"Valentin Katayev. Rainbow-Flower (англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

vase!"
"Oh, no, Mummie! I didn't break anything!" Zhenya shouted. She
quickly tore off the red petal, threw it up and whispered:

Fly, petal, oh-
East to West you go.
Then North to South
And turn about.
Touch the ground, do,
Make my wish come true.
MAKE MUMMIE'S BEST VASE WHOLE AGAIN!

No sooner were the words out of her mouth than the tiny pieces began
moving towards each other and fitting themselves together.
Her mother came in from the kitchen - and there was her favourite
vase sitting prettily on the top shelf as always! Zhenya's mother shook
her finger at her, just in case, you know, and sent her out to play in the
yard.
When Zhenya went outside she saw the boys in the yard were playing -
they were Arctic explorers. They were sitting on a pile of old boards and
had a stick stuck into the sand nearby.

"Can I play, too?" she asked.
"Ha! Of course not. Can't you see, this is the North Pole! We don't
take girls along to the North Pole."
"That's not the North Pole, it's only a pile of boards."
"It's not boards, it's ice floes. Go away and don't bother us! Can't
you see the ice is beginning to crack?"


"Then you won't let me play?"
"No. Go away!"
"Think I care? I can get to the North Pole without any of you. Only
it won't be this awful pile of boards, it'll be the real North Pole. So
there!" Zhenya went off into a corner of the yard, took the rainbow-flower
from her pocket, tore off the blue petal, threw it up and said:

Fly, petal, oh-
East to West you go.
Then North to South
And turn about.
Touch the ground, do,
Make my wish come true.
MAKE ME BE AT THE NORTH POLE THIS MINUTE !

No sooner were the words out of her mouth than suddenly a terrible
blizzard was howling all around, the sun disappeared, everything became
black, and the earth spun around under her feet like a top.
Zhenya found herself all alone at the North Pole, in her little
summer dress and nothing on her bare feet but sandals: And the frost was