Deniska's stories (with illustrations). To first grade

“It’s alive and glowing...”

One evening I sat in the yard, near the sand, and waited for my mother. She probably stayed late at the institute, or at the store, or maybe stood for a long time at the bus stop. Don't know. Only all the parents in our yard had already arrived, and all the kids went home with them and were probably already drinking tea with bagels and cheese, but my mother was still not there...

And now the lights began to light up in the windows, and the radio began to play music, and dark clouds moved in the sky - they looked like bearded old men...

And I wanted to eat, but my mother was still not there, and I thought that if I knew that my mother was hungry and was waiting for me somewhere at the end of the world, I would immediately run to her, and would not be late and not made her sit on the sand and get bored.

And at that time Mishka came out into the yard. He said:

- Great!

And I said:

- Great!

Mishka sat down with me and picked up the dump truck.

- Wow! - said Mishka. - Where did you get it? Does he pick up sand himself? Not yourself? And he leaves on his own? Yes? What about the pen? What is it for? Can it be rotated? Yes? A? Wow! Will you give it to me at home?

I said:

- No I will not give. Present. Dad gave it to me before he left.

The bear pouted and moved away from me. It became even darker outside.

I looked at the gate so as not to miss when my mother came. But she still didn’t go. Apparently, I met Aunt Rosa, and they stand and talk and don’t even think about me. I lay down on the sand.

Here Mishka says:

- Can you give me a dump truck?

- Get off it, Mishka.

Then Mishka says:

– I can give you one Guatemala and two Barbados for it!

I speak:

– Compared Barbados to a dump truck...

- Well, do you want me to give you a swimming ring?

I speak:

- It's burst.

- You will seal it!

I even got angry:

- Where to swim? In the bathroom? On Tuesdays?

And Mishka pouted again. And then he says:

- Well, it wasn’t! Know my kindness! On the!

And he handed me a box of matches. I took it in my hands.

“You open it,” said Mishka, “then you will see!”

I opened the box and at first I didn’t see anything, and then I saw a small light green light, as if somewhere far, far away from me a tiny star was burning, and at the same time I myself was holding it in my hands.

“What is this, Mishka,” I said in a whisper, “what is this?”

“This is a firefly,” said Mishka. - What, good? He's alive, don't think about it.

“Bear,” I said, “take my dump truck, would you like it?” Take it forever, forever! Give me this star, I’ll take it home...

And Mishka grabbed my dump truck and ran home. And I stayed with my firefly, looked at it, looked and couldn’t get enough of it: how green it was, as if in a fairy tale, and how close it was, in the palm of my hand, but shining as if from afar... And I couldn’t breathe evenly, and I heard my heart beating and there was a slight tingling in my nose, as if I wanted to cry.

And I sat like that for a long time, a very long time. And there was no one around. And I forgot about everyone in this world.

But then my mother came, and I was very happy, and we went home. And when they started drinking tea with bagels and feta cheese, my mother asked:

- Well, how is your dump truck?

And I said:

- I, mom, exchanged it.

Mom said:

- Interesting! And for what?

I answered:

- To the firefly! Here he is, living in a box. Turn out the light!

And mom turned off the light, and the room became dark, and the two of us began to look at the pale green star.

Then mom turned on the light.

“Yes,” she said, “it’s magic!” But still, how did you decide to give such a valuable thing as a dump truck for this worm?

“I’ve been waiting for you for so long,” I said, “and I was so bored, but this firefly, it turned out to be better than any dump truck in the world.”

Mom looked at me intently and asked:

- And in what way, in what way is it better?

I said:

- How come you don’t understand?! After all, he is alive! And it glows!..

Glory to Ivan Kozlovsky

I only have A's on my report card. Only in penmanship is a B. Because of the blots. I really don't know what to do! Blots always jump off my pen. I only dip the very tip of the pen into ink, but the blots still jump off. Just some miracles! Once I wrote a whole page that was pure, pure, and delightful to look at—a real A page. In the morning I showed it to Raisa Ivanovna, and there was a blot in the very middle! Where did she come from? She wasn't there yesterday! Maybe it was leaked from some other page? Don't know…

And so I have only A's. Only a C in singing. This is how it happened. We had a singing lesson. At first we all sang in chorus “There was a birch tree in the field.” It turned out very beautifully, but Boris Sergeevich kept wincing and shouting:

– Pull out your vowels, friends, pull out your vowels!..

Then we began to draw out the vowels, but Boris Sergeevich clapped his hands and said:

– A real cat concert! Let's deal with each one individually.

This means with each individual separately.

And Boris Sergeevich called Mishka.

Mishka went up to the piano and whispered something to Boris Sergeevich.

Then Boris Sergeevich began to play, and Mishka quietly sang:

Like on thin ice
A little white snow fell...

Well, Mishka squeaked funny! This is how our kitten Murzik squeaks. Is that really how they sing? Almost nothing can be heard. I just couldn't stand it and started laughing.

Then Boris Sergeevich gave Mishka a high five and looked at me.

He said:

- Come on, laugher, come out!

I quickly ran to the piano.

- Well, what will you perform? – Boris Sergeevich asked politely.

I said:

- Song civil war“Lead us, Budyonny, boldly into battle.”

Boris Sergeevich shook his head and began to play, but I immediately stopped him:

- Please play louder! - I said.

Boris Sergeevich said:

- You won't be heard.

But I said:

- Will. And how!

Boris Sergeevich began to play, and I took in more air and started drinking:

High in the clear sky
The scarlet banner flutters...

I really like this song.

I can see the blue, blue sky, it’s hot, the horses are clattering their hooves, they have beautiful purple eyes, and a scarlet banner is flying in the sky.

At this point I even closed my eyes with delight and shouted as loud as I could:

We are racing there on horseback,
Where is the enemy visible?
And in a delightful battle...

I sang well, probably even heard on the other street:

A swift avalanche! We are rushing forward!.. Hurray!..

Reds always win! Retreat, enemies! Give it!!!

I pressed my fists on my stomach, it came out even louder, and I almost burst:

We crashed into Crimea!

Then I stopped because I was all sweaty and my knees were shaking.

And although Boris Sergeevich was playing, he was somehow leaning towards the piano, and his shoulders were also shaking...

I said:

- Well, how?

- Monstrous! – Boris Sergeevich praised.

– Good song, Truth? – I asked.

“Good,” said Boris Sergeevich and covered his eyes with a handkerchief.

“It’s just a pity that you played very quietly, Boris Sergeevich,” I said, “you could have been even louder.”

“Okay, I’ll take it into account,” said Boris Sergeevich, “But you didn’t notice that I played one thing, and you sang a little differently!”

“No,” I said, “I didn’t notice it!” Yes, it doesn’t matter. I just needed to play louder.

“Well,” said Boris Sergeevich, “since you didn’t notice anything, let’s give you a three for now.” For diligence.

How about a three? I was even taken aback. How can this be? Three is very little! Mishka sang quietly and then got an A... I said:

- Boris Sergeevich, when I rest a little, I can be even louder, don’t think so. I didn't have a good breakfast today. Otherwise I can sing so hard that everyone’s ears will be covered. I know one more song. When I sing it at home, all the neighbors come running and ask what happened.

- What is this? – asked Boris Sergeevich.

“Compassionate,” I said and started:

I loved you…
Love still, perhaps...

But Boris Sergeevich hastily said:

“Okay, okay, we’ll discuss all this next time.”

And then the bell rang.

Mom met me in the locker room. When we were about to leave, Boris Sergeevich approached us.

“Well,” he said, smiling, “perhaps your boy will be Lobachevsky, maybe Mendeleev.” He may become Surikov or Koltsov, I would not be surprised if he becomes known to the country, as Comrade Nikolai Mamai or some boxer is known, but I can assure you absolutely firmly of one thing: he will not achieve the fame of Ivan Kozlovsky. Never!

Mom blushed terribly and said:

– Well, we’ll see about that later!

And when we walked home, I kept thinking: “Does Kozlovsky really sing louder than me?”

Red ball in the blue sky

Suddenly our door swung open, and Alyonka shouted from the corridor:

– There’s a spring market in the big store! She screamed terribly loudly, and her eyes were round, like buttons, and desperate. At first I thought someone had been stabbed. And she took a breath again and come on:

- Let's run, Deniska! Quicker! There's fizzy kvass there! Music plays and different dolls! Let's run!

Screams as if there was a fire. And this also made me somehow nervous, and I felt a tickle in the pit of my stomach, and I hurried and ran out of the room.

Alyonka and I held hands and ran like crazy to the big store. There was a whole crowd of people there and in the very middle stood a man and a woman made of something shiny, huge, reaching up to the ceiling, and although they were not real, they batted their eyes and moved their lower lips, as if they were talking. The man shouted:

- Spring market! Spring market!

And the woman:

- Welcome! Welcome!

We looked at them for a long time, and then Alyonka said:

- How do they scream? After all, they are not real!

“It’s just not clear,” I said.

Then Alyonka said:

- I know. They're not the ones screaming! It’s in the middle of them that live artists sit and shout to themselves all day long. And they themselves pull the string, and this causes the dolls’ lips to move.

I burst out laughing:

- It’s clear that you are still small. The artists will sit in your dolls' bellies all day long. Can you imagine? If you hunker down all day, you'll probably get tired! Do you need to eat or drink? And other things, you never know... Oh, darkness! This radio is screaming at them.

Alyonka said:

Come here quickly
Here are the tickets for the clothing lottery!
It doesn't take long for everyone to win
A Volga passenger car!
And some rashly
Moskvich wins!

And we also laughed next to him, how he shouted out smartly, and Alyonka said:

– Still, when something alive screams, it’s more interesting than the radio.

And we ran for a long time in the crowd between the adults and had a lot of fun, and some military guy grabbed Alyonka under the arms, and his comrade pressed a button in the wall, and cologne suddenly splashed out from there, and when they put Alyonka on the floor, she smelled like candy all over, and uncle said:

- What a beauty, I have no strength! But Alyonka ran away from them, and I followed her, and we finally found ourselves near the kvass. I had money for breakfast, and so Alyonka and I drank two large mugs, and Alyonka’s stomach immediately became like soccer ball, and all the time I had a tingling sensation in my nose and needles pricking my nose. Great, straight first grade, and when we ran again, I heard the kvass gurgling inside me. And we wanted to go home and ran out into the street. It was even more fun there, and there was a woman standing right at the entrance selling balloons.

Alyonka, as soon as she saw this woman, stopped dead in her tracks. She said:

- Oh! I want a ball!

And I said:

- That would be good, but there is no money.

And Alyonka:

- I have one piece of money.

- Show me.

She took it out of her pocket.

I said:

- Wow! Ten kopecks. Auntie, give her the ball!

The saleswoman smiled:

– Which one do you want? Red, blue, light blue?

Alyonka took the red one. And off we went.

And suddenly Alyonka says:

- Do you want to wear it?

And she handed me a thread. I took. And as soon as I took it, I heard that the ball was very, very thinly pulled by a thread! He probably wanted to fly away. Then I let go of the string a little and again heard him persistently stretching from his hands, as if he was really asking to fly away. And I suddenly felt somehow sorry for him, that he could fly, and I was holding him on a leash, and I took him and released him. And at first the ball didn’t even fly away from me, as if it didn’t believe me, but then I felt that it was real, and immediately rushed and soared above the lantern.

Alyonka grabbed her head:

- Oh, why, hold it!..

And she began to jump up and down, as if she could jump to the ball, but she saw that she couldn’t, and began to cry:

- Why did you miss him?..

But I didn’t answer her. I looked up at the ball. He flew upward smoothly and calmly, as if this is what he had wanted all his life.

And I stood with my head raised and looked, and so did Alyonka, and many adults stopped and also turned their heads back to watch the ball fly, but it kept flying and getting smaller.

So he flew over the top floor of a huge house, and someone leaned out of the window and waved after him, and he was even higher and a little to the side, above the antennas and pigeons, and became very small... Something was ringing in my ears when he flew , and he has almost disappeared. He flew behind a cloud, it was fluffy and small, like a rabbit, then he emerged again, disappeared and completely disappeared from sight, and now he was probably near the Moon, and we kept looking up, and some tailed creatures flashed in my eyes. dots and patterns. And the ball was no longer anywhere. And then Alyonka sighed barely audibly, and everyone went about their business.

And we went too, and were silent, and all the way I thought how beautiful it is when spring is outside, and everyone is dressed up and cheerful, and cars are driving here and there, and a policeman in white gloves is flying away into the clear, blue, blue sky from us is a red ball. And I also thought what a pity it was that I couldn’t tell Alyonka all this. I can’t do it in words, and even if I could, it would still be incomprehensible to Alyonka, she’s small. Here she is walking next to me, and all so quiet, and the tears have not yet completely dried on her cheeks. She probably feels sorry for her ball.

And Alyonka and I walked like this all the way to the house and were silent, and near our gate, when we began to say goodbye, Alyonka said:

- If I had money, I would buy another ball... so that you would release it.

childhood friend

When I was six or six and a half years old, I had absolutely no idea who I would ultimately be in this world. I really liked all the people around me and all the jobs too. At that time there was a terrible confusion in my head, I was kind of confused and could not really decide what to do.

Either I wanted to be an astronomer, so I could stay awake at night and watch distant stars through a telescope, or I dreamed of becoming a sea captain, so I could stand with my legs apart on the captain’s bridge, and visit distant Singapore, and buy a funny monkey there. Otherwise, I was dying to turn into a subway driver or a station master and walk around in a red cap and shout in a thick voice:

- Go-o-tov!

Or my appetite was whetted to learn to become an artist who paints white stripes on the street asphalt for speeding cars. Otherwise it seemed to me that it would be nice to become a brave traveler like Alain Bombard and sail across all the oceans on a fragile shuttle, eating only raw fish. True, this Bomber lost twenty-five kilograms after his trip, and I only weighed twenty-six, so it turned out that if I also swam like him, then I would have absolutely no way to lose weight, I would weigh only one thing at the end of the trip kilo. What if I don’t catch a fish or two somewhere and lose a little more weight? Then I’ll probably just melt into the air like smoke, that’s all.

When I calculated all this, I decided to abandon this idea, and the next day I was already impatient to become a boxer, because I saw the European Boxing Championship on TV. The way they threshed each other was simply terrifying! And then they showed them their training, and here they were hitting a heavy leather “bag” - such an oblong heavy ball, you need to hit it with all your might, hit it as hard as you can in order to develop the power of hitting. And I looked at all this so much that I also decided to become the most strong man in the yard to beat everyone, if anything happens.

I told dad:

- Dad, buy me a pear!

- It’s January now, there are no pears. Eat your carrots for now.

I laughed:

- No, dad, not like that! Not an edible pear! Please buy me an ordinary leather punching bag!

- And why do you need it? - said dad.

“Practice,” I said. - Because I will be a boxer and I will beat everyone. Buy it, huh?

- How much does such a pear cost? – Dad asked.

“It’s just nothing,” I said. - Ten or fifty rubles.

“You’re crazy, brother,” said dad. - Get by somehow without a pear. Nothing will happen to you.

And he got dressed and went to work.

And I was offended by him because he refused me so laughingly. And my mother immediately noticed that I was offended, and immediately said:

- Wait a minute, I think I came up with something. Come on, come on, wait a minute.

And she bent down and pulled out a large wicker basket from under the sofa; It contained old toys that I no longer played with. Because I have already grown up and in the fall they should have bought me school uniform and a cap with a shiny visor.

Mom started digging in this basket, and while she was digging, I saw my old tram without wheels and on a string, a plastic pipe, a dented top, one arrow with a rubber splash, a piece of sail from a boat, and several rattles, and many other toy items. scrap. And suddenly mom took out a healthy teddy bear from the bottom of the basket.

She threw it on my sofa and said:

- Here. This is the same one that Aunt Mila gave you. You were two years old then. Good Mishka, excellent. Look how tight it is! What a fat belly! Look how it rolled out! Why not a pear? Better! And you don't need to buy! Let's train as much as you like! Get started!

And then they called her to the phone, and she went out into the corridor.

And I was very happy that my mother came up with such a great idea. And I made Mishka more comfortable on the sofa, so that it would be easier for me to train against him and develop the power of the blow.

He sat in front of me, so chocolate-colored, but very shabby, and he had different eyes: one of his own - yellow glass, and the other large white - from a button from a pillowcase; I didn't even remember when he appeared. But it didn’t matter, because Mishka looked at me quite cheerfully with his different eyes, and he spread his legs and stuck his stomach out towards me, and raised both hands up, as if he was joking that he was already giving up in advance...

And I looked at him like that and suddenly remembered how a long time ago I never parted with this Mishka for a minute, dragged him everywhere with me, and nursed him, and sat him at the table next to me for dinner, and fed him with a spoon semolina porridge, and he got such a funny little face when I smeared him with something, even the same porridge or jam, then he got such a funny, cute little face, just like he was alive, and I put him to bed with me, and rocked him to sleep like a little brother, and whispered to him different fairy tales right into his velvety hard ears, and I loved him then, loved him with all my soul, I would have given my life for him then. And here he is now sitting on the sofa, my former best friend, a true childhood friend. Here he sits, laughing with different eyes, and I want to train the force of impact against him...

“What are you talking about,” said mom, she had already returned from the corridor. - What happened to you?

But I didn’t know what was wrong with me, I was silent for a long time and turned away from my mother so that she wouldn’t guess by her voice or lips what was wrong with me, and I lifted my head to the ceiling so that the tears would roll back, and then, when I had strengthened myself a little , I said:

-What are you talking about, mom? Nothing wrong with me... I just changed my mind. I'll just never be a boxer.

Enchanted letter

Recently we were walking in the yard: Alyonka, Mishka and me. Suddenly a truck drove into the yard. And on it lies a Christmas tree. We ran after the car. So she drove up to the building management office, stopped, and the driver and our janitor began to unload the tree. They shouted at each other:

- Easier! Let's bring it in! Right! Leveya! Get her on her butt! Make it easier, otherwise you’ll break off the whole spitz.

And when they unloaded, the driver said:

“Now we need to register this tree,” and he left.

And we stayed near the Christmas tree.

She lay there big, furry, and smelled so deliciously of frost that we stood there like fools and smiled. Then Alyonka took hold of one twig and said:

- Look, there are detectives hanging on the tree.

"Detective"! She said it wrong!

Mishka and I just rolled around. We both laughed equally, but then Mishka began to laugh louder to make me laugh.

Well, I pushed it a little so he wouldn't think I was giving up. Mishka held his stomach with his hands, as if he was in great pain, and shouted:

- Oh, I'll die of laughter! Detective!

And, of course, I turned up the heat:

- The girl is five years old, but she says “detective”... Ha-ha-ha!

Then Mishka fainted and moaned:

- Oh, I feel bad! Detective...

And he began to hiccup:

- Hick!.. Detective. Ick! Ick! I'll die of laughter! Ick!

Then I grabbed a handful of snow and began to apply it to my forehead, as if I had already developed a brain infection and had gone crazy. I yelled:

– The girl is five years old, she’s getting married soon! And she is a detective.

Alyonka’s lower lip curled so that it went behind her ear.

- Did I say correctly! It’s my tooth that has fallen out and is whistling. I want to say “detective”, but I whistle “detective”...

Mishka said:

- What a miracle! Her tooth fell out! Three of them have fallen out and two are wobbly, but I still speak correctly! Listen here: giggles! What? It’s really great – hihh-kee! This is how it comes out easily for me: giggles! I can even sing:

Oh, green hyhechka,
I'm afraid I'll inject myself.

But Alyonka will scream. One is louder than the two of us:

- Wrong! Hooray! You talk hykhki, but we need detective!

- Precisely, that there is no need for detective work, but rather giggles.

And let's both roar. All you can hear is: “Detective!” - “Giggles!” - “Detective!”

Looking at them, I laughed so much that I even got hungry. I walked home and kept thinking: why were they arguing so much, since they were both wrong? It's a very simple word. I stopped and said clearly:

- No detective work. No naked, but briefly and clear: Fyfki!

Victor Dragunsky

When the rehearsal of the boys' choir ended, the singing teacher Boris Sergeevich said:

Well, tell me, which of you gave your mother what on March 8th? Come on, Denis, report.

On March 8th I gave my mother a pincushion. Beautiful. Looks like a frog. I sewed for three days and pricked all my fingers. I made two of these.

We all sewed two. One to my mother, and the other to Raisa Ivanovna.

Why is this all? - asked Boris Sergeevich. - Have you conspired to sew the same thing for everyone?

No,” said Valerka, “it’s in our “Skillful Hands” circle: we go through the pads. First the devils passed through, and now the little pillows.

What other devils? - Boris Sergeevich was surprised.

I said:

Plasticine! Our leaders Volodya and Tolya from the eighth grade spent six months with us. As soon as they come, they say: “Make devils!” Well, we sculpt, and they play chess.

“It’s crazy,” said Boris Sergeevich. - Pads! We'll have to figure it out! Stop! - And he suddenly laughed cheerfully. - How many boys do you have in the first “B”?

Fifteen,” said Mishka, “and the girls are twenty-five.”

Here Boris Sergeevich burst out laughing.

And I said:

In general, in our country there are more female population than male population.

But Boris Sergeevich waved me off.

That's not what I'm talking about. It’s just interesting to see how Raisa Ivanovna receives fifteen pillows as a gift! Okay, listen: how many of you are going to congratulate your mothers on May Day?

Then it was our turn to laugh. I said:

You, Boris Sergeevich, are probably joking, it was not enough to congratulate you on May.

But what’s wrong is that you need to congratulate your mothers on May Day. And this is ugly: congratulations only once a year. And if you congratulate every holiday, it will be like a knight. Well, who knows what a knight is?

I said:

He is on a horse and wearing an iron suit.

Boris Sergeevich nodded.

Yes, it was like that for a long time. And when you grow up, you will read a lot of books about knights, but even now, if they say about someone that he is a knight, then this means that they mean a noble, selfless and generous person. And I think that every pioneer should definitely be a knight. Raise your hands, who's the knight here?

We all raised our hands.

“I knew it,” said Boris Sergeevich, “go, knights!”

We went home. And on the way Mishka said:

Okay, I’ll buy my mom some sweets, I have money.

And so I came home, and there was no one at home. And I was even annoyed. For once I wanted to be a knight, but I have no money! And then, as luck would have it, Mishka came running, in his hands an elegant box with the inscription “May Day”. Mishka says: “Done, now I’m a knight for twenty-two kopecks.” Why are you sitting?

Bear, are you a knight? - I said.

Knight, says Mishka.

Then lend it.

Mishka was upset:

I spent every penny.

What to do?

Look, says Mishka. - After all, twenty kopecks is a small coin, maybe there’s at least one somewhere, let’s look for it.

And we crawled around the whole room - behind the sofa, and under the closet, and I shook out all my mother’s shoes, and even picked her finger in the powder. Not anywhere.

Suddenly Mishka opened the cupboard:

Wait, what is this?

Where? - I say. - Oh, these are bottles. Don't you see? There are two wines here: one bottle is black, and the other is yellow. This is for guests, guests will come to us tomorrow.

Mishka says:

Oh, if only your guests had arrived yesterday, and you would have had money.

How is that?

And bottles,” says Mishka, “yes, they give money for empty bottles.” On the corner. It's called "Glass Container Reception"!

Why were you silent before? Now we will settle this matter. Give me the compote jar, there’s one on the window.

Mishka handed me the jar, and I opened the bottle and poured blackish-red wine into the jar.

That’s right,” said Mishka. - What will happen to him?

“Of course,” I said. -Where is the second one?

But here,” says Mishka, “does it matter?” And this wine, and that wine.

Well, yes, I said. - If one were wine and the other kerosene, then it’s impossible, but this way, please, it’s even better. Hold the jar.

And we poured the second bottle in there too.

I said:

Put it on the window! So. Cover it with a saucer, and now let's run!

And we set off. For these two bottles they gave us twenty-four kopecks. And I bought my mother some sweets. They gave me two more kopecks in change. I came home cheerful, because I became a knight, and as soon as mom and dad arrived, I said:

Mom, I'm a knight now. Boris Sergeevich taught us!

Mom said:

Well, tell me!

I told her that tomorrow I would surprise my mother. Mom said:

Where did you get the money?

Mom, I handed over the empty dishes. Here's two kopecks in change.

Then dad said:

Well done! Give me two kopecks for the machine!

We sat down to dinner. Then dad leaned back in his chair and smiled:

A compote.

Sorry, I didn’t have time today,” said my mother.

But dad winked at me:

And what's that? I noticed it a long time ago.

And he went to the window, took off the saucer and took a sip straight from the can. But what happened! Poor dad coughed as if he had drunk a glass of nails. He shouted in a voice that was not his own:

What it is? What kind of poison is this?!

I said:

Dad, don't be scared! It's not poison. These are two of your wines!

Here dad staggered a little and turned pale.

What two wines?! - he shouted louder than before.

Black and yellow,” I said, “that were in the buffet.” The main thing is, don’t be scared.

Dad ran to the buffet and opened the door. Then he blinked his eyes and began rubbing his chest. He looked at me with such surprise, as if I was not an ordinary boy, but some blue or speckled boy. I said:

Are you surprised, sir? I poured your two wines into a jar, otherwise where would I get empty dishes? Think by yourself!

Mom screamed:

And she fell on the sofa. She started laughing, so hard that I thought she would feel bad. I couldn’t understand anything, and dad shouted:

Do you want to laugh? Well, laugh! By the way, this knight of yours will drive me crazy, but I’d better beat him out first so that he forgets knightly manners once and for all.

And dad began to pretend that he was looking for a belt.

Where is he? - Dad shouted, “Give me this Ivanhoe!” Where did he go?

And I was behind the closet. I've been there for a long time just in case. And then dad was very worried about something. He shouted:

Is it ever heard of pouring collectible black Muscat from the 1954 vintage into a jar and diluting it with Zhiguli beer?!

And my mother was exhausted from laughing. She barely said: “After all, it’s him... with the best intentions... After all, he’s... a knight... I’ll die... from laughter.”

And she continued to laugh.

And dad rushed around the room a little more and then, out of the blue, came up to mom. He said: “How I love your laughter.” And he leaned over and kissed his mother. And then I calmly crawled out from behind the closet.

"Where has this been seen, where has this been heard..."

During recess, our October leader Lyusya ran up to me and said:

Deniska, will you be able to perform in the concert? We decided to organize two kids to be satirists. Want?

I want it all! Just explain: what are satirists?

Lucy says:

You see, we have various problems... Well, for example, poor students or lazy people, we need to catch them. Understood? We need to speak about them so that everyone laughs, this will have a sobering effect on them.

I speak:

They're not drunk, they're just lazy.

That’s what they say: “sobering,” Lucy laughed. - But in fact, these guys will just think about it, they will feel awkward, and they will correct themselves. Understood? Well, in general, don’t delay: if you want, agree, if you don’t want, refuse!

I said:

Okay, let's go!

Then Lucy asked:

Do you have a partner?

I speak:

Lucy was surprised:

How can you live without a friend?

I have a friend, Mishka. But there is no partner.

Lucy smiled again:

It's almost the same thing. Is he musical, your Mishka?

No, ordinary.

Can he sing?

Very quiet. But I'll teach him to sing louder, don't worry.

Here Lucy was delighted:

After lessons, drag him to the small hall, there will be a rehearsal there!

And I set off as fast as I could to look for Mishka. He stood in the buffet and ate a sausage.

Bear, do you want to be a satirist?

And he said:

Wait, let me finish.

I stood and watched him eat. He is small, and the sausage is thicker than his neck. He held this sausage with his hands and ate it straight, whole, without cutting it, and the skin cracked and burst when he bit it, and hot, fragrant juice splashed out from there.

And I couldn’t stand it and said to Aunt Katya:

Please give me some sausage too, quickly!

And Aunt Katya immediately handed me the bowl. And I was in a hurry so that Mishka wouldn’t have time to eat his sausage without me: it wouldn’t have been so tasty for me alone. And so I, too, took my sausage with my hands and, without cleaning it, began to gnaw on it, and hot, fragrant juice sprayed out of it. And Mishka and I chewed on the steam, and got burned, and looked at each other, and smiled.

And then I told him that we would be satirists, and he agreed, and we barely made it to the end of the lessons, and then we ran to the small hall for a rehearsal.

Our counselor Lyusya was already sitting there, and with her was one boy, about 4 years old, very ugly, with small ears and big eyes.

Lucy said:

Here they are! Meet us, this is ours school poet Andrey Shestakov.

We said:

Great!

And they turned away so that he wouldn’t wonder.

And the poet said to Lucy:

What are these, performers, or what?

He said:

Was there really nothing bigger?

Lucy said:

Just what you need!

But then our singing teacher Boris Sergeevich came. He immediately went to the piano:

Well, let's begin! Where are the poems?

Andryushka took a piece of paper out of his pocket and said:

Here. I took the meter and chorus from Marshak, from a fairy tale about a donkey, grandfather and grandson: “Where has this been seen, where has this been heard...”

Boris Sergeevich nodded his head:

Dad decides, but Vasya gives in?!

Mishka and I burst into tears. Of course, children quite often ask their parents to solve a problem for them, and then show the teacher as if they were such heroes. And at the board, boom-boom - a deuce! The matter is well known. Wow Andryushka, that was great!

The asphalt is drawn into squares with chalk,
Manechka and Tanya are jumping here.
Where has this been seen, where has this been heard -
They play "classes" but don't go to class?!

Great again. We really enjoyed! This Andryushka is just a real fellow, like Pushkin!

Boris Sergeevich said:

Nothing, not bad! And the music will be very simple, something like that. - And he took Andryushka’s poems and, playing quietly, sang them all in a row.

It turned out very cleverly, we even clapped our hands.

And Boris Sergeevich said:

Well, sir, who are our performers?

And Lyusya pointed at Mishka and me:

Well, - said Boris Sergeevich, - Misha has good hearing... True, Deniska doesn’t sing very correctly.

I said:

But it's loud.

And we began to repeat these verses to the music and repeated them probably fifty or a thousand times, and I screamed very loudly, and everyone calmed me down and made comments:

Do not worry! You're quiet! Calm down! Don't be so loud!

Andryushka was especially excited. He completely slowed me down. But I only sang loudly, I didn’t want to sing more quietly, because real singing is when it’s loud!

...And then one day, when I came to school, I saw an announcement in the locker room:

ATTENTION!

Today at the big break in the small hall there will be a performance by the flying patrol of the "Pioneer Satyricon"!

Performed by a duet of kids!

One day!

Come everyone!

And something immediately clicked in me. I ran to class. Mishka was sitting there and looking out the window.

I said:

Well, we're performing today!

And Mishka suddenly mumbled:

I don’t feel like performing...

I was completely taken aback. What - reluctance? That's it! After all, we were rehearsing! But what about Lyusya and Boris Sergeevich? Andryushka? And all the guys, they read the poster and will come running as one?

I said:

Are you crazy or what? Letting people down?

And Mishka is so pitiful:

I think my stomach hurts.

I speak:

This is out of fear. It hurts too, but I don’t refuse!

But Mishka was still somewhat thoughtful. At the big break, all the guys rushed into the small hall, and Mishka and I barely trailed behind, because I, too, had completely lost the mood to perform. But at that time Lucy ran out to meet us, she grabbed us tightly by the hands and dragged us along, but my legs were soft, like a doll’s, and they were tangled. I probably got the infection from Mishka.

In the hall there was a fenced-off area near the piano, and children from all classes, nannies, and teachers crowded around.

Mishka and I stood near the piano.

Boris Sergeevich was already in place, and Lyusya announced in an announcer’s voice:

We begin the performance of the "Pioneer Satyricon" on topical topics. Text by Andrey Shestakov, performed worldwide famous satirists Misha and Denis! Let's ask!

And Mishka and I went a little ahead. The bear was as white as a wall. But I didn’t mind, but my mouth felt dry and rough, as if there was sandpaper lying there.

Boris Sergeevich began to play. Mishka had to start, because he sang the first two lines, and I had to sing the second two lines. Boris Sergeevich started playing, and Mishka threw it aside left hand, as Lucy taught him, and he wanted to sing, but he was late, and while he was getting ready, it was my turn, So it turned out according to the music. But I didn’t sing since Mishka was late. Why on earth?

Mishka then lowered his hand into place. And Boris Sergeevich began loudly and separately again.

He struck the keys three times, as he should, and on the fourth Mishka again threw back his left hand and finally sang:

Vasya’s dad is good at mathematics,
Dad studies for Vasya all year.

I immediately picked it up and shouted:

Where has this been seen, where has this been heard -
Dad decides, but Vasya gives in?!

Everyone who was in the hall laughed, and this made my soul feel lighter. And Boris Sergeevich went further. He struck the keys three times again, and on the fourth, Mishka carefully threw his left hand to the side and, for no reason at all, sang again:

Vasya’s dad is good at mathematics,
Dad studies for Vasya all year.

I immediately realized that he was lost! But since this is the case, I decided to finish singing to the end, and then we’ll see. I took it and finished it:

Where has this been seen, where has this been heard -
Dad decides, but Vasya gives in?!

Thank God, it was quiet in the hall - everyone, apparently, also realized that Mishka had lost his way, and thought: “Well, it happens, let him continue singing.”

And when the music reached its destination, he again waved his left hand and, like a record that was “stuck,” wound it for the third time:

Vasya’s dad is good at mathematics,
Dad studies for Vasya all year.

I really wanted to hit him on the back of the head with something heavy, and I screamed with terrible anger:

Where has this been seen, where has this been heard -
Dad decides, but Vasya gives in?!

Bear, you've obviously gone completely crazy! Are you dragging out the same thing for the third time? Let's talk about girls!

And Mishka is so impudent:

I know without you! - And politely says to Boris Sergeevich: - Please, Boris Sergeevich, continue!

Boris Sergeevich began to play, and Mishka suddenly became bolder, again put out his left hand and on the fourth beat began to shout as if nothing had happened:

Vasya’s dad is good at mathematics,
Dad studies for Vasya all year.

Then everyone in the hall just screamed with laughter, and I saw in the crowd what an unhappy face Andryushka had, and I also saw that Lyusya, all red and disheveled, was making her way to us through the crowd. And Mishka stands with his mouth open, as if surprised at himself. Well, while the trial and the case are going on, I finish shouting:

Where has this been seen, where has this been heard -
Dad decides, but Vasya gives in?!

Then something terrible began. Everyone laughed like they were killed, and Mishka turned from green to purple. Our Lucy grabbed him by the hand and dragged him to her.

She shouted:

Deniska, sing alone! Don't let me down!.. Music! AND!..

And I stood at the piano and decided not to let him down. I felt that I didn’t care anymore, and when the music came, for some reason I suddenly also threw my left hand to the side and completely unexpectedly screamed:

Vasya’s dad is good at mathematics,
Dad studies for Vasya all year.

I'm even surprised that I didn't die from this damn song.

I probably would have died if the bell hadn’t rung at that time...

I won't be a satirist anymore!

Enchanted letter

Easier! Let's bring it in! Right! Leveya! Get her on her butt! Make it easier, otherwise you’ll break off the whole spitz.

And when they unloaded, the driver said:

Now I need to register this tree,” and he left.

And we stayed near the Christmas tree.

She lay there big, furry, and smelled so deliciously of frost that we stood there like fools and smiled. Then Alyonka took hold of one twig and said:

Look, there are detectives hanging on the tree.

"Detective"! She said it wrong! Mishka and I just rolled around. We both laughed equally, but then Mishka began to laugh louder to make me laugh.

Well, I pushed it a little so he wouldn't think I was giving up. Mishka held his stomach with his hands, as if he was in great pain, and shouted:

Oh, I'll die of laughter! Detective!

And I, of course, turned up the heat.

The girl is five years old, but she says: “detective”... Ha-ha-ha!

Then Mishka fainted and moaned:

Oh, I feel bad! Detective... - And he began to hiccup: - Hic!.. Detective. Ick! Ick! I'll die of laughter! Ick!

Then I grabbed a handful of snow and began to apply it to my forehead, as if I had already developed a brain infection and had gone crazy. I yelled:

The girl is five years old, getting married soon! And she is a detective.

Alyonka’s lower lip curled so that it went behind her ear.

Did I say correctly! It’s my tooth that has fallen out and is whistling. I want to say “detective”, but I whistle “detective”...

Mishka said:

What a surprise! Her tooth fell out! Three of them have fallen out and two are wobbly, but I still speak correctly! Listen here: giggles! What? Really great - giggles? This is how it comes out easily for me: giggles! I can even sing:

Oh, green hyhechka,
I'm afraid I'll inject myself.

But Alyonka will scream. One is louder than the two of us:

Wrong! Hooray! You say “huffy”, but you should say “detective”!

Precisely, that there is no need for “investigation”, but rather “hiccups”.

And let's both roar. All you can hear is: “Detective!” - "Giggles!" - "Detectives!"

No detective work. No naked, but briefly and clear: Fyfki!

That's all!

Englishman Paul

“Tomorrow is the first of September,” said my mother. - And now autumn has come, and you will go to second grade. Oh, how time flies!..

And on this occasion,” dad picked up, “we will now “slaughter a watermelon”!

And he took a knife and cut the watermelon. When he cut, such a full, pleasant, green crack was heard that my back went cold with anticipation of how I was going to eat this watermelon. And I already opened my mouth to grab a pink slice of watermelon, but then the door swung open and Pavel entered the room. We were all terribly happy, because he had not been with us for a long time and we missed him.

Wow, who came! - said dad. - Pavel himself. Pavel the Wart himself!

Sit down with us, Pavlik, there is watermelon,” said mom. - Deniska, move over.

I said:

Hello! - and gave him a place next to him.

Hello! - he said and sat down.

And we began to eat and ate for a long time and were silent. We didn't feel like talking. What is there to talk about when there is such deliciousness in your mouth!

And when Pavel was given the third piece, he said:

Oh, I love watermelon. Even more. My grandmother never gives me plenty of it to eat.

And why? - Mom asked.

She says that after drinking watermelon, I don’t end up sleeping, but just running around.

True,” said dad, “that’s why we eat watermelon early in the morning.” By evening, its effect wears off and you can sleep peacefully. Come on, eat, don't be afraid.

“I’m not afraid,” said Pavlya.

And we all got down to business again and again were silent for a long time. And when mom began to remove the crusts, dad said:

Why haven’t you been with us for so long, Pavel?

Yes, - I said, - where have you been? What did you do?

And then Pavel puffed up, blushed, looked around and suddenly casually dropped, as if reluctantly:

What did you do, what did you do?.. Studied English, that’s what you did.

I was completely taken aback. I immediately realized that I had been wasting my time all summer in vain. He tinkered with hedgehogs, played rounders, and occupied himself with trifles. But Pavel, he didn’t waste time, no, you’re being naughty, he worked on himself, he raised his level of education.

He studied English and now he will probably be able to correspond with English pioneers and read English books! I immediately felt that I was dying of envy, and then my mother added:

Here, Deniska, study. This is not your bast!

Well done, said dad. - I respect you!

Pavlya just beamed.

A student, Seva, came to visit us. So he works with me every day. It's been two whole months now. Just completely tortured me.

What, difficult English? - I asked.

“It’s crazy,” Pavel sighed.

“It wouldn’t be difficult,” dad intervened. - The devil himself will break their legs there. Very difficult spelling. It's spelled "Liverpool" and pronounced "Manchester".

Well, yes! - I said, - Right, Pavlya?

It’s just a disaster,” said Pavlya. - I was completely exhausted from these activities, I lost two hundred grams.

So why don’t you use your knowledge, Pavlik? - Mom said. - Why didn’t you say “hello” to us in English when you came in?

“I haven’t said hello yet,” said Pavlya.

Well, you ate watermelon, why didn’t you say “thank you”?

“I told you,” said Pavlya.

Well, yes, you said it in Russian, but in English?

We haven’t gotten to the point of “thank you” yet,” said Pavlya. - Very difficult preaching.

Then I said:

Pavel, teach me how to say “one, two, three” in English.

“I haven’t studied this yet,” said Pavlya.

What have you studied? - I shouted. - Have you still learned anything in two months?

“I learned how to say “Petya” in English,” said Pavlya.

Well, how?

That's right, I said. - Well, what else do you know in English?

That’s all for now,” said Pavlya.

That I love…

I really like to lie on my stomach on my dad’s knee, lower my arms and legs and hang on my knee like laundry on a fence. I also really like to play checkers, chess and dominoes, just to be sure to win. If you don't win, then don't.

I love listening to a beetle digging around in a box. And on a day off I like to crawl into my dad’s bed in the morning to talk to him about the dog: how we will live more spaciously and buy a dog, and we will work with it, and we will feed it, and how funny and smart it will be, and how it will she will steal sugar, and I will wipe up the puddles for her myself, and she will follow me like a faithful dog.

I also like to watch TV: it doesn’t matter what they show, even if it’s just tables.

I like to breathe with my nose into my mother's ear. I especially love to sing and always whine very loudly.

I really love stories about red cavalrymen and how they always win.

I like to stand in front of the mirror and grimace as if I were Parsley from puppet theater. I also really love sprats.

I love reading fairy tales about Kanchila. This is such a small, smart and mischievous doe. She has cheerful eyes, and small horns, and pink polished hooves. When we live more spaciously, we will buy ourselves Kanchilya, he will live in the bathroom. I also like to swim where it’s shallow so that I can hold onto the sandy bottom with my hands.

I like to wave a red flag at demonstrations and blow the “go-di-go!”

I really like making phone calls.

I love to plan, saw, I know how to sculpt the heads of ancient warriors and bison, and I sculpted a wood grouse and the Tsar Cannon. I love to give all this.

When I read, I like to chew on a cracker or something else.

I love guests. I also really love snakes, lizards and frogs. They're so clever. I carry them in my pockets. I like to have a snake on the table when I have lunch. I love it when grandma shouts about the frog: “Take away this disgusting thing!” - and runs out of the room.

I love to laugh... Sometimes I don’t feel like laughing at all, but I force myself, squeeze out laughter - and look, after five minutes it really becomes funny.

When I'm in a good mood, I like to jump. One day my dad and I went to the zoo, and I was jumping around him on the street, and he asked:

What are you jumping about?

And I said:

I jump that you are my dad!

He understood!

I love going to the zoo. There are wonderful elephants there. And there is one baby elephant. When we live more spaciously, we will buy a baby elephant. I'll build him a garage.

I really like to stand behind the car when it snorts and sniff the gasoline.

I like to go to cafes - eat ice cream and wash it down with sparkling water. It makes my nose ache and tears come to my eyes.

When I run down the hallway, I like to stomp my feet as hard as I can.

I love horses very much, they have such beautiful and kind faces.

I like a lot of things!

...And what I don’t like!

What I don’t like is having my teeth treated. As soon as I see a dental chair, I immediately want to run to the ends of the world. I also don’t like to stand on a chair and read poetry when guests come.

I don’t like it when mom and dad go to the theater.

I can’t stand soft-boiled eggs, when they are shaken up in a glass, crumbled into bread and forced to eat.

I also don’t like it when my mother goes for a walk with me and suddenly meets Aunt Rose!

Then they only talk to each other, and I just don’t know what to do.

I don’t like wearing a new suit - I feel like wood in it.

When we play red and white, I don't like being white. Then I quit the game, and that's it! And when I'm red, I don't like to be captured. I'm still running away.

I don't like it when people beat me.

I don’t like to play “loaf” when it’s my birthday: I’m not little.

I don’t like it when guys wonder.

And I really don’t like it when I cut myself, in addition to smearing my finger with iodine.

I don’t like that it’s cramped in our hallway and adults scurry back and forth every minute, some with a frying pan, some with a kettle, and shout:

Children, don't get under your feet! Be careful, my pan is hot!

And when I go to bed, I don’t like the chorus singing in the next room:

Lilies of the valley, lilies of the valley...

I really don’t like that boys and girls on the radio speak in old lady voices!..

What does Mishka like?

One day Mishka and I entered the hall where we have singing lessons. Boris Sergeevich was sitting at his piano and playing something quietly. Mishka and I sat down on the windowsill and didn’t bother him, and he didn’t notice us at all, but continued to play for himself, and very quickly popped out from under his fingers different sounds. They splashed, and the result was something very welcoming and joyful.

I really liked it, and I could have sat and listened for a long time, but Boris Sergeevich soon stopped playing. He closed the lid of the piano, and saw us, and said cheerfully:

ABOUT! What people! They sit like two sparrows on a branch! Well, what do you say?

I asked:

What were you playing, Boris Sergeevich?

He replied:

This is Chopin. I love him so much.

I said:

Of course, since you are a singing teacher, you love different songs.

He said:

This is not a song. Although I love songs, this is not a song. What I played is called much more than just a “song”.

I said:

What kind? In a word?

He answered seriously and clearly:

Music. Chopin - great composer. He composed wonderful music. And I love music more than anything in the world.

Then he looked at me carefully and said:

Well, what do you love? More than anything else?

I answered:

I like a lot of things.

And I told him that I love him. And about the dog, and about the planing, and about the baby elephant, and about the red cavalrymen, and about the little doe on pink hooves, and about the ancient warriors, and about the cool stars, and about the horse faces, everything, everything...

He listened to me carefully, he had a thoughtful face as he listened, and then he said:

Look! I didn’t even know. Honestly, you’re still little, don’t be offended, but look - you love so much! The whole world.

Then Mishka intervened in the conversation. He pouted and said:

And I love Deniska’s different varieties even more! Just think!

Boris Sergeevich laughed:

Very interesting! Come on, tell the secret of your soul. Now it's your turn, take up the baton! So, get started! What do you love?

Mishka fidgeted on the windowsill, then cleared his throat and said:

I love buns, buns, loaves and cupcakes! I love bread, cake, pastries, and gingerbread, whether Tula, honey, or glazed. I also love sushi, bagels, bagels, pies with meat, jam, cabbage and rice. I dearly love dumplings and especially cheesecakes if they are fresh, but stale ones are okay. Can oat cookies and vanilla crackers.

I also love sprat, saury, pike perch in marinade, bullheads in tomato, some in its own juice, eggplant caviar, sliced zucchini and fried potatoes.

I absolutely love boiled sausage, if it’s a doctor’s sausage, I bet I’ll eat a whole kilo! I love the canteen, and the tea room, and brawn, and smoked, and half-smoked, and raw smoked! I actually love this one the most. I really love pasta with butter, noodles with butter, horns with butter, cheese with holes or without holes, with red or white rind - it doesn’t matter.

I love dumplings with cottage cheese, salty, sweet, sour cottage cheese; I love apples, grated with sugar, or just apples on their own, and if the apples are peeled, then I like to eat the apple first, and then, for a snack, the peel!

I love liver, cutlets, herring, bean soup, green peas, boiled meat, toffee, sugar, tea, jam, Borzhom, soda with syrup, soft-boiled eggs, hard-boiled, in a bag, mogu and raw. I love sandwiches with just about anything, especially if you spread it thickly mashed potatoes or millet porridge. So... Well, I won’t talk about halva - what fool doesn’t like halva? I also love duck, goose and turkey. Oh yes! I love ice cream with all my heart. For seven, for nine. For thirteen, for fifteen, for nineteen. Twenty-two and twenty-eight.

Mishka looked around the ceiling and took a breath. Apparently he was already pretty tired. But Boris Sergeevich looked at him intently, and Mishka drove on.

He muttered:

Gooseberries, carrots, chum salmon, pink salmon, turnips, borscht, dumplings, although I already said dumplings, broth, bananas, persimmons, compote, sausages, sausage, although I also said sausage...

The bear was exhausted and fell silent. It was clear from his eyes that he was waiting for Boris Sergeevich to praise him. But he looked at Mishka a little dissatisfied and even seemed stern. He, too, seemed to be waiting for something from Mishka: what else would Mishka say? But Mishka was silent. It turned out that they both expected something from each other and were silent.

The first one could not stand it, Boris Sergeevich.

Well, Misha,” he said, “you love a lot, no doubt, but everything you love is somehow the same, too edible, or something.” It turns out that you love the whole grocery store. And only... And the people? Who do you love? Or from animals?

Here Mishka perked up and blushed.

“Oh,” he said embarrassedly, “I almost forgot!” More kittens! And grandma!

Mikhail Zoshchenko, Lev Kassil and others - The Enchanted Letter

Chicken bouillon

Mikhail Zoshchenko, Lev Kassil and others - The Enchanted Letter

Mom brought a chicken from the store, large, bluish, with long bony legs. The chicken had a large red comb on its head. Mom hung it outside the window and said:

If dad comes earlier, let him cook. Will you pass it on?

I said:

With pleasure!

And my mother went to college. And I got it watercolor paints and began to draw. I wanted to draw a squirrel jumping through the trees in the forest, and at first it came out great, but then I looked and saw that it wasn’t a squirrel at all, but some guy who looked like Moidodyr. The squirrel's tail turned out to be his nose, and the branches on the tree looked like hair, ears and a hat... I was very surprised how this could happen, and when dad came, I said:

Guess, dad, what I drew?

He looked and thought:

What are you doing, dad? Take a good look!

Then dad looked properly and said:

Oh, sorry, it's probably football...

I said:

You're kind of inconsiderate! You're probably tired?

No, I just want to eat. Don't know what's for lunch?

I said:

There's a chicken hanging outside the window. Cook it and eat it!

Dad unhooked the chicken from the window and put it on the table.

It's easy to say, cook! You can cook it. Cooking is nonsense. The question is, in what form should we eat it? You can prepare at least a hundred wonderful nutritious dishes from chicken. You can, for example, make simple chicken cutlets, or you can roll up a ministerial schnitzel - with grapes! I read about it! You can make such a cutlet on the bone - it's called "Kiev" - you'll lick your fingers. You can cook chicken with noodles, or you can press it with an iron, pour garlic over it and you will get, as in Georgia, “chicken tobacco”. You can finally...

But I interrupted him. I said:

You, dad, cook something simple, without irons. Something, you know, the fastest!

Dad immediately agreed:

That's right, son! What is important to us? Eat quickly! You've captured the essence. What can you cook faster? The answer is simple and clear: broth!

Dad even rubbed his hands.

I asked:

Do you know how to make broth?

But dad just laughed.

What can you do here? - His eyes even sparkled. - Broth is simpler than steamed turnips: put it in water and wait. when it’s cooked, that’s all the wisdom. It's decided! We are cooking the broth, and very soon we will have a two-course dinner: for the first - broth with bread, for the second - boiled, hot, steaming chicken. Well, drop your Repin brush and let’s help!

I said:

What should I do?

Look! You see there are some hairs on the chicken. You should cut them off, because I don’t like shaggy broth. You cut off these hairs, while I go to the kitchen and put the water on to boil!

And he went to the kitchen. And I took my mother’s scissors and began to trim the hairs on the chicken one by one. At first I thought that there would be few of them, but then I looked closer and saw that there were a lot, even too many. And I began to cut them, and tried to cut them quickly, like in a hairdresser, and clicked the scissors in the air as I moved from hair to hair.

Dad entered the room, looked at me and said:

Take off more from the sides, otherwise it will look like boxing!

I said:

It doesn't cut very quickly...

But then dad suddenly slaps himself on the forehead:

God! Well, you and I are stupid, Deniska! And how I forgot! Finish your haircut! She needs to be burned on fire! Understand? That's what everyone does. We will set it on fire, and all the hairs will burn, and there will be no need for a haircut or shaving. Behind me!

And he grabbed the chicken and ran with it to the kitchen. And I'm behind him. We lit a new burner, because there was already a pot of water on one, and began to roast the chicken on the fire. It burned really well and the whole apartment smelled like burnt wool. Pana turned her from side to side and said: “Now, now!” Oh, and good chicken! Now she will be all burnt and will become clean and white...

But the chicken, on the contrary, became somehow black, all charred, and dad finally turned off the gas.

He said:

In my opinion, it somehow suddenly became smoked. Do you like smoked chicken?

I said:

No. It's not smoked, it's just covered in soot. Come on, dad, I'll wash her.

He was positively delighted.

Well done! - he said. You're smart. You have good heredity. You're all about me. Come on, my friend, take this chimney sweep chicken and wash it thoroughly under the tap, otherwise I’m already tired of this fuss.

And he sat down on the stool.

And I said:

Now, I’ll get her in a jiffy!

And I went to the sink and turned on the water, put our chicken under it and began to rub it right hand with all my might. The chicken was very hot and terribly dirty, and I immediately got my hands dirty up to my elbows. Dad rocked on the stool.

“This,” I said, “is what you, dad, did to her.” Doesn't wash off at all. There is a lot of soot.

It’s nothing,” said dad, “the soot is only on top.” It can't all be made of soot, can it? Wait a minute!

And dad went to the bathroom and brought me a large piece of strawberry soap.

Here,” he said, “mine properly!” Lather up!

And I began to soap this unfortunate chicken. She began to look completely dead. I soaped it up pretty well, but it didn’t wash well, dirt was dripping off it, it had been dripping for probably half an hour, but it wasn’t getting any cleaner.

I said:

This damn rooster is just getting smeared with soap.

Then dad said:

Here's a brush! Take it, rub it well! First the back, and then everything else.

I began to rub. I rubbed as hard as I could and in some places even rubbed the skin. But it was still very difficult for me, because the chicken suddenly seemed to come to life and began to spin in my hands, slide and try to jump out every second. But dad still didn’t leave his stool and kept commanding:

Three strong! More dexterous! Hold your wings! Oh you! Yes, I see you don’t know how to wash a chicken at all.

I then said:

Dad, try it yourself!

And I handed him the chicken. But he didn’t have time to take it, when suddenly she jumped out of my hands and galloped off under the farthest cabinet. But dad was not at a loss. He said:

Give me the mop!

And when I served it, dad began to sweep it out from under the cabinet with a mop. First he scooped out the old mousetrap, then my last year's tin soldier, and I was terribly happy, because I thought I had completely lost him, but here he was, my dear.

Then dad finally pulled out the chicken. She was covered in dust. And dad was all red. But he grabbed her by the paw and dragged her under the tap again. He said:

Well, now hold on. Blue bird.

And he rinsed it quite clean and put it in the pan. At this time my mother arrived. She said:

What kind of destruction are you having here?

And dad sighed and said:

We cook the chicken.

Mom said:

“They just dipped it in,” said dad.

Mom took the lid off the saucepan.

Salted? - she asked.

But mom sniffed the saucepan.

Gutted? - she said.

“Later,” said dad, “when it’s cooked.”

Mom sighed and took the chicken out of the pan. She said:

Deniska, bring me an apron, please. We'll have to finish everything for you, would-be cooks.

And I ran into the room, took an apron and grabbed my picture from the table. I gave my mother the apron and asked her:

Well, what did I draw? Guess, mom! Mom looked and said:

Sewing machine? Yes?

Inside out

One day I was sitting and sitting and out of the blue I suddenly thought of something that surprised even myself. I thought that this is how good it would be if everything around me was arranged in reverse. Well, for example, so that children should be in charge in all matters and adults should obey them in everything. In general, so that adults are like children, and children are like adults. That would be wonderful, it would be very interesting.

Firstly, I imagine how my mother would “like” such a story, that I walk around and command her as I want, and dad would probably “like” it too, but there’s nothing to say about grandma, she would probably spend whole days I would make you cry. Needless to say, I would show them how much a pound is worth, I would remember everything to them! For example, my mother would be sitting at dinner, and I would tell her:

Why did you start the fashion of eating without bread? Here's more news! Look at yourself in the mirror, who do you look like! Looks like Koschey! Eat now, they tell you!

And she would start eating with her head down, and I would just give the command:

Faster! Don't hold it by the cheek! Are you thinking again? Are you still solving the world's problems? Chew it properly! And don't rock in your chair!

And then dad would come in after work, and before he even had time to undress, I would already shout:

Yeah, he showed up! We must always wait for you! Wash your hands now! As it should be, as it should be, no need to smear the dirt! It's scary to look at the towel after you. Brush three times and don’t skimp on the soap. Come on, show me your nails! It's horror, not nails! It's just claws! Where are the scissors? Don't move! I don’t cut any meat, and I cut it very carefully! Don't sniffle, you're not a girl... That's it. Now sit down at the table!

He would sit down and quietly say to his mother:

Well, how are you doing?

And she would also say quietly:

Nothing, thanks!

And I would immediately:

Talkers at the table! When I eat, I am deaf and dumb! Remember this for life! Golden Rule! Dad! Put down the newspaper now, your punishment is mine!

And they would sit like silk, and when my grandmother came, I would squint, clasp my hands and shout:

Dad! Mother! Take a look at our grandma! What a view! The chest is open, the hat is on the back of the head! The cheeks are red, the whole neck is wet! Good, nothing to say! Admit it: did you play hockey again? What is this dirty stick? Why did you drag her into the house? What? Is this a putter? Get her out of my sight now - out the back door!

Here I would walk around the room and say to all three of them:

After lunch, everyone sit down for your homework, and I'll go to the cinema!

Of course, they would immediately whine, whine:

And we are with you! And so do we! We want to go to the cinema!

And I would tell them:

Nothing, nothing! Yesterday we went to a birthday party, on Sunday I took you to the circus! Look! I liked having fun every day! Stay at home! Here's thirty kopecks for ice cream, that's all!

Then the grandmother would pray:

Take me at least! After all, each child can take one adult with them for free!

But I would dodge, I would say:

And people over seventy years old are not allowed to enter this picture. Sit at home!

And I would walk past them, deliberately clicking my heels loudly, as if I didn’t notice that their eyes were all wet, and I would start getting dressed, and would twirl in front of the mirror for a long time, and would hum, and this would make them even worse they were tormented, and I would have opened the door to the stairs and said... But I didn’t have time to think of what I would say, because at that time my mother came in, the real one, alive, and said:

Are you still sitting? Eat now, look who you look like! Looks like Koschey!

.....................................................................
Copyright: Dragunsky - stories for children

Victor Yuzefovich Dragunsky

Deniska's stories

About my dad

When I was little, I had a dad. Victor Dragunsky. Famous children's writer. But no one believed me that he was my dad. And I shouted: “This is my dad, dad, dad!!!” And she started to fight. Everyone thought he was my grandfather. Because he was no longer very young. I - late child. Younger. I have two older brothers - Lenya and Denis. They are smart, learned and quite bald. But they know much more stories about dad than I do. But since it was not they who became children’s writers, but me, they usually ask me to write something about dad.

My dad was born a long time ago. In 2013, on the first of December, he would have turned one hundred years old. And he was born not just anywhere, but in New York. This is how it happened - his mother and father were very young, got married and left the Belarusian city of Gomel for America, for happiness and wealth. I don’t know about happiness, but things didn’t work out for them at all with wealth. They ate exclusively bananas, and in the house where they lived there were huge rats running around. And they returned back to Gomel, and after a while they moved to Moscow, to Pokrovka. There, my dad did poorly at school, but he loved to read books. Then he worked at a factory, studied to be an actor and worked at the Satire Theater, and also as a clown in a circus and wore a red wig. This is probably why my hair is red. And as a child, I also wanted to become a clown.

Dear readers!!! People often ask me how my dad is doing and ask me to ask him to write something else - bigger and funnier. I don’t want to upset you, but my dad died a long time ago, when I was only six years old, that is, more than thirty years ago. That's why I remember very few incidents about him.

One such case. My dad loved dogs very much. He always dreamed of having a dog, but his mother did not allow him, but finally, when I was five and a half years old, a spaniel puppy named Toto appeared in our house. So wonderful. Eared, spotted and with thick paws. He had to be fed six times a day, like infant, which made mom a little angry... And then one day my dad and I come from somewhere or are just sitting at home alone, and we want to eat something. We go to the kitchen and find a saucepan with semolina porridge, and it is so tasty (I generally hate semolina porridge) that we eat it right away. And then it turns out that this is Totosha’s porridge, which his mother specially cooked in advance to mix with some vitamins, as puppies should. Mom was offended, of course. A disgrace is a children's writer, an adult, and he ate puppy porridge.

They say that in his youth my dad was terribly cheerful, he was always inventing something, the coolest and wittiest people in Moscow were always around him, and at home it was always noisy, fun, laughter, celebration, feasting and solid celebrities. Unfortunately, I no longer remember this - when I was born and grew up a little, my dad was very sick with hypertension, high blood pressure, and it was impossible to make noise in the house. My friends, who are now quite grown-up aunties, still remember that I had to walk on tiptoe so as not to bother my dad. They didn’t even allow me to see him, so that I wouldn’t disturb him. But I still got to him, and we played - I was a frog, and dad was a respected and kind lion.

My dad and I also went to eat bagels on Chekhov Street, there was this bakery with bagels and a milkshake. We were also at the circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard, we were sitting very close, and when the clown Yuri Nikulin saw my dad (and they worked together in the circus before the war), he was very happy, took the microphone from the ringmaster and sang “The Song about Hares” especially for us. .

My dad also collected bells, we have a whole collection at home, and now I continue to add to it.

If you read “Deniska’s Stories” carefully, you understand how sad they are. Not all, of course, but some – just very much so. I won’t say which ones now. Read it for yourself and feel it. And then we’ll check. Some people are surprised, they say, how did an adult manage to penetrate into the soul of a child, speak on his behalf, as if it were told by the child himself?.. But it’s very simple - dad remained a little boy all his life. Exactly! A person does not have time to grow up at all - life is too short. A person only has time to learn to eat without getting dirty, to walk without falling, to do something, to smoke, to lie, to shoot from a machine gun, or vice versa - to heal, to teach... All people are children. Well, in extreme cases - almost everything. Only they don't know about it.

Of course, I don’t remember much about my dad. But I can write all sorts of stories - funny, strange and sad. I got this from him.

And my son Tema is very similar to my dad. Well, he looks like a spitting image! In the house in Karetny Ryad, where we live in Moscow, there live elderly pop artists who remember my dad when he was young. And that’s what they call Tema – “Bred of Dragoons.” And Tema and I love dogs. Our dacha is full of dogs, and those that are not ours just come to us for lunch. One day some striped dog came, we treated him to cake, and he liked it so much that he ate it and barked with joy with his mouth full.

Ksenia Dragunskaya

“It’s alive and glowing...”

And now the lights began to light up in the windows, and the radio started playing music, and dark clouds moved in the sky - they looked like bearded old men...

And at that time Mishka came out into the yard. He said:

- Great!

And I said:

- Great!

Mishka sat down with me and picked up the dump truck.

I said:

- No I will not give. Present. Dad gave it to me before he left.

The bear pouted and moved away from me. It became even darker outside.

I looked at the gate so as not to miss when my mother came. But she still didn’t go. Apparently, I met Aunt Rosa, and they stand and talk and don’t even think about me. I lay down on the sand.

Here Mishka says:

- Can you give me a dump truck?

- Get off it, Mishka.

Victor Dragunsky "Knights"

When the rehearsal of the boys' choir ended, the singing teacher Boris Sergeevich said:

- Well, tell me, which of you gave your mother what on March 8th? Come on, Denis, report.

I said:

— I gave my mother a pincushion on March 8th. Beautiful. Looks like a frog. I sewed for three days and pricked all my fingers. I made two of these.

- We all sewed two. One to my mother, and the other to Raisa Ivanovna.

- Why is this all? - asked Boris Sergeevich. - Have you conspired to sew the same thing for everyone?

“No,” said Valerka, “it’s in our “Skillful Hands” circle - we go through the pads. First the little devils passed by, and now the little pillows.

- What other devils? - Boris Sergeevich was surprised.

I said:

- Plasticine! Our leaders Volodya and Tolya from the eighth grade spent six months with us. As soon as they come, they say: “Make devils!” Well, we sculpt, and they play chess.

“It’s crazy,” said Boris Sergeevich. - Pads! We'll have to figure it out! Stop! - And he suddenly laughed cheerfully. - How many boys do you have in the first “B”?

“Fifteen,” said Mishka, “and there are twenty-five girls.”

At this point Boris Sergeevich burst out laughing.

And I said:

— In general, in our country there are more female population than male population.

But Boris Sergeevich waved me off.

- That's not what I'm talking about. It’s just interesting to see how Raisa Ivanovna receives fifteen pillows as a gift! Okay, listen: how many of you are going to congratulate your mothers on May Day?

Then it was our turn to laugh. I said:

- You, Boris Sergeevich, are probably joking, it was not enough to congratulate you on May.

- But what’s wrong is that you need to congratulate your mothers on May Day. Otherwise, it’s ugly: congratulations only once a year. And if you congratulate every holiday, it will be like a knight. Well, who knows what a knight is?

I said:

— He is on a horse and in an iron suit.

Boris Sergeevich nodded.

- Yes, it was like that for a long time. And when you grow up, you will read a lot of books about knights, but now, if they say about someone that he is a knight, then this means that they mean a noble, selfless and generous person. And I think that every pioneer should definitely be a knight. Raise your hands, who's the knight here?

We all raised our hands.

“I knew it,” said Boris Sergeevich, “go, knights!”

We went home. And on the way Mishka said:

- Okay, I’ll buy mom some sweets, I have money.

And so I came home, and there was no one at home. And I was even annoyed. For once I wanted to be a knight - but there’s no money! And then, as luck would have it, Mishka came running, in his hands an elegant box with the inscription: “May Day.”

Mishka says:

- Done, now I’m a knight for twenty-two kopecks. Why are you sitting?

- Bear, are you a knight? - I said.

“Knight,” says Mishka.

- Then lend it.

The bear was upset.

- I spent every penny.

- What to do?

“Search,” says Mishka. - After all, twenty kopecks is a small coin, maybe there’s at least one somewhere, let’s look for it.

And we crawled around the whole room - behind the sofa, and under the closet, and I shook out all my mother’s shoes, and even picked her finger in the powder. Not anywhere.

Suddenly Mishka opened the cupboard:

- Wait, what is this?

- Where? - I say. - Oh, these, these are bottles. Don't you see? There are two wines here: one bottle is black and the other is yellow. This is for guests, guests will come to us tomorrow.

Mishka says:

- Eh, if only your guests had come yesterday, and you would have had money.

- How is that?

- And the bottles? - says Mishka. - Yes, they always give money for empty bottles. On the corner. It's called "Glass Container Reception"!

I speak:

- Why were you silent before? Now we will settle this matter! Give me the compote jar, there’s one on the window.

Mishka handed me the jar, and I opened the bottle and poured blackish-red wine into the jar.

“That’s right,” said Mishka, “what will happen to him?”

“Of course,” I said. - Where is the second one?

“Come here,” says Mishka, “does it matter?” And this wine, and that wine.

“Well, yes,” I said. “If one were wine and the other kerosene, then it’s impossible, but this way, please, it’s even better.” Hold the jar.

And we poured the second bottle in there too.

I said:

- Put it on the window! So. Cover it with a saucer, and now let's run!

And we set off.

For these two bottles they gave us 24 kopecks. And I bought my mother some sweets. They gave me two more kopecks in change.

I came home cheerful, because I became a knight, and as soon as mom and dad arrived, I said:

“Mom, I’m a knight now.” Boris Sergeevich taught us!

Mom said:

- Come on, tell me!

I told her that tomorrow I would surprise my mother.

Mom said:

- Where did you get the money?

And I said:

- Mom, I handed over the empty dishes. Here's two kopecks in change.

Then dad said:

- Well done! Give me two kopecks for the machine!

We sat down to dinner.

Then dad leaned back in his chair and smiled:

- I would like a compote.

“Sorry, I didn’t have time today,” said mom.

But dad winked at me:

- And what's that? I noticed it a long time ago.

And he went to the window, took off the saucer and took a sip straight from the can. Well, that's what happened! Poor dad coughed as if he had drunk a glass of nails.

- What it is? What kind of poison is this?!

I said:

- Dad, don't be scared! It's not poison. These are two of your wines!

Here dad staggered a little and turned pale.

- What two wines?! - he shouted louder than before.

“Black and yellow,” I said, “that were in the buffet.” The main thing is, don’t be scared.

Dad ran to the buffet and opened the door.

Then he blinked his eyes and began rubbing his chest.

He looked at me with such surprise, as if I was not an ordinary boy, but some blue or speckled boy.

I said:

- Are you surprised, dad? I poured your two wines into a jar, otherwise where would I get empty dishes? Think by yourself!

Mom screamed:

And she fell on the sofa.

She started laughing, so hard that I thought she would feel bad.

I couldn’t understand anything, and dad shouted:

- Do you want to laugh? Well, laugh! By the way, this knight of yours will drive me crazy, but I’d better beat him out first so that he forgets his knightly manners once and for all.

And dad began to pretend that he was looking for a belt.

- Where is he? - Dad shouted. - Give me this Ivanhoe here! Where did he go?

And I was behind the bookcase. I've been there for a long time just in case. And then dad was very worried about something.

He shouted:

— Is it ever heard of pouring collectible black “Muscat” from the 1954 vintage into a jar and diluting it with Zhiguli beer?!

And mom was literally sour with laughter.

She barely said:

- After all, it’s him... With the best intentions... After all, he’s... A Knight... I’ll die... from laughter.

And she continued to laugh.

And dad rushed around the room a little more and then, out of the blue, came up to mom.

He said:

- How I love your laughter.

And he leaned over and kissed his mother.

And then I calmly crawled out from behind the closet.

Victor Dragunsky "Girl on a Ball"

Once we went to the circus as a whole class. I was very happy when I went there, because I was almost eight years old, and I had only been to the circus once, and that was a very long time ago. The main thing is that Alyonka is only six years old, but she has already managed to visit the circus three times. This is very disappointing. And now the whole class came to the circus, and I thought how good it was that I was already big and now, this time, I would see everything properly. And at that time I was little, I did not understand what a circus was. That time, when the acrobats entered the arena and one climbed on the head of the other, I laughed terribly, because I thought that they were doing this on purpose, for laughs, because at home I had never seen grown men climbing on each other. And this didn’t happen on the street either. So I laughed out loud. I didn’t understand that these were artists showing their dexterity.

And at that time I looked more and more at the orchestra, how they played - some on the drum, some on the trumpet - and the conductor waves his baton, and no one looks at him, but everyone plays as they want. I really liked it, but while I was looking at these musicians, there were artists performing in the middle of the arena. And I didn’t see them and missed the most interesting thing. Of course, I was still completely stupid that time. And so we came as a whole class to the circus. I immediately liked that it smelled something special and that there were bright pictures, and there is light all around, and in the middle there is a beautiful carpet, and the ceiling is high, and there are various shiny swings tied there. And at that time the music started playing and everyone rushed to sit down, and then they bought a popsicle and began to eat. And suddenly, from behind the red curtain, a whole squad of people came out, dressed very beautifully - in red suits with yellow stripes. They stood on either side of the curtain, and their boss in a black suit walked between them. He shouted something loudly and a little incomprehensibly, and the music began to play quickly, quickly and loudly, and the artist-juggler jumped into the arena, and the fun began! He threw balls, ten or a hundred at a time, upward and caught them back. And then he grabbed a striped ball and began to play with it. He knocked him with his head, and with the back of his head, and with his forehead, and rolled him on his back, and pressed him with his heel, and the ball rolled all over his body, as if magnetized. It was very beautiful. And suddenly the juggler threw this ball towards us, into the audience, and then a real commotion began, because I caught this ball and threw it at Valerka, and Valerka threw it at Mishka, and Mishka suddenly took aim and, for no reason at all, threw it straight at the conductor, but didn’t hit him, but hit the drum! Bamm! The drummer got angry and threw the ball back to the juggler, but the ball didn’t get there, it just hit one beautiful woman in her hair, and she didn’t end up with a hairstyle, but a fringe. And we all laughed so hard that we almost died. And when the juggler ran behind the curtain, we couldn’t calm down for a long time. But then a huge blue ball was rolled out into the arena, and the guy who was announcing came to the middle and shouted something in an unintelligible voice. It was impossible to understand anything, and the orchestra again started playing something very cheerful, only not as fast as before.

And suddenly a little girl ran into the arena. I have never seen such small and beautiful ones. She had blue, blue eyes and long eyelashes around them. She was in a silver dress with an airy cloak, and she had long arms, she waved them like a bird and jumped onto this huge blue ball that was rolled out for her. She stood on the ball. And then she suddenly ran, as if she wanted to jump off it, but the ball spun under her feet, and she rode it like she was running, but in fact she was riding around the arena. I have never seen such girls. They were all ordinary, but this one was something special. She ran around the ball with her little legs, as if on a flat floor, and the blue ball carried her on itself, she could ride it straight, and backward, and to the left, and wherever you wanted! She laughed merrily when she ran like she was swimming, and I thought that she was probably Thumbelina, she was so small, sweet and extraordinary. At this time she stopped, and someone handed her various bell-shaped bracelets, and she put them on her shoes and hands and again began to slowly spin around on the ball, as if dancing. And the orchestra began to play quiet music, and one could hear the golden bells on the girls’ long arms ringing subtly. And it was all like in a fairy tale. And then they turned off the light, and it turned out that the girl, in addition, could glow in the dark, she slowly floated in a circle, and glowed, and rang, and it was amazing - I have never seen anything like that in my entire life.

And when the lights came on, everyone clapped and shouted “bravo”, and I also shouted “bravo”. And the girl jumped off her ball and ran forward, closer to us, and suddenly, as she ran, she turned over her head like lightning, and again, and again, and ever forward and forward. And it seemed to me that she was about to break against the barrier, and I suddenly got very scared, and jumped to my feet, and wanted to run to her to pick her up and save her, but the girl suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, spread out her long arms, the orchestra fell silent, and she stood and smiled. And everyone clapped with all their might and even stamped their feet. And at that moment this girl looked at me, and I saw that she saw that I saw her and that I also saw that she saw me, and she waved her hand at me and smiled. She waved and smiled at me alone. And again I wanted to run to her, and I stretched out my hands to her. And she suddenly blew a kiss to us all and ran away behind the red curtain, where all the artists were running away. And a clown with his rooster entered the arena and began to sneeze and fall, but I had no time for him. I kept thinking about the girl on the ball, how amazing she was and how she waved her hand and smiled at me, and I didn’t want to look at anything else. On the contrary, I closed my eyes tightly so as not to see this stupid clown with his red nose, because he was spoiling my girl for me, she still seemed to me on her blue ball. And then they announced an intermission, and everyone ran to the buffet to drink lemonade, and I quietly went downstairs and approached the curtain from where the artists were coming out. I wanted to look at this girl again, and I stood by the curtain and looked to see if she would come out. But she didn't come out.

And after the intermission, the lions performed, and I didn’t like that the tamer kept dragging them by their tails, as if they were not lions, but dead cats. He forced them to move from place to place or laid them on the floor in a row and walked over the lions with his feet, as if on a carpet, and they looked as if they were not allowed to lie down quietly. It was not interesting, because a lion has to hunt and chase a bison in the endless pampas, filling the surroundings with a menacing roar that makes the native population tremble, but what happens is that it’s not a lion, but I just don’t know what.

And when it was over and we went home, I kept thinking about the girl on the ball.

And in the evening dad asked:

- Well, how? Did you like the circus?

I said:

- Dad! There's a girl at the circus. She is dancing on a blue ball. So nice, the best! She smiled at me and waved her hand! I'm alone honestly! Do you understand, dad? Let's go to the circus next Sunday! I'll show it to you!

Dad said:

- We'll definitely go. I love the circus!

And mom looked at both of us as if she was seeing us for the first time.

And a long week began, and I ate, studied, got up and went to bed, played and even fought, and still every day I thought, when will Sunday come and dad and I will go to the circus, and I will again see the girl in the ball, and show her dad, and maybe dad will invite her to visit us, and I’ll give her a Browning pistol and draw a picture of a ship with full sails.

But on Sunday dad couldn't go. His comrades came to him, they delved into some drawings, and shouted, and smoked, and drank tea, and sat until late, and after them my mother had a headache.

And dad told me when we were cleaning:

- Next Sunday, I take an oath of Loyalty and Honor.

And I looked forward to the next Sunday so much that I don’t even remember how I lived another week. And dad kept his word, he went with me to the circus and bought tickets to the second row, and I was glad that we were sitting so close, and the performance began, and I began to wait for the girl to appear on the ball. But the person who announces kept announcing various other artists, and they came out and performed in different ways, but the girl still did not appear. And I was literally trembling with impatience, I really wanted dad to see how extraordinary she was in her silver suit with an airy cape and how deftly she ran around the blue ball. And every time the announcer came out, I whispered to dad:

- Now he will announce it!

But, as luck would have it, he announced someone else, and I even began to hate him, and I kept telling dad:

- Come on! This is nonsense on vegetable oil! This is not it!

And dad said, without looking at me:

- Don't interfere. It is very interesting! That's it!

I thought that dad apparently doesn’t know much about the circus, since it’s interesting to him. Let's see what he sings when he sees the girl on the ball. He'll probably jump two meters high in his chair.

But then the announcer came out and shouted in his deaf-mute voice:

- Ant-rra-kt!

I just couldn’t believe my ears! Intermission! And why? After all, in the second section there will only be lions! Where is my girl on the ball? Where is she? Why doesn't she perform? Maybe she got sick? Maybe she fell and had a concussion?

I said:

- Dad, let's quickly find out where the girl is on the ball!

Dad replied:

- Yes Yes! Where is your tightrope walker? Something is missing! Let's go buy some software!..

He was cheerful and happy.

He looked around, laughed and said:

- Oh, I love... I love the circus! This very smell... It makes my head spin...

And we went into the corridor. There were a lot of people milling about, and they were selling candies and waffles, and there were photographs of different tiger faces hanging on the walls, and we

We wandered around a bit and finally found the controller with the programs. Dad bought one from her and started looking through it.

But I couldn’t stand it and asked the controller:

— Tell me, please, when will the girl perform in the ball?

She said:

- Which girl?

Dad said:

— The program shows tightrope walker T. Vorontsova. Where is she?

I stood and was silent.

The controller said:

- Oh, are you talking about Tanechka Vorontsova? She left. She left. Why are you late?

I stood and was silent.

Dad said:

“We haven’t known peace for two weeks now.” We want to see tightrope walker T. Vorontsova, but she’s not there.

The controller said:

- Yes, she left... Together with her parents... Her parents are “Bronze People - Two-Yavors.” Maybe you've heard? It's a pity... We just left yesterday.

I said:

- You see, dad...

He said:

“I didn’t know she would leave.” What a pity... Oh, my God!.. Well... Nothing can be done...

I asked the controller:

- Does this mean it’s true?

She said:

I said:

- Where, no one knows?

She said:

- To Vladivostok.

There you go. Far. Vladivostok. I know it is located at the very end of the map, from Moscow to the right.

I said:

- What a distance.

The controller suddenly hurried:

- Well, go, go to your seats, the lights are already turning off!

Dad picked up:

- Let's go, Deniska! Now there will be lions! Shaggy, growling - horror! Let's run to see!

I said:

- Let's go home, dad.

He said:

- Just like that...

The controller laughed. But we went to the wardrobe, and I handed over the number, and we got dressed and left the circus. We walked along the boulevard and walked like this for quite a long time, then I said:

— Vladivostok is at the very end of the map. If you travel there by train, it will take you a whole month...

Dad was silent. Apparently he had no time for me. We walked a little more, and I suddenly remembered about the planes and said:

- And on the TU-104 in three hours - and there!

But dad still didn’t answer. He walked silently and held my hand tightly.

When we went out onto Gorky Street, he said:

— Let's go to the Ice Cream cafe. Let's make two servings each, shall we?

I said:

- I don’t want something, dad. He said:

— They serve water there, it’s called “Kakheti.” I have never drank better water anywhere in the world.

I said:

- I don’t want to, dad.

He didn't try to persuade me. He quickened his pace and squeezed my hand tightly. It even hurt me. He walked very quickly, and I could barely keep up with him. Why was he walking so fast? Why didn't he talk to me? I wanted to look at him. I raised my head. He had a very serious and sad face.

Victor Dragunsky "The Glory of Ivan Kozlovsky"

I only have A's on my report card. Only in penmanship is a B. Because of the blots. I really don't know what to do!

Blots always jump off my pen. I only dip the very tip of the pen into ink, but the blots still jump off. Just some miracles!

Once I wrote a whole page that was pure, pure, and delightful to look at—a real A page. In the morning I showed it to Raisa Ivanovna, and there was a blot right in the middle! Where did she come from? She wasn't there yesterday! Maybe it was leaked from some other page? Don't know...

And so I only have A's.

Only a C in singing.

This is how it happened.

We had a singing lesson.

At first we all sang in chorus “There was a birch tree in the field.”

It turned out very beautifully, but Boris Sergeevich kept wincing and shouting:

- Pull your vowels, friends, pull your vowels!..

Then we began to draw out the vowels, but Boris Sergeevich clapped his hands and said:

- A real cat concert! Let's deal with each one individually.

This means with each individual separately.

And Boris Sergeevich called Misha.

Misha went up to the piano and whispered something to Boris Sergeevich.

Then Boris Sergeevich began to play, and Misha quietly sang:

As if a little white snow fell on thin ice...

Well, Mishka squeaked funny! This is how our kitten Murzik squeaks when I put him in the kettle. Is that really how they sing?

Almost nothing can be heard. I just couldn't stand it and started laughing.

Then Boris Sergeevich gave Misha a high five and looked at me.

He said:

- Come on, laugher, come out!

I quickly ran out to the piano.

- Well, what will you perform? - Boris Sergeevich asked politely.

I said:

— Song of the Civil War “Lead us, Budyonny, boldly into battle.”

Boris Sergeevich shook his head and began to play, but I immediately stopped him.

- Please play louder! - I said.

Boris Sergeevich said:

- You won't be heard.

- Will. And how!

- Boris Sergeevich began to play, and I took in more air and then burst out with all my might to my beloved:

High in the clear sky

The scarlet banner flutters...

I really like this song. I can see the blue, blue sky, it’s hot, the horses are clattering their hooves, they have beautiful purple eyes, and a scarlet banner is flying in the sky.

At this point I even closed my eyes with delight and shouted as loud as I could:

We are racing there on horseback,

Where is the enemy visible?

And in a delightful battle...

I was screaming loudly, probably could be heard on the other street:

A swift avalanche!

We are rushing forward!.. Hurray!..

Reds always win!

Retreat, enemies! Give it!!!

I pressed my fists on my stomach, it came out even louder, and I almost burst:

We crashed into Crimea!

Then I stopped because I was all sweaty and my knees were shaking.

And although Boris Sergeevich was playing, he was somehow leaning towards the piano, and his shoulders were also shaking...

I said:

- Well, how?

- Monstrous! - Boris Sergeevich praised.

- It's a good song, isn't it? - I asked.

“Good,” said Boris Sergeevich and covered his eyes with a handkerchief.

“It’s just a pity, you played very quietly, Boris Sergeevich,” I said, “you could have been even louder.”

“Okay, I’ll take it into account,” said Boris Sergeevich. “Didn’t you notice that I played one thing, and you sang a little differently?”

“No,” I said, “I didn’t notice it!” Yes, it doesn’t matter. I just needed to play louder.

“Well,” said Boris Sergeevich, “since you didn’t notice anything, let’s give you a three for now.” For diligence.

How about a three?! I was even taken aback. How can this be? Three is very little! The bear sang so quietly and then he got an A...

I said:

- Boris Sergeevich, when I rest a little, I’ll be able to get even louder, don’t think so. I didn't have a good breakfast today. Otherwise I can sing so hard that everyone’s ears will be covered. I know one more song. When I sing it at home, all the neighbors come running and ask what happened.

- What is this? - asked Boris Sergeevich.

“Compassionate,” I said and started:

I loved you:

Love still, perhaps...

But Boris Sergeevich hastily said:

“Okay, okay, we’ll discuss all this next time.”

And then the bell rang.

Mom met me in the locker room. When we were about to leave, Boris Sergeevich approached us.

“Well,” he said, smiling, “perhaps your boy will be Lobachevsky, maybe Mendeleev.” He may become Surikov or Koltsov, I would not be surprised if he becomes known to the country, as Comrade Nikolai Mamai or any boxer is known, but I can assure you absolutely firmly of one thing: he will not achieve the fame of Ivan Kozlovsky. Never!

Mom blushed terribly and said:

- Well, we'll see about that later!

And when we walked home, I kept thinking:

“Does Kozlovsky really sing louder than me?”

Victor Dragunsky “You must have a sense of humor”

One day Mishka and I were doing homework.

We put notebooks in front of us and copied.

And at that time I was telling Mishka about lemurs, what they have big eyes, like glass saucers, and that I saw a photograph of a lemur, how he holds a fountain pen, himself small-small and terribly cute.

Then Mishka says:

- Did you write it?

I speak:

“You check my notebook,” says Mishka, “and I’ll check yours.”

And we exchanged notebooks.

And as soon as I saw what Mishka wrote, I immediately began to laugh.

I look, and Mishka is also rolling, he’s just turned blue.

I speak:

- Why are you rolling around, Mishka?

- I'm rolling that you wrote it off incorrectly! What are you doing?

I speak:

- And I say the same thing, only about you. Look, you wrote: “The moses have arrived.” Who are these “Mozes”?

The bear blushed:

- Moses are probably frosts. And you wrote: “Natal winter.” What is it?

“Yes,” I said, “it’s not “natal”, but “has arrived.” There's nothing you can do about it, you have to rewrite it. It's all the lemurs' fault.

And we began to rewrite.

And when they rewrote it, I said:

- Let's set tasks!

“Come on,” said Mishka.

At this time dad came.

He said:

- Hello, fellow students...

And he sat down at the table.

I said:

“Here, dad, listen to the problem I’ll give Mishka: I have two apples, and there are three of us, how can we divide them equally among us?”

The bear immediately pouted and began to think. Dad didn’t pout, but he also thought about it. They thought for a long time.

I then said:

-Are you giving up, Mishka?

Mishka said:

- I give up!

I said:

- So that we all get equally, we need to make a compote from these apples. - And he began to laugh: - Aunt Mila taught me this!..

The bear pouted even more. Then dad narrowed his eyes and said:

“And since you’re so cunning, Denis, let me give you a task.”

“Let’s ask,” I said.

Dad walked around the room.

“Well, listen,” he said. — One boy is studying in first grade “B”. His family consists of four people. Mom gets up at seven o'clock and spends ten minutes getting dressed. But dad brushes his teeth for five minutes. Grandma goes to the store as much as mom gets dressed, plus dad brushes his teeth. And grandpa reads the newspapers, how long does grandma go to the store minus what time does mom get up.

When they are all together, they begin to wake up this boy from first grade "B". This takes time from reading grandpa's newspapers plus grandma's going to the store. When a boy from first grade “B” wakes up, he stretches for as long as his mother gets dressed plus his father brushes his teeth. And he washes himself as much as his grandfather’s newspapers divided by his grandmother’s. He is late for class by as many minutes as he stretches plus washes his face minus his mother's getting up multiplied by his father's teeth.

The question is: who is this boy from the first “B” and what threatens him if this continues? All!

Then dad stopped in the middle of the room and began to look at me.

And Mishka laughed at the top of his lungs and began to look at me too.

They both looked at me and laughed.

I said:

“I can’t solve this problem right away, because we haven’t gone through this yet.

And I didn’t say another word, but left the room, because I immediately guessed that the answer to this problem would turn out to be a lazy person and that such a person would soon be kicked out of school. I left the room into the corridor and climbed behind the hanger and began to think that if this task was about me, then it was not true, because I always get up quite quickly and stretch for a very short time, just as much as needed. And I also thought that if dad wants to make up stories about me so much, then please, I can leave home straight into the virgin lands. There will always be work there, people are needed there, especially young people. I will conquer nature there, and dad will come with a delegation to Altai, see me, and I will stop for a minute and say: “Hello, dad!” - and I’ll go on to conquer.

And he will say:

“Hello from your mother...”

And I will say:

“Thank you... How is she doing?”

And he will say:

"Nothing".

And I will say:

“Perhaps she forgot her only son? »

And he will say:

“What are you talking about, she’s lost thirty-seven kilos! That’s how bored he is!”

He saw me and said:

- Oh, there you are! What kind of eyes do you have? Have you really taken this task personally?

He picked up his coat and hung it back and said further:

- I made it all up. There is no such boy in the world, let alone in your class!

And dad took me by the hands and pulled me out from behind the hanger.

Then he looked at me intently again and smiled:

“You need to have a sense of humor,” he told me, and his eyes became cheerful and cheerful. - But this is a funny task, isn’t it? Well! Laugh!

And I laughed.

And he too.

And we went into the room.

Dragunsky V.Yu. - famous writer And theatrical figure, author of stories, short stories, songs, interludes, clownery, skits. The most popular in the list of works for children is his cycle “Deniska’s Stories”, which has become a classic of Soviet literature; they are recommended for students in grades 2-3-4. Dragunsky describes situations typical for each time, brilliantly reveals the psychology of the child, a simple and vivid style ensures the dynamism of the presentation.

Deniska's stories

The series of works “Deniska's Stories” tells about the funny adventures of the boy Denis Korablev. IN collective image The main character is intertwined with the features of his prototype - the son of Dragunsky, his peers, and the author himself. Denis's life is filled with funny incidents; he actively perceives the world and reacts vividly to what is happening. The boy has a close friend Mishka, with whom he plays pranks, has fun, and overcomes difficulties. The author does not idealize the guys, does not teach or moralize - he denotes strong and weak sides the younger generation.

Englishman Paul

The work tells about Pavlik, who came to visit Deniska. He reports that he has not come for a long time because he has been studying English all summer. Denis and his parents are trying to find out from the boy what new words he knows. It turned out that during this time Pavel learned English language only the name Petya is Pete.

Watermelon Lane

The story tells about Denis, who does not want to eat milk noodles. Mom is upset, but dad comes and tells the boy a story from his childhood. Deniska learns how a hungry child during the war saw a truck filled to the brim with watermelons, which people were unloading. Dad stood and watched them work. Suddenly one of the watermelons broke, and the kind loader gave it to the boy. Dad still remembers how he and his friend ate that day and for a long time every day they went to the “watermelon” alley and waited for a new truck. But he never arrived... After his father’s story, Denis ate noodles.

Would

The work tells the story of Denis’s reasoning if everything were arranged the other way around. The boy imagines how he raises his own parents: he forces his mother to eat, his father to wash his hands and cut his nails, and he scolds his grandmother for being lightly dressed and bringing a dirty stick from the street. After lunch, Denis sits his relatives down to do homework, and he’s going to the cinema.

Where has this been seen, where has this been heard...

The work tells the story of Denisk and Misha, who were invited to sing satirical songs at a concert. Friends are nervous before the performance. During the concert, Misha gets confused and sings the same song several times. Counselor Lucy quietly asks Denis to speak alone. The boy gathers his courage, gets ready and again sings the same lines as Misha.

Goose throat

The work tells about Deniska’s birthday preparations best friend. The boy prepared him a gift: a washed and peeled goose throat, which Vera Sergeevna gave. Denis plans to dry it, put peas inside and fix the narrow neck in the wide one. However, dad advises them to buy candy and gives Misha his badge. Denis is happy that he will give his friend 3 gifts instead of one.

Twenty years under the bed

The work tells the story of the guys who played hide and seek in Misha’s apartment. Denis slipped into the room where the old woman lived and hid under the bed. He expected that it would be funny when the guys found him, and Efrosinya Petrovna would also be happy. But the grandmother unexpectedly locks the door, turns off the light and goes to bed. The boy becomes terrified and hits the trough lying under the bed with his fist. There is a crash and the old woman gets scared. The situation is saved by the guys and Denis’s dad, who came for him. The boy gets out of hiding, but does not answer questions; it seems to him that he has spent 20 years under the bed.

Girl on the Ball

The story tells about Deniska's trip to the circus with her class. The guys watch performances by jugglers, clowns, and lions. But Denis is impressed by the little girl on the ball. She shows extraordinary acrobatic performances, the boy cannot look away. At the end of the performance, the girl looks at Denis and waves her hand. The boy wants to go to the circus again in a week, but dad has work to do, and they only get to the show in 2 weeks. Denis is really looking forward to the girl’s performance at the ball, but she never appears. It turned out that the gymnast went with her parents to Vladivostok. Sad Denis and his dad leave the circus.

childhood friend

The work tells the story of Denis's desire to become a boxer. But he needs a pear, and dad refuses to buy it. Then the mother takes out an old teddy bear that the boy once played with and offers to train on it. Denis agrees and is about to practice his blows, but suddenly he remembers how he never parted with the bear for a minute, nursed him, took him to dinner, told him fairy tales and loved him with all his soul, was ready to give his life for his childhood friend. Denis tells his mother that he has changed his mind and will never be a boxer.

Pets' corner

The story tells about the opening of a living corner at Denis’s school. The boy wanted to bring a bison, a hippopotamus or an elk, but the teacher asks him to get small animals in order to look after and care for them. Denis goes shopping for a living corner of white mice, but does not have time, they have already been sold. Then the boy and his mother hurried to get the fish, but when they learned their price, they changed their minds. So Denis didn’t decide which animal to bring to school.

Enchanted letter

The work tells about Denisk, Misha and Alenka, who watched a large Christmas tree being unloaded from a car. The guys looked at her and smiled. Alena wanted to tell her friends that there were pine cones hanging on the tree, but she couldn’t pronounce the first letter and she came up with: “Syski.” The guys laugh at the girl and reproach her. Misha shows Alena how to pronounce the word correctly: “Hykhki!” They argue, swear, and both roar. And only Denis is sure that the word “bumps” is simple, and he knows how to say correctly: “Fyfki!”

Healthy thought

The story tells how Denis and Misha launched a boat from a matchbox on the way from school. He gets caught in a whirlpool and disappears into a drain. The guys are getting ready to go home, but it turns out that the boys are confusing the entrances, since they are the same. Misha is lucky - he meets a neighbor, and she takes him to his apartment. Denis mistakenly enters someone else's house and ends up with strangers, for whom he is already the sixth lost boy of the day. They help Denis find his apartment. The boy invites his parents to hang it on the house mother's portrait so that he doesn't get lost again.

Green leopards

The work tells about a dispute between guys about which disease is better. Kostya suffered from measles and told his friends that they gave him decals. Mishka told how he ate a jar of raspberry jam when he was sick with the flu. Denis liked chickenpox because he walked with spots like a leopard. The guys remember the operation on the tonsils, after which they give ice cream. In their opinion, the more severe the illness, the better - then the parents will buy everything they want.

How I visited Uncle Misha

The story tells about Denis's trip to Uncle Misha in Leningrad. The boy meets his cousin Dima, who shows him the city. They look at the legendary Aurora and visit the Hermitage. Denis meets his brother's classmates, he likes Ira Rodina, to whom the boy decides to write a letter upon returning home.

Puss in Boots

The work tells about a school carnival, for which you need to prepare a costume. But Denis’s mother is leaving, and he misses him so much that he forgets about the event. Misha dresses up as a gnome and helps his friend with the costume. They portray Deniska as a cat in boots. Boy gets Grand Prize for his costume - 2 books, one of which he gives to Misha.

Chicken bouillon

The story tells how Denis and his dad cook chicken broth. They believe that this is a very simple and easy to prepare dish. However, the cooks almost burn the chicken when they want to singe the feathers, then they try to wash the soot off the bird with soap, but it slips out of Denis’s hands and ends up under the cabinet. The situation is saved by the mother, who returns home and helps the unfortunate cooks.

My friend the bear

The work tells about Denis's campaign in Sokolniki on christmas tree. A boy is frightened by a huge bear that suddenly attacks him from behind a Christmas tree. Denis remembers that he needs to pretend to be dead and falls to the floor. Opening his eyes slightly, he sees the beast bending over him. Then the boy decides to scare the animal and screams loudly. The bear moves to the side, and Denis throws an ice cube at him. Subsequently, it turns out that under the beast’s costume there is an actor who has decided to play a trick on the boy.

Motorcycle racing on a vertical wall

The story tells about Denis, who was the champion of the yard in cycling. He demonstrates various tricks to the kids like a circus performer. One day a relative came to Misha on a bicycle with a motor. While the guest was drinking tea, the guys decide to try out the transport without asking. Denis rides around the yard for a long time, but then cannot stop because the guys do not know where the brake is. The situation is saved by relative Fedya, who stopped the bicycle in time.

You must have a sense of humor

The work tells how Misha and Denis did their homework. While copying the text, they talked, which is why they made many mistakes and had to redo the task. Then Denis gives Misha a fun problem that he cannot solve. In response, the father gives his son a task, which he takes offense at. Father tells Denis that he must have a sense of humor.

Independent hump

The story tells how Denis came to class famous writer. The guys spent a long time preparing for the guest’s visit, and he was touched by this. It turned out that the writer stuttered, but the children politely did not draw attention to this. At the end of the meeting, Denis’s classmate asks for an autograph from the celebrity. But the fact is that Gorbushkin also stutters, and the writer is offended, thinking that he is being teased. Denis had to intervene and resolve the awkward situation.

One drop kills a horse

The work tells about Denis's dad, whom the doctor advises to quit smoking. The boy is worried about his father; he doesn’t want a drop of poison to kill him. On the weekend, guests come, Aunt Tamara gives dad a cigarette case, for which Denis is angry with her. The father asks his son to cut the cigarettes so that they fit into the box. The boy deliberately spoils cigarettes by cutting off tobacco.

It's alive and glowing

The story tells about Denis, who is waiting for his mother in the yard. At this time Mishka arrives. He likes Denis's new dump truck and offers to exchange the car for a firefly. The bug fascinates the boy, he agrees and admires the acquisition for a long time. Mom comes and wonders why her son exchanged new toy on a small insect. To which Denis replies that the beetle is better, because it is alive and glows.

Spyglass

The work tells about Denis, who tears and ruins his clothes. Mom doesn’t know what to do with the tomboy, and dad advises her to make a spyglass. Denis's parents inform him that he is now under constant control, and they can see their son whenever they wish. Difficult days are coming for the boy, all his previous activities become forbidden. One day Denis comes into the hands of his mother’s spyglass, and he sees that it is empty. The boy realizes that his parents deceived him, but he is happy and returns to his old life.

A fire in an outbuilding, or a feat in the ice

The story tells about Denis and Misha, who were playing hockey and were late for school. To avoid being scolded, the friends decided to come up with good reason and they argued for a long time what exactly to choose. When the boys arrived at school, the cloakroom attendant sent Denis to class, and Misha helped sew back the torn buttons. Korablev had to tell the teacher alone that they had saved a girl from the fire. However, Misha soon returned and told the class how they pulled out the boy who had fallen through the ice.

The wheels sing - tra-ta-ta

The story tells about Denisk, who went with his dad to Yasnogorsk by train. Early in the morning the boy could not sleep, and he went to the vestibule. Denis saw a man running after the train and helped him get on. He treated the boy to raspberries and told about his son Seryozha, who was far away in the city with his mother. In the village of Krasnoye, the man jumped off the train, and Denis drove on.

Adventure

The work tells about Denisk, who was visiting his uncle in Leningrad and flew home alone. However, the airport in Moscow was closed due to unfavorable weather conditions, and the plane returned. Denis called his mother and reported the delay. He spent the night on the floor at the airport, and in the morning the departure of the plane was announced 2 hours earlier. The boy woke up the military so that they would not be late. Since the plane arrived in Moscow earlier, dad did not meet Denis, but the officers helped him and took him home.

Workers crushing stone

The story tells about friends who go swimming at a water station. One day Kostya asks Denis if he can jump into the water from the highest tower. The boy replies that it’s easy. Friends do not believe Denis, believing that he is weak. The boy climbs onto the tower, but he becomes scared, Misha and Kostya laugh. Then Denis tries again, but again descends from the tower. The guys are making fun of their friend. Then Denis decides to climb the tower for the 3rd time and still jumps.

Exactly 25 kilos

The work tells about the campaign of Mishka and Denis to children's party. They participate in a competition in which the prize will be given to the one who weighs exactly 25 kilograms. Denis is 500 grams short of victory. Friends come up with an idea to drink 0.5 liters of water. Denis wins the competition.

Knights

The story tells about Denis, who decided to become a knight and give his mother a box of chocolates on March 8th. But the boy has no money, so he and Mishka came up with the idea of pouring the wine from the cupboard into a jar and handing over the bottles. Denis gives his mother candy, and his father discovers that the collection wine has been diluted with beer.

From top to bottom, diagonally!

The work tells about the guys who decided to help the painters with painting when they went to lunch. Denis and Misha are painting the wall, the laundry that is drying in the yard, their friend Alena, the door, the house manager. The kids had a blast, and the painters invited them to work for them when the children grew up.

My sister Ksenia

The story tells about Denis's mother, who introduces her son to his newborn sister. In the evening, the parents want to bathe the baby, but the boy sees that the girl is afraid and has an unhappy face. Then the brother extends his hand to his sister, and she firmly grabs his finger, as if she trusts him alone with her life. Denis understood how difficult and scary it was for Ksenia and loved her with all his soul.

Glory to Ivan Kozlovsky

The work tells the story of Denis, who received a C in a singing lesson. He laughed at Mishka, who sang very quietly, but they gave him an A. When the teacher calls Denis, he sings the song as loud as he can. However, the teacher rated his performance only 3. The boy believes that the fact is that he did not sing loudly enough.

Elephant and radio

The story tells about Denis's trip to the zoo. The boy took a radio with him, and the elephant became interested in the object. He snatched it from Denis’s hands and put it in his mouth. Now a program about physical exercises was coming from the animal, and the children surrounding the cage happily began to perform the exercises. The zookeeper distracted the elephant, and he gave up the radio.

Battle of the Clean River

The work tells about a trip to the cinema in Denis Korablev’s class. The guys watched a film about the attack of white officers on the Red Army. To help their own, the boys in the cinema shoot at the enemies with pistols and use scarecrows. The boys receive a reprimand from the school principal for a violation public order, weapons are taken away from children. But Denis and Misha believe that they helped the army hold out until the arrival of the red cavalrymen.

The secret becomes clear

The story tells about Denis, to whom his mother promised to go to the Kremlin if he eats semolina porridge. The boy put salt and sugar in the dish, added boiling water and horseradish, but could not swallow even a spoon and threw the breakfast out the window. Mom was glad that her son ate everything, and they began to get ready for a walk. However, a policeman unexpectedly comes and brings the victim, whose hat and clothes are stained with porridge. Denis understands the meaning of the phrase that the secret always becomes clear.

Third place in butterfly style

The work talks about good mood Denis, who is in a hurry to tell his dad that he took 3rd place in swimming. The father is proud and wonders who owns the first two and who follows his son. As it turned out, no one took 4th place, since 3rd place was distributed to all athletes. Dad turns his attention to the newspaper, and Denis loses his good mood.

Tricky way

The story tells about Denis's mother, who is tired of washing dishes and asks to invent some way to make life easier, otherwise she refuses to feed Denis and his dad. The boy comes up with a clever way - he offers to eat from one device in turn. However, dad has a better option - he advises his son to help his mother and wash the dishes themselves.

Chicky kick

The work tells the story of Denis’s family, which is about to go out into nature. The boy takes Misha with him. The guys lean out of the train window and Denis’s dad shows various tricks to distract them. The father makes fun of Misha and rips his hat off his head. The boy is upset, thinking that it was blown off by the wind, but the great magician returns the item of clothing.

What I like and what I don't like

The story tells about what Deniska likes and doesn’t like. He loves to win at checkers, chess and dominoes, on a day off in the morning to climb into dad's bed, breathe through his nose into his mother's ear, watch TV, make phone calls, plan, saw and much more. Denis doesn’t like it when his parents go to the theater, get their teeth treated, lose, put on a new suit, eat soft-boiled eggs, and so on.

He fell on the grass

The story “He Fell on the Grass” tells about a nineteen-year-old young man Mitya Korolev, who, due to a childhood leg injury, was not drafted into the army, but joined the militia. He digs anti-tank ditches near Moscow together with his comrades: Leshka, Stepan Mikhalych, Seryozha Lyubomirov, Kazakh Baiseitov and others. At the end of the work, when the militias are waiting for the arrival Soviet army, unexpectedly they are attacked by German tanks. The survivors Mitya and Baiseitov reach their troops. The young man returns to Moscow and enlists in a partisan detachment.

Today and daily

The story “Today and Everyday” tells the story of the clown Nikolai Vetrov, who is able to make even the weakest person look gorgeous. circus program. But in real life It’s not easy and uncomfortable for an artist. His beloved woman is dating another man, and the clown realizes that a breakup is ahead. Having gathered with friends in a restaurant, the circus performer expresses the idea of his own destiny - to bring joy and laughter to children despite life's failures. He meets the aerial acrobat Irina, who is performing complex numbers. However, while performing the trick, the girl crashes and dies. Nikolai goes to the circus in Vladivostok.

Deniska's stories (with illustrations). To first grade

“It’s alive and glowing...”

Glory to Ivan Kozlovsky

Red ball in the blue sky

childhood friend

Enchanted letter

Victor Dragunsky "Knights"

Victor Dragunsky "Girl on a Ball"

Victor Dragunsky "The Glory of Ivan Kozlovsky"

Victor Dragunsky “You must have a sense of humor”

Deniska's stories

Englishman Paul

Watermelon Lane

Would

Where has this been seen, where has this been heard...

Goose throat

Twenty years under the bed

Girl on the Ball

childhood friend

Pets' corner

Enchanted letter

Healthy thought

Green leopards

How I visited Uncle Misha

Puss in Boots

Chicken bouillon

My friend the bear

Motorcycle racing on a vertical wall

You must have a sense of humor

Independent hump

One drop kills a horse

It's alive and glowing

Spyglass

A fire in an outbuilding, or a feat in the ice

The wheels sing - tra-ta-ta

Adventure

Workers crushing stone

Exactly 25 kilos

Knights

From top to bottom, diagonally!

My sister Ksenia

Glory to Ivan Kozlovsky

Elephant and radio

Battle of the Clean River

The secret becomes clear

Third place in butterfly style

Tricky way

Chicky kick

What I like and what I don't like

Other stories from the series “Deniska’s Stories”

He fell on the grass

Today and daily