Читаем Черная курица, или Подземные жители / The Black Hen полностью

Черная курица, или Подземные жители / The Black Hen

The black hen said some words. There were small candles everywhere again. Alyosha put on his clothes and followed Blacky. They went to the rooms of the old ladies again.

In the first room Alyosha saw the old tables and chairs again. There were many pictures on the walls too. But the people and animals in the pictures looked very strange.

"Their faces are so funny! Why are they doing it?" thought Alyosha. "I see. They're trying to make me do something silly." The boy turned away from them. In the second room he saw the old Dutch ladies again. They were in bed. The parrot and the cat looked at the boy, but Alyosha didn't stop. Then he saw two beautiful dolls on a table. He wanted to touch them. He remembered Blacky's words. So he didn't stop, but he smiled. The dolls jumped off the table at once and ran after him. Blacky turned and looked at Alyosha. She was angry. The boy ran up to the hen. The dolls followed them to the doors. Then they went back to their places.

Alyosha and Blacky went downstairs. They walked along the corridors and at last came into the hall. The knights were on the walls. Alyosha and Blacky came up to the door. At that moment two knights came from the wall and stopped them. But the knights didn't look angry. They looked sleepy.

Blacky became big and tall again. She beat the knights with her wings. And the knights … fell to pieces. Alyosha saw that they were in fact big pieces of metal! The door opened. Alyosha and Blacky entered another corridor. Then they opened a big gold door and came into another hall. It was very large.

"Alyosha! Please stay here," said Blacky. "Today you didn't touch anything. That's good. But you smiled at the dolls, and the knights came from the wall. You didn't wake the old ladies. So the knights were sleepy, and they couldn't fight with me."

After these words Blacky left the hall. Alyosha was alone. The hall was beautiful. There were wonderful pictures on the walls. At the end of the hall the boy saw a gold chair.

"I like it here very much.

Everything is so beautiful, but so small," he thought.

At that moment another gold door opened. A lot of people came into the hall. All the people were little like toys, but they were real. All of them had nice clothes and round hats. The little people didn't see Alyosha. They started walking around the hall and talking loudly. But Alyosha couldn't understand a word. At last he decided to ask somebody a question. Suddenly the big door at the end of the hall opened. Everyone stopped talking. All little people took off their hats.

The small candles became brighter than before. Twenty little knights came into the hall in pairs and stopped near the gold chair. Then a little man in a long green dress and a crown on his head entered the hall. He looked very important. Twenty little boys in red dresses followed the man.

"This must be the king," thought Alyosha.

The King sat down on the gold chair. Then he said something to one of the knights. The knight came up to Alyosha.

"Please, follow me," he said.

Alyosha came up to the King.

"I know all about you," said the King. "You are a good and kind boy. You also did a very good thing. I want to thank you for that. You saved my First Minister."

"When?" asked Alyosha.

"Oh, it was the day before yesterday. It happened in the yard," said the King. "Please, meet my First Minister."

Alyosha looked at a small man in black. There was a little red hat on his head. He smiled at Alyosha.

"I think I know him. But I didn't save any man," thought Alyosha.

"Sir!" he said. "The day before yesterday I saved our little black hen. Not your minister."

"What are you saying?!" said the King angrily. "My minister is not a hen!"

The minister came up to Alyosha. The boy looked at him again.

"Oh! You're my dear Blacky!" he said in a happy voice.