Сказки дедушки Ралота. Учим наших детей иностранным языкам. Александр Ралот
read and reread many times.
– What does our grandpa do? Mary asks.
– He’s a writer! – George immediately answers his sister’s question and continues, – it’s a child’s play for our grandfather to make up a fairy tale. Tell us something tottaly new today that none of the guys have heard before.
– I wonder who do you want me to concoct a fairy tale about? – I grumbled, naively believing that the kids, having run all day long, will fall asleep without any help on my part.
– Tell us about him, – the granddaughter points with her finger at a small firefly that has flown into the room through the open window.
– About him, then? I asked not taking my eyes off the flying insect performing aerobatics under the ceiling.
– Yeah! And also about the mantis, and about the spider, and about bees, and about the fly, and about the ant, and about the ladybird, my little listeners began to name all sorts of bugs they knew all together.
– Oh, really! I interrupted their duet, – then get a scary fairy tale. You asked for it!
Mary and George have pulled the duvets up to their noses, but they are not going to close their curious eyes. The fidgets are expecting something interesting and mysterious.
– * In ancient Greek mythology Sisyphus, the Corinthian tsar, who was condemned by gods and had to roll uphill a heavy stone, and every time it rolled down from the top of the mountain.
– **In Greek mythology Morpheus is the god of dreams.
The first evening. Firefly Floky
– Mom, Dad, why do we glow in the dark? Everyone can see us from the distance! Any predator is sure to notice us at once, crawl or come flying and devour us, – firefly Floky crossed her two upper paws on the chest and stared at her parents.
The firefly’s mother did not answer her daughter’s question. As always, she was busy doing chores, and right now she was preparing a delicious salad of juicy leaves for the whole family. Her father started scratching the back of his head with all his four paws. However, in about five minutes, he still replied:
– You see, we, fireflies, are very brave insects by nature! And we are ever ready to sacrifice our health and even our lives to show the way to our fellows who got lost in the dark in the forest.
– And we are also very beautiful and unusual, – the mother butted in on the conversation, putting a large plate that smelt delicious on the table, – Floky, come up to the dew-drop and look at yourself.
– Nothing special. Antennae, wings. Other fireflies look adsolutely the same, she turned a leaf with a drop of water in her paws, gazing at herself from every point of view.
– Well no. Other insects call fireflies little suns! – the mother came up to Floky and gently stroked her head, – Let’s go to dinner. It’s time to fly out to work very soon.
A few minutes later, the father, patting his belly with a pair of his paws, pointed the other four in the direction of a distant cloud.
– It will be here pretty soon and it will turn into a big black cloud. A terrible downpour is going to fall from it to the ground. And what does this mean?
Floky spread all her thin paws not knowing what to say.
– My little one, it means that your mom and I need to move urgently the larvae to a dry place, I mean your future brothers and sisters. Today you will have to go to the clearing on your own and shine a light there so that all the bugs could get to their burrows and crevices as soon as possible and wouldn’t drown in the terrible cold water pouring from the sky.
The father was going to add something else, but Floky wasn’t listening to him any longer. With a cry «Hooray, I’ve finally grown up and I am already an adult», she spread her wings and soared into the sky, hurrying to perform the important task that her parents entrusted to her for the first time.
Вечер второй. Богомол
Чудо хищное, а ноги,
как рога, но не велик.
Вот поэтому и строгий
богомол по кличке Злик.
Хорошо, что утром ранним
подружился с муравьём
на лесной большой поляне
и с подружкой-светлячком.
***
Сегодня богомол Злик стал ярко-зелёным. Вообще-то, он умел мгновенно окрашивать свою хитиновую4 одежду в любой цвет, чтобы слиться с окружающей средой, стать невидимым и незаметным для тех, на кого он охотился. Но сейчас он позеленел от злости, а всё потому, что хотел есть.
За весь день он не смог поймать ни одной, даже самой маленькой мошки, и виной тому была огромная туча, закрывшая половину неба. Вся вкусная мелочь куда-то попряталась и не желала ползать, летать и резвиться.
Оставалось только одно – пойти на поляну, к дому, где живут великаны-люди и пугать их пушистого котёнка. Конечно же, этот зверь в сто раз больше самого крупного богомола, но так забавно фыркает и пускается наутёк, когда Злик становится на задние лапы, а передними хватательными клешнями начинает размахивать из стороны в сторону, что упустить такое удовольствие было просто грешно. Злик не понимал, что котёнок Черныш нисколечко не боялся богомола, он просто не знал как себя с ним вести. Прихлопнуть лапкой или сразу укусить. А мама-кошка учила никогда не связывайся с тем, что тебе пока ещё непонятно. Лучше убежать, вдруг оно ядовитое!
***
Придя на поляну, Злик котёнка не нашёл, зато увидел
– Это название верхнего и самого тонкого слоя кожи у беспозвоночных (например, у насекомых)