"Lev Kassil. The black book and Schwambrania (англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

A BELATED INTRODUCTION


Schwambrania was a land of volcanic origin.
Red-hot growing forces boiled and bubbled within us. They were held in
check by the stiff, rock-bound structure of our family and of the society in
which we lived.
There was so much we wanted to know and still more that we wanted to
learn how to do. But our teachers would only let us know as much as could be
found in our schoolbooks and in silly children's stories, and we did not
really know how to do anything, because we had never been taught to.
We wanted to be a part of the adult world, but we were told to go and
play with our tin soldiers if we didn't want to get into trouble with our
parents, teachers or the police.
There were many people in our town. They hurried up and down the
streets and often came into our yard, but we were only allowed to associate
with the people our elders approved of.
My brother and I played Schwambrania for several years. It became our
second country and was a mighty nation. The Revolution, that stern teacher
and excellent educator, helped us to overcome our old ties, and we finally
abandoned the tinfoil ruins of Schwambrania forever.
I have saved our "Schwambranian letters" and maps, the plans of our
military campaigns and sketches of the flag and coat-of-arms. I have
referred to them to freshen my recollections while writing this book. It is
the story of Schwambrania, with tales about the travels of many
Schwambranians and our own adventures there, as well as many other events.

GEOGRAPHY


"But the earth still turns-if you
don't believe me, sit on your
very own buttocks-and
slide!"
Mayakovsky


Just like any other country, Schwambrania had a terrain, a climate,
flora, fauna and population all its own.
Oska made the first map of Schwambrania. He copied a large molar tooth
from a dentist's ad he had seen, and since it had three roots it at once
resembled a tulip, the crown of the Nibelungs and an upside-down "M", the
letter we had added to the middle of the name of our new country. It was
very tempting to see some special meaning in this and we did: we decided it
was a wisdom tooth, signifying the wisdom of the Schwambranians. Thus, the
new country's contours resembled a wisdom tooth. The surrounding ocean was
dotted with islands and blots, but I must say that the ink-spots were
truthfully marked as such: "Not an iland, an erer". The ocean was marked
"Oshen". Oska drew wavy lines and inscribed them "waves". Then he marked the