"Tale of the Military Secret"

Page 7

At that very moment, the Chief Bourgeois was asking his bourgeois forces:

"Well, bourgeois, have you won victory?"

"No, Chief Bourgeois," the bourgeois forces answer. "We smashed the fathers and brothers, and victory was ours. But then the boy Kibalchish rushed up to help, and we just can't defeat him."

The Chief Bourgeois was greatly surprised and grew very angry. He shouted in a terrible voice:

"Is it possible that you can't defeat a boy? You worthless, cowardly bourgeois! How is it possible that you can't destroy so insignificant a creature? Go quickly, and don't come back without victory!"

The bourgeois sit and think, "What can we do?" Suddenly they see the boy Plokhish climb out of the bushes and come straight for them.

"Rejoice!" he shouts to them. "I, Plokhish, did it all. I cut wood, I piled up hay, I set fire to the boxes with the black bombs, white shells, and yellow cartridges. You'll hear them explode any moment now!"

Russian Version

© 2012 SovLit.net