Brownie mom

You must have seen the cartoon about the brownie Kuzya, but did you know that the brownie has a mother - kind, affectionate, loving, like all mothers in the world. Her name is Tatyana Ivanovna Aleksandrova. She was born on January 10, 1929 in the city of Kazan, but spent her childhood in Moscow with her parents and twin sister Natasha. And also in the house there was an au pair Matryona Fedorovna Tsareva. The girls loved their Matryoshenka very much. After all, she not only took care of them, but also turned their lives into a fairy tale. This, of course, does not mean that Tanya and Natasha lived like spoiled princesses, just the most ordinary objects in the house became magical for them. So it seemed that from behind a flower pot decorated with carved paper, from behind a curtain tied with a colorful ribbon, a brownie was about to pop out. But the girls not only listened to Matryosha's tales, soon Tanya herself began to invent stories and tell them to her sister. And then there was the Great Patriotic War, the girls were evacuated. And Tanya, and she was only 13 years old, worked as a kindergarten teacher and, of course, composed unusual stories for the kids.

All children grow up, and Tanya also grew up, but, as happens with children's writers and poets, she kept a fairy tale in her heart. Perhaps it was for this trait that the wonderful children's poet Valentin Berestov fell in love with her, who became her husband. Together they wrote wonderful book"Katya in a toy city", as well as "Chest with toys" and "Toy school".

However, Tatyana Alexandrova is not only a writer, but also an artist. She loved to draw since childhood. And then she studied, worked at an animation studio, taught classes at the Palace of Pioneers - she worked with children and often drew them, and so that they sat still, she told them fairy tales. And earlier, during her practice at the institute, she went to the village - she made sketches of boys and girls, and they shared stories with her about all sorts of amazing creatures - goblin, water, brownies, kikimors. So Kuzya - then still just a shaggy brownie - she first drew, and then - on October 8, 1972 - she began to compose a story about him. It is this date that is considered the birthday of the brownie Kuzi.

Good books come into the world in many different ways. It happens that only the author published a work, and it immediately became famous, and it happens that many years will pass before it is loved and appreciated. So the path of the brownie Kuzi turned out to be much longer than it should have been. In 1977, the first story about the brownie Kuzya was published, but Tatyana Alexandrova was not allowed to draw illustrations for it, and Kuzka turned out to be fat and somehow old. And the book went almost unnoticed. In 1983, Tatyana Alexandrova died - she was only fifty-four. And after her death, the cartoon “A House for Kuzka” was published - the first cartoon about a brownie that glorified Kuzya throughout the country. The script for it was written by V. Berestov, and the brownie was already the way it should be - very similar to the one that T. Aleksandrova painted: small, funny, in huge bast shoes, with a head like the sun. And then a book came out with all three stories about a brownie - like the one you hold in your hands. It was then that we, the readers, finally had the opportunity to find out everything, everything, everything about Kuzya!

M. A. Melnichenko

Part one
Kuzka in a new house

There was someone under the broom

The girl took a broom, and just sat on the floor - she was so scared. Someone was under the broom! Small, shaggy, in a red shirt, gleaming eyes and silent. The girl is also silent and thinks: “Maybe this is a hedgehog? And why is he dressed and shod like a boy? Maybe a toy hedgehog? They keyed him in and left. But clockwork toys can’t cough and sneeze so loudly.”

- Be healthy! the girl said politely.

“Yeah,” they answered in a bass voice from under the broom. - Okay. A-apchi!

The girl was so frightened that all thoughts immediately jumped out of her head, not a single one remained.

The girl's name was Natasha. They just moved to a new apartment with their mom and dad. The adults drove off in a truck to get the rest of their things, and Natasha took up cleaning. The broom was not immediately found. He was behind cupboards, chairs, suitcases, in the farthest corner of the farthest room.

And now Natasha is sitting on the floor. The room is quiet. Only a broom rustles when they fumble under it, cough and sneeze.

- You know? - suddenly said from under the broom. - I am afraid of you.

“And I you,” Natasha answered in a whisper.

“I'm much more afraid. You know? You go somewhere far away, while I run away and hide.

Natasha herself would have run away and hid long ago, but her arms and legs stopped moving from fear.

- You know? - a little later they asked from under the broom. “Maybe you won’t touch me?”

“No,” said Natasha.

- You won't beat me? Don't you chew?

- And what is "squash"? the girl asked.

“Well, you hit it, you beat it, you beat it, you pull it out - it still hurts,” they said from under the broom.

Natasha said that she would never ... Well, in general, she would never hit or beat.

- And you won’t drag it by the ears? I don't like it when people pull my ears or my hair.

The girl explained that she did not like it either and that her hair and ears did not grow at all in order to pull on them.

“That’s how it is…” the shaggy creature sighed after a pause. - Yes, apparently, not everyone knows about it ... - And he asked: - You won’t shabby either?

- And what is "scrape"?

The stranger laughed, jumped up and down, the broom shook. Through rustling and laughter, Natasha somehow figured out that “raging” and “scratching” are about the same thing, and she firmly promised not to scratch, because she is a person, not a cat. The twigs of the broom parted, shining black eyes looked at the girl, and she heard:

“Maybe you won’t get along?”

Natasha again did not know what it meant to "get together." Now the shaggy man was delighted, danced, jumped, arms and legs dangled and protruded from behind the broom in all directions.

- Oh, trouble, trouble, chagrin! Whatever you say - not according to reason, whatever you say - all in vain, whatever you ask - all to no avail!

The stranger fell out from behind a broom on the floor, waving his bast shoes in the air:

- Oh, go to me, fathers! Ox me, mothers! Here's an aunt, a fool, a dull-witted fool! And who was born into this? Anyway. What am I for? Mind is good, but two is better than that!

Here Natasha slowly began to laugh. The man turned out to be very funny. In a red shirt with a belt, bast shoes on his feet, a snub-nosed nose, and his mouth to his ears, especially when he laughs.

Shaggy noticed that they were looking at him, ran for the broom and explained from there:

- “To collide” means “to quarrel, swear, disgrace, bully, tease” - everything is one and the same insulting.

And Natasha quickly said that she would never, never, never offend him.

Hearing this, the shaggy boy looked out from behind the broom and said resolutely:

- You know? Then I'm not afraid of you at all. I'm brave!

bathhouse

- Who are you? the girl asked.

“Kuzka,” answered the stranger.

- Your name is Kuzka. And who are you?

- Do you know the stories? So. First, steam the good fellow in the bathhouse, feed, drink, and then ask.

“We don’t have a bathhouse,” the girl said sadly.

Kuzka snorted contemptuously, finally parted with the broom and ran, keeping away from the girl just in case, ran to the bathroom and turned around:

- Not the owner, who does not know his economy!

“So this is a bath, not a bathhouse,” Natasha clarified.

- What's on the forehead, what's on the forehead! Kuzka replied.

- What, what? – not understood girl.

- What about the stove with the head, what with the head about the stove - it doesn’t matter, everything is one! shouted Kuzka and disappeared behind the bathroom door. And a little later, an offended cry was heard from there: “Well, why don’t you soar me?

The girl entered the bathroom. Kuzka was jumping under the washbasin.

He did not want to climb into the bath, he said that it was too big, fit for water. Natasha bathed him right in the sink under the tap with hot water. So hot that his hands could hardly bear it, and Kuzka, you know, shouted:

- Well, hot, hostess! Give it to the park! Let's steam the young bones!

He did not undress.

Or is there nothing for me to do? - he reasoned, somersaulting and jumping in the sink so that the spray flew to the very ceiling. - Take off your caftan, put on a caftan, and there are so many buttons on it, and all are buttoned up. Take off your shirt, put on a shirt, and there are strings on it, and everyone is tied. Undress all your life - get dressed, unbutton - fasten. I have more important things to do. And so I immediately wash myself, and the clothes are washed off.

Natasha persuaded Kuzka to at least take off her bast shoes and washed them clean and clean with soap.

Kuzka, sitting in the sink, watched what would come of it. The washed bast shoes turned out to be very beautiful - yellow, shiny, just like new ones.

Shaggy was delighted and put his head under the tap.

“Please close your eyes tighter,” Natasha asked. “And the soap will bite you.”

- Let him try! Kuzka grumbled and opened his eyes as wide as possible.

Natasha rinsed it for a long time clean water comforted and soothed. But washed Kuzka's hair sparkled like gold.

- Well, - said the girl, - admire yourself! She cleaned the mirror that hung over the sink.

Kuzka admired it, consoled himself, pulled down his wet shirt, played with his tassels on his wet belt, put his hips on his hips, and announced importantly:

- Well, what a good fellow I am. Miracle! A glance, and only! Real fellow!

- Who are you, well done or well done? Natasha didn't understand.

Wet Kuzka very seriously explained to the girl that he was both a good fellow and a real fellow at the same time.

“So you are kind?” - the girl was delighted.

“Very kind,” said Kuzka. “There are all sorts of people among us: both evil and greedy. And I'm kind, everyone says.

- Who's everyone? Who is speaking?

In response, Kuzka began to bend his fingers:

- Am I steamed in the bathhouse? Steamed. drunk? Poeny. He drank enough water. fed? No. So what are you asking me? You've done well, and I've done well, let's take a carpet by the end!

- I'm sorry, what? the girl asked.

“Again you don’t understand,” Kuzka sighed. - Well, it's clear: the well-fed does not understand the hungry. For example, I am terribly hungry. And you?

Natasha, without further ado, wrapped the young man's goods in a towel and carried him into the kitchen.

On the way Kuzka whispered in her ear:

- I did give him a good shove, this soap of yours. How I cook it, how I rag it - it will no longer be squabbled.

Olelyushechki

Natasha sat the wet Kuzka on the radiator. I put bast shoes next to it, let them dry too. If a person has wet shoes, he will catch a cold.

Kuzka completely ceased to be afraid. He sits to himself, holding each bast shoe by the rope, and sings:

They heated the bathhouse, washed Vavanka,
They put me in a corner, gave me a lump of kasha!

Natasha moved a chair to the battery and said:

- Close eyes!

Kuzka immediately closed his eyes and did not think to peep until he heard:

- It's time! Open!

On the chair in front of Kuzka stood a box of cakes, large, beautiful, with green leaves, with white, yellow, pink flowers made of sweet cream. Mom bought them for a housewarming party, and Natasha was allowed to eat one or two, if she really gets bored.

- Choose what you want! the girl said solemnly.

Kuzka looked into the box, wrinkled his nose and turned away:

- I don't eat it. I am not a goat.

The girl was confused. She was very fond of cakes. What's with the goat?

"Just try," she suggested hesitantly.

- Do not even ask! Kuzka firmly refused and turned away again. Yes, how he turned away! Natasha immediately understood what the word "disgust" meant. - Let the piglets try, horses, cows. The chickens will peck, the goslings will nibble. Well, let the hares indulge, the goblin bites. And I…” Kuzka patted his stomach, “this food is not to my liking, no, not to my heart!

“Just smell how they smell,” Natasha asked plaintively.

“Something, but they know how,” Kuzka agreed. - And the grass tastes like grass. - Apparently, Kuzka decided that he was being treated with real flowers: roses, daisies, bluebells.

Natasha laughed.

And I must say that Kuzka disliked more than anything in the world when people laughed at him. If over someone else, then please. You can sometimes laugh at yourself. But for others to laugh at him without asking, Kuzka could not stand this. He immediately grabbed the first cake that came across and bravely put it in his mouth. And now he asked:

- Fafa fefef or fto fofofaf?

The girl did not understand, but the shaggy man, instantly finishing with the cake and putting his hand into the box, repeated:

Do you bake by yourself or does someone help? - And let's shove one cake after another into your mouth.

Natasha wondered what she would say to her mother if Kuzka accidentally ate all the cakes.

But he ate about ten pieces, no more. And, looking goodbye into the box, he sighed:

- Enough. A good little bit. It’s impossible to do that: everything is for yourself and for yourself. We need to think about others too. And he started counting cakes. - There is still left to treat Syura, Afonka, Adonka, Vukolochka. Enough for Sosipatry, and Lutonyushka, and poor Kuvyka. I will also deceive them first: eat, they say, eat, help yourself! Let them also think that I will treat flowers. And we will treat, and make fun, then everyone will be happy, happy!

Having laughed to his heart's content, Kuzka turned to Natasha and declared that there would not be enough olelyusheks in any way.

– What is not enough? the girl asked absently. She kept thinking about what to tell her mother about cakes, and also thought about Adonka, Afonka, Vukolochka.

- Olelyushek, I say, not enough for everyone. The hut is not red in the corners, but red in the pies. Such here, with flowers! - Kuzka even got angry and, seeing that the girl did not understand what it was about, he jabbed his finger at the cakes. - Here they are, ollyushki - these same flower pies! I’m saying, you’re stupid, you’re stupid, and you’re still laughing!

You don't need to call a slut

“A house without an owner is an orphan,” Kuzka said, fidgeting on the radiator, and began to look around as if he had lost something. “And a master without a home is also an orphan.” Houses and walls help.

Natasha looked around the walls. I wonder how they will help? Their hands will grow, or what? Or will the walls become talking? Someone will start washing the dishes, and the walls will say: “Hey, you! March from here! We'll wash ourselves!" Or not. Who would build such rough walls? These will be very nice, friendly walls: “Please, take care of some other, more interesting things, and we, with your permission, will wash all the dishes. And please don’t worry: we won’t break a single cup, a single plate.” Here, of course, the walls will move apart, robots will come out, they will do everything - and again into the walls.

Kuzka, meanwhile, looked around the kitchen very carefully and at the same time explained why it was necessary to celebrate a housewarming:

You people have a birthday once a year. And at the house he happens once in a lifetime - his name is housewarming. Where housewarming - there are guests. Where there are guests, there is food. Few treats - the guests will fight. Olelyushechki bake, and more, so that there is enough for everyone!

- Afonka, Adonka, Vukolochka - are these your guests? the girl asked.

“Syura forgot,” Kuzka replied. - And also wait for Parmesha, Kukovyaka, Lutonyushka. So... Who else? Pafnuty will come, Farmufy, Sosipater, Pudya, Khovrya, Didyma, Terya, Berya, Fortunat, Pigasy, Buyan, Molchan, Nafanya, Avundy ... Theodulus and Theodulaus will arrive, Pantya, Slavusya, Vedeneya ... I won’t call the Whore and Sebyaka, except perhaps themselves come as uninvited guests. But Ponka, so be it, I’ll click. And Butenya, and poor little Kuvyk.

What is it, all your comrades?! – the girl was amazed. - So much?

- But how! Kuzka answered importantly. - Longshanks alone lives without comrades.

- Who lives?

- Stubborn. Dry, long, on the roof near the chimney it heats up with smoke. An envious, hater and dirty trick, it’s better not to call him here - he will quarrel everyone. Let him stick out on the roof like a dry branch.

The girl quickly looked out the window to see if Longshanks could be seen. Not only Longshanks, but also pipes, and there was no smoke on the roofs, only antennas rose up.

“No,” continued Kuzka. - I won't call the stalker. I'll call grandfather Kukoba. Yes, he will not gather, grandfather Kukoba, will say: "The road is not close, for seven miles of jelly to sip - you will not get enough of bast shoes." Or maybe he will visit, I miss you, go.

Sveryuk and Pakhmura won’t come, call don’t call, they don’t like these fun. Lygashku my eyes would not see! And let Skaldyra not show up. But Belebenya will come running at once. Will hear from Magpie - and hello, please, long time no see!

- From Magpie? Natasha was surprised. Do birds know about housewarming?

“Magpie knows,” said Kuzka firmly. - She is everywhere in time. Yes, he doesn't really understand anything. She is so busy that she has no time to think about what is needed, what is not needed - she rattles about everything, drags on her tail. The magpie will tell the crow, the crow will tell the hog, and the hog will tell the whole city. We do not like Soroka,” Kuzka sighed. - One Belebenya lives in harmony with her. If he hears a little about someone's misfortune or joy - he doesn't care, as long as there are more people and treats - he will gallop. And Latatuy with him, they are always together.

The girl looked at Kuzka with all her eyes. He was still sitting on the radiator, bast shoes were drying next to him. Kuzka held them by the strings and dangled his legs.

“It’s interesting,” the girl thought, “why Kuzka’s legs are small, and the bast shoes are such that he can sit in each one like in a basket.” She also thought about Kuzka's friends. What are they? Also small, shaggy and in bast shoes? Or some in boots? Or big, shaggy, in jackets, with ties, but in bast shoes? Or small, combed, in shirts and boots?

And Kuzka at this time continued:

- Belun will come, and let him. He is always welcome. Quiet old man, meek, affectionate. Just remember to bring a handkerchief for him if he asks to wipe his nose. The bannik will certainly come, something will seem light to him here after a dark bath. Petryai and Agapchik will also visit, Poplesha with Amfilash, Sdobysh, Loop, Olelya ... If only the Rotten One does not impose himself, well, him!

- Oh, Kuzenka! Natasha was amazed. - How many friends do you have!

Natasha quickly transplanted the poor thing to the windowsill.

- Eka grace - to see the whole wide world! - Kuzka was delighted and pressed his nose to the glass. The girl also looked out the window.

Offended airplane

Clouds swept across the sky. Thin, seemingly quite toy cranes moved between the light yellow, pink, blue boxes of houses, raising and lowering arrows. Further on, a blue forest was visible, so blue, as if blue trees with blue leaves and purple trunks grew in it.

An airplane flew over the blue forest. Kuzka stuck out his tongue at him, then turned to the girl:

- A lot of people will come to the housewarming party. They will come and say: “Thanks to the one who is the boss in the house!” There will be something to tell, there will be something to remember. Friends will come to us, and acquaintances, and friends of friends, and acquaintances of friends, and friends of acquaintances, and acquaintances of acquaintances. With some to be found - it is better to sit in nettles. Let them come too. There are still more friends.

– Where do they live, your friends? the girl asked.

- As where? - the shaggy man was surprised. Everywhere, all over the world, everyone at home. And in our house too. Are we living high? On the eighth floor? And on the twelfth, Tarakh settled before us, on the first Mitroshka - thin legs live a little.

Natasha incredulously asked how Kuzka knew about this. It turned out, from a familiar sparrow named Flyer. Today, when the car stopped and began to unload things, the sparrow was just swimming in a puddle near the entrance. Mitroshka and Tarakh, who had arrived here earlier, asked him to bow to everyone else who would come to this house.

- Do you remember, - asked Kuzka, - he bowed to us from a puddle, so wet, disheveled? Listen, he is there until the evening to sit and bow! Sit all day in a puddle, not drinking, not eating. Do you think it's good?

“Well, he can drink,” Natasha said hesitantly.

“Uh-huh,” Kuzka agreed. “And we’ll throw a little olelyushka out the window for him to eat.” Okay? Just be careful, otherwise you will hit the head, and he is small, and you can bruise like that.

They fiddled with the latches for a long time, opened the window, then leaned out, saw a puddle, next to it a gray dot (it can be seen that the Flyer did not swim all the time, sometimes he sunbathed) and very successfully threw a Napoleon cake out of the window: it fell right into the puddle. As soon as they closed the window, Kuzka would scream:

- Hooray! They're coming! They're already on their way! Look!

Down the wide new highway, a truck loaded with bundles, tables, cabinets was speeding.

- Well, well, well, what kind of neighbors do we have? Kuzka rejoiced. Friends or just acquaintances?

And if you don’t know each other, how long will it take to get to know each other - come neighbor to neighbor on funny conversation. Hey, you! Where are you going? Where? Here we are, can't you see? Stop this very hour, to whom they say!

But the truck passed by and took the people with their belongings to another house with other neighbors.

Kuzka almost cried:

“It’s all the car’s fault!” Couldn't stop, right? To other neighbors went. And wait, wait for us - either rain, or snow, or they will, or not.

Natasha would calm him down, but she can’t say a word, she wants to laugh. And suddenly she heard:

- Hey, you! Turn around here! Fly, fly to visit us with all the children and household, with friends and neighbors, with the whole house, except for the choir!

The girl looked out the window: boxes of houses, cranes, and above them a plane.

- Who are you calling?

- His! Kuzka pointed to the sky with his finger, pointing to the plane. “The other day he also flew, and I teased him.

Kuzka was embarrassed, blushed, even his ears turned red from embarrassment.

I showed him my tongue. Maybe you saw it? Offended, come on. Let him visit us, taste the olelyushek. And then he will say: the house is good, but the owner is worthless.

Natasha laughed: the plane is calling us, it is going to feed it!

- Here's an eccentric, but he won't fit here.

- Interpret the patient with the assistant doctor! Kuzka cheered up. - Here is the car that drove us, I didn’t call for a visit, it’s big, it won’t fit into the upper room. But the plane is another matter. How many I have seen them in the sky, not one larger than a crow or a jackdaw caught my eye. And this is not a simple plane, offended. If it seems cramped to him, then it’s cramped, but not offended. And if you laugh at me, I'll run away, and remember your name.

The plane, of course, did not respond to Kuzkino's invitation, but flew away where it needed to.

Kuzka looked after him for a long, long time and said sadly:

And this one didn't want to visit us. Strongly offended by me, or something ...

Kuzka dreamed that they were playing with Afonka and Adonka, and suddenly Sur and Vukolochka were dragging a pancake. I woke up, and it is - it smells like pancakes. The table breaks from the treat. Just then the door opened, and Leshik flew into the room like a green leaf. Kuzka rolled head over heels from the bed, as if from a snowy mountain. Friends ran out of the house, ran, jumped over the bridge. The bells chimed merrily.

A blizzard, a blizzard, a frost, but at least I have something! Kuzka was jumping up and down like a young goat. - Winter will appear in a day in such a house. Eco abundance-abundance! Even winter winter, even a century to age! This is where to enjoy and have fun, in the warmth and in the hall with such a share! Oh, my darlings, my darlings! Eh, here would be Afonka, Adonka, Vukolochka! I'll feed everyone, put them to bed. Lie on the stove, eat kalachi, everything and worries!

Leshik listened and wondered why grandfather Diadokh did not like this house.

It's clear! - Kuzka reasoned, gnawing on a lollipop - Grandfather doesn’t eat pies, he doesn’t like cabbage soup and porridge, he doesn’t feed on pancakes, he doesn’t even like cheesecakes. Why does he love this house?

No, Leshik thought. He doesn't love for himself. He does not like for those who like pies and tavrushki ...

What? What's the taste? - Kuzka just rolled with laughter.

You've been praising. Liars, or what, are they called?

Oh, motherfuckers! Wah-trush-ki!

That's what I'm talking about, Leshik continued. - Grandfather does not like it when someone lives here, except for the hostess. Bad stories about this house.

Traditions tell us. All sorts: both funny and scary.

The legends about this house are gloomy. But Yaga doesn’t eat anyone here, doesn’t even try, ”said Leshik. - Winter to your health, do not be afraid Woodpecker will guard you. And in that house, I already told you, do not go!

Here's another! Kuzka laughed. - This is Beleben, where they call him, he runs there.

Then Baba Yaga jumped out onto the porch of the gingerbread house:

Where, precious little ones? Don't go into the forest, the wolves are eating!

We are walking, grandma!

Ah, my ghouls. Walkers are walking around!

Baba Yaga jumped from the porch, Kuzka by the hand, Leshik by the paw:

Okay! Okay! Where were you? By Grandma! Let's lead a round dance! Loaf, loaf, choose who you want!

What are you, grandmother Yaga! Kuzka laughs. - This is a game for the little ones, and we are already big. Baba Yaga called the brownie to have breakfast, waited for him to hide in the house, and quietly said to Leshik:

Bow from me many, many times to grandfather Diadokh, if he is not yet resting. And here's something else. Only Kuzenka hasn't heard about it yet. Bring here his funny little joke - a chest. That's what he'll be happy about!

They talked - and into the house. And in the house the cradle fluttered under the ceiling like a swallow. Kuzka leaned out of the cradle, a pie in one hand, a cheesecake in the other.

Look, grandmother Yaga, how high I am! Don't be afraid, I won't fall!

He dragged Leshik to him, and fun began: up and down, whistling in the ears, flashing in the eyes. And Baba Yaga stands below and is afraid:

Precious chadushki! Handsome written! And how will you fall, kill yourself, break your arms and legs?

What are you, grandmother Yaga! Kuzka reassured her. - Babies don't fall out. Will we fall? I would go about housework. Or do you have nothing to do? That hut, I suppose, has not been swept up to this day.

They rocked and rocked until Leshik fell asleep in the cradle. He woke up because a wet gray lump stuck into his muzzle. Leshik shoved it away - it sticks again.

He's here again! gasped Kuzka. - I threw it away!

And he angrily explained that Yaga probably considers him a baby. She prepared a pacifier for him - jail. She chewed on the cake, wrapped it in a rag and stuffed: open, they say, your mouth, honey. The brownie at the mere mention of such a disgrace spat, wiped his lips and was completely upset. Leshik also spat and wiped his lips.

We got out of the cradle - and onto the porch. And on the step there is a wet rag ball! Kuzka kicked him with his bast shoes:

Well, what are you attached to? And all this chewed prison comes across, everything comes across. I'll throw it out, I'll throw it out - here again.

Kuzka went to see Leshik off. Right on the carpet, on a pink bouquet, again a wet knot.

Ugh! Chasing on the heels! - Kuzka kicked the bundle with his bast shoes with all his might.

We went up to the bridge, and the prison was lying on gilded boards. Leshik got angry, pushed her into the water: eat, fish! They, of course, rejoiced. They fish, the softer the better. And how do they know that this is Baba Yaga's chewing gum. I suppose who Baba Yaga is, and they don’t even know. They ate prison and swam away. And the cancer dragged the rag into its hole.

The gilded bridge is long behind us, but Kuzka sees them off. Leshik escorted him back so that he wouldn't get lost. Then Kuzka escorted Leshik, then Leshik Kuzka. Snowflakes were flying in the forest. Leshik's eyes closed. Finally, he reluctantly stepped off the bridge, waved his paw for a long time on the edge, then disappeared, disappeared into the forest. Only a voice, like a funny echo, flew from the thicket: “Kuzya! Don't be afraid!"

Kuzka stood on the bridge for a long time. Yaga's house is rich, but alone in the clearing. No other houses, no wickerhouse, no vegetable gardens. Muddy river around the lawn and forest, black, bare. Suddenly it seemed to the brownie that black trees were sneaking up to the bridge, trying to grab Kuzka. He is an arrow to the house. And there Baba Yaga met him with open arms.

Leshik returned to the den, looked sadly at the box with dry leaves, where Kuzka had once slept. Or maybe there never was a fat, shaggy brownie. So, the legend… Something flashed under the leaves. Kuz'kin chest! What is the secret in it? Leshy did not have time to find out? And Yaga will not know. Sly, secretly from Kuzka asked. Leshik hid the chest better and fell asleep until spring.

Then the Fox quietly entered the lair. I saw two heaps of dry leaves: large and small. The fox found Kuzka's village a long time ago. It's all the chickens' fault, because of them I was delayed. After making sure that Kuzka was not there, Lisa just as quietly left.

And the Bear was also looking for a home, but he forgot what, why and for whom. I found a wonderful lair on the edge of the forest, lay down in it and fell asleep for the whole winter.

Chapter 1 Ordinary business

Kuzya, a little brownie, was not just a brownie. He was the best homemaker in the world. Kuzya himself thought so, and so did all his friends. Of course, can a simple brownie have a magic chest? And can a simple brownie live in the best house in the world - bright, new, with beautiful mermaids on the shutters? Kuzi had a magic chest and kept it in the best house in the world. Only he did not think to put on airs. Kuzya was very homely, and therefore all day long he did nothing but help everyone.
Kuzya helped his masters - either he would sweep the floors, then he would clean the pots, then he would braid the horse's mane with a spikelet. The hosts couldn't be happier with their brownie. Good at home, comfortable. And always happy. Yes, how can one not be joyful when a chest is happily stored in their house?
The walls of the chest, though forged, are thin. Joy flows through them. Is it slush on the street, is it frosty, but know that pies are baked in the house and songs are sung. And from such a happy home, the whole village is infected with happiness.
A random traveler will visit the village and marvel - he is overjoyed. All the houses are neat and tidy, in the garden there are flowers-petals. And the inhabitants are all ruddy and friendly. The guys are all in red shirts, and the girls are in blue sundresses. As they go in the evening to dance around the outskirts and sing songs, the heart rejoices. And this joy goes all over the earth.
Tried somehow evil wizard steal this joy, but nothing happened to him. Kuzya gathered with his friends and saved the earth from tears and sadness.
And for all this, everyone loves and respects him, and the owners always leave him a saucer of honey so that he can feast on himself and treat guests-brownies.
And so Kuzenka lived, he lived in his best house in the world on a green meadow. He gets up early in the morning with the first roosters and pulls the little hostess by the braid:
- Get up, couch potato! The floors are not swept, dinner is not cooked! And on such and such grubs we will not last until autumn!
The girl Anyutka got up, washed her face with dew, tied herself with a belt and, well, danced around the room, and did everything. And the work in her hands is in full swing, arguing. Here grandmother Nastya will wake up and stretch. She will look at her granddaughter, she will rejoice:
- Did you go for water? Here is the fidget! Clever, granddaughter!
And Kuzka is already sitting on the horse's back and scratching his mane. The owner of the horse will come to harness and ride into the field, looking - the horse is already well-fed and cheerful, jumps from hoof to hoof and squints merrily with an eye. He asks for a job!

Everyone will go to the field, and Kuzka is in the garden. He will distribute schelbans to gluttonous caterpillars, and stroke and pull cabbage leaves to grow faster.
By dinner, our Kuzya will get hungry, he will get tired. And grandma Nastya takes a rosy pie out of the oven. Kuzin favorite, with cottage cheese. Kuzya will sit on the crossbar under the table and enjoy the pie. And the pie is delicious, Kuzya didn’t eat such a visit at Baba Yaga’s.
And so they lived, lived quietly. Sometimes Kuzi had a day off from household chores and then he went to the forest to visit his old friends. He wanders through the forest clearings, looks like, but comes across his friend - a little leshonka Leshik. And let them invent all sorts of fun with him. Either nuts will help the squirrel to hide well for the winter, then they will clear the path of leaves and twigs from the brook, then they will return the little silly chick to the nest to its parents.
Sometimes we went to the river to play tag with the mermaids. Only it was hard with them: they love to dive and swim, and Kuzka has a heavy, shaggy head. He will dive for the mermaids, but he cannot emerge back. His head will remain under water, and his bast shoes stick out. Here he is floundering, twisting his legs, blowing bubbles, but he cannot emerge. Then the good uncle Waterman will splash him on the sandy shore with a wave. Kuzya is sitting, hiccups from the water. The shirt is wet, the bast shoes are champing, and in the shaggy hair the little frog is entangled - it croaks and shows its tongue.
And know the mermaids-pranksters laugh-filled. They shake Kuzya, tickle, and say:
brownie, brownie,
Like a little child
I dived into the fast river
And almost drowned!
Kuzya will listen to them, listen, wave his hand and go away from them into the forest. And farther away in the forest, Baba Yaga lives. She misses Kuzka - there is no one to eat pies in her house for a good mood. The stove is crying, upset:
- I bake and fry everything, but there's no point! If only you, Baba Yaga, invited guests!
- Who will visit me? Baba Yaga wailed. - Everyone is afraid of me.
“It’s her own fault,” the stove was offended and began to bake sour pies and cheesecakes without cottage cheese.
Although Kuzya was offended by Baba Yaga for her treatment of him, he was kind, and therefore felt sorry for both Yaga and the stove. Sometimes he came to visit her in the house for a good mood, to drink tea, and Leshonka brought with him.
Baba Yaga was glad, happy:
- Yakhontovye you are mine! Emerald! They visited, did not forget the old grandmother! Now I'll give you a sweet lady's pie, and pour some honey jelly!

But for a long time they did not stay with the grandmother. She became old, and her mood in this house began to deteriorate quickly. Therefore, they drank only three cups of fragrant tea and were going on the road. And Baba Yaga also gave them sweets for the journey. Tie it in a knot, hang it on a string and give it to Kuza. Kuzya knapsack on the shoulder and along the path to the village. Leshonok leads him to the edge of the forest and waves his paw for a long time.
So Kuzya lived and lived, and day after day, and year after year.
Chapter 2 Big World

Only now Kuzya began to get bored and sad more and more often. He will get up in the morning, and Anyuta is reluctant to wake up. He will go to the stable, and the horse will seem ugly to him. Grandma Nastya will bake a pie, but Kuzya cannot eat it. Friends came to him and thought if the brownie got sick? And they brought him raspberry jam, and brewed herbs, and forced him to sleep in a woolen sock. Only all this was in vain - Kuzya became more and more sad, more and more thoughtful. And he doesn’t go anywhere, he doesn’t play with anyone. He sits with his cheek propped on his hand, and looks out the window.

Mermaids will see his sad face from afar and, well, splash in the river, raise the spray with their tails. Like, come to us, let's play tag! Kuzya does not look in their direction, does not want to play.
Leshonok will come to visit him, bring pies from Baba Yaga and a basket of nuts from a squirrel. He will start telling the latest forest news, but Kuzya does not listen to him. Leshonok gets upset, turns green even more and wanders into the forest.
A rumor spread throughout the forest, in all the villages, that green melancholy had attacked Kuzya. She found out the way to his house, crept up at night and made a nest under his heart. This rumor reached the native Kuzina village, where the brownie used to live with his friends and relatives. His old friend Vukolochka also found out about this. I got ready for the road and soon came to Kuzka's sad house.
Vukolochka looked at his bosom friend and did not recognize at first. Kuzya has lost weight, haggard, his hands hang like whips, and his eyes are gray like rain. He took Vukolochka Kuzya by the hand and, no matter how he resisted, pulled him out onto a steep river bank - to admire the sunset.
They watched for a long time how the sun was setting behind the forest, how golden clouds were running over the edge of the sky. Kuzya was silent and sighed bitterly. And then he says:
- Eh, it's good to be the sun or a cloud - you can look beyond the ends of the earth.
And then Vukolochka realized that his friend was simply bored without adventures. How not to get bored? Evil wizards have calmed down, no one is doing harm anymore, no one is doing evil. Life goes on, winter replaces summer. And Kuze wants a real fairy tale. Vukolochka asked his friend if he guessed right? Kuzya hung his head and said:
- And there is. I want something new and interesting, but where can I get it? Everything around is familiar, everything around is mine. So I will die of green longing.
Vukolochka thought how to entertain his friend, and came up with. I took it and told him that in fact the world is big, big. And in the world, besides their villages and forests, there is still a lot of interesting and magical. There are other villages and also cities, in which other people live in a different way. There are people who don’t even have a stove, but the hut is round. A fire burns in the middle of the hut, but outside it is always winter and always night. And there are still black people, as if smeared in wax, and they go around completely naked in winter and summer, because they are hot. And they are black because they live closest to the sun, so they got burned, like in an oven.
Kuzka listened to his friend, his mouth open, and then he says:
- How do you know all this? Come on, I figured it out myself!
- I did not invent anything! - Vukolochka was offended. - A guest just came to my hosts. He has been everywhere and seen everything. He told this.
Kuzya was surprised, thoughtful. And then, as he smiles, he dances.
- And I, too, will go far, far away and see what no one has ever seen! And then I'll come back and tell you!
He decided to decide, but how will you go far? People feel good, their legs are so long! Stepped once, stepped another - look, and you are already on the other side of the world, where the sun goes to sleep at night. And Kuzi has short legs, small steps. Where are you going with these? Only to the Scary Forest, where the evil echo lives and the bearded moss. And there the night will catch up with you, sleep will overtake you and fatigue will fall. Are you going that far?
Again Kuzka was saddened more than ever. He lies all day behind the stove, his nose does not stick out. He only hears the conversation between the owners. It turned out that the owner was going to the fair, to sell pots, buy gingerbread, to see people and show himself. And the fair is far away - a day on a cart, and even a night - on a horse. Kuzka was delighted - that's who will take him to the big world!
He jumped up from his couch and let's get ready on the road. He combed his shaggy hair with his palm, wiped his sleepy eyes with his fists, put a piece of bread in his bosom, and attached straps to his trunk. Kuzya could not leave the chest unattended at home - they would steal it, they would lose it, what then to do? Yes, and in the world a lot of fairy tales walk and roam unattended. Maybe they will agree to live in his chest, to amuse people?
Kuzya got ready, said goodbye to his household, bowed on three sides and went to the cart with pots, which was already standing at the gate. I climbed up the long horse's tail onto the wagon and began to look for a more comfortable temporary dwelling. It is impossible for a brownie without a house, even if it is temporary. How about traveling? That and look the wind will blow it away or accidentally brush it off with a branch along the road - what to do then?
Kuzya began to walk around the cart, look around, stroke the pots with his handles and try on - which of them would suit him best? Kuzka's house for the time being must also be the best in the world.
Kuzenka will approach one jug, knock on it with his foot:
- No, it doesn't work! My bell is like a bell, but this one hums like an old cow!
Goes further, covers the pot with his hands:
- And it's not him. My jug must place me, and even leave a place for the guests. And in this the mouse will choke.
Sees the third pot.
- And in this only to cook food for pigs, and not to live as a brownie - it's painfully simple.
And now Kuzka looks and sees: what is standing in front of him is not a pot, but a wonderful miracle. He himself is big and pot-bellied, the walls are sonorous and strong, and the painted one is like mint gingerbread. Kuzka opened his mouth and stared.
- Well, a pot - a pot for all pots! People for a feast for the eyes, brownies for envy. Here I will live until I get to the fair!

No sooner said than done! Kuzya put his chest on his back and climbed into the pot. It puffs, crawls, clings to the patterned coils, rests with its legs. He climbed to the top of the jug, looked at the world from its height. Well, how! Fields-meadows spread out, fog creeps through them, dew glistens, and the pink sun rises from behind the trees, rubbing his eyes when awake.
- Oh, beauties! - said Kuzya, closed his eyes and how he jumped into the jug!
And in the jug, the bottom was softly lined with hay, as if Kuzka was waiting here. It was the owner who made sure that the jug did not break on the bumps, and remained unharmed before the fair.
- Well, now you can go! Kuzya said.
And before he had time to say so, the horse thumped the ground with its hoof, the cart jerked and drove off. It became good Kuze, joyfully. But soon he rocked on the bumpy paths and fell asleep sweetly.
Chapter 3 Fair

Slept-slept Kuzka and woke up. I woke up from the noise, from the din. He was alarmed, jumped up, did not understand anything. I thought the fire started. Grabbed the chest and ran. Yes, no matter how! His forehead hit something hard and loud. Here it is, it says:
Dili-dili-dili-bom
Why are you butting your forehead?
Kuzka sat down, rubbing his forehead and counting the birds that fly around his head. Finally, he calmed down and realized that he woke up not in his house behind the stove, but inside the jug in which he went to the fair. Kuzka was delighted, listened to the noise and realized that everyone had arrived!
And let him grunt and jump, get out of the jug. He climbed for a long time and finally got out. He sat on the edge of the jug, screwed up his eyes, dangled his legs - he was getting used to the white light. As usual - looked around and was surprised.
And the people around are apparently invisible. All sorts of different goods - colored toys, green cabbage and sugar sweets - are laid out and hung so much that you can’t see it in a day and you can’t try it in a lifetime.

Blimey! Kuzya was surprised.
And then he hit it off:
- And why am I sitting here like a seat-deck ?! So I won’t have time to see the white world, to see people and show myself!
He jumped to the ground and went where he thought. Only it was troublesome for him to walk: just gape, and they will crush him with a boot or run over with a wheel.
- So I'm not far away! Kuzya got scared. - They will trample, crush me and there will not even be anyone to cry over my white bones.
What is a little brownie to do at a big fair? Kuzya climbed under his cart and thought. And he sees his master here. Kuzya clung to the sash and climbed into his pocket. So travel around the world is much better.
He made himself comfortable in his pocket. It was dark and warm and smelled of tobacco. Kuzya even sneezed:
- Here they lit the dust! It is immediately clear that no brownies ever lived in this pocket!
Sneezing and clearing his throat, Kuzka stuck his inquisitive nose out of his pocket and began to look with beady eyes at the wide world, at the fair.
And what was not there! Someone bought, someone sold, and someone just came to have fun and make fun. There are children riding on a carousel, swinging back and forth on wooden horses. The faces are ruddy, and in the hands - lollipops.
- Blimey! - shouted Kuzya, - these are horses! The eyes are glass and the legs are wooden. Yes, everyone is running in circles, probably they don’t know the way. I wouldn't do braids like that.
And there are people in bags jumping, they got wet from the effort:
- Hey guys! Your legs are entangled in sackcloth! Get out of the bags - you can walk like people again!
But the peasants Kuzya do not hear, they jump like hares, and even laugh.
And there the people crowded and lifted their heads so much that their hats fell to the ground. Where are they looking? Yes, a barefoot, bare-bellied guy who climbs a pole like a caterpillar. Above - boots hang. And the pillar is slippery, smooth. So the guy will climb, climb a little, and slide back.

Oh you prisoner! We go a meter - we stand two! So you will never take off your shoes from the pole, you will go home barefoot! And who came up with the idea to take off your shoes in such a strange place?
And Kuzya saw a giant. He had heard of them in fairy tales, but had never seen them in real life. The giant was as big as a mountain, muscular as a bear. He stood with his hand on his side, and threw a stone up.
I didn't know giants were so stupid! Hey mountain man! Stones do not fly, but only sink in the river and fall into the swamp.
Kuzya marveled at people, he was surprised. It's not like he's used to it. Miracles happen, that's all. But the saddest thing is that Kuzya did not meet either brownies or goblin here.
“It can be seen that they live only with us, and nowhere else,” Kuzya saddened.
And I decided that there is nothing good in the big world. What good is it when there are no brownies? And just as he thought so, he saw the little men.

The little men sat on the wall and squealed in thin, nasty voices. One of them had a big and thick nose, like Baba Yaga, and a painted cap on his head. The other was horned like a cow, black like a crow, and instead of hands he had hooves like a goat.
- What a strange one! Where did he come to us from? Kuzka thought. And he remembered that Vukolochka had told him about black people. - Ah, so this is who lives closest to the sun!
And so Kuza wanted to talk with a stranger, ask around about his life, that he jumped out of the master's pocket and ran towards the little people.
Kuzka reached the wooden wall on which they were sitting, lifted his head and started shouting:
- Hey, dear guests! Come down here, let's talk, let's talk!
Only strangers did not hear him or did not understand. Then Kuzka decided to get to them himself. Climbed up the wall, climbed. By the time I climbed in, they were already gone. Kuzya looked behind the wall, and there a red-haired peasant puts them in a box.
- Blimey! - decided brownie. - How to put them to bed early.
He slid off the wall and decided to wake them up and ask them - maybe they won't kick them out. He made his way to the box, lifted the willow lid and peered inside. Strangers lie on their sides, do not move.
- Hey, - Kuzya called, - guys, let's go to play tag and eat candy, otherwise it hurts boring here.
No answer, no hello.
- Fell asleep - thought brownie.
He approached quietly, and shook him by the shoulder. He shook his shoulder, and it is rag. And the body is rag. And the head is wooden.
- Blimey! thought Kuzya. - Well, these are just dolls, like Anyutka's. But how, I saw how they danced and talked!
Kuzya sat down on the edge of the box and thought about what was happening in this world. There were living men, but they became rags.
- Maybe, evil spirit bewitched them. He took out his soul and took it as his servant! Kuzy decided.
And he became so scared of this that he ran away as soon as possible, until his evil wizard noticed.
He ran away, sat down on a chest and could not catch his breath. And Kuzya realized that he had seen and experienced enough for today.
- Thank you for this house, let's go to another! - said the brownie and began to make his way to his native jug.
He walked and walked, searched, searched, and finally saw him. There is a jug, its painted sides sparkle, it is proud of itself, like a mountain, it rises above everyone. Kuzya was delighted with him, as if he had seen a dear friend. I made my way to the jug, climbed inside and immediately fell into a sound sleep from fatigue.
How long, how short, but Kuzya woke up. I heard the measured thud of hooves on the road and realized that they were going home. Kuzya realized that he already missed his village, the forest, and his friends.
“I’ll come home tomorrow, I’ll see everyone, I’ll tell everyone what I saw at the fair and what I learned,” Kuzya dreamed. I dreamed a little and fell asleep again.
Chapter 4 On the other side

When he awoke again, the cart was still running along the path. Kuzya was surprised and fell asleep again. And so it was repeated several times.
- How long are we going! I even got hungry! - said the brownie and remembered that he had a piece of bread in his bosom.
He took out a fragrant piece of bread and ate it with great appetite. He ate and wondered why he was already sleeping so much, but they would never come home. And he thought that his owner simply decided to go home on a long road through the Big Field, and at the same time visit his relatives.
- That's good! We’ll go to visit - we’ll eat a pie, ”Kuzya dreamed.
And as soon as he thought so, the horse stamped its hoof and stopped.
- Well, meet, hosts, dear guests! - shouted joyful Kuzenka and got out of the jug.
Got out, looking around, and the place is unfamiliar.
- Where did you take me, huh? Kuzya shouted to the owner.
He shouted, but the owner was not his. His was with a black beard and in a blue caftan, and this one was blond and in short pants.
- Oh, you robber! They stole our cart! Guard, guard, robbers! - Kuzya fusses and hides the chest. And what if someone covets him and steals? How will he look his family in the eye? How will he return to his native village in disgrace?
Kuzya looks - but the horse is not theirs. Their horse was a kaurai with a star in its forehead, and this one was bay with shaggy hooves. Kuzya became sad and realized that while he was walking around the fair, the jug had been sold! And Kuze became scared, and sad. Where did they bring him, in which direction did he native home- now the brownie did not know, did not know. Kuzya sat on the edge and bitterly wailed and wept:
- Aaah, I'm an unfortunate orphan! Ah, I don’t have a father-mother! There is nowhere for me to lay my head-and-it! ..
He cried and cried, but there was nothing to do - you need to get out of trouble. Kuzya wiped his tears with his fist and began to look around. He saw that they had brought him to a strange village, to a wide yard. There were white houses in the yard, important geese were walking and a small puppy was running around.
“So,” Kuzya decided, “since people live here, it means that brownies are found. I'll go find it, ask for directions.
He got down on the ground and ran as fast as he could towards the house. He made his way through the crack in the door and sniffed under the broom. He caught his breath, looked around and sees: the house is clean, tidy, the hostess is neat and smiling.
“Hey,” Kuzya said to himself, “here, as I see it, a good brownie lives, a homely one. You need to get to know him.
Kuzya began to look for a brownie, but he did not find it. Called-called - did not call. The brownie decided that he just did all the work around the house and went to friends in the neighboring village to drink tea.
Kuzya twisted. What to do? You will have to find your own way home. Just need to refresh yourself first. Kuzya crept closer to the table and stole a piece of cake for himself, while the hostess turned away. He had breakfast with a meat pie, hiccupped, wiped his muzzle with his sleeve, bowed on three sides and leaned in a healthy way home to look.
I went out into the yard, and there were geese - big and important.
- Hey, geese, - Kuzya turned to them, - tell me, in which direction is the Bezymyanka River, on which the village stands, and in the village - a house with mermaids on the shutters?
The geese didn't answer. They didn't even look in his direction.

Ooh, jerks! Kuzya got angry.
And the geese passed by and suddenly began to pinch and push the little gosling. The gosling was crying, and the geese were cackling.
- Don't touch the little one! - Kuzya was indignant and let's throw stones at the geese. They were frightened and let's run away, only their paws sparkled.
Kuzya went up to the caterpillar and let's comfort him:
- Don't cry, little one, don't cry, pretty one!
The gosling was small, skinny, with a thin neck and eyes like beads. He began to complain to Kuze about his bitter fate. He said that he was ugly, and therefore even his own mother did not like him. Kuze felt sorry for the caterpillar and he decided to give him a little happiness from his chest. He opened it, looked for it and took out a white sparkling feather.
- On, - he says, - you have a feather of a magic bird for good luck. It will help you grow big and beautiful. Only you must be kind and help everyone in need, otherwise it magic power will lose!
The gosling was delighted, and rushed to the brownie's neck.
- I promise that I will always be kind and honest! How can I repay you for your kindness?
- You are a local resident, so tell me how to get to my house?
- I, - says the gosling, - still small, I know little. You need to go into the forest to ask Grandfather Pine for advice. He is big, tall, looks far, knows a lot.
The brownie thanked the caterpillar, hugged him goodbye and went to the edge of the forest, which could be seen nearby.
Chapter 5 In the endless forest

It was good in the forest. Red sweet berries hung on the bushes, bright flowers peeped out of the grass, strong mushrooms lifted the grass with hats. Kuzya admired - could not see enough. He walks, sings songs, puts berry after berry in his mouth.
- Eh, Leshonka is not with me! If only he would be happy with such a beauty! I just thought how the grass stirred, the leaves trembled - someone made his way through the forest, rustled. Good or evil is unclear. Just in case, Kuzya hid behind a mushroom and hid his chest. He left only one brilliant eye and put out only one round ear - to hear and see everything.

Look - a large and terrible snake crawls out into the clearing. Kuzi's knees buckled.
- All! Now attack and eat!
Kuzya closed his eyes and mentally says goodbye to his friends. He thinks - how is it? Baba Yaga didn’t eat, and then some kind of creeping reptile will gobble up! Kuzya was waiting, waiting for him to be in the snake's stomach. And did not wait. Then the brownie cautiously opened one eye. Then another.
He looks - in the middle of the meadow, a beautiful girl is sitting on a stump. Her golden braid is long, long, twisting around the stump three times. She herself is beautiful, but her face is sad and her eyes are tearful.

Where did the snake go? Kuzenka was surprised.
He was surprised and suddenly sees - at the feet of the girl a snake skin is lying around. She ate it, didn't she? Kuzya was surprised and decided to go out into the clearing and ask the girl about everything.
- Such a beautiful will not offend! - the brownie grew bolder and went out from behind the mushroom.
The girl saw Kuzya and was so surprised that she even stopped crying.
- Who are you? Such a funny one! - asked the girl Kuzyu.
- Am I funny? I'm not funny to you, I'm a brownie, - Kuzya corrected the girl.
She just blinked her green eyes.
- Well, what are you looking at? Didn't you see the brownies? - Kuzya began to worry - maybe his mouth is full of raspberries or a knot got tangled in his hair?
"I didn't see it," the girl admitted. - And who is it?
- Who-who! Brownies are brownies. Without them, there is neither happiness nor order in the house. Because the brownies can only follow the household, ”Kuzya explained to the strange girl. - You better tell me where the snake went? Big, scary. The bushes rustled here, - Kuzya asked cautiously.
- It's not a snake rustling. It was me rustling, - the girl became sad and kicked the snake skin with her foot.
Kuzya understood everything. He heard that this happens. You look at the person - the person as the person. And then it turns out that at night he turns into a cat or into a wolf and behaves outrageously. And this one turns into a snake. And the girl, take it and cry again.
- Well, what are you crying again? - Kuzya was indignant. He couldn't stand it when someone cries.
- How can I not cry? I am the forest king's daughter. Only the daughter is naughty. Father told me, do not touch the magic ring. But I did not listen and began to play with the ring. And here it is - finished it! - and again cries in three streams.
Kuzya was frightened that she would flood the whole forest like that. He took out a handkerchief from his pocket, which his grandmother Nastya embroidered for him, wiped the tears of the princess, his nose and ordered to continue to tell.
The princess chuckled and continued:
- The magic ring helps the forest king to turn into different animals and birds, fly everywhere and know everything. And I wanted to turn into a snake and scare my nanny. I crawled up to her, and she how she screams, how she screams and - grab me with a broom! I went out the door and flew out. I flew out, but the ring remained at home. And now I'm crawling through the forest like a snake, only for an hour I turn back. I can't go home, I'm lost. And there is no one to ask - everyone is afraid of me, they scatter ... - And again bitter tears dripped onto the green grass.
Kuzya thought about how to help her. I thought and thought and came up with:
- Come on, - he says, - I'll climb a tree and take you with me. You look around and find your home. Only first turn back into a snake, otherwise you are too heavy.
- All right, - said the princess, - just turn away, otherwise I'm embarrassed.
Kuzya closed his eyes tightly and tightly and hears - crackling, noise, din. Everything went quiet. The little brownie opened his eyes and again saw a snake in front of him. It was terrible - there she is so long and toothy. And then he looked closely - and her eyes were green and sad. Kuzya sighed, took the snake by the tail and wrapped it around him like a festive sash. Then he hid the chest under the fungus, wrapped it in moss, covered it with grass so that no one would take it away by mistake while they climbed the tree with the snake.
Kuzya spat on his hands, tried on and climbed up the trunk. Although he was plump, and his arms and legs were short, he crawled deftly. He grunted and puffed, clung to the branches, rested his bast shoes against the knots. They climbed for a long time, on the way they rested on the branches, gutted the cones and ate nuts. And finally, they got to the very top, to the thinnest branch. The brownie sat down on this branch, and it bends, sways, and look, Kuzya will throw it off.
“Look,” Kuzya says to the snake, “quickly, otherwise now, if we fall, you won’t pick up the bones!”
The snake stretched out its little head and let's turn it back and forth. Looked and looked and looked.

There, - he says, - there is a hundred-year-old oak tree, and on the top of the oak tree there is an eagle's nest. Under that oak is my home!
- Remember the road well, - said Kuzya, - otherwise you will get lost again.
- Now I won't get lost! - said the daughter of the forest king.
Kuzya at the same time looked around himself to see if he could see the road to his native home. But even though the tree was the king of all the trees in this forest, its top reached to the very sky, but still Kuzya did not see his house. All around was forest and forest - dark, dense, to the very horizon. The brownie looked, looked, until his eyes ached. I only saw how far, far away the river flashed between the trees. “Maybe this is the Bezymyanka River, in which the water and mermaids live?”
And they set off on their way back. Only it seemed shorter to them - after all, they returned with joy.
They went down to the roots of the tree. The snake slid to the ground and began to praise and thank Kuzya:
- Thank you, good brownie! You saved me from certain death. Come with me to the palace to my father, then he will be glad!
- No, I can’t, - Kuzya refused, - I need to look for a way home.
- Then take this scale from my tail. If you put it under your tongue, you will be able to understand the language of all animals and speak their language yourself. And if you can speak with everyone in his language, then no one will ever offend you in this forest.
Kuzya took the snake scale and put it in his magic chest. The chest immediately lit up with a magical light and began to play a cheerful song. So, he liked the gift and he began to compose a new fairy tale, so that later he would tell all the children. And Kuzya hefted a singing chest and walked through the forest to the music.
Chapter 6 Greedy Shorty

Kuzya decided to ask this strange little man where he should go next. And the little man puffs, drags the pot and does not listen to him anymore.
Where are you dragging this weight? - asks the brownie.
- Where where! he growled. - There, where the rainbow grows from the ground.
The brownie was surprised. He had never seen a rainbow grow from the earth. He also decided to admire this wonderful miracle.
- Come on, - he says, - I will help you to drag the pot, and you will show me how a rainbow is born.
The dwarf looked incredulously at Kuzya. Maybe he had a bad idea? Take and steal his gold. I looked at him more closely: his face is kind, his hair sticks out in different directions, and he smiles too. The dwarf thought and decided that such a man probably did not know why gold was needed.
The dwarf was old and tired of carrying heavy pots. And he became evil because he had a life - not sugar. All his life, greedy people chased him, stole his good, and even tried to make him fulfill their desires. Who will like this? He scratched his head under his pointed hat, thought about it, and decided to take Kuzka with him to the magical place.
Then Kuzya took one handle of the jug, the dwarf took the other, and they dragged the pot through the bushes and thorns so as not to miss the rainbow. How long, short, they came to the clearing. And the glade - all in magical flowers and semi-precious stones. Everything sparkles with different colors, shimmers. A bright butterfly curls above each flower, and under each petal there is a drop of dew. Kuzya gasped - he had never seen so many bright colors.
- This is where the treasure will be stored, - said the dwarf, - just don't peep.
And again Kuze had to close his eyes.
- That's it, - the dwarf said soon, - you can look.
Kuzka opened his eyes and saw that a sunbeam was making its way to the clearing. The bright sun peeked out from behind the trees, illuminating the clearing. And immediately everything sparkled, sparkled with bright lights. Flower petals and butterflies were reflected in dewdrops, which sparkled with multi-colored rays. These rays mixed with the sparkle of gemstones, intertwined into bright braids. And then they rushed down the wind after the bright sun, into the blue sky.
- Rainbow! - whispered brownie.
Indeed, a multi-colored rainbow hung like a bright bridge over a fairy forest, to the delight of all its inhabitants.
- How beautiful! - Kuzya rejoiced that he now knows how a rainbow is born.
The greedy dwarf even smiled, watching Kuzka jumping across the clearing and bathing in multi-colored rays. He opened his chest and put it under the rays - let him recruit in reserve. When the sun went down, the rainbow hid again under the colorful petals until the next time.
The dwarf picked up a green shiny pebble from the ground and handed it to Kuza:
“Here, take this as a memento of the old gnome. This is a gemstone. If suddenly it becomes dark and scary for you, take out this stone - it will light the way for you.
He said so, clapped his hands and disappeared. Only golden sparks in the air swirled.
- Well, - the brownie was upset, - I didn’t have time to ask him for directions!
He sighed, looked around, put the pebble in his bosom and set off again.
Chapter 7 Wings and laughter

Kuzya goes further and further into the forest and thinks: why does he come across more and more unfortunate or evil people in this strange forest? And he came up with. After all, when the evil wizard Bubunya took joy from everyone on earth, Kuzya distributed it only to those whom he met along the way. But he didn't get here, he didn't get there. This means that many people are left without joy.
In trouble, trouble, chagrin! sighed the brownie.
He felt sorry for the locals and he began to figure out how to help them. Haven't been able to figure it out. He heard a soft whisper and a cheerful chuckle.
- Who is there? - asked brownie.
Again, someone giggled fervently.
- It seems that someone in this forest already has enough joy. Come out - show yourself, if you want - make friends, - suggested Kuzya.
I looked and looked, but I did not see anyone. He shrugged his shoulders and moved on. Before he even took a step, a flock of dragonflies fluttered out from under his feet from the thick grass - not dragonflies, butterflies - not butterflies. They swirled around Kuzka, tickled him like bubbles.

Kuzka was frightened, waving his arms, spitting. And they circled, circled, flew away and sat on thin twigs, swayed.
Kuzka took a closer look at them and sees: tiny children are sitting in front of him on a branch. Themselves thin as blades of grass, yellowish hair, like dandelion fluff, and behind transparent wings. Wonderful creatures sat on the branches, giggling with sonorous, like a bell, voices and pointed at Kuzka with their thin hands:
- Look how funny!
- Look how wonderful!
- The body is like a beer keg!
- Eyes like buttons!
- Hair like a stack of straw!
- Mouth like a frog!
And no wings! - and laugh again.
- And nothing funny, - Kuzya was offended, examining himself from all sides.
The winged children flew closer. The most playful one landed on Kuzka's head and began to wallow in his hair there. Kuzya caught him and squeezed in his fist. The rest got excited:
- Let go! Let go! - and began to curl around the brownie.
Kuzya looked at the one he had in his palm. The creature looked at him with frightened eyes, and its wings trembled. The brownie felt sorry for the baby and he unclenched his fist. The creature fluttered and sat down on a leaf.
- Thanks! Thank you! the others chirped in unison.
- Who are you? - Kuzya asked the restless winged birds.
We are elves! they answered in chorus again.
- And I'm a brownie, - Kuzya introduced himself. The elves fluttered around again. They were very curious by nature and stuffed the brownie into his bosom, into his pockets, stuck around the chest, sat on his head. And Kuzya stood and was afraid to move - all of a sudden you hurt someone and offend.
The elves chirped like that and scattered. Their heads were small and stupid, and they could not be interested in one thing for a long time. Kuzya looked after them and followed them - all of a sudden the elves would take him out somewhere. Only the merry elves flew fast, and the brownie walked slowly and could not keep up with them. Moreover, the chest, in which there was a noticeable increase in magical stories, became heavier and put pressure on the shoulders. And Kuzya lost sight of his new friends, he does not hear their cheerful laughter.
He was catching up, catching up, and suddenly he hears - someone is crying softly and calling for help. The brownie added a step - again something happened in this unfortunate forest. And suddenly he sees his familiar elves. Only half of them hit the web. Entangled in sticky threads, they can neither move their hands nor flap their wings. And the rest of the elves are hovering around, crying, but they cannot help - they are afraid to get confused themselves.
And on the cobweb already a thick and important spider crawls, gets up to its victims, rubs its shaggy paws, rejoices: what a hearty dinner I got!
Kuzi's knees even buckled - how scared he was for the poor elves. But the brownie was not a blunder - and one had never seen such a thing in life. How to jump to the spider, how to jump:
- Well, - he says, - furry! Get out of here! And now I will fight with you!
Kuzya spider did not understand, did not obey. He considered himself the strongest in this forest, and besides, he did not have breakfast in the morning. He could not so easily say goodbye to his prey, listen to the first comer! Creeps itself further, clicks with its jaws - it frightens the elves.
- Ah well! Kuzka got angry.
He clenched his strong fists, but how he would hit the spider on the head! He was surprised, his eyes widened, thought and thought, and crawled back into the bushes, grumbling along the road. Of course, it's a shame to refuse such yummy!
An evil spider has crawled away. He crawled away, but the elves got tangled in the web anyway. Hanging on threads, such unfortunate ones, their bright heads hung.
- Be patient, brothers, I will help you out now! - Kuzya encouraged his little friends and began to carefully unravel the web.

He had to tinker a lot of time - his fingers were not as dexterous as those of Nastya's grandmother. She would quickly unravel this sticky thread. But Kuzya only wrinkled his nose and tried. And finally untangled everyone.
The elves immediately fluttered in a motley flock, laughed, rejoiced. They began to rush over Kuzina's head, to knead their wings. And Kuzya stood and clapped his hands for joy. Because brownies do not rejoice in anything as much as order. And the order is this - that which is given wings must fly.
The elves fluttered around Kuzma, squeaked, and one of the most beautiful separated from them - with white wings and in a red caftan. He sat down on a flower in front of Kuzey and smiled at him affectionately.
- I, - speaks, - the prince of elves. For the fact that you saved me and my people from death, I appoint you an honorary elf. In honor of such a holiday, I can give you everything that you want - wish !!!
Kuzya was even taken aback by such kindness. What does it mean to be an honorary elf? And what would you ask this handsome prince?
- Thank you for your kind words! - the brownie bowed to the elf. - I don't need anything from you. Tell me, how can I get home? Which path should you put your feet on?
And Kuzya told him about the Bezymyanka River and about the best house in the world.
The prince was surprised, thoughtful. Yes, and how not to think - he had never seen such wonderful creatures in his life and did not know where they were found.
- Nothing I can tell you, savior. But I can give you a guide to the nearest river - maybe your house is there? - He said so and took out a small golden firefly from his bosom.
The prince whispered unfamiliar words into the firefly's ears. He shone even more, spread his wings and circled over the Cousin's head.
"Ouch! Kuzka thought. - So they will completely encircle me today!
He thanked the prince and said goodbye to him:
- Just be careful in the future - the spider remained hungry and furious. Now he will weave a new net - who will help you out then?
He said so and followed the firefly through the dense ferns.
Chapter 8 Dungeon

Kuzya goes on, composes songs and cracks nuts, which he found along the way. Dew drips from the ferns on the top of his head, in the distance a cuckoo calls, ahead of him a firefly sparkles. And in the forest it is getting darker and darker - the evening has already come. Only the brownie thought that it would be time to settle down for the night, so as not to wander in the dark, like rrraz! - and fell into a hole. He has failed, the firefly is anxiously circling over him, fluttering his wings, but he cannot help in any way.
Kuzya looked around in the pit, looked around. It is dry here, cozy, the bottom is lined with soft moss.
- Well, - Kuzya said to the firefly, - we will spend the night here.
He put a chest under his head, covered himself with a leaf, put a firefly in his ear and fell asleep soundly.
And Kuze has a wonderful dream. As if he is floating on a big pie along the milky river, and marshmallows in chocolate are floating around. And the shores are made of pure marmalade. Floats, breaks off pieces of the pie, sips milk from the river. From above, a hail of candy rains down on him. Mermaids emerge from the river and each has a cockerel on a stick in their hand. And he sees Kuzya - a hillock appeared ahead, and a house on the hillock. And all his friends are sitting on the porch and waving their hands at him. The brownie was delighted - he sailed home! He began to row to the shore, looking, but he ate the whole pie! Kuzka fell into the water, floundered, floundered - and woke up.
I woke up and realized that he was homesick - no urine. And it came to the unlucky brownie's head that it's better at home - there is no place in the world. That in vain he missed and yawned from longing when he met with his friends, old friend better than the new two.
- Well, they walked up, spoiled themselves - it's time and honor to know! - decided Kuzya and got ready for the road.
Zasobiralsya and look - and he's in the pit! He looked at the walls - and they are high and steep, there is no way to get out. Tried, climbed - no way. Moreover, the chest was getting heavier and heavier each time - there was no way to lift it.
The brownie sat down on the chest and became sad.
- What am I here now - a century to age? Will I now become a pit instead of a brownie? I don't agree, I don't agree! Who will treat me to a pie here, I ask? I refuse to live without pie! - Kuzka was indignant and even stamped his foot.
Do not be indignant, but you need to get out of the pit. But as? Kuzya began to think and run back and forth in the pit. He ran and ran and sees - but there is a hole in the pit! Kuzka approached sideways, crept up neatly. What if someone jumps out of there and grabs him by the side? Kuzya looked into the hole - it's dark, even if it's an eye.
- Hey, who lives here? Come out, let's get to know each other! - boomed Kuzya into the darkness.
No one answered him, not even an echo.
So, the owner went for a walk decided Kuzya. He sat down near the hole and began to think and reflect:
- If I climb into a hole, I'll get somewhere. This is good, because I'm tired of sitting in the pit - it's boring here. If the owner is not at home, then I will only look - and back. It is unlikely that he will be delighted that someone uninvitedly came to visit him. Get angry and eat me. No, I'm not going to the hole! And if I stay here, he will still come and eat me. Wherever you throw - everywhere a wedge! Ah, it wasn't! Still disappear! I'll go.
And went. He entered the hole - and there is darkness, darkness.
- Oh, mother honest! How to go here? I can't even see my feet. And if the legs are not visible - how to go? - grumbled Kuzka.
And he remembered that he had a firefly. He took it out of his ear, rubbed it with his sleeve to make it shine brighter, and released it. The firefly, at the very least, illuminated Kuzka's path, the road.

That's much better! - Kuzma was delighted, put his hips on his hips and boldly walked into the darkness.
Nora walked straight at first, and then suddenly twisted and whirled. She goes up, then down. The ceiling will rise and fall. Roots hang from it, then pebbles fall down. Kuze is scared, but what to do? There is no way back. But there is still a way forward - as much as you want.
- What a long hole! Kuzya was surprised. - Just some kind of snake, not a hole! What if it really is a snake? And I climbed inside it and now I can’t get out?
From this thought, the brownie became terribly, terribly. And then suddenly the firefly went out. It blinked and blinked and went out. After all, fireflies cannot burn for a long time without the sun.
- Well, hello to you, Kuzya stopped in the dark. - How can I go further?
I looked back and it was dark. And ahead - too dark.
- It would be better to stay in the pit - at least you can see the sun there! cried the brownie.
He cried, wiped away his tears and began to think and wonder what to do next. And suddenly he sees - in the distance something lit up. Kuzka was delighted, picked up the chest and ran as fast as he could. He ran, he ran, he suffocated. The light is getting closer, getting brighter. Kuzma ran out into a spacious cave. And in the cave there are little hunchbacked men. Before Kuzya had time to see them, they rushed at him, knocked him to the ground and put a bag on his head.
- Blimey! We didn’t have time to feed a person, give him a drink, soar in a bathhouse and ask questions, and already they decided to play blind man’s blind man! Kuzka was surprised.
But no one thought to play with him, they raised him to his feet and led him somewhere. Out of fear, Kuzka clutched the straps from the chest with a death grip - what if they take it away? And as soon as he had time to think about it, someone began to pull the magic chest from his back. Kuzka clenched his teeth, clenched his hands - it was impossible for him to part with the chest, this was his last hope and support. They pulled and pulled on the chest and stopped. They decided, apparently, that he was firmly rooted to Kuzka, like a house to a snail.
They all walked together, wandered and came somewhere. They stopped and began to rattle with iron, clanging with keys. Then they went somewhere else. They walked, they walked, they walked. And they stopped again. Then Kuzya felt that they took him by the white little hands and by the quick legs and began to put heavy fetters on them.
- Where?! Come on, let me go! I disagree! I do not play this way! yelled the brownie.
But they hold him tight and don't let go. And they do not answer his cries, they only chuckle angrily and hiss like scalded cats.
- Well, hospitality in your country! Well, hospitality! I will not go to you again for any gingerbread. And I will strictly forbid my friends to even approach your terrible dungeon! - the brownie continued to be indignant, choking and sneezing from the dust in the bag.
Finally the bag was removed from his head. I saw a brownie, how bad his affairs are. There were angry little dwarfs all around, humpbacked and shriveled. Each had a seven-tailed whip in his hands, and a yellow fang protruded from his mouth. They chained Kuzya to a stone wall with a long heavy chain.

Ek, what did you think! What am I to you, some kind of Tuzik to sit on a chain?
Only the dwarfs did not begin to listen to him, but gave him a heavy piece of iron and took him somewhere. They brought me to a stone mine and forced to cut down the wall - to extract gemstones.
The brownie cried and lamented:
- I won't do it! I do not know how! I'd rather sweep the floors and sort out the millet! Let me go to the sun, I'll be useful to you!
Only evil dwarfs are like deaf people. They don't listen to cries, they don't complain. They just wave their whips and threaten. Kuzya began to wave a piece of iron - but where can you go?
The tormentors stood next to him, nodded their heads and went home. They moved away, the brownie threw a piece of iron, spat after them, sat down and began to think over his fate.
And our Kuzya fell into slavery to the evil trolls who live underground, accumulate wealth and cause harm to all living things. And the one who wanders into their possessions is eaten with bones or taken into slavery, sent to hard work.
Kuzka did not know this. But he realized that here he would have a hard time - they would not give a pie and they would not put him to sleep on a feather bed. Therefore, it is necessary to get out to freedom - but how?
Suddenly he looks - two strange animals are running past. They themselves are small, paws are short and with claws tsok-tsok. The fur of the animals is thick and shiny, the ears are small, the muzzles are cunning, the eyes are shining, and the teeth are long and sharp. Animals run and correspond with each other as if they are talking.

It became interesting to Kuza what these animals were squeaking about - maybe something useful could be heard from them. He remembered the gift of the daughter of the forest king, reached into the chest, found a scale there and put it under his tongue. And the truth - he began to understand the conversation of those little animals.
- What a horror! one says. - Soon these trolls will dig up the whole dungeon, we will all be evicted to the ground!
- Horror, horror! - screeches the second. - On earth we - death!
- Here's another worker found. Look how healthy - he will quickly dig a hole to our house! the first one started again.
And we won't have anywhere to live! Horror-horror! - responded the second.
“I would be glad not to dig myself, but the evil dwarfs force me,” Kuzya spoke in their language.
The little animals jumped on the spot - they were so surprised. They stopped in place, raised their smart muzzles to Kuzya and are waiting for what he will say next.
- Who are you, cute animals? asked kind Kuzka.
- We are stone eaters! they answered in unison. - We sharpen stones and turn them into earth so that the trees have somewhere to grow roots! We live underground, we are afraid of white light. Trolls crush our stones and build their underground castles from them. So we will soon be completely without work - how will the trees grow in the forest?
- Do you have strong teeth? - doubted Kuzya.
“Strong, strong,” the stone-eaters squeaked and, as proof, they clicked and clattered with their teeth.
- Can you gnaw through this chain?
- Of course we can! The animals nodded their heads. - What for?
- Gnaw the chain - I'll leave, and no one will touch your home.
- We agree, we agree! - the rock-eaters squeaked and immediately began to gnaw at the heavy chain.
They did it so diligently that there was a rattle and iron filings flew around. Kuzya was already afraid that all the trolls would run to the noise. But then the chains jingled plaintively and fell.
- Thanks! - said Kuzya and hurried away.
The rock-eaters waved their paws after him and also tidied up. Nobody wanted to meet trolls. And Kuzya ran along the corridors without looking back. He was afraid that the trolls would rush after him and ask him for a broken chain. He ran through the darkness, stumbling until he was tired and fell dead. He lay down, caught his breath and thinks how to get out of this place further? Find out which way to go. Yes, as you know - it's dark again. Not a ray, not a spark, not a sound.
Kuzya was upset - again a failure. And the firefly was completely lost. Suddenly he feels - something is baking in his bosom. The brownie was frightened, reached for his collar. And suddenly he felt something small and smooth there. He got it - and this is a semi-precious pebble, the one that the dwarf gave him. The pebble seemed to read Kuzkina's thoughts - it glows with green fire, shimmers.
Who will light the way for me! - Kuzya was delighted, raised the pebble higher and went forward.
He walked for a long time, straying through the labyrinth, which had neither end nor edge. But it was more fun to walk with a green pebble in your hand - you’ll go out somewhere.
Chapter 9 Down the River

And suddenly a huge drop fell on Kuze's nose - boom! And then two more - boom-boom!
- What is this? - the brownie was surprised, wiping his nose with his sleeve.
And then suddenly under your feet - squelch, squelch - some water. Kuzya took a closer look: there were puddles under his feet. I listened to the sound of water gurgling nearby. The brownie ran to the sound and sees - an underground stream is flowing, the song is humming:
I am a stream, a stream
I'm on the pebbles - lope!
- If there is a stream, there will be a river, - the brownie decided and, together with a cheerful stream, jumped over the pebbles. He jumped and sang along, and suddenly he sees - it became light ahead. And soon Kuzya's brook led to the white light and to the fast river.
- Hurrah-ah! - the brownie was delighted with the sun, the river, the forest and the fresh air.
And let's dance, bounce, splash in the waves, ride on the sand - that's how happy the brownie was! And when he was tired, he ran, sat down on the warm sand - to take a breath. Looks around and thinks:
“Something doesn’t look like Bezymyanka. Our river is straight and unhurried, but this one runs so fast, and even winds all the time. At our river, the banks are flat and earthen, but here there are more and more cliffs and stones. No, this is not our river! Kuzka decided.
I decided, and then remembered that Uncle Vodyanoy told him about the life of rivers:
Rivers are like people. Noisy but fast at first. And they will become older, they will flow away - and they become important and slow. Therefore, you will not recognize one river if you go with the flow for a long time.
- Yeah! thought Kuzma. - If you swim for a long time - you can swim!
To think, he thought, but to swim on what? Here, go, Babka-Yaga's trough does not float, and Kuzka did not guess to take boats with him. Kuzma looked around and saw - lying on the shore a wooden shoe - a big, big one.
- Here's my boat ready! Kuzya rejoiced.
He built a sail from an embroidered handkerchief, put it on a stick, loaded a chest into the boat, rested his legs on the ground, his handles on a wooden side and groans:

Eh, itch your shoulder - push your hand!
Grunted, groaned - and moved his boat from its place. He creaked on the sand, rustled and into the water - plop! And Kuzka only needed that - he jumped into a dugout boat and swam.
Floats, rows with his palms, admires beauty. And the beauty is really darling - the trees are tall, the sky is blue, and the water dust hangs in the air - shimmers in the sun. Kuzma admired and did not notice how suddenly his little boat began to spin and spin and rush somewhere at a terrible speed, everything flashed before his eyes. And around the roar is so terrible that it lays the ears. Kuzka sits in his shoe, twists his head like that cuckoo - he won't understand what's going on. And something tells him that all this will not end well. He pulled his head deeper into his shoulders, covered it with his hands, sits at the bottom of the shoe and laments:
- Oh, trouble, trouble, chagrin!
Suddenly something creaked along the bottom, the boat twitched and stopped. Kuzka sat and waited to see what would happen next. The boat is standing, not moving. The brownie looked out cautiously and saw: all around was only the sky with clouds and water splashes. How so? Kuzya leaned out, looked around and gasped. His boat hangs on the very edge of some kind of snag, and under it - a whole river of water falls down. The brownie even got dizzy - he had never seen such a thing in his life.
- Blimey! In this forest, even the rivers are wrong!
Right or wrong, but somehow you need to get out. And then the boat slowly began to creak and move towards the edge of the driftwood. Kuzya ran along the bottom, stomped with his bast shoes:
- Oh, what will happen now? Oh, how can I be? Oh, what am I to do now?
Kuzya was worried, worried. And suddenly he hears cheerful voices and laughter through the roar. And here - time! - someone flew past him with noise and spray and jumped down. Two! - and another long body rustled nearby. Three! - and the scaly tail brushed Kuzkin's slipper-boat from the snag. And the boat became a heavenly cart - it flew through the air quickly, quickly. Kuzka poked his contented muzzle over the side and shouted joyfully:
- I'm flying!
It flies and sees only the forest and the river below it and the clouds next to it. Kuzka wanted to stretch out his hand and tear off a piece of heavenly cotton candy. And the boat suddenly turned nose down and began to fly towards the river. And then Kuzya realized that he was not flying, but falling. This is where he got really scared.
- Oh, goodbye, young life! Farewell, native village! Farewell ... - Kuzya flew fast and did not have time to say goodbye to his friends.
And then shmyak-tararakh-pshshihh-bul-bul - Kuzkin's boat flew into the clear water. The ship - in one direction, Kuzya - in the other, the chest - in the third. The shoe was wooden - it swayed on the waves. The chest was forged - it fell to the bottom. But Kuzka was alive, real - he floundered, floundered, blew bubbles. He waves his hands - floats to the air. And then the water will be collected in the bosom, it will pour into the bast shoes - he is drowning again. Kuzya began to get tired and less and less to see the sun through the spray. And then something will throw him up, how he will throw him up!
- I'm flying again! Kuzka thinks.
As soon as he began to fall back into the water, as he again from below - bang! - something soft. And again Kuzya flew. He flew so little and got tired of him.
“Let me see,” he thinks, “who is it that spoils me like that?”
He squinted his eyes and sees big fish tails they are playing with like a ball.

Hey fish! Let me go - I do not agree to fly anymore! he shouts to the fish.
Look, these aren't fish. These are mermaids - only very large ones.
- Mermaids! Kuzya rejoiced. So it's close to home!
The mermaids played with him and threw him ashore, on the soft grass-ant.
- Mermaids, mermaids, - the brownie shouts to them. - How far am I from home?
And they looked at him with blue eyes and said:
- We are not your mermaids. Where do you live, we don't even know.
- And who are you? The tails are fish, and the heads are girlish. Mermaids do exist!
- No, not mermaids, - they were offended, - but undines.
- At least call yourself a pot, just don’t go into the stove! Mermaids, undines - all one, all one! Kuzya grumbled. - You still know how to swim!
“We know how to swim,” the undines agreed and began to swim, splash, and somersault in the water.
- You know how to swim, but you can't dive! - teased the undine Kuzya.
- How can we do it! - they shouted in unison and began to dive so that the waves raised.
They surfaced - wet, satisfied. With shining eyes they look at the brownie, what, they say, ate? And he does not let up:
- anyway - with eyes closed You are probably swimming underwater.
- Open, open! - outraged non-mermaids.
- How can you prove it?
They turned their heads, whirled, mumbled something - they decide how to prove to the incredulous brownie that they can do everything.
- I figured it out! Kuzya says. - Dive under the water and find a forged chest at the bottom. If you find it, I won't argue with you.
Undines rejoiced:
- Watch and learn! - they say.
Plop-splash tails and went under the water. They were gone for a long time, Kuzya even got bored. And suddenly the youngest and fastest emerges:
- I found it, I found it! - and holds a chest in his hand.
She swam to the shore and gave it to Kuze - make sure, they say.
- Thank you, undines! - bowed brownie. - Better than you, I have never met anyone in this forest!
Undines liked these words very much. They all swam up to the brownie and began to ask how they could help him.
- Take me down the river. I know the magic word - please! - asked Kuzya.
Undines agreed. One put the brownie with his chest on her shoulders, and they swam. They sailed for a long time, stopping on the shore to spend the night, to stretch Kuzkin's legs, to collect water lilies and have dinner.
We saw a lot of interesting things on the shores. Many people, many animals, many cities, many villages. And the river soon became slow and wide. Only now Kuzya never saw his native village. So they swam the whole river to the very end.
Kuzya became sad, twirled, and wept:
- How did I get lost? How can I get home?
And the young undine said to him:
- Do not cry, otherwise the water has become salty!
Her adult girlfriend objects to her:
- He is not to blame for the fact that the water has become salty and tasteless. It's just that the river approached the sea, so the water turned salty.
Indeed, the river became wide, very wide. So wide that the end-edge was not visible to it - there is no land, only water. Undines Kuzya landed on this last shore:
"Sorry, we can't go any further." And then we'll dry out!
They finally waved their tails and sailed away.
And Kuzya is standing on the seashore and does not know where to go next.
- Well, everything. Sailed. Here it is - the end of the world. Further - there is nothing. So, I swam in the wrong direction. Oh, my garden head! Now we have to get back! - sad brownie.
He sat down on a pebble and began to watch the waves of the sea roll on the shore. He sat and sat and sees - a bearded man is swimming on the waves on a big fish, and in his hands are a pitchfork for hay, only strange - some kind of straight lines. Such an important person, it is clear that in these places everyone knows and respects him.

And if they know him, then he knows everything, - Kuzya decided.
He climbed onto a stone and began waving his arms, attracting attention.
The man saw Kuzya, turned his fish around and swam closer to find out what he needed. Kuzya introduced himself to the man and complained of his grief.
The man with the pitchfork turned out to be the king of the sea, who ruled this sea and knew all the shores. The king stroked his gray beard and murmured:
- No, brownie, I have not seen such a village on the shores of my sea. Just do not be sad - the world does not end beyond my sea, and there are other shores and other villages in it. You need to travel further.
- How? - saddened Kuzka. - Look, what short legs I have, what small hands. I can't go far, I can't swim for a long time.
“I can help your grief,” the sea king replied. - See, the clouds are gathering, the lightning is flashing? This is a terrible storm, a great storm. Now there will be high waves on the sea, and thunder will be heard in the sky.
Kuzya shivered:
- How scary!
- Don't be afraid. This storm will help you. Do you know where the thunder and lightning come from? It is the Valkyries rushing across the sky - heavenly riders on their black horses. Horses rumble with their hooves, strike sparks with horseshoes.
- Well, let them jump - what do I care? - asked Kuzya, and he was trembling with fear.
- And the fact that these riders fly everywhere, everyone knows. Maybe they will take you to your home.
He said so and picked up Kuzya. It took his breath away. And the sea king put the brownie on the highest wave and threw him high, high into the sky. Kuzya flew up above the clouds and sees: dashing heavenly riders are galloping, singing their warlike songs. Kuzka contrived and - jump! - clung to the tail of the largest horse.

And they galloped - only the wind whistles in their ears and the chest thrashes on the back. Kuzka even closed his eyes - the other horses neighed so terribly behind him and so quickly swept under the hooves of fields, forests and countries.
But with closed eyes, can you see your native village? Kuzya plucked up courage, opened his eyes and looks down. He only clung to his tail tighter. He looks, wonders - how beautiful the earth is from such a height! Everything is small, small, like a toy.
Admired Kuzya, surprised. I saw a lot of interesting things below, a lot of instructive. And suddenly he looks and does not believe his eyes - a familiar river, a familiar forest. There and two houses of Baba Yaga - for a good mood and for a bad one. And there is a swamp, and kikimoras are jumping in the swamp. And there is the house - the very best in the world!
- Hurrah! Kuzya shouted. - Arrived home!
They have arrived. Only now the riders were not on the way with Kuzey - they were not going to go down to the ground.
- Whoa! - shouted Kuzya horses.
What is there! Will you reach out to her? Wow, what a roar and noise. Yes, and up to the ears of this horse it was - as before the fair on a cart.
Kuzya looks down with despair - his village is getting closer and closer. Grandma Nastya came out on the threshold, put her hand to her eyes, looks at the sky.
- Farewell, farewell, dear home! These mad horses will carry me far, far away and leave me, you won’t pick up the bones! - the brownie wailed.
And suddenly he sees - his horsewoman took off her helmet and let her hair down. And her hair is long, long, reaching to the very ground and pouring down in a warm rain. Kuzya contrived and grabbed one strand, which fluttered in the wind. Grabbed her tightly, tightly and slid off, flew to the ground.
Chapter 10 Kuzka returns

And at this time in the village everyone was waiting for the rain. They looked forward to it with great anticipation. After all, since the brownie Kuzka disappeared, everything went awry.
The tow was tangled, the dough did not rise, the borscht turned sour, the chickens did not rush, the horses limped. Moreover, the summer turned out to be dry - there was no rain for a long, long time. That and look, the whole crop will burn under the hot sun.
The villagers were despondent. Songs and laughter subsided, they did not dance in the evenings. Untidy people walked around in the street, they did not bow to their neighbors, but only frowned.
Another day there will be no rain - and the crop that was grown with such difficulty will perish. And winter will come - long, evil, cold. She will bring with her blizzards and a blizzard - an icy leg. And a bony hunger will be dragged behind. Everyone was scared and sad.
- How did we offend the brownie? - Grandma Nastya was worried.
She already poured cream into a saucer, and crumbled bread with honey. Everything is untouched, but there is no brownie. In the economy, everything is a blunder, no matter how hard you try, you can’t do it. People were sad for the brownie, but what can you do? You need to live and live.
And today we saw a small gray cloud above the horizon. Everyone left their houses, began to wait - will a cloud fly in with rain or will it pass by? And they see - a thundercloud, black, flies. Thunder threatens and spits lightning. Scary! But from such a cloud it can rain.

A cloud crept over the sun, covering the whole sky. And then - how it pours! Summer rain, warm, generous poured on the ground. Immediately the plants raised their leaves, turned green. Mermaids immediately emerged from the river and began to play tag. And even kikimoras in the swamps squelched through the mud, chomping.
And the children jumped out onto the road and began to run and frolic, splashing through the puddles with their bare feet. The rain brought joy to everyone.
And everyone was so busy with the rain that no one noticed how a little brownie with a small chest plopped down from the sky on a shiny raindrop to the ground. He fell on a large cabbage leaf in his own garden and flew off into the tomato patch. He hit his head on a strong tomato side, he even rang.
Kuzka lies, does not breathe, does not move his leg-handle. He opened his eyes, looked at the sky, and from there - huge drops fly and they target him right in the nose.

Kuzenka jumped up and squealed like a hare:
- Don't touch my nose! He is tiny with me, like a button, and you are big and wet!
But the raindrops did not listen to him, and everyone slapped the leaves - a slap! slap! In temechko brownie - boom! boom! In a barrel near the fence - cap! cap!
Kuzka hid under a tree - he looks around and cannot believe his eyes. Here it is - a native garden! There is also a bed with cabbage - only heads of cabbage on it have become large. And there the cat Timofeich, as if scalded from the rain, runs away, fingering with thick paws.
- Hurrah! Kuzya rejoiced. - I'm home!
He picked up his chest and skipped through the puddles to the house with the mermaids on the shutters. Even the rain couldn't scare him.
He ran and jumped onto the porch. From the porch - to the vestibule, from the vestibule - to the upper room, and from there to the stove - within easy reach. And behind the stove is warm, cozy. Kuzka snuggled up to the stove's hot barrel, curled up in a ball like a playful kitten, and fell asleep soundly.
And when I woke up, I realized that now he really is the happiest brownie in the world.
Grandma Nastya returned home and sees: the gingerbread is gone, and instead of tangled threads in the basket neatly coiled balls lie - round-round, fluffy-fluffy.
- No brownie our returned! Grandma Nastya gasped. - Probably, it was he who went over the three seas for rain, - she decided, and poured the brownie into a saucer of fresh fresh milk - let her rejoice.
Soon the rumor that the brownie Kuzya had returned spread far and wide and reached the distant village in which all Kuzka's friends lived. The brownies heard this news and got ready to go on their way - to see the brownie and listen to magical stories about his wanderings.
They come to Kuzkina village, and at his house - a whole crowd has gathered. The brownies pushed through and saw: Kuzya was sitting in a new red shirt and drinking tea from a saucer, biting sugar. And he is important, important.
“Come on, Kuzma,” someone says, “tell us where you were, what you saw?”
Kuzka took a sip of tea, crunched sugar and said:
- And it was like that. Once we gathered with our owner for a fair - to see people, to show ourselves. The owner put me in a painted road mansion, and he went in a cart. We arrived, and there were thousands of people, thousands of goods. And all kinds of weird things happen. I watch...
- No, Kuzma, don't tell us about it - we were at the fair! - interrupted the brownie. - Tell us about monsters.
Kuzka nods importantly like this:
- Well, about monsters - so about monsters. I've seen all kinds of different ones. And with a human head, and with a snake body, and with three tails. And also with a snake head, a human body and with hooves. I saw flying people and cow people. They eat earth and spit out gems. And the mermaids there are the size of a cow. Eyes - like bowls, tails - like trees, and instead of hands - claws, like a cancer!
- You're lying!
- No, really! And another eccentric for me there buried a treasure with gold coins in a clearing where a rainbow is born. "Take, he says, - a pot of money - help me out, the old one." I refused - at the most there is a burden. Then, out of desperation, he buried the pot in the ground and ordered me to return for it. Only I won’t go - I don’t need this good and for nothing, and I don’t need money!
- Tell me about the rain! - again asks someone.
- What to tell? I took a herd of heavenly cows and drove to the village. And here he milked himself - rrraz! - jumped to the ground.
- So you hit the ground - that's damaged in the mind! everyone laughed.
- If you don’t like it, don’t listen, but don’t interfere with lying! - Kuzya was offended. - But you don’t want to listen to me - listen to the chest!
Kuzya said so and put in the chest a magic scale from the tail of a magic snake and a wonderful gemstone that the dwarf gave him. The chest paused, thought, and started a beautiful song. And when he sang it, he began to tell fairy tales and incredible stories. About gnomes and trolls, about elves and undines, about the dungeon and about the river, and of course - about the heavenly riders.

Everyone listened to this story and marveled at how many miracles there are in the world!
In the meantime, everyone stood with their mouths open, Kuzya slowly slid down from the stool, took his friends by the hands and took them to visit him.
He sat down behind the stove, poured fragrant tea, distributed to each a cheesecake with cottage cheese and said:
- Help yourself, dear guests, for my joy, for your pleasure!
And they began to drink tea and tell each other about life. And Vukolochka at the brownie and asks:
- Well, Kuzenka, have you seen the big world, walked around the wide world?
- I saw, - Kuzya agrees. - Only here it’s good to be away, but at home it’s still better!
And everyone agreed with him.
And when they finished their tea and even ate all the crumbs, the guests gathered to go home, to their native village. Kuzya escorted them to the outskirts and waved his hand after them for a long, long time. He was so bored that he did not want to let go of his brownie friends. But what to do - business!
When they were completely out of sight, Kuzka ran downhill on the wet grass, bouncing over the bumps, stumbling over the pebbles. He ran to his native forest, began to walk from tree to tree, to greet everyone. The forest also rustled the brownie in response with its leaves - it also missed it.
But that's not what the brownie came here for.
- Leshonok! Kuzya shouted into the depths of the forest, folding his hands over his mouth.
Shouted, shouted, tired. Where is Leshonok that does not respond? I just thought so - and then Leshonok runs out of the forest at the call. He is all green, fluffy, and oak leaves flutter on top of his head.
And here there was no end to all sorts of fun and pranks! Even the magpies fell silent, watching Kuzya and his friend somersaulting on the grass, scaring away the grasshoppers.
And when they played enough, they ran, they remembered the mermaids and went to the river. The mermaids saw them and were also delighted. They raised such splashes with their tails that they even woke up the Waterman. Uncle Vodyanoy had a fight, but he noticed dear guests and took out the biggest pearl for them from the bottom - there will be something to play with!

Until the evening, laughter and noise by the river did not subside. And when the sun rolled behind the forest, Kuzya got ready for the road:
- I have unfinished business there, troublesome worries - you can’t manage it overnight!
And he walked along the path, stomping his paws. Leshonok accompanied him to the very edge of the forest and watched for a long time how plump Kuzya climbed from hillock to hillock, hurried home. Now everything will be all right in the best house in the world.

In the evenings, the light will burn in the bright window, the cat on the stove will purr, and winter will only look out the windows in surprise and lick its lips at warm pies!

Aleksandrova Tatyana and Galina

Reading a chapter from the book by T. Alexandrova "Kuzya Brownie" "Olelyushechki"

Program content:

To acquaint children with the new chapter of "Olelyushechka" from Alexandrova's book "Kuzya Brownie".

Continue to develop children's interest in fiction, stimulate the desire to listen to the work.

Improve children's skills in the formation of words with the opposite meaning.

Expand and activate children's vocabulary, introduce obsolete words, explain their meaning.

Raise interest in the genres of oral folk art.

Lesson progress

Quiet, quiet, like a mouse
The boy runs in the house
Very small in stature.
Who is he?

Not a gnome and not a child,
He is not a boy with a finger,
And Kuzka is a brownie.

Let's play with the brownie. I will name words for the brownie, and you will pick up the words “vice versa”.

Kind - .., wet - ...,

Today I will read you a chapter from a book

"Kuzya Brownie" by Tatyana Alexandrova. This chapter is called "Olelyushechki".

Reading thin. works.

Content Questions

What did Natasha Kuzya want to treat? Why did Kuzya refuse the treats at first? How did Natasha Kuzya persuade you to try cakes?

Did Kuze like cakes later? What did Kuzya ask when he tried the cakes? Why didn't he eat all the cakes?

What kind of friends did the brownie want to treat? How did the brownie want to make friends laugh? What names do you remember?

Why is the chapter called Olelyushechki? What did Kuzya call flower pies?

What did you like about this chapter?

Guys, I suggest you draw illustrations for the chapter "Olelyushki".

What you liked most about this chapter, then draw.

On the topic: methodological developments, presentations and notes

WORKING WITH THE FAMILY ON FORMING INTEREST AND THE NEED FOR READING (PERCEPTION OF BOOKS) IN PRESCHOOL CHILDREN.

The experience of working with a family on the formation of interest and the need for reading (perception of books) among preschoolers is presented....

Organization of the work of the kindergarten on the formation of preschoolers' interest and need for reading (perception) of books

Working with children to get involved in the CHL...

"Formation of interest and need for reading (perception) of books in older preschoolers".

A good book is a friend and educator, it develops the ability to perceive beauty. One can reread A. Tolstoy, M. Sholokhov, N. Ostrovsky with gusto, but there is special literature- literature...

Once a girl Natasha found at home, under a broom, an incomprehensible creature. It was shaggy, in a red shirt, lapotochki and with sparkling eyes.
Shaggy turned out to be a brownie Kuzka, who was only seven centuries old, and for brownies it's like seven years old. And Natasha was also seven years old, and she and Kuzka immediately became friends.
And then the brownie and his magic chest told the girl amazing story Kuzkin's adventures.
Once upon a time, many centuries ago, Kuzka lived with other households - Afonka, Adonka, Syur and Vukolochka - in his village. But one fine day, the stupid housewives of adults did not obey and began to play with fire.
There was a big fire, and Kuzka ran away from him into the forest. In the forest, he met with the little goblin Leshik and his grandfather Diadoch. And everything would be fine - but only goblin lives in the forest, and a brownie simply cannot live without a house, without a stove. And so Leshik decided to take Kuzka to Baba Yaga, who had two whole houses and two whole stoves ...

Home for a bad mood
In the middle of the clearing, a hut on chicken legs, without windows, without a chimney, stepped from one foot to the other. Kuzka had similar huts in the village, only not on chicken legs. There, the stoves were heated in a black way, the smoke was released through the door and through the narrow windows under the roof. The owners of such houses always had red eyes. And the brownies too.

At the hut of Baba Yaga, the roof was pushed almost to the threshold. In front of the hut, a skinny gray cat sat on a leash at the doghouse. A cat is not a dog, scaring guests is not his concern. Seeing Kuzka with Leshik, he retired to the kennel and began to wash his gray muzzle with his gray paw - a deed worthy of a cat.
- Hut, hut! - called Leshik. - Stand back to the forest, front to us!
The hut stands as it stood. Suddenly, a woodpecker flew out of the forest, from behind a ravine, and pounded on the roof. The hut reluctantly turned like a dirty, rotten door. Friends pulled the knot, which was instead of a handle, ran inside. The door at the back hit Kuzka so hard that he flopped on the floor, but did not hurt himself. The floor was soft with dust.
- I'll sweep it this time! - the brownie was delighted. - Here's the broom!
- Oh, do not sweep! You will fly away on this broom no one knows where. Yaga either flies in a mortar, or rides on this broomstick! Leshik got scared.

Well, the house! Dust, cobwebs in all corners. There are torn pillows on the stove, blankets - a patch on a patch. And mice - apparently, invisible!
Cast iron and pots were so dirty and sooty that Kuzka realized that there were no brownies in this house. No self-respecting brownie would tolerate such disgrace.

There are mice instead of brownies, or what? Kuzka said. - Trouble for the owners, who has brownies. I'll sort it out here!
- What are you, Kuzya! Leshik got scared. - Baba Yaga will eat you for it. Here she has a home for a bad mood. She gets angry when her order or disorder is violated.
- Wu-u-u! I'm flying! - was suddenly heard.
The house was shaking. The grips have fallen. Cast iron rattled.
The mice darted in and out. The door was wide open, and Baba Yaga flew into the hut. Stupa - to the threshold, she - to the stove. Leshik barely had time to hide Kuzka in a large cast-iron, covered it with a frying pan and sat down on top himself.
- Uninvited guests gnaw bones, - Yaga grumbles at Leshik. - And I have only bones left from the guests. Well, why complain?
- Hello, Grandmother Yaga! Leshik bowed, sitting on the frying pan.
- An uninvited guest, and even bows, boasts of politeness! Baba Yaga grumbles. - And he sat down on the cast iron. Are you short on benches? I also added a frying pan. For softness, right?
“I came to see you,” says Leshik. - You're my grandmother, although a second cousin. Fly high, look far. Been around, seen a lot.
“Where I was, I’m no longer there,” Baba Yaga interrupted. - What I saw - I will not say.
- I've only been in the forest, I've seen trees, - Leshik sighed. - Didn't you come across a small village above a small river?
- Look, don't get caught by me for lunch or dinner! Yaga grumbles.
- I can't eat. For this you will not live in the forest, grandfather Diadoch will hit you with a stick!
- Do not be afraid, I will not touch. Useful from you, from a skinny mosquito! I don't love you goblin, I only tolerate. I live in your forest, where can I go?
- Do you like brownies? - asked Leshik. - Little houses? Brownies, like you, live in the house.
- Really not? Baba Yaga answers. - I still love it! They are plump, soft, like cheesecakes!
Kuzka in cast-iron touched himself in fright and became despondent. He was pretty plump.
- Grandmother Yaga! Leshik got scared. - Brownies are also your relatives. Can you eat relatives?
- Really not? Baba Yaga says. - They're eating! Brownie me who? Seventh water on jelly. They are eaten with jelly. - Yaga hung from the stove, looking at Leshik point-blank: - Wait a minute! Here one shaggy one runs through the forest, baskets on his feet, pictures on his shirt. So where is he, you say?
It became quiet in the house, only the flies were buzzing. And it is necessary! One mouse did not find a better place than in cast iron, next to the brownie. At first, she sat quietly. And then she waved her tail, raised the dust, - neither inhale nor exhale. Kuzka endured, endured - and sneezed so much that the pan flew off the cast iron along with Leshik. Baba Yaga screams in a terrible voice:
- Who sneezes in cast iron?!
And then there was a loud knock on the wall. Friends out of the house; don't remember how they got out. The first bush they came across blocked them with branches. Baba Yaga shouts from the threshold: “Ulu-lu! I'll catch up! I’ll catch it!”, sniffing, looking around. Can you find a goblin in your native forest! Some grebes turn white in the clearing and a woodpecker knocks on the wall of the house.
Yaga shouted at the woodpecker:
- Why are you hammering a hut? Get outta here! Didn't see where they were running?
- To grandfather Diadokh, to complain about you!
- I didn't eat them! Why complain? Would eat, then complain to whom you want. May they perish! - Yaga yawned with her whole huge mouth and went into the hut. Soon, her mighty snoring echoed through the forest.
Leshik and Kuzka went to a muddy forest river.

Home for good mood
A trough floated in the muddy water near the shore. Ordinary wooden trough.
- Baba Yaga's own ship! - Leshik said with a yawn.

Well well! It flies in a mortar and on a broom, swims in a trough. Because, probably, there is a mess in Yaga's house. Kuzka took pity on the trough. A child is not bathed in it, linen is not washed. A pig will not sip from it, calves with lambs will not drink. The cat guards the house instead of the dog, the trough gets wet in the Muddy River and carries Baba Yaga. Well, life!
Then the trough buried itself in the shore, right under the feet: sit down, they say.
- Ship! And who does not know, calls a trough, - said Leshik. - Swim where you know!
And the trough did not float down, but up the Muddy River, against its current.
Suddenly they rang, bells rattled. It's so much fun that you can't resist, can't sit, can't lie down! Baba Yaga's ship moored to the shore near the bridge from all over.
Well, the bridge! The railings are turned, the boards are gilded, nailed with silver nails, each nail has a bell.
In the middle of the lawn is a house. Not a chicken hut, not on chicken legs. Smoke curls out of the chimney. Something special breathed, unusual. The countryside smelled of a holiday!
- Who is with us, who will sing and dance with us? - Kuzka wailed and rushed to the house, and not along a simple, but along a carpet path, with rose bouquets and rose buds woven on it.
- We should be here right now! Leshik said. - You won't dream of such a house even in hibernation. This is at Baba Yaga for a good mood. Here she is always kind.
Still not to be kind in a sort of house! The roof is made of gingerbread and shortbread, waffle shutters, candy windows, instead of a threshold - a pie.
- What if Yaga comes back, sees me and eats me to the crumbs? - Kuzka remembered how terrible Baba Yaga was.
- No, - said Leshik. She won't hurt anyone in this house.
The door creaked. Kuzka looked fearfully at the porch. And I saw a fat fluffy cat. He sits and washes his clean muzzle with his paw.
- Washes guests! Who would it? Fathers-lights, he lathered us! We are guests! - realized Kuzka - and into the house. Leshik follows him.

And in the house they seem to be waiting for guests - invited, uninvited, invited, uninvited. On the table there is a patterned tablecloth, jugs, pots, pots, bowls, bowls, cups, dishes, a samovar on a tray.
- A good brownie is in charge here, but probably not alone! Kuzka rejoiced. - Hey, dear hosts! Where are you? I came!
But there were no brownies either in the attic, or in the closets, or in the storerooms, or in the basements. No one responded to the most affectionate greetings and requests.
Suddenly Kuzka saw that steam was coming from the samovar, and donuts, cheesecakes, flat cakes, pancakes, and pancakes were jumping from the oven onto the table. In jugs, in pots there were milk, honey, sour cream, jams, pickles, sour kvass. Dishes with pies themselves moved to the brownie. The cakes themselves were dipped in sour cream. The pancakes themselves were dipped in honey and oil. Shchi straight from the oven, from a large cast iron - rich, tasty. Kuzka did not even notice how he ate one bowl, another, then a full cup of noodles and ate porridge with baked milk. He drank kvass, lingonberry water, pear broth, wiped his lips and pricked up his ears.
Someone howled in the forest. Or sang. You won't understand. Howl was getting closer. "I'm unhappy!" someone yelled from far away. It has already become clear that these are the words of the song. The song was pathetic.
I'm barefoot, bare-haired,
My clothes are worn out...

Kuzka, just in case, crawled under the table, Leshik too.
“This is some kind of unfortunate guest,” the little brownie reasoned, settling more comfortably on the crossbar under the table.
Oh, lost weight, torn,
All went to shreds yes, oh, rags ...
A hoarse bass sounded already under the windows. Even glasses, that is, lollipops, rattled.
The hoarse bass behind the wall is silent. Someone fumbled on the porch.
Kuzka could not find a place for himself under the table from anxiety.
"Are you sure we won't be touched here?"
Then the door opened and I found myself in the house ... you don’t understand who. The voice is a man, and on his head the kokoshnik burns with gold, shimmers with semi-precious stones. On the feet are boots - green, morocco, with red heels, so high - a sparrow will fly around everyone. Scarlet sundress, like the morning dawn. A border on the hem, like an evening dawn. There are silver buttons on the sundress in two rows. And from under the kokoshnik Baba Yaga looks straight at Kuzka, eye to eye.
- Oh, fathers! - gasped - and quickly back under the table, deeper.
And Yaga lifted the tablecloth, knelt down, looked under the table and held out her hands.
- Who came to me? she sang in her honeyed voice. - Dear guests have come to stay and visit! Handsome hand-written, my precious little ones! And where should I put you, gostenechki? And what can I treat you, guests, to please?
- What is she? Kuzka whispered, gently pushing his friend. - Or maybe it's a completely different Yaga?
- Oh, what are you! Yaga is alone in the forest! In that house - such, in this - such, - answered Leshik and bowed: - Hello, Babushka-Yaga!
- Hello, hello, my priceless granddaughter! Yakhont is mine! My green emerald! My relative is golden, diamond! And after all, not one came to me, my friend brought a sincere one. Such a nice friend, handsome, well, just a raspberry - a sweet berry! Oh, my soft cheesecake, sugar pretzel, precious iron!
- Do you hear? Kuzka got worried again. - He calls it a cheesecake, a pretzel ...
But Baba Yaga seated them on the most comfortable bench, put them on the softest pillows, took out all the tastiest things from the oven, and began to treat them.
Kuzka was taken aback by this courtesy, and politely swore:
- Thank you, grandma! We have already eaten and drank, and we wish you the same!
But Yaga fussed around the guests, persuaded, begged to taste this one, try this one, palmed off the most tidbits.
- She what? Is it always like this? - Kuzka asked in a whisper, chewing a honey gingerbread with filling and holding a gingerbread fish in one hand, and a sugar rider on a sugar horse in the other.

Baba Yaga, meanwhile, was bustling by the bed: fluffing up the feather beds, spreading silk sheets, velvet blankets. A fat fluffy cat helped her, and when the bed was ready, lay down on a down pillow.
Yaga affectionately shook her finger at him and transferred him with a pillow to the stove.

Winter will appear in a day
Kuzka dreamed that they were playing with Afonka and Adonka, and suddenly Sur and Vukolochka were dragging a pancake. I woke up - it is: it smells like pancakes. The table breaks from the treat. Then the door opened slightly, Leshik flew into the room like a green leaf. Kuzka rolled head over heels out of bed, as if off a snowy mountain. Friends ran out of the house, ran, jumped over the bridge. The bells chimed merrily.
- Blizzard, blizzard, frost, but at least I have something! Winter will appear in a day in such a house. Eco abundance-abundance! Even winter winter, even a century to age! Kuzka rejoiced.
Then Baba Yaga jumped out onto the porch of the gingerbread house:
- Where, precious children of the ears? Don't go into the forest, the wolves are eating!
- We're walking, grandma!
- Ah, my ghouls! Walkers are walking around!

Baba Yaga jumped from the porch, Kuzka by the hand, Leshik by the paw:
- Okay! Okay! Where were you? By Grandma! Let's lead a round dance! Loaf, loaf, choose who you want!
- What are you, Grandma Yaga! Kuzka laughs. - This is a game for the little ones, and we are already big.
Baba Yaga called the brownie to have breakfast, waited for him to hide in the house, and slowly said to Leshik:
- Bow from me many, many times to grandfather Diadokh, if he is not resting yet. And here's another thing - only Kuzenka hasn't been talking about this yet! - bring here his funny little joke - a chest. He will be delighted! They talked - and into the house. And in the house the cradle fluttered under the ceiling like a swallow. Kuzka leaned out of the cradle: a pie in one hand, a cheesecake in the other.
- Look, Grandma Yaga, how high I am!
He dragged Leshik to him, and fun began: up and down, whistling in the ears, flashing in the eyes. And Baba Yaga stands below and is afraid:
- Precious chadushki! Handsome written! And how will you fall, kill yourself, break your arms and legs?
- What are you, Grandma Yaga! Kuzka reassured her. - Babies don't fall out. Are we going to fall? I would go about housework. Or do you have nothing to do? That hut, I suppose, has not been swept up to this day.
They rocked and rocked until Leshik fell asleep in the cradle. He woke up because a wet gray lump stuck into his muzzle. Leshik shoved it away - it sticks again.
- He's here again! gasped Kuzka. - I threw it away!
And he angrily explained that Yaga probably considered him
breastfed baby. She prepared a pacifier for him - jail. She chewed on the pie, wrapped it in a rag and stuffed: open, they say, your mouth, honey!
They climbed out of the cradle - and onto the porch. And on the step there is a wet rag ball! Kuzka kicked him with his bast shoes:
- Well, what did you get attached to? And all this chewed prison comes across, everything comes across. I'll throw it out, I'll throw it out - here again!
Kuzka went to see Leshik off. They climbed the bridge, and the prison was lying and lying down on gilded boards. Leshik got angry, pushed her into the water: eat, fish! They, of course, rejoiced. They fish, the softer the better. And how do they know that this is Baba Yaga's chewing gum? I suppose who Baba Yaga is, they don’t even know. They ate prison and swam away. And the cancer dragged the rag into its hole.
Snowflakes were flying in the forest. Leshik's eyes closed. Finally, he reluctantly stepped off the bridge, waved his paw for a long time on the edge, then disappeared, disappeared into the forest. Only a voice, like a funny echo, came from the thicket:
- Kuzya! Don't be afraid!
Leshik returned to the den, looked sadly at the box with dry leaves, where Kuzka had once slept. Or maybe there has never been a fat shaggy brownie? Yes, legend...
Something flashed under the leaves ... Kuzkin's chest! Leshik hid the chest better and fell asleep until spring.

idle brownie
The little brownie woke up and rubbed his eyes. Neither Baba Yaga nor a fat cat can be seen. He yawned, stretched, crawled out from under the covers, sat down at the breakfast table.
Cast iron gurgles in the oven. The pans sizzle. Fire crackles. An ax jumps near the stove, chopping wood. Logs - time-time! - one by one they jump into the oven.
“Here are the fools! Kuzka thinks. - If they learned to jump, they would have jumped far away for good. And then on you - straight into the fire! Best place not found. What can you take from them? They don't have their own will. A chock, she is a chock." He ate, got out from behind the table, thinks about what to do.
Then something pounced on the brownie, crawling in the face. He got scared, brushes it off, shoves it off. And this is a towel. Wiped his nose and flew to the hanger. And on the floor, on the floor, the broom runs, walks around the corners, fanning the benches, sweeping the rubbish. And the garbage, the garbage - a sort of nimble, jumps in front of the broom.
Fun!
They jumped to the door. Ahead is garbage, followed by a broom, followed by Kuzka jumping and laughing. The door is wide open. Litter-garbage flew away in the wind, the broom fled into place. Kuzka remained on the porch.
It must be winter in the forest. And on a round meadow in front of Baba Yaga's house - "Indian summer". The grass is green. The flowers are blooming. Even butterflies fly. Some animal frolics in the grass, chasing them. What kind of animal is this? Won't he eat?
Kuzka - in the house. Looks out the window. He thought and thought, he doesn’t remember how many pies he ate to reinforce his mind, and he guessed: a fat cat frolics in a clearing, who else! Play - so together! And run to the meadow.
The cat runs like crazy, no attention to Kuzka. Catch a butterfly, tear off its wings - and follow the next one. Choose which one is prettier.
Or are you completely crazy? - the brownie shouted menacingly. - You should tear off your ears like that! Such a disgrace!
The cat silently washed its paw with its paw and disappeared into the house. Kuzka was sick of even looking at the cat. He went away from home, to the river, wandered along the yellow sand. Waves crept after him, licked his tracks.

The yellow sand is over. Behind him - a sedge, a swamp, a black dense forest. A loud howl came from the forest. Closer, even closer: the robber's song! This is Baba Yaga sailing to her House for a good mood.
Kuzka hid in the grass. What if Yagi's mood does not have time to improve? But the closer the song, the more fun. And when a trough flew out from behind a turn, from a forest thicket along a river bend, the song was already somewhere. The coastal echo picked her up. Cheerful "Eh!" yes "Wow!" hooted, buzzed over the round clearing. The trough moored at the bridge. Silver bells tinkled, gilded boards rattled.
Baba Yaga jumped ashore. The woodpecker was already sitting on the gilded railing.

Oh, you are my little bird! - Baba Yaga sang. - All the same, he knocks, knocks, calluses his little head! Everything would be for him knock-knock and knock-knock! Oh, you are my diamond hammer, you are my kiyashechka!
Emboldened Kuzka got out of the grass.
- Grandma Yaga, hello! Why does a cat catch butterflies?
- Oh, you are my diamond chadushka! He is such a wise man: he will tear off the wings of butterflies - he will stuff a pillow, but he will become bored - he eats. This cat is mad with fat, baby, - Baba Yaga affectionately explained. - Well, let's go drink tea! We have a brand new samovar, silver spoons, sugar gingerbread.
- Go, Grandma Yaga, drink! You're out of the way, - politely answered Kuzka. He did not want to go into the house.
- Woodpecker! he called when Yaga went into the house. - Let's play hide-and-seek, tag, whatever you want!
The woodpecker looked down and continued to hammer at the tree. Kuzka sighed and went to drink tea. In winter at Baba Yaga
A little brownie lived with Baba Yaga all winter. Bad weather, whirlwinds, cold, Santa Claus himself bypassed the round meadow. They probably did not want to get involved with Yaga. Kuzka kept waiting: the evil aunt Blizzard was about to hum in the chimney, the ferocious uncle Buran would open the door, throw a handful of snow into the hut, Santa Claus would knock, scrape into the hut with icy fingers.

But Blizzard never whistled into the chimney. Buran did not fly up to the porch. Snowstorm with her daughter Metelitsa walked in other glades. And when Yaga was not at home, Kuzka ran there, caught snowflakes, made snowballs and threw them at a fat cat. But never hit.
The cat lazily stretched out its paw and on the fly deftly grabbed a snowball, like a white mouse.

As soon as Yaga sees Kuzka outside the window, he immediately shouts:
- Oh, the child will get cold, freeze, catch a cold, chill the arms and legs, cheeks and ears, frostbite the nose! - and drags him into the house, warms it on the stove, soldering it hot.
At first Kuzka fled, arguing:
- What are you, Grandma Yaga! You are not young, you are cool. And just right for me!
But the winter is long. Little by little Kuzka learned to be afraid of even a weak breeze, a light frost. He sat on a warm stove or at a table, behind a painted tablecloth. And Baba Yaga prepared dishes for him, each one sweeter and tastier.
That's just boredom. There is nothing for Kuzka to do. And the idle brownie - is it a brownie? But Baba Yaga explained that if the stove bakes, boils, steams and fries, then someone needs to eat all this so that goodness does not disappear, the stove does not offend, and, therefore, Kuzka is up to his neck. So he got down to business - he ate to satiety.
The brownie really missed his friends: Afonka, Adonka, Syura, Vukolochka ... If only they dreamed more often in a dream, or something! But every day, and especially on long winter evenings, Yaga whispered and whispered, weaving gossip like a black web. Bad friends, they say, have Kuzenka, forgot him, abandoned him. They don’t look for him, they don’t ask about him, nobody needs him: as happiness, then together, but as trouble, apart.

She also scolded Kuzka's new friends, goblin. They sleep in the den like dogs in the hay. Kuzenkino's treasure was appropriated. In winter, they don’t need a magic chest at all, but they didn’t give it back, they hid someone else’s good for themselves.
Kuzka listened and listened - but from nothing to do and believed. And how not to believe? He's just a stupid little brownie, he's six centuries old, he's seventh. And Baba Yaga has so many centuries that she herself does not remember, she has lost count.
Kuzka sits at a full table. Baba Yaga listens, feels sorry for himself, scolds his friends.

Babynysh-Yagyonysh

That winter, Leshik and grandfather Diadokh had troubled dreams. The old goblin saw an ax in a dream all winter. And his grandson dreamed of gray huts on chicken legs chasing him throughout the forest. One nevertheless grabbed him with huge bird paws and said: “Isn’t it time to get up?”
Leshik quickly got out of the box. Grandfather Diadoch was still fast asleep.
It was early spring. Remains of snow whitened on the black earth.
Leshonok got out of the lair, shook himself off the dry leaves stuck to him in the box - and ran to his friend.
“Oh, is it whole, is it alive? Such a small thoroughbred little house, he should grow and bloom! ”Leshik thought, rushing through the spring streams and puddles, wet as a frog.
The gingerbread house shone in the clearing like a spring flower. Leshik rather looked out the window and did not believe his eyes, neither left nor right. In the bed, covered with all the blankets, on all the featherbeds and pillows, Kuzka slept. At his feet was a cat. And by the bed, on the floor - covered with a rug, Kuzka's bast shoes under her head - Yaga was snoring.
Leshik sat down on the porch. The sun looked at him warmly. Leshonok dried up. His green skin is fluffy again. And he sat and thought. Maybe, after all, brownies also have hibernation? But, hearing voices in the house, he looked in the door. Kuzka sat at the table and ordered:
- Not so, Baba Yaga, and not like that! What did I say? I want cheese pies! And you baked cheesecakes. Where are the cottage cheese pies? Inside. What about cheesecakes? Above. Eat now!
- My child! I baked pies with carrots for you. And the cheesecakes are ruddy, fragrant, they ask in your mouth!
- In your mouth they ask, you eat! Kuzka replied rudely. - One child, and you can’t really feed him. Oh, Baba Yaga - a bone leg!
- Chadushko my diamond! Eat, do me a favor! - Yaga persuaded, pouring honey on a mountain of cheesecakes. - Hot, fresh, hot, hot!
I don't want to and I won't! muttered Kuzka. - I'll die of hunger, then you'll know!
- Oh, my little golden dove! Forgive me, stupid woman, did not please! Maybe the cockerel would like a lollipop, on a stick?
- I want a cockerel! Kuzka relented.
Baba Yaga ran out of the hut, and was in such a hurry that she did not notice Leshik, pinched him with the door and climbed onto the roof to shoot a candy rooster (he was instead of a weather vane). Leshik squeaked, hitting between the jamb and the door, but Kuzka did not notice a friend.
And from the roof heard:
- I'm coming, I'm coming, my golden one! I bring, I bring you a cockerel, my chicken!
Kuzka sat opposite the cat and was much fatter than him. Dipped pancakes in sour cream, washed down with jelly, ate pie.
Baba Yaga fussed at the stove:
- I'll bake-baked such-and-such, which no one has seen or eaten! And they would have seen, envied.
The cat ate stuffed donuts. She and Kuzka grabbed hold of one particularly fluffy bun, silently pulling each of them towards him.
Kuzka wanted to hit the cat, but he saw Leshik, threw the donut, fidgeted on the bench:
- Sit down, you will be a guest!
- Hello, hello, my green emerald! What is it like to sleep? Why got up so early? Grandpa probably woke up, sent his grandson to the old granny. We didn’t expect you so early,” Baba Yaga sang, carefully examining the little fox.
- Grandpa is still sleeping. I myself came running, - the leshonok answered absently, recognizing and not recognizing his friend.
Kuzka began to look like a raincoat mushroom, "wolf tobacco", and the arms and legs, like those of a beetle.
Leshik speaks, and Kuzka yawns or - squelching! - pulls tea from a saucer. Suddenly he perked up, scolded Baba Yaga: what, they say, for disgrace, really you can’t think of anything tastier, it’s disgusting to look at food! He also grumbled at the cat: he lay down, such and such, almost occupied half a bench.
Then Kuzka dozed off and snored in his sleep just like Baba Yaga
I woke up and didn't look at my friend. Only the cat looked at the leshonka and yawned, opening his pink mouth wide. And Kuzka is lying on the floor in the middle of the hut, waving his arms and legs and picky:

I do not want! I won't!
Baba Yaga runs around, persuading:
- Eat, get better! Try this before it gets cold. Taste that before it melts.
She put the brownie in the cradle, cradles. Kuzka sucks prison.
Maybe it's not Kuzka at all? Maybe Yaga replaced him? She ate the real one in another house or hid it, and is this some Babynysh-Yagyonysh playing around? And he does not think, and he is too lazy to speak, and listen. Come on, has he heard anything about Afonka, Adonka, Vukolochka?

Leshik spoke about them, and Kuzka perked up, sticking his head out of the cradle.
- What is this Afonka-Adonki? Baba Yaga intervened. - I suppose they didn’t eat anything sweeter than a carrot, neither their mind, nor their mind. We don't need them, stuffed animals!
- Hee hee hee! Scarecrows! squeaked Kuzka. And Leshik was scared.
- And where is the magic chest, Kuzenka's joy? - Baba Yaga sang, rocking the cradle. - Or did you and your grandfather Diadoch take someone else's property for yourself? I already thought: I’ll fly off, they say, I’ll bring it myself. You can't rob kids, you can't!
Kuzka in the cradle with a turkey in his mouth mumbled:
- Give me back my chest this very hour, green scarecrow! You are a thief, and your grandfather is a robber! And Kuzka fell asleep.
The prison fell to the floor. Yaga threw it into the oven, into the fire, looked at Leshik:
- Do you run for the chest yourself, or should I, the old one, disturb my bones?

chest

The little woodsman trudged sadly into the lair. It would be nice if Grandpa Diadoch woke up!
On the way, Leshik said goodbye to the last snow, said hello to the first grass, to Kuzka's favorite stump, to the Red Pine. Grandfather Diadoch sleeps as he slept. The older the goblin, the slower they wake up from hibernation and, until the time comes, don’t wake up, they won’t wake up.
From under a heap of dry leaves, Leshik took out Kuzka's chest, it shone in the dark no worse than a rotten or firefly. And when he took it out of the lair, beautiful flowers and stars sparkled on the chest.
Leshik carried it and admired it. “How does Kuzya want to give such beauty to an insensible, hater?” - thought Leshik, carefully avoiding puddles on the way to Baba Yaga.
- Oh-ho-ho! he sighed at the Muddy River.
“Oho-ho-oh-oh-oh!” the echo echoed, so loudly, threateningly, as if it wasn’t the little fox who groaned, but the bear roared or the seasoned wolf howled.
Leshik screamed in fright, and again, as if a pack of mad wolves howled in the thicket, the eagle owls woke up in hollows, hooted, sobbed.
It was an evil echo. Even grandfather Diadoch did not know where it lives, he was afraid to meet him. Only the mighty Goblin, the father of the Leshonka, could drive away or calm the Evil Echo, but he is now far away, in the Burnt Forest. Probably, Baba Yaga called the Evil Echo from nowhere, so that poor Kuzenka would not run away. Leshik stepped onto the bridge. Planks rattled, bells tinkled. The Evil Echo resounded with thunder and rumble and began to roll, rumble, rumble and howl.
Baba Yaga jumped out onto the porch of the gingerbread house.
- My emerald granted, brought a chest! See see. Give it here! Let's see, let's see, what an unprecedented miracle, what is so special about it, in this chest. My house is a full bowl, but something is still missing. I’ll come up with that, and this, but there’s still nothing!
I wanted to take a bag. But Leshik slipped into the house, passed the chest to the owner from hand to hand. Kuzka was not even happy. He looks stupidly, as if holding a log or a chock. The fat cat looked carefully. Baba Yaga grabbed the chest from Kuzka. And the brownie didn’t raise an eyebrow.
Yaga looks at the chest, turns it this way and that:
- Here we are at the holiday! Let everyone envy us now. We have a magic chest! They will begin to ask, pray, we will not show it to everyone, but to the one who bows below everyone, and even then we will think. Leshik sees: the chest in the hands of Baba Yaga has faded. So, God knows what, a nondescript piece of wood. Yaga pulls the lock, digs the corners:
- Heard about him. I see it in my eyes for the first time. They say it brings joy. We are happy, others are sad. We have increased, others have decreased. And what joy comes from him, my sugar chadushka?

Kuzka only yawned in response. Baba Yaga shakes the chest near her ear, looks at it, even sniffs:
- What to do with him, my dear friend? Who knows if not you. I have long heard that it is stored in a small village near a small river, in your hut. I saw it myself, you ran like crazy, and the chest sparkled like fire. And that village is not so far away: up the Mutnaya River, then along the Fast River, half a day’s journey ... Maybe you deceived me, green emerald, - Yaga leaned towards Lesha, - slipped a simple piece of wood?
So that's where Kuzka came from! That's where it should be returned as soon as possible with the chest together! And Kuzka is either dozing, or sleeping, or sitting like that.
- What joy from him, tell your grandmother! Here's an ungrateful bastard! Feed, drink - and you won’t wait for a word!
Baba Yaga fought, begged. Kuzka is silent.
- And what was praised by both brownies and mermaids, for everyone this chest did not go off the tongue! Baba Yaga grumbles. - I have rich chests - full of good, gold and silver. And this one? They thought they expected joy from him. Where's she? There is no joy, there is sorrow. What is this? Did the chest bring us grief? We do not need here, in this house, neither grief nor trouble!
Grabbed a knife, opens the chest - the knife is broken. She knocked the chest with a poker - the poker bent. Hit with a grip - the grip broke. She got angry, grabbed the chest on the table - the tabletop was cut in half, the chest was intact. How to crack on it with a bone fist - at the very spark from the eyes, and the chest is unharmed.
- We do not own, so do not own anyone! She swung and threw the chest into the oven. - Not to me, so to nobody!
But in the furnace the fire immediately went out, the coals went out, the ashes cooled down. The chest is intact again. Yaga gasped, grabbed the chest - and to the door:
- You didn’t burn in this furnace, you’ll flare up in that house!

Kuzka grabbed Yaga by the sundress, tore off the painted border.
- Give me my chest, Baba Yaga - a bone leg! If you don't know how to handle it, don't touch it!
“Do you know how to handle him, my sweet child?” - Baba Yaga left the chest at the stove, rushed to the brownie. - If your grandfather Papila rushed into the fire after him, it means that there really is some kind of joy in this chest. What joy, tell me?
Kuzka is silent again.
- Well, - Baba Yaga shouts, - I'll take you all to that hut! And with a chest together! Talk to me there! The brownie grabs, but he is heavy, he can’t be lifted, he shoves himself away with his hands, kicks back with his legs.
“You need it,” shouts Kuzka, “you go wherever you want!” It's dirty, you can't breathe from the dust.
- And if I sweep, clean, will you go with me, baby? Yaga asks in a sweet voice. - This will be a different house, clean, kind.
- I'll go, - answers Kuzka. - Fly, or something, rather. I'm tired of it!
Baba Yaga riding a broom - and that was it. Only the Evil Echo boomed after him: “Uuuuu!”

The little one is in a hurry. Gotta run! And Kuzka is sitting at the table, eating cheesecakes. Leshik is trying this way and that to take his friend away. No, he's sitting.
- Being a guest is good, but being at home is better. Guest - guests, but stayed - sorry! - suddenly said the stove.
Kuzka choked on the cheesecake in surprise.
- It's time and honor to know - says the stove.
Leshik - to the stove, grabbed the chest, and the chest again sparkles with flowers and stars. Leshik did not begin to make out who was saying such words, he was holding out a chest to a brownie:
- On the!
- Give! Give! - Kuzka reaches for the chest, but too lazy to get up.
Miracles! The poker stepped from the stove, pushing the little brownie to the exit, pushing the tongs. The broom jumped out of the corner, whipping from behind. Kuzka, escaping from the broom, somehow got over the threshold.
The house himself sent the brownie out, took pity on him.
Where to run? An evil echo guards both the bridge and the trough. One way is through the Black Swamp. Leshik heard about this swamp, but he never visited it. Swamp kikimoras lived there, stupid, stupid. Grandfather Diadoch said about them: get in touch with fools, you yourself will become a fool.
Leshik backs away to the swamp, beckons Kuzka with a chest:
- On the! On the!
The little brownie is confused in bast shoes, the legs are bent:
- Give! Give!
It crawls like a snail.
Somehow they made it to the forest. Though swampy, but still a forest. Sagging, flabby, decrepit. All the trees were apart, as if in a quarrel, and all were crooked. Only the trees lined up in a row, tall, straight, like watchmen in a swamp.

The trees were delighted with Leshik, the fir-trees waved their paws: here, here!
Leshik hid his friend deeper under the Christmas tree, left the chest there, ran to look for a path through the swamp. Some goblin would have found this path. Even Leshik is terrified here. You get off the path - the quagmire sucks.
And from the side of the round glade, noise, screaming. It was Baba Yaga who returned, and in the House for a good mood there was neither Kuzka, nor Leshik, nor a chest. She attacked the cat:
- Where did you run?
The fat cat lay down on the softest pillow, smiles through his mustache, purrs slowly and points his paw in a completely different direction. There, they say, they ran away along a pink carpet, along a gilded bridge, into a forest thicket, into a den of a lesha. Where else? I'm glad that there is no brownie in the house: he ran away, and that's fine. And then an uninvited, uninvited guest appeared and became the owner. Who is pleased?

Baba Yaga - on the bridge. Scolding Evil echo how much in vain: why didn’t she, Yaga, call? Yaga screams. The evil echo is not silent. The noise is standing, the trees are bending. Leshik plugged his ears. Kuzka leaned out from under the tree, his eyes widened. Scared. I understood what Baba Yaga is like.
Leshik and Kuzka flee in one direction, through the Black Swamp, and Baba Yaga in the other, through the forest. A woodpecker flies in front of her: either it breaks a twig, or it tugs at a dry leaf, luring Yaga away from Kuzka and Leshik. Baba Yaga rushes back and forth, knocked off her feet, stretches out her arms, but instead of the fugitives, she will either hug a rotten stump, or grab a prickly Christmas tree. The birds are screaming at Yaga, the bushes are grabbing at the hem, the dry leaves are tangled in the hair. Baba Yaga almost cries. Kokoshnik lost. Sundress - to shreds. She sat down to rest, and the young crow was glad, glad. She sat down on her shaggy head: “The nest is ready, here I will bring out the crows!”
- And what did I want to walk on foot? Yaga grumbles. - Or I have nothing to fly? Always either on a broomstick, or in a mortar, or in a trough, and here through a dense forest without a road! The old goblin, perhaps, woke up, leads through the forest?
Wandered until night. He is no longer looking for fugitives, but the way back. Well, I met an old owl, led me to the Muddy River, to the crooked trunk. The trunk trembles, Baba Yaga shouts:
- Oh, father, I will fall! Oh, mothers, drown!
Slightly alive by dawn, Yaga reached her House for a bad mood, fell on the stove and fell asleep like a log.

Woke up, ate a pot of porridge.
- Well, now I'll fly, I'll find it, I'll take revenge, I'll pay it back! I'll take the chest!
And there's nothing to fly. Mortar and broom in the gingerbread house. She sat down in the trough, swam to the gilded bridge, and then her mood improved. She entered the house in an excellent mood: the table was set, the samovar was boiling, the fat cat was waiting for its mistress, purring.
Yaga got drunk, ate, said to the cat:
- Oh, and I had a dream in that house! Now I'll tell you. About brownies, right? Or about kikimore? I don't even remember. Well, nothing, I’ll fly to that house, I’ll remember everything right away!

Kikimora marsh

A little brownie with a little leshonka made their way through the swamp.
Kuzka stumbled over a bump:
- Oh, how tired I am! Oh, I can't!
- Hush, - Leshik whispered. - They'll hear it!
- Evil echo? Kuzka got scared.
- What you? Leshik answered. - In the Black Swamp, even the Evil Echo dies. Swamp kikimoras will hear, they are mistresses here.
"Oh oh! thought Kuzka. - And a fire, and a dark forest, and Baba Yaga, and now some more terrible kikimoras. They weren't enough yet. Oh oh!"
All day the black swamp slurry squelched under the feet of the friends. Kuzka with difficulty pulled his bast shoes out of it. The longer Kuzka looked at the swamp, the less he liked it.
“Never in any swamp with a foot! he thought. - Let whoever wants asks, persuades. I won’t go anyway, I won’t budge!”
Leshik easily ran even along the swamp path. He returned, picked up the fallen Kuzka, and again, with a chest in his paws, ran forward. See if the swamp ends soon.
Kuzka stumbled over a bump again. Lies and feels sorry for himself. Now Leshik will return for him, and again trudge through the swamp.
The sedge sways quietly.
The fog rises softly.
Some birds fly silently in the sky.
And next to it is slush, shiny, black, with green moss bumps on it. On some hummocks the trees are shaking as if in a fever. Shake here!

Oh oh! I'm dirty as a pig! groaned Kuzka. - It's good for pig children to crawl through the mud. Oh oh! I am poor, unfortunate!
And then he heard next to him:
- Ahah! He's cute, he's cute!
The little brownie saw gray heads among the sedge in front of him. They pop up, they disappear, they pop up again. Swamp kikimoras, or what? And not at all scary. In vain Leshik scared.
- That's trouble, trouble, chagrin! - Kuzka complained to the kikimors.
- Here is water-water-dip! Here is food-food-treat! - picked up cheerful voices.
- Tired of my frisky legs! Kuzka sighed.
- They tore off his legs, scattered them along the path! - the kikimoras rejoiced. - Uh-uh! All swollen! Eyes crooked, mosquitoes stuck! And-and-and!
- Stop this hour! Kuzka shouted at them. - Stop teasing, they tell you! - and waved his hand.
What one, then others - this is what kikimoras always do. One sneezes, grunts or creaks, then all the rest in chorus: “Pchhi! Khee! Creak-creak!” If one kikimora has dried mosquitoes for lunch, then others will not try dried flies that day either.

The kikimoras also waved their hands, but not empty ones: each scooped up swamp mud. They ride around Kuzka. Skinny, long, flat, clumsy, fist-sized heads. Now bald, now shaggy, gray, greenish, one eye on the forehead, the other cannot be seen. There is only one leg, you don’t need more in the swamp, otherwise you will stretch one, the other will get stuck. But there are three, five hands, and the older kikimora has no idea how many.
They wave their hands. Mouths open, big like those of frogs. They stretch their legs out of the quagmire and jump: slap-smack!
Few people walk through the swamp, so they got entertainment.
And Leshik had already reached the edge of the swamp. He put the chest under the birch that grew on the edge. Suddenly behind squeak, squeal! Leshik took the chest - and back. Look, Kuzka is lying across the path, and the kikimors are pulling him in different directions.
- Hello, swamp kikimoras! Leshik bowed.
The kikimors released Kuzka, nodded and bowed for a long time, and then watched attentively as Leshik cleared Kuzka of dirt. But before the friends had time to run a few steps, the kikimors shouted: “Salochki! Salochki! ”, They grabbed them and squealed:“ Caught! Caught!
- What are you, swamp kikimoras! Let us go, please! We are waiting. It's time for us, - Leshik persuaded them, pushing his friend to the exit from the swamp.
- It's time! It's not time! - the kikimoras rejoiced, blocking the path, and jumped from it into the swamp. - It's time! No, it's not time! Don't peek, you sly ones! Now is the time! - And disappeared from sight.

Kuzka forgot to think that he had forgotten how to run, so he ran along the path. Here is a birch ahead, the tops of the forest are visible. Hooray!
- Hurray-rya-rya! - screamed the kikimoras, one after another jumping out onto the path and blocking the passage. You won’t get off the path - the black quagmire will suck in. And the kikimoras are teasing:
- Unstoppable - red mug! Nevovozha - green mug!
- What are we not taking away! Kuzka tried to explain. - We're not playing. We'll get out of the swamp, wash ourselves, then we'll play. Do you know how many games I know! Let's take the bag and come back. This one, - and pointed to the chest in the paw of Leshik. - Are you crazy? yelled Kuzka and rushed to the huge kikimora, trying to take the chest from her.

The oldest kikimora, who has no idea how many hands, snatched the chest from Leshik, quickly handed it over to her girlfriends. He went, the chest went from hand to hand, disappeared into the swamp along with the kikimors. Only they saw him.
- Give it back! shouted Kuzka. - He was kept by my grandfather. And also my grandfather's great-grandfather. And you put him in the swamp!

Sunset
A little brownie with a little leshonok sat under a birch on the edge of the Black Swamp and cried. Now friends knew that a small village near a small river was not far away. Kuzka looked at the sunset and remembered how exactly the same sunset, point to point, cloud to cloud, he saw with his friend Vukolochka.
Brownies rarely look at sunsets. Can anyone argue who the cloud looks like: a pig, a frog, or fat Kukoviaka? And they no longer look at the sky: pigs, frogs and Kukoviaka can be seen on the ground.
One Vukolochka admired the sunsets, and Kuzka admired the grass-ant on the village street. Ducklings, chickens, goslings, piglets with mothers, and even with fathers, run in the grass. Puppies, kittens and children ran on their own, without mothers and fathers. Adults rarely ran, and when they met, they bowed and talked. Most of all adults liked to walk on water. They drew bucket after bucket from the well. Kuzka kept waiting for the water to run out. But she did not think to end. Who dragged her and topped up the well? Did the waterman send someone at night, under cover of darkness? Kuzka and Vukolochka had long been planning to track down who was adding water to the well. But inadvertently, as they gather, they oversleep. People, probably, also did not know who was adding water, and they talked for a long time about it at the well.
The road is dusty. A pig runs along it, grunts.

And behind him Nyurochka with a twig. Her shirt is long, Nyurochka herself is short, she got tangled, fell and howled. Small, but the voice is like that of a bull. Roar, which the world has not heard. It is necessary - it cries, and it is not necessary - it cries. Previously, everyone resorted to pity her, but you don’t run into every roar. Only a pig crawled out of the puddle to console the hostess. Nyurochka - from him, she even forgot to cry. Kuzka laughs, and Vukolochka is surprised: what is funny in the sky?
Kuzka nevertheless saw one sunset and remembered it.
- Oh, look! - Vukolochka turned Kuzkin's head to the sky.
For a long time the friends watched how scarlet, yellow, and golden rays shone and shimmered in the sky. Kuzka decided that the dawn was a huge torch: the sun lit it so as not to go to bed in the dark. And Vukolochka said that the sun was already falling asleep and that the dawn was his dreams. The housewives even argued.
Kuzka remembered all this as he looked at the sunset. I even wanted to push Vukolochka, but pushed Leshik. And then either the sun blew out its torch, or it burned to the ground. It became dark-dark.
And suddenly from the swamp it was heard:
- No one will help you! Someone who will not help, but we will help! Someone, but we will help you! And no one else, but we! And not to anyone, but to you! To someone else, if not you!
And the frogs jump-jump through the swamp - from bump to bump, from bump to bump. They searched and searched for a chest - and found it. Hanging in the middle of the swamp on a bough, on a long dry snag; no matter how you jump, you won't get it. Frogs jumped and jumped, croaked, croaked - and figured out how to be.
Uncle Vodyanoy
A little brownie and a little leshonok followed the frogs jumping across the wet meadow. Something sparkles ahead, something shines in the sky. Here, by the river, either the bushes are swaying, or someone is waving their hands. Mermaids!
Mermaids swayed on the branches of trees that leaned over the water. Mermaids led a round dance on light sand. One mermaid sat on a large rock and sang a song.
- Look, Kuzka! she screamed. - Brownie Kuzka! They are looking for him, looking for him, looking for him, they ask everyone. Here the brownies will be delighted!
- Kuzka! - The mermaids surrounded the brownie, dragged him to the river, washed the swamp mud off him and let's tickle him. - That's happiness! Kuzka found!
And Kuzka, laughing from the tickling, told the mermaids:
- And here, hee-hee-hee, kikimoras - oh, fathers, I can’t! - a magic chest, ha ha ha, stolen!
The mermaids all threw up their hands and cried. The moon has risen.
Kuzka and Leshik are sitting on the light sand, thinking. Mermaids swim in the river, swing on the waves and also think. And they came up with.
- Water! Uncle Water! - the mermaids and Kuzka and Leshik began to call.
The water in the river trembled, covered with ripples. It went in big circles. And then a huge shaggy head appeared. The moon illuminated a long mustache and beard, clumsy hands and powerful shoulders. - Why is there such a noise-din? What are you yelling like cows in a meadow? - shouts the Waterman. - Well? Why are you silent? There is no answer for you. To be naughty - they are suitable for it. And who is this?
- Kuzka! the mermaids screamed. - Kuzka was found!
- So what? Well, I found it! He bored me. Everyone asks about him - both brownies and goblin: “Didn’t you see, didn’t you meet?” Well, I see! So what? And there's nothing to see! And who is this? Leshik? What the hell does he want here?
Vodyanoy's voice is so rough that Kuzka and Leshik got scared and hid behind a large stone.
- Who called me? Who needs me?

We called! We need! the mermaids screamed.
- Well, I don't need you! - Vodyanoy answered in a rough voice and disappeared into the river, only the circles went.
Soon the shaggy head reappeared in the same place. The merman was curious: why did the mermaids need him, and even a brownie with a leashonka? The mermaids had called him before: give the one a pearl, another pearl, give the third lily, and not some yellow water lilies, but delicate bluish lilies, the color of the moon, and that he, Water, would plant and grow these lilies. But for everyone to call Waterman at once, this has not happened yet.
The merman stuck his head out gravely and asked sternly:
- Well, what do you want? What? And then what? Tell, tell, yes all at once, otherwise I don’t understand, it hurts your tender voices!
- Chest, Uncle Vodyanoy! The kikimoras have stolen the magic chest! - the mermaids and Kuzka and Leshik answered in unison.
- So what? - Water asked even more severely. - They dragged me away, but what about me?
- Like what? the mermaids gasped in unison. - Magic chest! How can Kuzka return home without him?
- Well, don't come back! - The merman again went into the water.
They waited and waited for the mermaid - no, it doesn't show up. And then one little mermaid laughed:
- Oh yes, kikimoras! Even Uncle Vodyanoy is not afraid! No way will they listen to him!
- They won't listen to me, you say? Here I am! Here they are with me! - A huge head emerged from the water, behind it a beard, shoulders appeared, now the whole Vodyanoy in full height- in the mud, in the algae, small fish entangled in the beard.
The merman came out of the river, whistled and headed towards the swamp. Water flowed in streams from the beard. And behind him, like along a river, mermaids, frogs, fish, swimming beetles moved ...
When Kuzka and Leshik, jumping through the streams running after Vodyany, approached the swamp, a voice was already rolling there:
- Oh-oh-oh! Ohalnitsy! Outrageous! Swamp kikimoras! Bring me the chest that was taken from passers-by! Mermaids, I won’t give the chest to anyone, I’ll leave it with me! Oh ho!
- Oh! Kuzka got scared. - There is little joy from such a rescue!
It's already a little light. The fog either descended on the swamp, or rose from it. Either someone walked through the swamp, or it itself champed. The kikimors did not respond. Someone giggles, and some shadows in the fog rush back and forth.
- Silence! Swamp slurry in your mouth scored! Pah you! - the Waterman got angry.
- Fu-you, well-you, bast shoes are bent! - picked up the kikimoras and let's spit, sneeze, croak, quack, creak.

What are you? - roared the Waterman. - I came to you! Give me a chest! Here I am you!
The kikimors were silent for a while and suddenly burst out in chorus:
Like a goat on a mountain
On a green goat!
The mermaids groaned in horror when they heard this song. After all, Vodyanoy can’t stand goats, doesn’t want to hear about them, life is not sweet for him at the mere name of a goat. And the kikimoras, as if nothing had happened, tease:
Chicky-kick-jump, goat!
Chicky-kick-jerking, goat!
Vodyanoy grabbed his ears and ran back. He ran to the river and threw himself into the pool with his head.

Bear and fox
The little brownie and the little leshonok again sat alone under the birch at the edge of the swamp.
“The red sun warms the black earth in the white light,” Leshik said sadly, watching the sun rise and the night hide in the swamp.
Suddenly there was a crackle, a noise. Someone heavy ran through the forest. "Baba Yaga, or what?" Kuzka got scared. And then a hare peeped out of the bushes, followed by another, a third, and after the eighth hare, breathing heavily and waving its paws, a bear jumped out:
- And I'm cracking bushes, looking for you! Lost my paws! Hooray!

The frogs scattered, the hare into the bushes (it was he who helped the bear find friends), and every single kikimora jumped out and squealed:
- Hurray-rya-rya! Rya-rya! Woo!
They yell so that the bear is not heard: the mouth opens, but there is no sound. The bear even backed away from the swamp. The kikimors yelled and fell silent.
- What are they? Are you crazy? the bear asked in a whisper.
- They probably have nothing to hide from, - Kuzka answered and told about the chest.
The bear got angry, roared with all the strength of a bear:
- Give the chest, thieves!
The kikimoras jumped and giggled. Still would! The bear himself talks to them!
And they sang:
How our bear went mushrooming, mushrooming,
And our bear got stuck - neither here nor there! -
In the swamp, in the swamp.
For the bear, the kikimors sent a hare to pick mushrooms, drowned the frogs in the quagmire, followed by Kuzka and Leshik. And there the birch went for mushrooms, and the cloud in the bog neither here nor there. Everything that caught the eye of the kikimors immediately fell into their stupid song.
And suddenly they sang:
How our fox went mushrooming, mushrooming ...
- What's going on here, huh? asked an ingratiating voice. - And who are they offending here, huh? And who is it with all the honest people outrageous, huh?
A fox came out of the bush, turned to the left, turned to the right, and how he shouted:
- Kikimarashki-zamarashki! Kikimorochki dirty!
- The very muzzle! From the mess and hear!
- And I'll throw a bump at you! - The fox kicked the bump with its hind legs, and the bump flew into the swamp.
- And we are a bump in you! And we are a bump in you! - yelling kikimors.
And now a dirty bump flies from the swamp straight into the bear.
- And I'm a stone in you! - And the fox throws a pebble from the path into the swamp.
- And we, and we are a stone! - Kikimors dived into the swamp for a stone.
The fox asked her friends to bring more stones, but more. Know throwing stones into the swamp. All you can hear is how they whistle and slap. Friends do not have time to bring. And the bear dragged such a block that he himself had to throw it into the swamp. The quagmire hooted, went in circles. Sinking stones in the swamp. And the kikimoras cannot get them, there is nothing to throw. They tried with mud, but the fox teased them:
- You are soft in us, and we are hard in you! - and hit with a stone right into a large kikimora, which has no idea how many arms.
The kikimora plopped upside down, squealed in a terrible voice, remembered something, rolled over, jumped to a dry snag in the middle of the swamp, grabbed a magic chest and how it launched into a fox! The chest flies over the swamp. Many eyes are looking at him. Will it fly?
Kikimors rejoiced:
- And we are solid in you! And we are firm in you!

The chest fell right on the fox. Kuzka clung to him with both hands, unable to believe his luck. Kikimors yell, squeal, rejoice: they hit the target and so many people are looking at them!
- Kikimora, they are kikimora, - said Leshik. - The whole century they play pranks and indulge. Maybe otherwise you won’t live in a swamp?
When everyone left, the kikimors immediately forgot everything, gnawed on marsh nuts and talked:
- Mosquitoes and flies today are not as satisfying as in the old days. They are completely emaciated, what shall we do?
They groaned, sighed, again a commotion:
- What if all the swamps immediately take and dry up? Where do kikimors go?
They did not have time to recover from such horror as new anxiety:
- What if the whole earth becomes a swamp? Where to get so many kikimors for settlement? Spring holiday
- "From sleep and barely got out of bed," - stretching and yawning, the old goblin said his favorite saying, with which he met nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-ninth spring. - What's the weather like there, granddaughter? Did you wake up in the sun or in the rain?
And there is no grandson. Grandfather got out of the lair, bowed to the sun. A hare and seven rabbits jumped out into the clearing:
- Good spring, grandfather!
- Good summer, bunnies! How good are you! How many of you! Grandfather Diadoch laughed.
More and more hares jumped out into the clearing. Grandfather began to count them. Suddenly, a magpie flew out from behind the trees with terrible news: kikimors drowned Leshik, Kuzka, a chest, a fox with a bear in the Black Swamp. About the fact that the villains drowned in the quagmire also a birch on the edge of the swamp and even a cloud from the sky, grandfather Diadoch did not hear. He ran headlong towards the Black Swamp.

On the way, a woodpecker flew up to the old goblin, consoled him, scolded the white-sided magpie and led him straight to the edge, where Kuzka, Leshik, the bear and the fox were resting. That was joy!
It was only then that everyone realized that today was the Spring Festival in the forest. It always comes when the goblin wakes up. Red, blue, yellow flowers bloomed. Silver birches put on golden earrings. The birds sang their the best songs. AT blue sky elegant clouds frolicked.
To make this day a holiday for Kuzka, we decided to ask the mermaids to take the brownie home. After all, river mistresses know all the houses above all the rivers, large and small. And they somehow distinguish the best house from others.

Seeing a brownie, a leshonka, and even an old goblin, which they still haven’t seen, the mermaids jumped out of the river and led a round dance around the guests:
Berezhochek-berezhok
Save our river!
Like this, like this, like this,
Save our river!
Leshik liked the round dance so much that when the song ended, he alone began to run around some stump on the shore and sing a song that he himself had just invented:
There is a stump in the forest, a stump!
And I run all day
I sing a song about a stump:
“There is a stump in the forest, a stump ...”
Everyone joined hands, and the singing around the stump continued for a long time. And Grandfather Diadokh was sitting on a stump, looking first at the chest, which he held in his hands while Kuzka was dancing, then at the dancers. Flowers and stars on the chest sparkled brighter and brighter. And then the old goblin, although he did not like to get into other people's affairs, asked the brownie what was stored in the magic chest, what secret was in it.
Kuzka looked gravely at the company seated around the stump, and solemnly proclaimed:
- Take an oath, then I'll tell you!
No one had an oath. Nobody even knew what it was.
- Repeat after me! - the brownie said sternly. - “Three crows, three brothers fly from across the sea, from across the ocean, they carry three golden keys, three golden locks. They will lock up, lock up our chest forever, if we give it to insensibles and haters. The key is in the sky, the castle is in the sea." The oath is all.

Everyone liked the oath very much. I had to repeat it several times. Then the mermaids began to ask about the sea-ocean, and Leshik about the crows-brothers, but Kuzka could not give any special details about either one or the other.
- So we, granddaughters, did not give your chest, - said grandfather Diadoch. - Baba Yaga is a hater, marsh kikimoras are insensible. The chest was in their hands, but not for long. There is no reason for us to be offended by the crows-brothers!
- Then follow me! Kuzka cheered up.
chest, chest,
gilded barrel,
painted cover,
Copper latch!
One, two, three, four, five!
You can start a fairy tale! Quiet music began to play. The lid of the chest opened with a clang. Everyone froze. Kuzka grabbed last year's dry leaf, scribbled something on it, put it in a chest. The lid slammed shut, and the chest said in a pleasant voice:
- Chirki-pochirki, dashes and holes, that's the whole story just about you!

It became quiet. Goblin and mermaids, wide-eyed, looked at the chest.
Wow! A simple piece of wood, and she talks like that! And the bear and the fox were so frightened by the fairy tale about the teal-pochirki that they ran into the bushes.
Kuzka explained that the chest had been kept by the brownies for a very long time. And it is magical because if you put a drawing, any picture in it, then the chest will compose itself and tell a fairy tale about what is drawn in the picture. Draw a mouse - tell about the mouse.

If you draw a mermaid and a water lily, the chest will tell such a fairy tale, where something terrible or funny will certainly happen to a flower and a river mistress. But here's the problem: brownies don't know how to draw! They slowly steal drawings from people, take them under the stove or into a corner, lower them into a chest and listen to fairy tales.
Then Leshik with his grandfather and the mermaids immediately began to draw some on the leaves, some on pieces of bark. But nothing came of them. And when the drawings were placed in a chest, he told everything about the same dashes and holes.
So, Kuzka decided, no one can draw, except for people and Santa Claus. He draws right on the windows.
But no one has ever taken glass out of the windows and lowered them into a chest to hear a fairy tale about some flower painted by Santa Claus.
Hearing about Santa Claus, Santa Diadokh brought from the forest and put the most beautiful spring flower in a chest. Pleasant music played for a long time, but the chest did not tell any fairy tale. Another thing is if the flower was painted. It was only then that the brownie realized how much he missed people.
- Dawn! It's already dawning! - the mermaids were alarmed. - Farewell, Kuzya! Time to go! You run along the bank, we will swim along the river.
Suddenly, over the river, the bandit song “Wow and eh yes!” In the trough, rowing with a pestle, Baba Yaga swam up to her friends:
- Chadushko! Grandma is here for you! You will be lost here, not drinking, not eating! Where are you going? Where do I say? Here I will catch up and eat! Woo!
Here the trough turned over. Yaga fell into the water. And Vodianoy emerged from the river:
- There is no rest from you! Who's yelling here? Who is howling here? Is that you, Yaga? Yes, I love you! Yes, I have you! Get out of the water! So that your spirit is not here!

best home
A little brownie, sitting in a trough left over from Baba Yaga, clutched a chest with one hand, and waved to those who stood on the shore with the other. The trough floated along the Fast River, following the mermaids.
Grandfather Diadokh bowed to Kuzka from the shore. Leshik jumped up above his head and waved goodbye with all four paws. And the bear waved, and the fox. And all the trees and bushes waved their branches, although there was no wind at all. Suddenly, someone big, taller than fir trees, stepped out of the forest straight to Leshik and grandfather. A woodpecker sat on the giant's shoulder. On the other shoulder, Father Leshy put his little son. Kuzka saw waving green paws for a long, long time.
Turn. Another turn. duct. Streams and rivers run from two sides to the Fast River. Mermaids turned into one of the streams. And the trough - upstream - behind them. The sun was rising. The trough buried itself in the shore, and the mermaids shouted:
- Here he is! Here is the best house in the village above a small river! As good as it gets! Goodbye, Kuzya!
Live, live, make good, wait for us to visit! - And they sailed away.
The trough itself jumped to the shore, onto the green grass. Kuzka, with a chest in his hands, rushed to the house and suddenly stopped dead in his tracks: in front of him, over the river, stood a completely different village. And someone else's house, not Kuzkin at all. This is the best of all houses for mermaids, because all the windows, and the porch, and the gate were decorated with carved wood flowers, patterns and large mermaids. Beautiful, bug-eyed, curly, they are so bright, so wonderfully painted! Kuzka looked at them and wept. So what's now? And where is Vukolochka, Afonka, Adonka, grandfather Papila?
But suddenly it was time for him, Kuzka, to live separately, to be the master of the house himself?
And Kuzka stepped timidly onto the porch.
When he climbed into the hut through the threshold, take the door and creak. Kuzka with a chest - under a broom. A girl came in with a rag doll.

Our door creaked for some reason. Has anyone entered? - she asked the doll, but did not wait for an answer and said: - It must be the wind, who else? All in the field. Let's go, I'll put you to sleep, I'll sing a song!
She took the doll to the bench, covered it with a handkerchief, and said in a soothing voice:
- It's not tidied up with us! The house is new, and the dirt is like a hut has been standing for a year ...
She took a broom - and so she sat down from fright. There was someone under the broom.
Shaggy, gleaming eyes and silent. And - run under the stove!
- No way, brownie! gasped the girl Nastenka. - And mother and father are still grieving that our brownie has remained in the old house!
Kuzka began to live and live, to make good. And he managed so well in his new house that the rumor about him spread all over the world and flew to Kuzka's native village. It did not burn down: people put out the fire. And Wu-Kolochka, and Sur, and Afonka and Adonka, and even Papila himself went to visit Kuzka. And they left him a chest, let him take care of it ...

And it was a long time ago.
And after many, many years modern girl Natasha, like Nastya, one fine day found Kuzka with a chest under her broom.
And when they put Kuzkin's portrait, which Natasha painted, in the chest, the chest told the whole story.