скачать книгу бесплатно
Everyone can participate!
The competition will take place at the Walnut Glade at 12:00 pm.
⠀
Junior rushed home so fast that he almost lost all the blueberries he picked.
Middle and Major the piglets were also busy. Major was counting in his head the amount of stones and timber needed, and Middle was muttering something to himself and drawing. There were already glasses of milk on the table and oatmeal porridge boiling on the cooker.
“Come on! There! At the Walnut! With me!” Junior screamed at the doorstep.
“What?!” the brothers asked together.
“The best! At twelve! The Glade!” Junior waved his hooves, running around the house.
Major sighed, caught Junior and washed him properly. Having calmed down under the influence of the water, Junior finally explained what was the matter.
“We shouldn’t take part in this competition,” Middle wailed, rearranging jars and pots. “We won’t win anyway. Okay, I agree, let’s build a house, but without any competitions! Or even better we just stick to picking mushrooms like the other animals…”
“But if we win, we’ll get our piggy bank back!” Junior shouted. “We’ll buy bicycles and open a pastry-shop! We’ll become the main builders in the forest, and everyone will respect us!”
Middle and Junior the piglets looked at their older brother with a question in their eyes.
“We can go and just have a look,” Major decided. “Okay! Porridge, blueberries, milk and let’s go!”
* * *
The big forest clock struck twelve. The Walnut Glade was crowded.
Aunt Elk and her two twin daughters were eating salty popcorn from a pack. Athletic hares sat with bags of carrot slices.
In Middle of the Glade there was a table covered with a white tablecloth, also a jar of water, and two self-important ferrets were sitting at the table.
“Applicants for the competition are requested to step forward, please!” the fatter Ferret said.
An otter walked past the piglets, followed by someone tall in a black cloak.
“Come on,” Junior whispered, poking Major in the side. “This is our chance to become Chief Builders!”
“Don’t,” Middle grabbed his elder brother by the jacket from the other side. “It’s too hard! We have no experience at all!”
Major thought about it… Middle was right. It’s hard to win the competition. But was it easy to raise brothers? To build a stone house? To protect it from Wolf? But he did it all and succeeded. Maybe all the best things in the world are difficult at first?
He closed eyes, pushed his brothers a little and stepped forward.
“Dear competitors!” Fat Ferret addressed animals. “Please introduce yourselves.”
“I am Otter,” Otter said politely. “I built ten houses on the shore of the lake.”
Someone in a black cloak chuckled.
“Thank you,” Thin Ferret said. “Your turn.”
“We’re piglets,” Junior said. Suddenly he got nervous and decided to check with his brothers. “We are piglets, aren’t we?”
“Yes, we are piglets,” Major confirmed. “We have built three excellent houses.”
Someone in a black cloak chuckled again.
“We’ve built three excellent houses,” Major continued. This black-cloaked creature began to annoy him. “And we’re ready to build more!”
“And what about you?” Fat Ferret turned to this very someone in a black cloak.
The black-cloaked turned. Something red sparkled.
“I am Fox,” the third competitor purred. “And I am very pleased to take part in such a wonderful competition, especially since it is held by such respectable organizers!”
Fat Ferret straightened up. Thin Ferret took a sip of water from the jar. The middle piglet felt an unpleasant chill.
“Beautiful and comfortable houses for all the animals are very important,” Fox continued. “The materials have to be the best, don’t you think so, colleague?” Fox turned to Otter.
Major felt a bit sick in his stomach.
“Only professional, talented, masterful builders should work for our dear, respected, beloved forest residents!” Fox finally finished.
The ferrets applauded. Junior shuddered because his tail started to itch.
“Tell us about your projects,” the ferrets said to all the competitors.
“I will build houses for forest residents on the river,” Otter began the presentation. “I will use the best logs and clay. Everyone will get separate apartments with a water entrance. It’s very convenient, and fresh fish will go straight to the kitchen!”
The ferrets looked at each other.
“And how will the animals that can’t swim enter their apartments?”
Otter thought for a moment.
“We’ll have to give them swimming rings,” she stated authoritatively. The ferrets wrote something down in their notebooks.
Next was the piglets’ turn.
“Well,” Major began. “We’ll build house. Good house…” and suddenly he was lost for a moment. It turned out it was not easy to tell a whole crowd about your idea.
“We will build house, and we promise,” Junior added excitedly, “we promise that… we will build house!”
The animals waited. Thin Ferret unwrapped the candy, and the paper rustled very loudly in the silence.
“We have been living in this forest all our lives,” Middle said. “We value your trust and we will build this house as if it was our own!”
The first autumn wind came. Suddenly the piglet remembered that the house he had built for himself had been blown away by Wolf, and it seemed to him that everyone else thought the same thing.
“All right,” the ferrets said. “Please, dear Fox, please, continue.”
“Thank you,” Fox regally said, and took a graceful step towards the big oak tree. Suddenly she pulled out from the depths of her cloak a piece of paper rolled up in a tube and, unfolding it, stuck it to the trunk with snaps.
The poster had the words all in capital letters, “IMAGE. PRESTIGE. DESIGN”, and in rather smaller letters, “The Newest Technology”, and in very small letters, “First Class! High Quality!”.
“Dear forest residents!” Fox said, elegantly clearing her throat. “The residential complex ‘Wise Fox’ is boldness and uniqueness. The latest technology.” Fox pointed to the poster. “Luxurious views. Legendary landmarks. Suitable colors.”
“What are they?” the hares asked.
“White, snowy, porcelain, marble and silver,” the Fox said frankly. Seeing that the hares didn’t understand, Fox added: “No yellow, green… or,” Fox glanced at the piglets, “like… how do they call it… oh, pink.”
“But we like pink,” the twin elks got sad.
Fox looked at them carefully and added:
“There also will be mirrors everywhere in the housing complex!”
“We like mirrors,” the twin elks got happy.
“There will be a lot of glass in the house,” Fox continued. “Glass and metal. It will be a sparkling house, like a big sparkling snowdrift! Or an iceberg. It will be a very modern transparent house, like a white lollipop. Clean lines, nothing extra, a total go for the new! Faster, higher, stronger!”
The hares started clapping.
“First class!” Fox said, finishing the presentation and pointing at the poster with an elegant gesture. “High quality!”
Silence covered the Glade. The sky was serene, white clouds floated over the Walnut Glade. Fox bowed, waving her luxurious tail. The animals shouted “Yay!”
“According to the terms of the competition,” Fat Ferret said, “today we have to decide which of the competitors go to the second round. And I think we all understand that the most likely candidate for the title of the Chief Forest Builder is Fox, and of course she goes to the second round!”
Fox glowed and looked at the hares so nicely, as if she imagined them stewed in sour cream.
“What we need to decide is,” Thin Ferret continued, “whether the piglets pass to the second round and does Otter pass?”
“Definitely!” said Marten, fond of fresh fish very much.
“Sorry, but swimming rings… that’s just too much!” Aunt Elk snorted.
“I agree,” Fat Ferret said. “Then the three piglets are in the second round together with Fox.”
“Wait a minute,” Fox intervened. “What piglets?” she looked around, and then for some reason under her feet. “These ones?! Well, let’s be honest, are they really builders? Just some misfits with snouts…”
Junior howled in offence. The clock struck at the Walnut Glade.
“It’s time for lunch,” Thin Ferret said, collecting the notebooks. “I suggest the following. All the competitors get into the second round! Though, of course, it will be too much of an advance for some.” He looked sternly at Junior. “Tomorrow in the second round we will be joined by another competent judge, Bear. And we will finally decide which of the competitors will stay in the competition!”
The animals hurried to lunch. The smell of a mushroom soup spread over the forest.
The three little piglets went home. They were not in the best mood possible.
* * *
Considering how upset they were, they drank some herbal tea. Then the piglets decided to discuss what had happened. Middle was the first to speak.
“I thought and still think,” he cleaned his throat, “this whole thing is rather dangerous.”
“Just this Fox,” Junior said. “She is very… bad actually. She plays up to everyone. She’s… stupid! And her poster is stupid! And… I’m not a misfit with a snout!”
“No,” Major said thoughtfully. “She’s smart. And her idea with a poster was good.”
Middle and Junior the piglets looked at their brother in surprise.
“You,” Junior asked suspiciously. “Whose side are you on anyway?”
“I’m on our side,” Major replied. “And for us to win, we have to be honest. We have to admit that someone can do something better than we do it. We need to learn from them. The jury liked Fox. She was really good. She had a great speech, and she knew exactly what she wanted to say… But we were not prepared and got confused.”
The piglets were silent.
“I didn’t like Fox either,” Major continued. “She’s arrogant and I don’t trust her. But if we want to build a house, win the competition and become real businessmen, we must not scold her, but work hard and become better.”
…Having made a lot of cherry compote, they spent the whole day till late at night preparing a new speech.
In the morning Bear appeared at the Walnut Glade, Otter spoke about the water houses, Fox repeated her sweet speech, and then the three piglets took the floor.
“Well,” Fat Ferret said skeptically, “what do you have to offer, after we have heard the brilliant presentation of the ‘Wise Fox’ residential complex?”
“We would like to present our house, which will be called ‘Friendly Animals’!”
Major stepped forward. Middle stood beside him, and Junior was holding in his hooves the little pictures. He had drawn it during all the night, and now was ready to give them to his brothers.
“So, our house will be called ‘Friendly Animals’, ” the major piglet repeated. His voice grew stronger. “The biggest room will be the common room, where we can talk, play board games, and have tea with some pastry in the evenings.”
“There will be very light in the house,” Junior said. “We will make beautiful wooden furniture for everyone. We can have breakfast on the terrace when the weather is good.”
“And in case the weather is bad, we will close the windows,” Middle added. “And it will be a very warm house. And very cozy.”
“We’ll paint the walls in different colors, and we’ll make a little attic under the roof and put pillows there so that you can drink hot chocolate and read. And we’ll have a real pizza oven in the kitchen!” Junior added.
“What about the backyard?” Fat Ferret asked in a bored voice.
⠀
“We offer to build the house at the Apple Glade, where there are big pine trees and raspberry bushes. We’ll plant a vegetable and herb garden next to the house,” the thrifty middle piglet said. “And also there will be a small pond with goldfish!”
Marten perked up.
“Just so it will look nice!” Major added sternly. “And around the pond we will plant tulips.”
