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Спасти Кощея

Крихели Ангелина

She stretched out, blinked and rubbed her eyes with her hands. But the dream did not disappear anywhere. The girl frowned.

– But this can’t be happening! – she stubbornly stuck her chin out with her habitual gesture and looked around. – Mo-om ... – the girl moaned diffidently, - Da-ad…

But there was no response. Close enough came a heavy sound:

– Hoo… – scared, the girl shuddered unwittingly.

– Bear? – she asked somebody and looked about again. – Well, it would be wonderful to draw a bear from life… – the girl was trying to put on a brave face hoping it was just a dream and nothing bad could happen to her.

But she heard the same dreaded «hoo» again and it seemed even closer. Then, something heavy fell to the ground with such a loud sound that the earth began to tremble.

«What if that beast is injured and needs help?» – the girl thought and made a step forward timidly, ru

Meanwhile, the girl got close enough and looked out from behind the trees.

– Oh dear! – she exclaimed, unable to restrain herself. In front of her, in the clearing, there was a grimy broken-backed house nailed-up with boards and sheet metal. From the outside, all in patches, it seemed shabby. And in the middle of the clearing a huge beast laid. Puffs of smoke were billowing out of his nostrils as if it was harsh winter, and its flanks were heaving heavily. – How hard it twisted you… – she clucked her tongue, coming closer. Of course, the mother taught her that the wounded beast is twice dangerous. But she was so sorry for the poor creature which was breathing heavily, trembling, sniffing, and floundered with huge paws, covering its eyes with pain.

Suddenly the monster’s eyes opened. It was as surprised at the other’s presence in the forest as the little girl. It raised its head and the girl cried from fear. The beast sat down and cried too. They looked each other in the eyes and didn’t stop crying. And it would be quite amusing, if the monster she felt sorry for didn’t have three heads, and hence six eyes. Fortunately, it had only four paws, like all animals. The two hind ones obviously served it as feet, and the two fore ones as arms-wings.

Of course, it couldn’t be that the grimy shabby house belonged to the monster. After all, it was almost as big as the house itself. That’s what the girl thought. At that moment, an old man came out of the house, following their cry. He was frowning awfully and it looked even scarier than the monster. Sometimes the mood and facial expression can distort the person so much that no monster can be compared to him. So the girl fell silent immediately and looked at the owner of the strange house. The monster also fell silent, waved its huge tail and sighed heavily. It looked so fu

– What’s going on here, Gorynych? – the owner of the house grumbled petulantly as if the girl wasn’t here.

She looked at the monster with surprise and narrowed her eyes distrustfully.

– It can’t be! It’s a circus act! Confess! It’s Matvey Ivanovich asked you to play a trick on me, so I believe that miracles happen? – and the girl curiously tilted her head to one side, looking at the strange forest inhabitants one after another.

– Who is Matvey Ivanovich? – the monster asked with a deep voice and blinked in confusion with all its huge eyes.

– What do you mean, miracles don’t happen?! – the old man frowned even harder.

– Come on! – the girl waved her hand. – I do not believe in anything like that! These are just fairy-tales, fiction!

The girl smiled, and two of her interlocutors couldn’t but blink in a surprise and look at this miracle. A little girl with two wonderful braids was looking at them and couldn’t believe they were real.

«A real miracle!» – Koschei thought and scratched his head. The door behind his back creaked quietly, showing hidden earlier different household items – one by one they started sneaking in a yard to have a look at a strange guest.

– Who are you? – looking dreadfully at her, Koschei asked.

– My name is Hope, – the girl introduced herself and did a giggly curtsy, holding the edge of her dress.

Gorynych continued to snuffle heavily, so it was impossible not to pay attention to him or forget about him even for a minute. Besides, he didn’t look like a toy, unreal or fictional to Hope at all. She had to put herself together to turn back to the monster again. Having assured that everything is for real, it turned out to be much more difficult than before, when she thought that this was just a circus act arranged by her drawing teacher.