Идучи домой после прочтения сказки про Оле-Лукое, мне самой придумалась сказка. Записала ее на английском, чтобы почитать на ночь Э, но пусть она и тут будет, надеюсь вам понравится)))
The Rabbit and the Turkey TailPeople are remarkably good at eating meat, in fact, they are so good at it they hardly think of what is left of their meal once they've eaten it. But if you think a little, you will realise that for every piece of meat, there's a bone somewhere, whether it ends up bare and stripped of all covers on your plate, or somewhere else. Though good with imagining after-death for humans, people are not so good with imagining it for animals that they eat, but there is no need for concern now, dear reader, for it has already been very well worked out by animals themselves, and put on such a scale, that no one needs to worry about it now. Well, in most cases anyway, though of course, no system lets itself be perfect, for it must ever strive for perfection.
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A rabbit skeleton has found itself in a garbage bin and has just assembled itself in full order just in time for us to glimpse it in its full glory. Well, to anyone not accustomed to skeletons, it would be hard to tell if it was a rabbit, or some other kind of animal, for skeletons do not have long ears or fluffy tails or any other cute rabbit indicators, but the Rabbit (let us call the rabbit skeleton that, for the sake of simplicity at least) was quite sure who it was and where it was supposed to go. You see, all dead animals have a place they go to and live peacefully for some time, until their bones are worn and torn, and then they're given a new set of bones and everything that usually comes with them, so that the circle may ever repeat. So the Rabbit assembled himself in the night and was just about to begin his hop to the Great Rabbit Gates, when he realised his tail vertebrae were missing. He searched and searched around, and called them but they were nowhere to be seen. He then remembered that he has not had a tail for a very long time now and was not quite sure where in fact it could be, and even if it has ever been where tails are supposed to be in the first place. "Well, - thought the Rabbit, as the cold stars twinkled above the garbage bin - the tail is so small, no one is even going to notice I don't have one. After all, I'm not a monkey or a crocodile". He decided he would just hop through the Gates very quickly, so that the Commissioner would not have the time to notice anything suspicious.
And so he found himslef by the gates, with a few more rabbit skeletons hopping by and through the gates, and as he was just about to pass them himself, the Commissioner caught him with his hook and put him aside.
- You are not complete - said the Commissioner - so you cannot enter
- I feel quite complete - lied the Rabbit, for of course he felt the tail missing
- No, you are not and you do not, we both know it. And you will not pass the gates unless you find yourself a tail - and on this the Commissioner turned its back on the Rabbit and went back to watching the gates with both his eyes.
"Well, I might as well take a walk around, - said the Rabbit to himself - nothing to do here anyway..."
And so he hopped on to see how the other gates and animal crowds looked like. He was just standing between the Turkey and Geese gates, when he noticed someone by him. It was just a few little bones joined together with a small but colourful feather on the top. The Rabbit would have been sure it was just a piece of someone passing by, had he not heard a distinct sigh.
- Hello - said the Rabbit, just in case
- Hello - said the feathered bone
- Who are you? - asked the rabbit, looking more closely at the feather now
- I'm a Turkey Tail.
- And where is the rest of the set? They must be looking for you! - and the Rabbit looked around to see if anyone looked like they lost something, but the crowd just bustled by in an incessant flow.
- Oh no, no one is looking for me, I was left behind, you see. The Turkey who I belonged to had two tails from birth, but she never liked me as I was small and only grew one feather in my entire life. So now she left me behind and went through the gates as all the other turkey sets do - with just one tail.
- And there is nowhere else where you could go? - asked the Rabbit
- No. I could pretend to be a chicken tail, of course, as they have it all organised differently and any bones can be put together to form a set, as long as they are chicken bones and are enough in number, but for that I would have to get rid from that feather, and there is just no way I could do that, and even without the feather it still might not work.
- Well, I could probably tear it off you, if you want to try - said, the Rabbit
- No, thanks, I like it too much - said the Turkey Tail and waved its feather left and right, to show it was worth keeping - and why are you not through the gates?
- I am an incomplete set. See, the tail is missing, but I am not even sure I had it in the first place!
And they watched the geese disappear through the Geese Gate for a while.
- You know, said the Turkey Tail, I could be your tail.
- You think? You are a tail, of course, but not quite mine
- Well, is there anything in the rules specifying what kind of tail a rabbit set is supposed to have to pass through the gates?
- Not as far as I know - the Rabbit scratched its scull
- Well, then here is your tail!
And o that the Turkey Tail jumped up, cracked, waved its feather and attached to the last Rabbit's vertebra, just where the tail is supposed to be attached. The Rabbit waved it right and left, and up and down, and every time the tail moved smoothly and the feather moved beautifully with it. It even felt complete! In fact, the Rabbit was quite confident he could pass through the gates now.
In one hop he was by the Rabbit Gates and started his march through them. And this time no hook caught him and put him aside, though the Commissioner did give him a strange look, but the rabbit just waved him with his newly found feather. When he was on the other side of the gates, he looked back and the tail seemed to almost wave on his own.
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As the bones in the set are usually replaced like for like (unless you are a chicken, of course), you might still come across the rabbit with the turkey tail one day.
Я это вслух прочитал, и до чего же оно прекрасно звучит.
И я не думал, честно, не думал, что так можно писать на не родном языке, если ты не какой-нибудь Набоков. Можно.