Сказки / Fairy Tales. Уровень 1

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‘That’s curious,’ said the Leopard. ‘I can smell Zebra, and I can hear Zebra, but I can’t see Zebra.’

‘Wait a bit,’ said the Ethiopian. ‘We saw them a long time ago. Perhaps we don’t remember anymore what they are like.’

‘Nonsense!’ said the Leopard. ‘I remember them perfectly on the High Veldt, especially their marrow-bones. Giraffe is about seventeen feet high, of a exclusively fulvous golden-yellow from head to heel; and Zebra is about four and a half feet high, of a exclusively grey-fawn colour from head to heel.’

‘Umm,’ said the Ethiopian, and looked into the speckly-spickly shadows of the forest. ‘Then they will soon appear in this dark place like ripe bananas.’

But they didn’t. The Leopard and the Ethiopian hunted all day; and though they could smell the animals and hear the animals, they never saw one of them.

‘Let us wait till dark,’ said the Leopard, ‘This daylight hunting is a perfect scandal.’

So they waited till dark, and then the Leopard heard something. It breathed sniffily in the starlight, and he jumped at the noise, and it smelt like Zebra, and it felt like Zebra, and when he knocked it down it fell like Zebra, but he couldn’t see it. So he said,

‘Be quiet, an animal without any form. I will sit on your head till morning, because there is something about you that I don’t understand.’

Presently he heard a grunt and a crash and a scramble, and the Ethiopian called out,

‘I have an animal that I can’t see. It smells like Giraffe, and it kicks like Giraffe, but it hasn’t any form.’

‘Don’t you trust it,’ said the Leopard. ‘Sit on its head till the morning – same as me. They haven’t any form – any of them.’

So they sat down on them hard till bright morning-time, and then Leopard said,

‘What have you, Brother?’

The Ethiopian scratched his head and said,

‘It is orange-tawny from head to heel, and it must be Giraffe; but it is covered all over with chestnut blotches. And what have you, Brother?’

And the Leopard scratched his head and said,

‘It is greyish-fawn, and it must be Zebra; but it is covered all over with black and purple stripes. Zebra, what’s wrong with you? When you were on the High Veldt, you looked different. And now you haven’t any form.’

‘Yes,’ said the Zebra, ‘but this isn’t the High Veldt. Can’t you see?’

‘I can now,’ said the Leopard. ‘But I couldn’t see yesterday. What happened?’

‘Come,’ said the Zebra, ‘and we will show you.’

The Zebra and the Giraffe got up; and Zebra moved away to some little thorn-bushes where the sunlight fell all stripy[14 - the sunlight fell all stripy – свет пробивался полосами], and Giraffe moved off to some tallish trees where the shadows fell all blotchy[15 - the shadows fell all blotchy – тень ложилась пятнами].

‘Now watch,’ said the Zebra and the Giraffe. ‘One – two – three! And where’s your breakfast?’

Leopard stared, and Ethiopian stared, but all they could see were stripy shadows and blotched shadows in the forest. Not a sign of Zebra and Giraffe! They just walked off and hid themselves in the shadowy forest.

‘Hi! Hi!’ said the Ethiopian. ‘What a trick! We must learn it. Take a lesson by it, Leopard.’

‘Ho! Ho!’ said the Leopard. ‘Be a good student yourself!’

‘Well, if you tease each other, we won’t catch dinner,’ said the Ethiopian. ‘I want to take the Baboon’s advice. I must change. I have nothing to change except my skin. So I will change that.’

‘What to?’ said the Leopard, tremendously excited.

‘To a nice blackish-brownish colour, with a little purple in it. It will help me a lot. I will be able to hide myself in hollows and behind trees.’

So he changed his skin then and there, and the Leopard was more excited than ever.

‘But what about me?’ said the Leopard.

‘Take the Baboon’s advice too. Just change. Change your skin. Do you want to get spots on your skin?’

‘What’s the use of that?’ said the Leopard.

‘Think of Giraffe,’ said the Ethiopian. ‘Or if you prefer stripes, think of Zebra. They like their spots and stripes.’

‘Umm, I don’t want to look like Zebra – never! I’ll take spots, then,’ said the Leopard; ‘but don’t make them too vulgar-big. I don’t want to look like Giraffe – never!’

‘I’ll make your spots with the tips of my fingers,’ said the Ethiopian.

Then the Ethiopian put his five fingers close together and pressed them all over the Leopard. Wherever the five fingers touched they left five little black marks, all close together. You can see them on any Leopard’s skin. If you look closely at any Leopard now you will see that there are always five spots – five fat black finger-tips.

‘You are very beautiful now!’ said the Ethiopian. ‘You can lie out on the bare ground and look like a heap of pebbles. You can lie out on the naked rocks and look like a piece of a stone. You can lie out on a leafy branch and look like sunshine. You can lie right across the centre of a path and look like nothing in particular. Think of that and purr!’

‘But if I’m so beautiful,’ said the Leopard, ‘why didn’t you make spots for yourself?’

‘Oh, I prefer black colour of my skin,’ said the Ethiopian. ‘Now let’s hunt those impudent animals’

So they went away and lived happily ever. That is all.

The Elephant’s child

A long time ago the Elephant had no trunk. He had only a blackish, bulgy nose, as big as a boot. He could wriggle it about from side to side; but he couldn’t pick up things with it. But there was one Elephant – a new Elephant – an Elephant’s Child – who was full of insatiable curiosity, and that means he asked many questions. And he lived in Africa, and he filled all Africa with his insatiable curiosity.