Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. Stories for children

Information sheet:

The wonderful, cute fairy tales of Leo Tolstoy make an indelible impression on children. Little readers and listeners make unusual discoveries about living nature, which are given to them in a fairy-tale form. At the same time, they are interesting to read and easy to understand. For better perception, some of the author's previously written fairy tales were later released in processing.

Who is Leo Tolstoy?

He was a famous writer of his time and remains so today. He had an excellent education, knew foreign languages, and was fond of classical music. Traveled extensively throughout Europe and served in the Caucasus.

His original books were always published in large editions. Great novels and novellas, short stories and fables - the list of published works amazes with the richness of the author's literary talent. He wrote about love, war, heroism and patriotism. Personally participated in military battles. I saw a lot of grief and complete self-denial of soldiers and officers. He often spoke with bitterness not only about the material, but also about the spiritual poverty of the peasantry. And quite unexpected against the backdrop of his epic and social works were his wonderful creations for children.

Why did you start writing for children?

Count Tolstoy did a lot of charity work. On his estate he opened a free school for peasants. The desire to write for children arose when the first few poor children came to study. To open up the world around them, to teach them in simple language what is now called natural history, Tolstoy began to write fairy tales.

Why do they love the writer these days?

It turned out so well that even now, children of a completely different generation, enjoy the works of the 19th century count, learning love and kindness towards the world around us and animals. As in all literature, Leo Tolstoy was also talented in fairy tales and is loved by his readers.

Our ship was anchored off the coast of Africa. It was a beautiful day, a fresh wind was blowing from the sea; but in the evening the weather changed: it became stuffy and, as if from a heated stove, hot air from the Sahara desert was blowing towards us.

Before sunset, the captain came out onto the deck and shouted: “Swim!” - and in one minute the sailors jumped into the water, lowered the sail into the water, tied it and set up a bath in the sail.

There were two boys with us on the ship. The boys were the first to jump into the water, but they were cramped in the sail, and they decided to race against each other in the open sea.

Both, like lizards, stretched out in the water and, with all their strength, swam to the place where there was a barrel above the anchor.

The squirrel jumped from branch to branch and fell straight onto the sleepy wolf. The wolf jumped up and wanted to eat her. The squirrel began to ask:

- Let me in.

Wolf said:

- Okay, I’ll let you in, just tell me why you squirrels are so cheerful. I’m always bored, but I look at you, you’re up there all playing and jumping.

One man had a big house, and there was a big stove in the house; and this man’s family was small: only himself and his wife.

When winter came, a man began to light the stove and burned all his wood in one month. There was nothing to heat it with, and it was cold.

Then the man began to destroy the yard and drown it with wood from the broken yard. When he burned the entire yard, it became even colder in the house without protection, and there was nothing to heat it with. Then he climbed in, broke the roof and began to drown the roof; the house became even colder, and there was no firewood. Then the man began to dismantle the ceiling from the house in order to heat it with it.

A man was riding a boat and dropped precious pearls into the sea. The man returned to the shore, took a bucket and began to scoop up water and pour it onto the ground. He scooped and poured out for three days without tiring.

On the fourth day a merman came out of the sea and asked:

Why are you scooping?

The man says:

I realize that I dropped the pearl.

The merman asked:

Will you stop soon?

The man says:

When I dry up the sea, then I will stop.

Then the merman returned to the sea, brought those same pearls and gave them to the man.

There were two sisters: Volga and Vazuza. They began to argue about which of them was smarter and who would live better.

Volga said:

Why should we argue - we are both getting older. Let's leave the house tomorrow morning and go our separate ways; then we will see which of the two will go through better and come to the Khvalynsk kingdom sooner.

Vazuza agreed, but deceived Volga. As soon as the Volga fell asleep, Vazuza at night ran straight along the road to the Khvalynsk kingdom.

When Volga got up and saw that her sister had left, she quietly and quickly went her way and caught up with Vazuzu.

The wolf wanted to catch a sheep from the herd and went into the wind so that dust from the herd would blow on him.

The sheepdog saw him and said:

It’s in vain, wolf, that you walk in the dust, your eyes will hurt.

And the wolf says:

That’s the trouble, little dog, that my eyes have been hurting for a long time, but they say that dust from a flock of sheep heals my eyes well.

The wolf choked on a bone and could not breathe out. He called the crane and said:

Come on, you crane, you have a long neck, stick your head down my throat and pull out the bone: I will reward you.

The crane stuck his head in, pulled out a bone and said:

Give me a reward.

The wolf gritted his teeth and said:

Or is it not enough reward for you that I didn’t bite your head off when it was in my teeth?

The wolf wanted to get close to the foal. He approached the herd and said:

Why is your foal limping alone? Or do you not know how to heal? We wolves have such a medicine that there will never be lameness.

The mare is alone and says:

Do you know how to treat?

How can you not know?

So, treat my right hind leg, something in the hoof hurts.

Wolf and goat

The category is made up of Russian life, mainly from village life. Data on natural history and history are given in the simple form of fairy tales and artistic stories. Most stories deal with a moral theme, occupying only a few lines.

Stories and fairy tales, written Lvom Nikolaevich Tolstoy for textbooks, rich and varied in content; they represent a valuable contribution to domestic and world literature for children. Most of these fairy tales and stories are still in books for reading in primary school. It is reliably known how seriously he took Lev Tolstoy to writing little fairy tales for children, how much he worked on them, remaking the fairy tale many times. But the most important thing is Tolstoy's little stories the fact that their creator is concerned about the moral side and the topic of education. These stories contain hints from which one must be able to draw good, good, moral lessons.

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy often used a genre that everyone understood and loved fables, in which, through allegories, he unobtrusively and carefully presented completely different edifications and intricate morals. Stories and fairy tales on proverb topics Lev Tolstoy instill in the child hard work, courage, honesty and kindness. Representing a kind of small lesson - memorable and bright, fable or proverb teaches understanding of folk wisdom, learning figurative languages, and the ability to determine the value of human actions in a generalized form.

Three Bears How Uncle Semyon told about the fact that Cow Filipok was with him in the forest

THREE BEARS

Fairy tale

One girl left home for the forest. She got lost in the forest and began to look for the way home, but didn’t find it, but came to a house in the forest.

The door was open: she looked at the door, saw that there was no one in the house, and entered. Three bears lived in this house. One bear had a father, his name was Mikhail Ivanovich. He was big and shaggy. The other was a bear. She was smaller, and her name was Nastasya Petrovna. The third was a little bear cub, and his name was Mishutka. The bears were not at home, they went for a walk in the forest.

There were two rooms in the house: one was a dining room, the other was a bedroom. The girl entered the dining room and saw three cups of stew on the table. The first cup, a very large one, was from Mikhail Ivanovich. The second cup, smaller, was Nastasya Petrovnina’s; the third, blue cup, was Mishutkina. Next to each cup lay a spoon: large, medium and small.

The girl took the largest spoon and sipped from the largest cup; then she took a middle spoon and sipped from the middle cup, then she took a small spoon and sipped from the blue cup; and Mishutka’s stew seemed to her the best.

The girl wanted to sit down and saw three chairs at the table: one large, Mikhail Ivanovich’s, another smaller one, Nastasya Petrovnin’s, and a third, small one, with a blue cushion, Mishutkin’s. She climbed onto a large chair and fell; then she sat down on the middle chair, it was awkward on it, then she sat down on the small one
chair and laughed, it was so good. She took the blue cup on her lap and began to eat. She ate all the stew and began to rock in her chair.

The chair broke and she fell to the floor. She stood up, picked up the chair and went to another room. There were three beds there: one large - Mikhaily Ivanychev's, the other medium - Nastasya Petrovnina's, the third small - Mishenkina's. The girl lay down in the big one; it was too spacious for her; I lay down in the middle - it was too high; She lay down in the small bed - the bed was just right for her, and she fell asleep.

And the bears came home hungry and wanted to have dinner. The big bear took his cup, looked and roared in a terrible voice: “Who drank in my cup!”

Nastasya Petrovna looked at her cup and growled not so loudly: “Who was slurping in my cup!”

And Mishutka saw his empty cup and squeaked in a thin voice: “Who sipped in my cup and swallowed it all!”

Mikhailo Ivanovich looked at his chair and growled in a terrible voice: “Who was sitting on my chair and moved it from its place!”

Nastasya Petrovna looked at the empty chair and growled not so loudly: “Who was sitting on my chair and moved it from its place!”

Mishutka looked at his broken chair and squeaked: “Who sat on my chair and broke it!”

The bears came to another room. "Who lay in my bed and crushed it!" - Mikhailo Ivanovich roared in a terrible voice. "Who lay in my bed and crushed it!" - Nastasya Petrovna growled not so loudly. And Mishenka set up a small bench, climbed into his crib and squealed in a thin voice: “Who went to my bed!” And suddenly he saw a girl and screamed as if he was being cut: “Here she is! Hold it, hold it! Here she is! Here she is! Ay-yay! Hold it!”

He wanted to bite her. The girl opened her eyes, saw the bears and rushed to the window. The window was open, she jumped out the window and ran away. And the bears did not catch up with her.

HOW UNCLE SEMYON TOLD ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM IN THE FOREST

Story

One winter I went to the forest to pick trees, cut down three trees, cut off the branches, trimmed them, I saw it was too late, I had to go home. And the weather was bad: it was snowing and shallow. I think the night will take over and you won’t find the road. I drove the horse; I’m going, I’m going, I’m still not leaving. All forest. I think my fur coat is bad, I’ll freeze. I drove and drove, there was no road and it was dark. I was just about to unharness the sleigh and lie down under the sleigh, when I heard bells rattling nearby. I went to the bells, I saw three Savras horses, their manes were braided with ribbons, the bells were glowing and two young men were sitting.

Hello, brothers! - Great, man! - Where, brothers, is the road? - Yes, here we are on the road itself. - I went to them, I saw what a miracle - the road was smooth and unnoticed. “Follow us, they say,” and they urged the horses. My filly is bad, she can't keep up. I began to shout: wait, brothers! They stopped and laughed. - Sit down, they say, with us. It will be easier for your horse to be empty. - Thank you, I say. - I climbed into their sleigh. The sleigh is good, carpeted. As soon as I sat down, they whistled: well, you guys! The Savras horses curled up so that the snow was like a pillar. I see what a miracle it is. It became brighter, and the road was smooth as ice, and we were burning so hard that it took our breath away, only branches lashed us in the face. I felt really terrified. I look ahead: the mountain is very steep, and there is an abyss under the mountain. The Savras are flying straight into the abyss. I got scared and shouted: fathers! easier, you'll kill me! Where are they, they just laugh and whistle. I see it disappearing. Sleigh over the abyss. I see there is a branch above my head. Well, I think: disappear alone. He stood up, grabbed a branch and hung. I just hung there and shouted: hold it! And I also hear the women shouting: Uncle Semyon! What are you? Women, oh women! blow fire. Something bad is wrong with Uncle Semyon, he screams. They started the fire. I woke up. And I’m in the hut, I grabbed the floor with my hands, I’m hanging and screaming in an unlucky voice. And I saw it all in a dream.

COW

True story

The widow Marya lived with her mother and six children. They lived poorly. But with the last money they bought a brown cow so that there would be milk for the children. The older children fed Burenushka in the field and gave her slops at home. One day, the mother came out of the yard, and the eldest boy Misha reached for bread on the shelf, dropped a glass and broke it. Misha was afraid that his mother would scold him, so he picked up the large glasses from the glass, took them out into the yard and buried them in the manure, and picked up all the small glasses and threw them into the basin. The mother grabbed the glass and began to ask, but Misha didn’t say; and so the matter remained.

The next day, after lunch, the mother went to give Burenushka slops from the tub, she saw that Burenushka was boring and did not eat food. They began to treat the cow and called the grandmother. The grandmother said: the cow will not live, we must kill it for meat. They called a man and began to beat the cow. The children heard Burenushka roar in the yard. Everyone gathered on the stove and began to cry. When Burenushka was killed, skinned and cut into pieces, glass was found in her throat.

And they found out that she died because she got glass in the slop. When Misha found out this, he began to cry bitterly and confessed to his mother about the glass. The mother said nothing and began to cry herself. She said: we killed our Burenushka, now we have nothing to buy. How can small children live without milk? Misha began to cry even more and did not get off the stove while they ate the jelly from the cow's head. Every day in his dreams he saw Uncle Vasily carrying the dead, brown head of Burenushka by the horns with open eyes and red
neck. Since then the children have had no milk. Only on holidays there was milk, when Marya asked the neighbors for a pot. It happened that the lady of that village needed a nanny for her child. The old woman says to her daughter: let me go, I’ll go as a nanny, and maybe God will help you manage the children alone. And I, God willing, will earn enough for a cow a year. And so they did. The old lady went to the lady. And it became even harder for Marya with the children. And the children lived without milk for a whole year: they ate only jelly and tyurya and became thin and pale. A year passed, the old woman came home and brought twenty rubles. Well, daughter! He says, now let’s buy a cow. Marya was happy, all the children were happy. Marya and the old woman were going to the market to buy a cow. The neighbor was asked to stay with the children, and the neighbor, Uncle Zakhar, was asked to go with them to choose a cow. We prayed to God and went to the city. The children had lunch and went outside to see if the cow was being led. The children began to judge whether the cow would be brown or black. They began to talk about how they would feed her. They waited, waited all day. They went a mile away to meet the cow, it was getting dark, and they came back. Suddenly, they see: a grandmother is driving along the street in a cart, and a motley cow is walking at the rear wheel, tied by the horns, and the mother is walking behind, urging her on with a twig. The children ran up and began to look at the cow. They gathered bread and herbs and began to feed them. The mother went into the hut, undressed and went out into the yard with a towel and milk pan. She sat down under the cow and wiped the udder. God bless! began to milk the cow, and the children sat in a circle and watched as the milk splashed from the udder into the edge of the milk pan and whistled from under the mother’s fingers. The mother milked half the milk pan, took it to the cellar and poured a pot for the children for dinner.

FILIPOK

True story

There was a boy, his name was Philip. Once all the boys went to school. Philip took his hat and wanted to go too. But his mother said to him: where are you going, Filipok? - To school. “You’re still young, don’t go,” and his mother left him at home. The guys went to school. The father left for the forest in the morning, the mother went to work as a day laborer. Filipok and grandma remained in the hut on the stove. Filip became bored alone, his grandmother fell asleep, and he began to look for his hat. I couldn’t find mine, so I took my father’s old one and went to school.

The school was outside the village near the church. When Philip walked through his settlement, the dogs did not touch him, they knew him. But when he went out to other people’s yards, Zhuchka jumped out, barked, and behind Zhuchka was a large dog, Volchok. Filipok started to run, the dogs followed him. Filipok began to scream, tripped and fell. A man came out, drove the dogs away and said: where are you, little shooter, running alone? Filipok said nothing, picked up the floors and started running at full speed. He ran to the school. There is no one on the porch, but the voices of children can be heard buzzing in the school. Filip was filled with fear: what if the teacher chases me away? And he began to think what to do. To go back - the dog will eat again, to go to school - he is afraid of the teacher. A woman with a bucket walked past the school and said: everyone is studying, but why are you standing here? Filipok went to school. In the senets he took off his hat and opened the door. The whole school was full of children. Everyone shouted their own, and the teacher in a red scarf walked in the middle.

What are you doing? - he shouted at Filip. Filipok grabbed his hat and said nothing. - Who are you? - Filipok was silent. - Or are you dumb? - Filipok was so scared that he couldn’t speak. - Well, go home if you don’t want to talk. “And Filipok would be glad to say something, but his throat is dry from fear.” He looked at the teacher and began to cry. Then the teacher felt sorry for him. He stroked his head and asked the guys who this boy was.

This is Filipok, Kostyushkin’s brother, he has been asking to go to school for a long time, but his mother won’t let him, and he came to school on the sly.

Well, sit on the bench next to your brother, and I’ll ask your mother to let you go to school.

The teacher began to show Filipok the letters, but Filipok already knew them and could read a little.

Come on, put your name down. - Filipok said: hwe-i-hvi, -le-i-li, -peok-pok. - Everyone laughed.

Well done, said the teacher. -Who taught you to read?

Filipok dared and said: Kostyushka. I'm poor, I immediately understood everything. I am passionately so clever! - The teacher laughed and said: do you know prayers? - Filipok said; I know,” and the Mother of God began to say; but every word he spoke was wrong. The teacher stopped him and said: stop boasting, and learn.

Since then, Filipok began going to school with the children.

The great Russian writer Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy (1828–1910) loved children very much, and even more he loved talking to them.

He knew many fables, fairy tales, stories and stories that he enthusiastically told to children. Both his own grandchildren and peasant children listened to him with interest.

Having opened a school for peasant children in Yasnaya Polyana, Lev Nikolaevich himself taught there.

He wrote a textbook for the little ones and called it "ABC". The author's work, consisting of four volumes, was “beautiful, short, simple and, most importantly, clear” for children to understand.

Lion and mouse

The lion was sleeping. The mouse ran over his body. He woke up and caught her. The mouse began to ask him to let her in; She said:

If you let me in, I will do you good.

The lion laughed that the mouse promised to do good to him, and let it go.

Then the hunters caught the lion and tied it to a tree with a rope. The mouse heard the lion's roar, came running, chewed the rope and said:

Remember, you laughed, you didn’t think that I could do you any good, but now you see, sometimes good comes from a mouse.

How a thunderstorm caught me in the forest

When I was little, I was sent to the forest to pick mushrooms.

I reached the forest, picked mushrooms and wanted to go home. Suddenly it became dark, it began to rain and there was thunder.

I got scared and sat down under a large oak tree. Lightning flashed so brightly that it hurt my eyes and I closed my eyes.

Something crackled and rattled above my head; then something hit me in the head.

I fell and lay there until the rain stopped.

When I woke up, trees were dripping all over the forest, birds were singing and the sun was playing. A large oak tree broke and smoke came out of the stump. Oak secrets lay around me.

My dress was all wet and sticking to my body; there was a bump on my head and it hurt a little.

I found my hat, took the mushrooms and ran home.

There was no one at home, I took out some bread from the table and climbed onto the stove.

When I woke up, I saw from the stove that my mushrooms had been fried, put on the table and were already ready to eat.

I shouted: “What are you eating without me?” They say: “Why are you sleeping? Go quickly and eat.”

Sparrow and swallows

Once I stood in the yard and looked at a nest of swallows under the roof. Both swallows flew away in front of me, and the nest was left empty.

While they were away, a sparrow flew from the roof, jumped onto the nest, looked around, flapped its wings and darted into the nest; then he stuck his head out and chirped.

Soon after that, a swallow flew to the nest. She poked her head into the nest, but as soon as she saw the guest, she squeaked, beat her wings in place and flew away.

Sparrow sat and chirped.

Suddenly a herd of swallows flew in: all the swallows flew up to the nest, as if to look at the sparrow, and flew away again.

The sparrow was not shy, he turned his head and chirped.

The swallows again flew up to the nest, did something, and flew away again.

It was not for nothing that the swallows flew up: they each brought dirt in their beaks and little by little covered the hole in the nest.

Again the swallows flew away and came again, and covered the nest more and more, and the hole became tighter and tighter.

At first the sparrow's neck was visible, then only its head, then its nose, and then nothing became visible; The swallows completely covered him in the nest, flew away and began circling around the house whistling.

Two comrades

Two comrades were walking through the forest, and a bear jumped out at them.

One ran, climbed a tree and hid, while the other stayed on the road. He had nothing to do - he fell to the ground and pretended to be dead.

The bear came up to him and began to sniff: he stopped breathing.

The bear sniffed his face, thought he was dead, and walked away.

When the bear left, he climbed down from the tree and laughed.

Well, he says, did the bear speak into your ear?

And he told me that bad people are those who run away from their comrades in danger.

Liar

The boy was guarding the sheep and, as if he saw a wolf, began to call:

Help, wolf! Wolf!

The men came running and saw: it’s not true. As he did this two and three times, it happened that a wolf actually came running. The boy began to shout:

Come here, come quickly, wolf!

The men thought that he was deceiving again as always - they did not listen to him. The wolf sees that there is nothing to be afraid of: he has slaughtered the entire herd in the open.

Hunter and Quail

A quail got caught in a hunter's net and began to ask the hunter to let him go.

Just let me go,” he says, “I’ll serve you.” I'll lure you other quails into the net.

Well, the quail,” said the hunter, “wouldn’t have let you in anyway, and now even more so.” I’ll turn my head for wanting to hand over your own people.

Girl and mushrooms

Two girls were walking home with mushrooms.

They had to cross the railway.

They thought the car was far away, so they climbed up the embankment and walked across the rails.

Suddenly a car made noise. The older girl ran back, and the younger girl ran across the road.

The older girl shouted to her sister: “Don’t go back!”

But the car was so close and made such a loud noise that the smaller girl did not hear; she thought that she was being told to run back. She ran back across the rails, tripped, dropped the mushrooms and began to pick them up.

The car was already close, and the driver whistled as hard as he could.

The older girl shouted: “Throw away the mushrooms!”, and the little girl thought that she was being told to pick mushrooms, and crawled along the road.

The driver could not hold the cars. She whistled as hard as she could and ran into the girl.

The older girl screamed and cried. All the passengers looked from the windows of the cars, and the conductor ran to the end of the train to see what had happened to the girl.

When the train passed, everyone saw that the girl was lying head down between the rails and not moving.

Then, when the train had already moved far, the girl raised her head, jumped on her knees, picked mushrooms and ran to her sister.

Old grandfather and grandson

(Fable)

Grandfather became very old. His legs did not walk, his eyes did not see, his ears did not hear, he had no teeth. And when he ate, it flowed backwards from his mouth.

His son and daughter-in-law stopped sitting him at the table and let him dine at the stove. They brought him lunch in a cup. He wanted to move it, but he dropped it and broke it.

The daughter-in-law began to scold the old man for ruining everything in the house and breaking cups, and said that now she would give him dinner in a basin.

The old man just sighed and said nothing.

One day a husband and wife are sitting at home and watching - their little son is playing on the floor with planks - he is working on something.

The father asked: “What are you doing this, Misha?” And Misha said: “It’s me, father, who’s making the tub. When you and your mother are too old to feed you from this tub.”

The husband and wife looked at each other and began to cry.

They felt ashamed that they had offended the old man so much; and from then on they began to sit him at the table and look after him.

Little mouse

The mouse went out for a walk. She walked around the yard and came back to her mother.

Well, mother, I saw two animals. One is scary and the other is kind.

Mother asked:

Tell me, what kind of animals are these?

The mouse said:

One is scary - his legs are black, his crest is red, his eyes are protruding, and his nose is hooked. When I walked past, he opened his mouth, raised his leg and began screaming so loudly that out of fear I did not know where to go.

This is a rooster, said the old mouse, he does no harm to anyone, don’t be afraid of him. Well, what about the other animal?

The other was lying in the sun and warming himself. His neck was white, his legs were gray and smooth. He was licking his white chest and moving his tail slightly, looking at me.

The old mouse said:

Stupid, you are stupid. After all, it's the cat itself.

Two guys

Two men were driving: one to the city, the other from the city.

They hit each other with the sleigh. One shouts:

Give me the way, I need to get to the city quickly.

And the other shouts:

Give me the way. I need to go home soon.

And the third man saw and said:

Whoever needs it quickly, put it back.

Poor man and rich man

In one house they lived: upstairs was a rich gentleman, and downstairs was a poor tailor.

The tailor kept singing songs while working and disturbed the master's sleep.

The master gave the tailor a bag of money so that he would not sing.

The tailor became rich and kept his money safe, but he no longer began to sing.

And he became bored. He took the money and brought it back to the master and said:

Take your money back, and let me sing the songs. And then melancholy came over me.

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy

Stories about children

The boy was guarding the sheep and, as if seeing a wolf, began to call:

Help, wolf! Wolf!

The men came running and saw: it’s not true. As he did this two and three times, it happened that a wolf actually came running.

The boy began to shout:

Come here, come quickly, wolf!

The men thought that he was deceiving again as always - they did not listen to him.

The wolf sees that there is nothing to be afraid of: he has slaughtered the entire herd in the open.

HOW AUNT TALKED ABOUT HOW SHE LEARNED TO SEW

When I was six years old, I asked my mother to let me sew. She said: “You’re still young, you’ll only prick your fingers,” and I kept pestering her.

Mother took a red piece of paper from the chest and gave it to me; then she threaded a red thread into the needle and showed me how to hold it.

I began to sew, but could not make even stitches; one stitch came out large, and the other hit the very edge and broke through. Then I pricked my finger and tried not to cry, but my mother asked me: “What are you doing?” - I couldn’t resist and cried. Then my mother told me to go play.

When I went to bed, I kept imagining stitches; I kept thinking about how I could quickly learn to sew, and it seemed so difficult to me that I would never learn.

And now I’ve grown up and don’t remember how I learned to sew; and when I teach my girl to sew, I’m surprised how she can’t hold a needle.

HOW A BOY TALKED ABOUT HOW A STORM CAUGHT HIM IN THE FOREST

When I was little, I was sent to the forest to pick mushrooms. I reached the forest, picked mushrooms and wanted to go home. Suddenly it became dark, it began to rain and there was thunder. I got scared and sat down under a large oak tree. Lightning flashed, so bright that it hurt my eyes, and I closed my eyes. Something crackled and rattled above my head; then something hit me in the head. I fell and lay there until the rain stopped. When I woke up, trees were dripping all over the forest, birds were singing and the sun was playing. A large oak tree broke and smoke came out of the stump. There were oak scraps lying around me. The dress I was wearing was all wet and sticking to my body; there was a bump on my head and it hurt a little. I found my hat, took the mushrooms and ran home. There was no one at home; I got some bread from the table and climbed onto the stove. When I woke up, I saw from the stove that my mushrooms had been fried, put on the table and were already ready to eat. I shouted: “What are you eating without me?” They say: “Why are you sleeping? Go quickly and eat.”

BONE

The mother bought plums and wanted to give them to the children after dinner. They were still on the plate. Vanya never ate plums and kept smelling them. And he really liked them. I really wanted to eat it. He kept walking past the plums. When there was no one in the upper room, he could not resist, grabbed one plum and ate it. Before dinner, the mother counted the plums and saw that one was missing. She told her father.

At dinner my father says:

Well, children, did anyone eat one plum?

Everyone said:

Vanya blushed like a lobster and said too:

No, I didn't eat.

Then the father said:

What any of you has eaten is not good; but that’s not the problem. The trouble is that plums have seeds, and if someone doesn’t know how to eat them and swallows a seed, he will die within a day. I'm afraid of this.

Vanya turned pale and said:

No, I threw the bone out the window.

And everyone laughed, and Vanya began to cry.

GIRL AND MUSHROOMS

Two girls were walking home with mushrooms.

They had to cross the railway.

They thought the car was far away, so they climbed up the embankment and walked across the rails.

Suddenly a car made noise. The older girl ran back, and the smaller one ran across the road.

The older girl shouted to her sister:

"Don't go back!"

But the car was so close and made such a loud noise that the smaller girl did not hear; she thought that she was being told to run back. She ran back across the rails, tripped, dropped the mushrooms and began to pick them up.

The car was already close, and the driver whistled as hard as he could.

The older girl shouted:

“Throw the mushrooms!”, and the little girl thought that she was being told to pick mushrooms, and crawled along the road.

The driver could not hold the cars. She whistled as hard as she could and ran into the girl.

The older girl screamed and cried. All the passengers looked from the windows of the cars, and the conductor ran to the end of the train to see what had happened to the girl.

When the train passed, everyone saw that the girl was lying head down between the rails and not moving.

Then, when the train had already moved far, the girl raised her head, jumped on her knees, picked mushrooms and ran to her sister.

HOW A BOY TELLED ABOUT HOW HE FOUND QUEEN BEES TO GRANDFATHER

My grandfather lived in a bee yard in the summer. When I visited him, he gave me honey.

One day I came to the beekeeping area and began walking between the hives. I wasn’t afraid of bees, because my grandfather taught me to walk quietly through the fire pit.

And the bees got used to me and didn’t bite me. In one hive I heard something clucking.

I came to my grandfather’s hut and told him.

He went with me, listened for himself and said:

One swarm has already flown out of this hive, the first one, with an old queen; and now the young queens have hatched. They are the ones screaming. They will fly out tomorrow with another swarm.

I asked my grandfather:

What kind of uterus are there?

He said:

Come tomorrow; God willing, it will be restored, I will show you and give you honey.

When I came to my grandfather the next day, he had two closed swarms with bees hanging in his entryway. Grandfather told me to put on a net and tied a scarf around my neck; then he took one closed hive with bees and carried it to the beeyard. The bees were buzzing in it. I was afraid of them and hid my hands in my trousers; but I wanted to see the uterus, and I followed my grandfather.

At the fire pit, the grandfather went up to the empty log, adjusted the trough, opened the sieve and shook the bees out of it onto the trough. The bees crawled along the trough into the log and kept trumpeting, and the grandfather moved them with a broom.

And here is the uterus! - Grandfather pointed to me with a broom, and I saw a long bee with short wings. She crawled with the others and disappeared.

Then my grandfather took off the net from me and went into the hut. There he gave me a large piece of honey, I ate it and smeared it on my cheeks and hands.