first story was published - "Merry family" . In many ways, it is still close to those stories of the writer, where the images of the guys who called themselves "Me and Mishka" are developed. Friends still do not know peace: "This is the character of Mishka and I - we definitely need some kind of activity." At first, the guys quickly move from one hobby to another: "Mishka is such a person - he definitely needs everything to be useful." But the boy thinks about the benefit not for himself, but for everyone. There is a community approach to his reflections on the benefits of state farm incubators. So, children need to be helped to find just such activities that would inspire them with a big goal. Only thanks to this goal, Mishka and his friend were able to grow chickens in a makeshift incubator for almost a month (a long time for restless boys!)

With the whole development of the plot, the author suggests that a big deal needs to be taken together, by a team. We see how in the boys, especially in Mishka, who was so careless just recently, a sense of duty, a sense of responsibility for their mistakes, is ripening.

The story "The Diary of Kolya Sinitsyn"

In the story "Diary of Kolya Sinitsyn" It also speaks of the children's desire to engage in a common cause. Unlike The Merry Family, in this book the guys act together from the very beginning and consciously look for "such work that will be useful." The form of the diary allowed the writer to convey the reflections of his hero. They have a lot of naivete, colored by the author's humor, and at the same time, how much moral purity, characteristic of the pioneers.

Following the example of Nosov's characters, many of the guys began to build incubators and breed bees. The writer V. Kataev tells what a rout his son did in the house, who, after reading The Merry Family, decided to follow the example of Kolya and Misha. Readers are attracted to Nosov's stories by the enthusiasm of the characters, the rapid development of the plot, the absence of long descriptions, which, as N.K. Krupskaya noted, are unacceptable for children aged 8-13. Many guys tell Nosov that they themselves, following the example of Kolya Sinitsyn, began to write diaries, and some even ask how to publish them.

Parents, after reading these stories, will truly understand how important adult support is for children. The old beekeeper from the "Diary of Kolya Sinitsyn" did not scold the boys who accidentally ran into his apiary, but helped them. Kolya reflects on this: “That's how kind grandfather turned out to be! He not only promised to give us bees, but he kept his promise.” This is a reproach to those adults who thoughtlessly violate the word given to the guys. “And I also had joy today,” Kolya writes after a while in his diary, “my mom and dad came to the apiary and looked at our bees.” Here is an example of how important it is to delve into the interests of your children, to encourage them with your attention!

The story "Vitya Maleev at school and at home"

If in the books "Merry Family" and "Kolya Sinitsyn's Diary" Nosov shows the development of interests and a sense of collectivism in the process of extracurricular work, then his third and most significant story in content is "Vitya Maleev at school and at home" (1951) - mainly devoted to educational work. She was awarded the State Prize and was among the best in the children's fiction book competition held by the Ministry of Education of the RSFSR.

... Inseparable friends Vitya Maleev and Kostya Shishkin love school, they want to study well, grow up to be real people. “You dream of something wonderful,” Vitya reflects, “and you want to grow up quickly, become strong and courageous, perform various feats and heroism ...” There is nothing surprising in these dreams. They are determined by our entire system, which opens up clear prospects for children from the very first years of school life. Vitya clearly understands why he should study, but the trouble is that he does not know how to concentrate - the temptation to play football turns out to be stronger than his still weak will.

In the books of Soviet writers, before there were images of children who, under the influence of the teacher and the whole class, became successful. But we did not see how this process took place in the minds of the losers themselves. Nosov, on the other hand, managed to look into the world of thoughts and feelings of his hero. “The discovery that Vitya Maleev makes, having solved the problem on his own for the first time,” said S. Ya. Marshak at the II Congress of Writers, “is not only the discovery of Vitya, but also the author himself. It is not so easy to show why the incomprehensible suddenly becomes understandable, how consideration depends on the imagination.

Kostya's correction process is much more difficult. He is less able than Vitya to analyze his actions, to be critical of them. Kostya even stops going to school and, deceiving his mother, pretends to be sick. It seems to him that it is easier to perform in the circus than to write a dictation. And although Vitya feels remorse, he still hides the truth from the teacher, from the whole class. To act otherwise, he thinks, would be uncomradely. But soon Vitya realized that a true pioneer should not hide the bad deeds of a friend, but help him improve. The pages describing how Maleev works with Shishkin, how they, despite the first failures, achieve success, are especially interesting in the story.

In the words of Lev Kassil, "educators will find in Nosov's story a lot of things that will be useful in their work." Let the parents think about how Kostya's mother failed to correctly direct her son's hobbies and inspired him that he had no will. And Aunt Zina kept threatening to “take him in, check his studies, but each time she forgot to do it.” The example of Viti's parents is also instructive. Each time, the mother scolded her son for the fact that he sat down for lessons late, but did not help him properly allocate his time. And the father, undertaking to help the boy with arithmetic, simply solved the problem for him, and explained it so impatiently that Vitya did not want to turn to him anymore.

The book "Vitya Maleev at school and at home" was published 30 times in the first three years. Hundreds of letters about the children's favorite story are stored in the Children's Book House.

Tale-tale “Adventures of Dunno”

N. Nosov says that when discussing his books, the guys often say: without friendship there cannot be a full-fledged school team, and the girls complain about the boys, who often behave arrogantly towards them. This topic is mainly devoted to the story-tale "The Adventures of Dunno and His Friends" . But why did the writer decide to resort to fantasy? He explains that "the very form of a fairy tale, as a work of fictitious events, is close to a game in its entertainingness, which arouses the interest of a child who is always willing to play." As usual in the works of Nosov, the main character of the new book - Dunno - is also endowed with shortcomings. He is inquisitive, active, but he does not know how to work, he does not have enough patience for this. Striving for fame, this shorty does not even neglect deception. The unknown is re-educated.

Fascinating episodes of Nosov's new fairy tale "Dunno in a Sunny City" says that good deeds must be done disinterestedly, that, having advantages, you should use them deliberately, otherwise you will harm others. Pictures of the sunny city are clearly directed to the future.