Somewhere in the Enchanted world, not far from the Harvest Tree, Big Booms lived. He was called in this manner because of he was taller and bigger than all the other inhabitants of the Enchanted world. Also, he was Booms through his clumsiness and especial ability to break everything around.
As soon as he began to do something immediately aroused noise and crackling, and everything around was broken. Going across the forest, he could see everyone scattered being afraid to get under his feet, so that Big Booms was confident that he was the only one great creature in the Enchanted World. It made the dragon feeling himself very alone.
Actually, he was very kind and joyful, although being considered as a vicious and awful. Only one look at his sharp teeth, paws with bent long claws and very loud voice cost a lot. However, there was nothing wrong because Big Booms was a dragon.
For the time being no one including himself knew nothing of his cheerful character. Due to his great height he didn"t notice masses of beings around, so that he"s never played funny games with them.
Not far from The Speaking Lake lived Imedin. Industrious Imedin created his strange name himself, he liked it much. Compared to Booms, he was rather small. Imedin was slender, his body was covered with brown fur. His strong legs were attached to the body as well as his dexterous hands. That hands were always in work. They were stocking up the Stock.
Being required by his neighbors about his numerous belongings, Imedin shrugged in response. If something might have happened, everything would be right thanks to his Stock! It could help to go through the Dark Ages. True, Imedin knew nothing of it but felt as if he was aware of it.
He didn"t make friends with the rest inhabitants of the Enchanted World but never quarreled with them. Imedin didn"t need friends because he lived on the shore of the Talking Lake! When Imedin approached the water, the Lake was showing him funny pictures and telling droll stories. The fluffy animal made a high fence around the lake, made a gate and hung a big lock upon it. He did not allow anyone to go close to the water just for nothing. To talk to the Lake one needed to cast a Heavenly Glitter to the water. A grief could have happened if not doing that but he didn"t know what the grief it was. Imedin has never been curious, he was content with the fact that there were The Rules. Also, he knew that Invisible Artist was living on the bottom of the Lake, the one who raised up to the sky to festoon it with Heavenly Glitters.
Heavenly Glitters were going down through the sky when Invisible Artist changed the picture. Every morning the inhabitants of the Enchanted World set out for the search, and then went to Imedin to talk to the Lake. Imedin checked whether the visitor had a Glitter and only after that opened the lock with a large key. When the Glitters were throwing into the water, the Lake rejoiced and told funny stories.
Imedin was afraid that the Heavenly Glitters could end, so he made another Stock. Every morning he zealously searched for the shiny pieces of sky in the grass, finding much more than all the others. Imedin made a deep hole in the ground, covered it with petals of flowers and put his finds there. Imedin covered the little pit with leaves, so that no one could guess what lay there.
A lot of sparkles brought Kuzyoba. She knew how to fly, because it was good to see from above. Having found the next piece of the sky, Kuzyoba put it in a pocket on her tummy. The pocket was fastened with a button, which often came off. Kuzyoba was very neat, she washed and brushed every day.
But sometimes she was forgetting to sew it down in time. Kuzyoba had wings, but she only fluttered from branch to branch, rarely rising above the trees. Most of all in the world Kuzyoba liked to look to the water of the Speaking Lake and admire her own reflection.
Kuzyoba made friends only with the Harmful Fly. Girlfriends constantly swore, quarreled, and even sometimes fought, but after that reconciled and enjoyed playing together. They had strange games. They threw garbage into the water of the Singing River, which made River Monkeys greatly upset. Also mischief-makers liked to wake up Sleepies during their recreation hours making them jumping and yelling, exploding and preventing the others from sleeping.
Inhabitants of the Enchanted World could do nothing with nasty girlfriends. Being asked not to do that they only laughed. It seemed impossible to catch them as no one could fly in the Enchanted World.
Both Kuzyoba and the Harmful Fly were very fond of teasing Sleepies. Sleepies, they are like pumpkins with six thin tails and triangular eyes on the vertex. The inhabitants of the Enchanted World could not decide for a long time whether the Sleepies were plants or not. Maybe some sort of animals?
Were they able to do something useful and interesting? True, Sleepies weren"t interested in anything, they loved to render little explosions, tearing themselves apart and making terrible noise. Pieces of Sleepies got to soil giving birth to the new Sleepies. Because of that everyone was confident that Sleepies are plants, rather useless out of their silly temper.
Intently, Kuzyoba and Harmful Fly carried Sleepies to the most unexpected places. After that girlfriends laughed for a while watching Imedin or Oiki or maybe someone else trembled by explosions of a ripe Sleepie beneath one"s foot. In was useless to catch up pranksters, they flew up on tops of trees.
Yet, there was another creature with wings - Oiki. Her wings were big and strong. When he ran through the forest it seemed that he was able to fly. But he himself considered his wings too thin to fly being afraid of they could torn away.
Oiki didn"t fly but never was disappointed of that. He could run so fast so that he"d never dreamt of heaven. He had no time to think about flies - he watched a cave near the Big Hill. Oiki was confident of the fact that there lived the Fearful Fear. Also, Oiki knew well that that substance couldn"t been admitted to enter the forest. Oiki gathered stones all days long to close the entranceway to the cave in order The Fear couldn"t get out of there. Each night he couldn"t fall asleep being afraid that the Fear might break the stone obstacle. It was partially true - in the morning the stone fence was partway broken.
Frightened, Oiki ran by the Enchanted World asking all around if someone saw the Fear. Only after it was cleared out that there was no the Fearful Fear, Oiki calmed and started to restore his face spoilt by the fearful thoughts.
In his free time Oiki worked on a sunflower field. He loved seeds much. Oiki lived in the nest under roots of a tree which couldn"t grow in the ground as all normal plants. It hangs over the land having its roots dry. It also had neither leaves no flowers that"s why it was called the Bizarre Tree.
And, if you don"t know, Bluke and Fi-fi-fi lived in the Forest. Dosser was sitting in a swamp. On the strawberry glade you could always meet clever Pufic. But Big Booms wasn"t aware of that all. From the greatness of his height he couldn"t notice anyone. More to that, he"s never looked under his feet.
The Harvest Tree helped Booms with its apples. He had a hearty breakfast and suddenly, for the first time in his life, he looked at his feet. Right on the ground laid an amazing Beautiful Flower. Her petals were dazzling white, and the core - sky blue. This flower had neither a stem nor roots.
"Perhaps the wind brought you at night," decided Big Booms
"I'm so small and fragile," cried the Flower, "I'm scared and cold. And I'm hungry."
Big Booms bent down, gently wrapped the white petals with thick fingers and lifted the poor thing. He sat in the shadow of the Harvest Tree, admiring the Beautiful Flower. This occupation seemed more interesting to him than dinner, breakfast and supper. The flower flashed coquettishly with her blue eye. Petals, white as if molded from plasticine, fluttered joyfully.
And then Big Booms felt that something painfully pricked him. He lifted his paw closer to his eyes, gently lifted the white petals and froze in surprise: a large spike, like a sharp fang, was hidden beneath the petals. And this spike was so strong that he could pierce the solid scales that covered the whole body of Booms.
The dragon wanted to pull the spike out, but the Beautiful Flower blinked sadly with a blue eye and cried. Big Booms thought that the pain from a small splinter is weak, and the happiness that he feels when he contemplates the Beautiful Flower is huge. So that he did not pull out the thorn from his palm. After all, if he"d pulled it out, the flower could take umbrage and leave him.
So he was sitting, admiring the flower, until the next harvest was ripe. The Harvest Tree productively sprang up, shook the branches, and ripe, yellow bananas fell down.
Big Booms felt hungry. He did not want to tear himself away from the contemplation of a beautiful flower to have his hearty breakfast, but the food was more important to him. Then, he sat down at his former place, stroking his rounded stomach with pleasure. He wanted to take a nap, but suddenly he remembered about the Beautiful Flower and froze.
"Horrible!" exclaimed the dragon. "After all, when I ate bananas, I completely forgot about my little friend! What if my movements could damage her tender petals?"
The dragon looked at Flower and sighed with relief - she was intact. Moreover, the Beautiful Flower released a long thin stem, then another, and more.
"Maybe, these new shoots will produce new Beautiful Flowers?" thought Big Booms and prepared to watch the Miracle. He even held his breath, being afraid to miss the moment when new colors appeared. He imagined the crackling of opening buds and the joyful exclamations of the Beautiful Flower. But instead a plaintive groan sounded.
"I'm hungry," the Beautiful Flower claimed.
"How can I feed you, baby?" asked Booms.
"Eat yourself first," said the Flower.
"But I just ate," Big Booms replied. "That's enough for me."
"It only seems to you that it is enough," answered the Beautiful Flower. "Now you need a lot more food, because you now have me!"
Big Booms listened to his feelings and realized that the Beautiful Flower is right. He was hungry again, as if he had not just eaten a mountain of bananas. The dragon carefully walked around the tree and picked up a few previously unseen fruits.
He ate one banana - new leaves appeared on the stems. He ate another - and the stems became larger. And the third was eaten - the stems were longer and wrapped around his entire paw. But the Beautiful Flower required more food. He cried no more, he was angry. Big Booms thought that it was necessary to transplant the Flower to the soil, so that it would draw strength from it and grow just like all other plants.
"Other plants are not as beautiful as I am," said the Beautiful Flower. "Will you put me in this dirty, damp ground and force me to work, growing the roots? Do you want me to become as ugly as the other flowers? So that I become ordinary and cease to be a Perfect Flower?"
Big Booms did not want this. He got up, looked under the tree and found some yesterday's oranges. When Booms bent down to pick up orange fruit, he felt dizzy.
"It's because of hunger," the Flower prompted. "I'm hungry, and so are you. After all, we are the one, which means that I feel, and you are experiencing the same thing!"
"I feel that you need to learn how to find food yourself!" said Big Booms, but the Beautiful Flower did not listen to him. She was offended and shut her blue eyes with petals, as if she was going to cry.
The Beautiful Flower was the Parasite. Parasites are such creatures that are lazy to run fast, cannot stand work and want everything to be done for them by others. Anyone can become a parasite if he suddenly falls ill with Laziness.
The dragon did not know that he was in great danger. After all, the Parasite eats all the tastiest, leaving nothing to the one who cares about it. The fact, that the Flower is hungry again, should have alerted Big Booms. But Booms did not want to think, he only wanted to sit under a tree and admire the flower. However, Booms noticed that he was very weak, but he also did not attach any importance to this.
"I am hungry! I want to eat!" The Flower shouted loudly.
"Be patient before dinner," Big Booms persuaded her. "Now I have nothing."
"Then I'll leave you," the Beautiful Flower threatened.
Big Booms leaned against the trunk and wept bitterly. But the Flower still asked for food, threatening to leave him and Big Booms will no longer have a friend.
A tree felt sorry for Booms. It prepared the whole daytime harvest of fruits and shook its branches, dropping food to the unfortunate dragon. After that Big Boom"s stomach has grown great, but he remained powerless. He could only open his eyes to admire the Beautiful Flower.
The flower became prettier. The snow-white petals were filled with strength, increasing constantly. The stems became thick. The thin green skin that covered them before, turned into a strong brown bark, making them look like creepers. The flower produced more and more sprouts that clung to the dragon, braiding him like a mesh.
"What is it, how it turns out?" whispered Booms in a weak voice. "I love my Flower so much that I am growing fond of it. This means that I will be wooden. I'll turn into a tree. And I will have roots ... How can I avoid it?"
Then Booms realized that he would not be able to eat fruit either. Soon the vines will weave him so thickly that he is being unpossible to open his mouth.
"How unhappy I am," whispered Big Booms, and wept bitterly.
"So what?" the Beautiful Flower answered indifferently. "You're so big that you should live long enough."
"What's next?"
"I'll pull out my spike and fall into the grass. I'm so beautiful that someone else will pick me up."
"And what about me?" Big Booms asked. He could not believe that such a beautiful creature could be so cruel.
"And you will be a tree. Your roots will grow back, you'll cover with leaves, maybe you'll even bloom ... Ha-ha-ha !!! But no, hardly ... No other creature, after I turned it into a tree, give flowers. For this you need to rejoice, and what joy can it be to stand still, remembering that recently you could run and jump ?!"
"Don"t you feel pity for me at all?" Big Booms sobbed.
"No. Remain a tree," answered the Beautiful Flower. "And then, I will never leave you. As for now, you can keep on admiring my beauty. Ha-ha! As yet you are not quite a tree!"
Since then Big Booms slowly began to turn into a tree. At first his paws stiffened, and then the creepers clung to his whole body. Only Booms's big heart kept beating. Booms felt it contracting from grief. His eyes still could see. The flower liked being admired and watched, so she didn"t close the eyes of Big Booms with lianas.
Big Booms was crying, but now he could not even wipe away his tears. His wooden paws remained motionless.
The evil Beautiful Flower was hungry again.
"If you do not feed me, I'll make your heart wooden," she said, threateningly sparkling with a blue eye.
"But if my heart becomes wooden, I can"t rejoice ..." Big Booms was horrified.
"Yes," the Flower agreed, "but you will not be grieved either."
"But if my heart becomes wooden, how will I go on loving you?"
"But you will not hate me when I leave you," replied the Flower. "So you will not hurt me."
"Do not leave me, Beautiful Flower!" Big Booms begged. "I will find strength and eat something!"
But on the Harvest Tree there was nothing left. Big Booms prepared to roar from grief, when he suddenly remembered an incomprehensible fruit with a long spike that grew on the very tip of the Harvest Tree. The dragon gathered his last strength and pushed the tree with his back. And - hurray! - strange fruit pulled away from the branch and flew down. The Иeautiful Flower suddenly hissed and struck the fruit with her stem, throwing it away from the mouth of the dragon.
A great dragon's heart contracted with grief. Booms closed his eyes and prepared to become a tree.
It was possible that that would have happened: Big Booms has always remained a tree, and the Beautiful Flower would have weathered the entire Enchanted World with its lianas, gradually destroying its inhabitants. But a sudden Case intervened in the face of Big Booms.
The Case is a necessary and very important event. After all, only something predestined can happen in the moments like this. The case, which saved the Enchanted World, occurred in the place where the Fearful Fear lived. At night, the fence, which held the Fear in a dark cave, broke down. It really scared Oiki: what if the Fearful Fear had already fled and now wanders around the Enchanted World?!
After checking all the inhabitants of the forest, he already wanted to set off to close a hole in the fence, but suddenly he remembered Big Booms - he did not visit the dragon! And Oiki rushed all the way to the Harvest Tree.
Something terrible was sitting on the grass under the Tree. Oiki could hardly recognize Big Booms in the arms of lion-braided monster.
"Alarm," shouted Oiki and rushed away. "Alarm! My Scary Fear got out of the cave and attacked Big Booms!"
"What are you saying?" Kuzyoba was surprised. She was curious and was first who rushed to find out what happened. "I'll fly, I'll admire this sweetheart!"
"Terrible Fear ruined Booms. What are you so happy about? "asked Oiki.
"I am always happy with someone else's grief," answered the light-hearted Kuzyoba. "When I see that someone is bad, I always rejoice that it did not happen to me!"
She flung herself onto the branch of another tree, and Oiki ran on.
"What happened? " River Monkeys squeaked excitedly.
"My Fear has escaped from the cave and turned Big Booms into a tree! " shouted Oiki and ran farther to tell the terrible news to the rest.
"We have to save Big Booms," the River Marts aroused.
They jumped out of the water and rushed to the Harvest Tree, clinging to the branches of trees with their clever hands.
Soon, near the stiffened dragon, all the inhabitants of the forest gathered. Even the Harmful Fly has arrived. She settled herself on a branch of a tall tree, next to Kuzyoba. The girls laughed gleefully and talked in a whisper.
"What do we do?" the River Monkeys squealed.
"We need to save him," shouted Oiki.
"What for? He is already not so bad!" Kuzyoba giggled.
"We need advice," suggested the discreet Imedin. "Monkeys, go to Strawberry Glade and quickly bring Pufik here."
Pufik was considered to be the smartest in the Enchanted World because he had the biggest head. And still Pufik was very kind. If he was asked for something, he could not refuse. When he was asked whether he could sit on his comfortable head, he politely agreed, afraid to offend the interlocutor. But as soon as he sat down on his big head, as soon as Pufik bent down, the one who was preparing to rest, fell to the ground. Pufik politely asked if he was not hurt, he was always very worried about such cases. Each of the inhabitants of the Enchanted World at least fell from Pufik for a one time. There were no volunteers to sit on his head.
Also, Pufik said only what he wanted to hear from him, so he was considered to be a very good creature.
Soon the River Monkeys brought Pufik to the Harvest Tree. They threw him at each other like a ball. Pufik was scared, but he was silent.
"Give back the Fearful Fear immediately!" shouted Oiki, barely seeing Pufik.
"What for? " asked Pufik, carefully examining the noisy bird.
"What do you mean by your what?! " Oiki was surprised. "It must be locked in a cave. Otherwise, It will reach me, and I will also become a tree!"
"It was not your fear who attacked Big Booms," said Pufik.
"Oh! So, my fear can get out ?! " Oiki frightened and ran to close a hole in the cave, so that his Fear did not crawl out of the Dark Cave.
"Yes, I regret Booms," said Bluke. He hid Fi-fi in a secluded place and nevertheless got to the Harvest Tree. Bluke breathed heavily - it"s not easy to run around when you have a heavy shell on you.
"How can we help him?" Imedin asked.
"We need to get out a splinter, and everything will be all right," advised Pufik.
"What kind of splinter?" the curious River Monkeys squealed in surprise.
"The one that Beautiful Flower hooked on the dragon's paw."
"But how to do that? " Imedin asked. He walked around the wooden Booms, examining it from all sides and added:
"How can I find a wooden splinter in wooden Booms?"
Pufik did not answer, just looked at Big Booms with kind and pitiful eyes. He knew how to get out a splinter, but he was afraid to say. Usually, when asked for advice, they immediately sat down on his large and comfortable head. Pufuk thought that Big Booms had never sat on him before. He did not do this, and he couldn"t do it, because the dragon was very big and would hardly noticed little Pufik in the thick grass. Big Booms did nothing bad for Pufik. But he did not do anything good either.
Pufik thought it out trying to find something good for him. He realized that good is when no one touches the burdock under which he lives. When they do not sit on his big head, and do not make noise, preventing him from dreaming in the thickets of strawberries. Big Booms did not do anything about it.
How does this turn out ?! Not noticing Pufik, Big Booms did for him only all good things?
Pufik was very surprised by his discovery and decided to think about it later, when he returned to his house under the mug. So, he decided to help Booms.
"Only he himself can pull out a splinter," said Pufik, turning his back on the others.
"But he is a tree!" they shouted indignantly. "He has no strength! He can"t move!"
"As long as his heart beats, he is strong," answered Pufik, ignoring the indignant exclamations. "If he wants to, he will again be big, strong and noisy Booms. Leave him alone. If he does not cope, you will not help him in any way," and Pufik went home, to Strawberry Glade.
Residents of the Enchanted World rustled long, scolding Pufic and marveling at his cruelty. Everyone was ready to take care of Big Booms. They were going to feel sorry for him, to carry him food - and here such advice! But soon the glade around the Harvest Tree was empty. Bluke had to watch over Fi-fi-fi. Imedin was worried that while he was absent, someone would make his way to the Speaking Lake without a Heavenly Glitter. River Monkeys rushed to the Singing River. They were very frivolous creatures and did not know how to keep their attention on anything for long. Kuzyoba got sick of this earlier than the Monkeys. She whispered something in the ear of the Harmful Fly. The girls cheerfully laughed and flew off. They decided to play pranks while everyone else was in the meadow. And Grym simply fell asleep. He was never touched by other beings's suffering, Grym was quite enough of his own troubles.
Grym lived on the branches of trees, but no one knew exactly where. He ran fast, his body was flexible and dexterous. A long tail was adorned with a luxuriant tassel, and four ears stood on the head. The nature of Grym was ill, he argued with everyone and could painfully bite, he knew everything and was not afraid of anyone. And Grym felt himself to be the strongest. Big Booms, of course, was stronger, but he did not notice Grym. Grym, in response, did not notice Booms.
Big Booms was left alone. He heard what Pufik said, but did not know how to do it. How to become free from the Beautiful Flower? Booms watched the Flower puffing up, spreading her petals, exposing them to the light of the Heavenly Glitters and did not find the strength to abandon it.
"When I become a tree, I cannot love you," Booms whispered bitterly.
"You already told me that," said the Flower indifferently.
"So you do not care about my love?" Big Booms was surprised.
"Well, why? As long as your love feeds me, I just need it."
"But if you destroy both my heart and my love, then you yourself will remain hungry," Big Booms said.
"In the Enchanted World there is as much love as possible. Everyone is ready to fall in love with such a beautiful creature as I am," the Flower blustered.
"You do not love me," whispered Big Booms. "You need only food. And you do not care, even if you have to eat me ..."
And then Big Booms realized that this was happening. A beautiful Flower eats its vitality, turning it into a dry, unfeeling tree.
"Do not happen to it!" roared the dragon and got to his feet.
He tore the vines and tried to shake off the Beautiful Flower. But the Flower was not going to leave Booms. He only grabbed his hand harder.
Big Booms looked around and suddenly noticed in the grass a strange fruit with a long thorn on its top.
He picked it up and brought the spine to the Beautiful Flower, deciding once and for all to get rid of the evil creature. The beautiful Flower hissed, picked up the petals and was very frightened.
The Determination of Booms strengthened. The dragon picked up the Flower with a thorn. The flower instantly changed. The blue eye, which seemed so beautiful for Booms, turned black with anger. Frayed petals extinguished terrible spines, similar to the teeth of a dangerous beast. Every moment the Flower grew a new spike and Booms roared with pain.
"There you are! Know it well, the Evil Flower, even if I have to nibble off my paw, I will still get rid of you!" cried Big Booms.
And then a miracle happened. A small lightning flew off from the tip of the thorns, she scorched her petals and crushed sharp spikes. The flower fell into the thick grass, and Big Booms became the same - a strong, cheerful and noisy dragon.
Chapter 2
The first thing that Big Booms felt, becoming free again, was hunger. He looked around, looked at the grass, but did not see anything edible.
And then he remembered an incomprehensible fruit with a thorn, which still was in his hands. Booms tried to bite off a piece, but could not do it. The strange fruit was so elastic that it seemed to the dragon that he would try to bite a rubber ball. The fruit simply sprung under the teeth of hungry Booms.
"I wonder," Big Booms said. "You can"t eat it. But in fact is it necessary for anything? It can"t be that it appeared on the tree, only to help me get rid of the evil Beautiful Flower?
Someone else would simply throw the incomprehensible fruit aside and forget about it. But Big Booms never gave up what he considered as his own. After all, it was grown by the Harvest Tree. Now the Harvest Tree was the property of Big Booms. Hence, the fruit was also the property of Booms.
If it can"t be eaten being a rubber, then what to do with it? He took the fruit so that the thorn was on top, and opened his mouth. This spine is simply created to pick one's teeth, pulling out pieces of food! Big Booms decided to use the fruit as a toothpick.
But as soon as the dragon brought the thorn to the jaws, a small lightning fell from its tip again, painfully hitting Booms in the teeth. Big Booms roared with resentment and threw an incomprehensible fruit aside.
Booms thought that he would hit the ground and jump up like a ball, but the incredible thing happened. The multicolored peel suddenly turned around, and Booms saw a small dragon with bright ears, which were like butterfly wings. It had large dark purple eyes, a small oval body, plump arms and legs. And what Booms considered as a thorn was a long horn. A bow was tied around the neck of the dragon, and the cilia were long and beautifully curved. The dragon sank into the grass, put its feet as if it were going to dance and, with his hands clasped on its tummy, waved its ears. At the tips of its ears, cute tassels flared. From them, small lights flashed and spun around a long, twisted horn.
"So where the lightning came from," Big Booms guessed. And the creature, having lifted its ink eyes on Booms, greeted him.
"Hi! " the baby's voice was quiet, it seemed that a bee buzzed somewhere near.
"Who are you?" asked the dragon.
"I only know that my name is Flipri, and that I'm very small," replied Flipri. "I do not know who I am. And who are you?"
"I'm Big Booms," the dragon said proudly, and suddenly realized that he did not know who he was either. "This is my name," he added.
"I see," said Flipri. "Anyway, who are you?
"Here's a fix," Big Booms said angrily. "Well, how do I know who I am, if I haven"t been told this ?!"
"So let's go, we'll ask," offered Flipri.
"Whom?"
"I do not know yet, but maybe someone else knows this."
"And if we do not succeed?"
"It does not happen," said Flipri. "If there is a Question, then there must necessarily be an Answer!"
"All right, let's go right away, as soon as I eat the latest banana," said Booms. He just saw it in the grass and bent over to pick it up.
Big Booms was always surprised that the most delicious of all fruits was the one he ate first. The one that remained the last was even tastier than the first. Flipri sat quietly next to her and did not even ask for a delicacy. She was hungry, but at the same time she felt that the Big Booms"s hunger was much stronger than hers.
"My hunger will not offend me," thought Flipri, "it's small."
And Booms is big, so his hunger is also great.
She looked at her new friend and was amazed at what big a hunger such a huge dragon must have!
"Well, let's go?" Big Booms asked, tossing aside the banana peel.
And they went on a quest. Neither Big Booms nor Flipri knew why the Question was so important, but both felt that it was necessary to find the answer, absolutely necessary.
Grym lay on the branch of a nearby tree and heard their conversation. He was very surprised. He was surprised that he, too, could not find the answer.
"Who am I? I'm Grym. Grym is my name. And who am I really?" and Grym realized that he did not know this. "I have four paws, four ears, sharp teeth and a beautiful striped skin. I'm strong and cunning, everybody afraid of me. But, who am I?
Grym did not like to think long. When he thought, something began to buzz in his head, and he was very much afraid that there might be a Mind. And he heard that if thoughts are not released outside they become too numerous.
In that case the head overflows and can explode like a Sleepie.
"And what if it turns out that I'm nobody?" experienced Grym. "Do I exist or not? And if Big Booms and Flipri get an answer to their question, everyone will also want to know who they really are. And then everyone will know that I'm nobody ?! This cannot be allowed!
And Grym rode through the trees, determined to put a crimp in Booms and Flipri"s plans.
Chapter 3
Flipri was very small, and where Big Booms took one step, she had to do twenty steps. First, Big Booms looked around, stopped and waited for her, but then he saw an oak aside and hurried to it. At the thought that now he could get ripe acorns, the dragon drooled. The acorns were ripe, they cracked, falling to the ground.
"That's good," decided Booms, "I do not have to shake the tree. Bouncing to get the food, I can fall apart on the grass and just open my mouth. And the acorns themselves will fall into it!"
He did so. He stretched himself under an oak tree and opened his toothy mouth, forgetting about Flipri.
Flipri was very surprised when her great friend fled.
"Doesn"t he want to know who is he?" she whispered in frustration.
She was very interested in this question, and the little girl, spreading her ears, went on. The grass was getting higher and higher, and the little Flipri was lost. Very soon, Flipri felt thirsty. She sat down under a large dandelion and wept bitterly.
"You're crying," someone said in an iridescent voice. "Perhaps I can help you?"
"I want to drink," complained Flipri, "but there's no water anywhere. And I'm lost, and I do not know how to get back to the Harvest Tree.
"Go around the dandelion and go to the thickets of pansies, and I will help you."
Flipri did it. Pansies blinked graciously and moved apart their multicolored petals, letting her pass. Flipri looked around, but saw nothing except a large dirty pool.
"Who are you?" she asked, continuing to look around.
"I'm the Happy Spring," someone said.
Flipri listened and realized that the voice was coming from the puddle.
"But why the Spring is in the dirty pool?" she was surprised.
"First, drink some water, and then I'll tell you my story," answered the Spring.
A blue drop of pure water appeared in the center of the dirty spot. Hearing how hard it was for the Happy Spring to make its way through the mud, she felt very sorry for him. She went to the edge and began digging out the groove, so that the weakened Spring had less work. Soon a trickle of clear water met Flipri.
"Can I have a drink?" asked polite Flipri.
"Of course," answered the Spring, "I am living for that."
Flipri folded her hands and scooped up a handful of water. She gulped and was surprised. The water of Happy Spring was magical. A strength came after a one sip, fatigue passed, and the joy came in to the soul. After taking this water in, Flipri's scales shone as if she had been specially sanded, and the patterns on the wings-wings were colored. Flipri splashed out the remnants of the water and laughed joyfully.
"Thank you, the Spring," she said. "I never drank anything better."
"Please," the Spring murmured and laughed.
Flipri noticed that the mud had moved away, and there was more clean water.
"I do not like it when someone is crying and sad."
"Will you tell me why there is so much dirt around you?" "Flipri reminded him.
"I'm friends with one very beautiful pink Fly," the Spring began. "No one comes to me besides her. I was very lonely, but once she arrived and drank some water. The fly was very happy, and I was having fun with her. But then something happened to me, and the water ceased to be magical."
"It's strange, how did your water stop being magical? I did drink it and it helped me a lot, "said Flipri.
"I do not understand this either," the Spring sighed, "but last time the Fly said that the water is bad, that it is not enough, that there is no previous joy. She says that before she gets drunk, she grows up, and now her growth stopped. She says that I'm very lazy. And each of her words, falling to the bottom, becomes a clod of dirt."
"It's sad," said Flipri, and she wanted to ask about something else, and that moment she heard the rustling of wings and loud buzz.
"Hide yourself sooner," scared the Happy Spring, "it's the Fly!"
"But why hiding?" Flipri was surprised.
"She does not allow me to make friends with anyone but herself, she says that if she does not talk to anyone and does not talk to anyone other than me, then I, too, can"t do this. And she also says if I get along with someone, she will be offended and leave me. Because of this, she will be very worried, but I do not want to hurt her."
"All right," said Flipri, and hid in the thicket of pansies. She did it on time, because the Harmful Fly landed on the edge of a muddy puddle.
The fly was very large - much larger than Flipri. It shone and shimmered with all shades of pink. The wings of the fly were also pink and trembled very beautiful even when the Harmful Fly did not fly.
With a suspicious look at the blue drop of clear water, the Fly asked:
"Who was there?"
The Spring did not have time to respond, because his girlfriend began to drink. She drank almost all clean water. Flipri noticed with surprise that the Fly had grown a little more.
"What the bad water!" cried the Harmful Fly, rubbing her paws contentedly. "Bitter, tasteless and completely useless!"
"But they told me that the water is still magical," The Spring replied timidly.
"Who told you that ?!" The Harmful Fly alerted. "Did you talk to someone? Did you give someone to get drunk, knowing that I might not have enough water? How dare you, wicked, vile Spring?!"
"I'm sorry," whispered the Happy Spring.
Flipri heard that his voice struggled through the mud with great difficulty. After all, every word of the Harmful Fly fell into the water as a dark lump.
"I have no one to make friends," Fly continued to curse, "and you must not! I'll leave you, and you'll be all alone! In addition , no one will come to you, because no one else lives in the Enchanted World."
The Harmful Fly was lying, because she was friends with Kuzyoba and Grym. But the Harmful Fly also did not tell her friends about the Happy Spring. She was afraid that someone would know about him. What if Kuzyoba and Grym would get drunk from the Spring and grow more than she?
"You'll spend a few days alone, you'll know how to deceive me!" cried the Harmful Fly, and, flashing its wings, flew away.
"Spring," Flipri called, when the hum died away.
"I'm here," came to her from under the thick crust of dirt.