Unconquered Sun (8 page)

And the Fairy, having sharply changed a flight trajectory, went directly to the lodge. She felt that Prinze already on the way, and therefore is more reasonable to meet him there.

"Probably, the danger passed and everything managed", - thought, calming itself, it, but the internal feeling told the return. The intuition of fairies, as we know, never, never brings …

4.

When Prinze appeared in the wood, he already finally forgot about the bad feelings, the nature was its native elements. Herbs and flowers, trees and a bush, animals and birds, rivulets and streamlets, ponds and ravines were a family for it. Above all Prinze liked to walk outdoors and if not the Fairy little by little accustoming the husband to discipline, these walks would become round-the-clock long ago. At the same time each walk for Prinze was special. He for hours could watch that laborious work of toilers bees or clumsy clodhoppers bumblebees from whom nimbuses of flowers fluctuated as if welcoming Prinze polite bows (Prinze then laughed also itself took off a hat and gallantly bowed to flowers in reply). He could listen to that in the afternoon, lying under a branchy tree, iridescent trills of songbirds, trying to imitate their songs playing the reed flute - the invariable companion of all shepherds and forest tramps. They are to inhale aroma of forest flowers or to start up hot round "pancakes" at a pond or to sing own composition ridiculous a stishat to timid proteins and chipmunks who with curiosity stared at it because of trunks of trees, and then to run races with swift-footed hares or roes …

How many Prinze of remembered, he always loved the nature, always felt as its integral part, here to him was easy and free to breathe. And the nature, it is necessary to tell, never was before it in debt. Hares and rabbits were not afraid of it, but quietly took carrots from its gentle, thin as at the girl, hands, birds sat down to it on shoulders and the head and drank water directly from his lips, bees and bumblebees did not bite it, and trees and herbs always parted when it went through a thicket. And Prinze was never bothered by the wood. On the contrary, it found every time in is mute something new, every time the wood slightly opened before it some shred of the secrets: that birth of a brood of baby squirrels which Prinze managed to photograph by means of the memorable crystal, mating dance of golden-winged butterflies which happens only once in a year, a mysterious island in the middle of a dense bog where the magic speaking flowers grow.

It is necessary to notice that during the hours-long walks Prinze never in vain picked either a flower, or a blade, never broke branches, only for any big need. And even when Prinze had such need, he always politely asked for permission from that plant which he intended to break or cut off.

For example, if it needed a flower for a wreath, he ingenuously spoke: "Forgive me, the flower brother that I break you, but you are necessary to me for a wonderful wreath. Allow me to break you, to you will flaunt on a zolotovolosy head of my loved Fairy so well eternally!" Well as such request could refuse? Or - "forgive me, the sister grass, but you are necessary to me for a medical medicine. Allow me to break you, it will be so good to you to cure the curative juice the patient!" And the grass itself reached for his palms.

The hobby of Prinze in the wood was to talk to its inhabitants: with hares and rabbits, with squirrels and partridges, with trees and

herbs, with stones and sources - and besides without any spells! For example, to talk to the old man oak, to Prinze was to embrace only him a trunk enough, to lean strong an ear against its rigid rough mossy bark and

to completely stop a stream of thoughts at itself in the head. And then through couple of moments he already began to feel how in that emptiness that it was formed in his head, someone's thoughts, strange thoughts begin to appear … Thus it was easy for Prinze to find curative herbs or fine flowers for the loved Fairy: trees, stones, the earth, sources, animals and birds prompted it the road.

So Prinze walked on the wood and collected curative herbs for the lovely Fairy, did not leave a thicket on a small glade yet. In the middle of the glade covered with a low green and juicy grass the wide stub settled down. The prince the swept together look saw at once that at its knotty roots the fact that it is necessary for it grows: several flowers of a plant which fairies call "hare eyes". In the dried-up type of the fairy do of it broth that treats diseases of eyes, and not only. It rather seldom meets in the wood and therefore Prinze very much was delighted that could find it, it lacked this plant from the list given it by the Beautiful Fairy.

The prince quickened the pace and soon approached to hemp. Having said a usual spell, accurately cut off a penknife the flowers which obediently inclined the heads and carefully put them in a basket.

It was already going to leave as suddenly noticed carefully disguised mink in a hollow between stub korenye. Having thought, but whether not to visit to it big-eared the little coward in its lodge, Prinze dipped a hand there, but instead of a fluffy rabbit groped a soft velvety surface of some fabric. Apparently, it was the small sack which is hardly filled by some objects. Without thinking twice, it pulled out it from a hiding place. What Prinze's surprise when he saw that that all was filled with jewels was: there were diamonds and emeralds, sapphires and rubies, and also a set of other stones which names the Prince did not know.

The first thought of Prinze was: "as it is great that I found them! What fine things can be made of them to decorate my Beautiful Fairy! As the Fairy will be happy to my precious find! This also is - the real feat!" And with these thoughts Prinze put stones back in a sack and was going to hide it to himself in a basket …

But right there stopped as driven from shrill shout, something reminding at the same time croak a crow and squeal of a cat whom stepped on a paw:

- Ah, you, the villain, immediately leave treasures alone! They belong not to you, but me!

It became unpleasant to the prince that someone could allow thought that he is capable of theft. He considered himself as very decent person and got used to be good to people around only as the Fairy constantly taught it.

- Once again I repeat, designate paws from my property, the thief damned, or you will go hard! My treasures are bewitched, and you will get sick with plague and will die as a dog if you take in head to grab them to yourself!

The prince began to look around uneasily in search of a source of an unpleasant voice and suddenly ahead of himself he noticed the little man with the head white as snow and a long, to toe, beard dressed in a red satin caftan with gold buttons. On his head the cap with a white pomponchik, on legs - dandyish red morocco boots with gold buckles flaunted. He sat at the bottom of a big pine on other party of a glade and with the crimson face distorted by rage looked at it.

On appearance of the spiteful little man Prinze guessed that it is a dwarf - one of the most unpleasant beings in Tselestiya.

Fairies not really got on with dwarfs because they were the friend's antipodes for the friend. Fairies liked to sing songs and to compose fairy tales, to dance and have fun, feast and to dress up, study the nature and to protect it. Dwarfs were absolutely others. Above all they loved gold, silver and jewels. For the sake of them they were ready to rummage all earth up and down, to pit vaults thousands of miles only to get and get all new minerals. It was sometimes possible to think that dwarfs are cars on digging of the earth as moles or ants - so diligent they performed the work. They could work for 15-17 hours a day if only to take control of one more nugget or diamond.

But for fairies not it was unclear. They loved gold and jewelry too and were the main buyers of jewelry at dwarfs, the last not only got minerals, but also made remarkable jewelry of them. Gold buckles, diamond diadems, silver bracelets of fairies were made by dwarfs, as well as various smart cars and mechanisms which also found great demand at fairies. The fact that dwarfs almost never used the treasures got by such works was unclear and were terribly greedy. For them the greatest pleasure was to touch for days on end without a break the got pebbles or handfuls of gold dust, without using them for the future. They sold only insignificant part of got - for the sake of meat, fish (fruit and vegetables so could be gathered how many you want) or a yarn for clothes. And that it was necessary to watch sharp-sightedly that, as if dwarfs did not swindle you - they strove to give much less what agreed about. To palm off in a handbag something not that or to bargain to blue in the face because of real trifles at them was considered quite in the nature of things. And therefore fairies entered with them the intercourses extremely reluctantly, only when it was really necessary.

There lived dwarfs in the underground labyrinths reminding big ant hills with a set of various traps, deadlocks at which easily it was possible to get lost and as they lived - nobody knew precisely absolutely. They let nobody to themselves, did not invite on a visit and conducted the bargaining strictly on a surface, and the system of their disguised exits outside in general was strictly confidential and it was known by nobody, except dwarfs. Though actually it just was their big delusion. Ubiquitous fairies, of course, and so knew all. Keepers of the Order and Tselestiya's Prosperity need to know such things, so to speak, "on a position". But fairies pretended that they do not know (and it is quite successful, it is necessary to tell). They preferred not to interpose in vain in the matter of the people sponsored by them, only when that needed their help or when they threatened the rights of other people. And dwarfs to them, simply speaking, were uninteresting. Well, why, tell please, to fairies these boring greedy persons and boring hoarders? Let to themselves live yes dig minerals if only another did not prevent to live!

- Forgive, please, the venerable dwarf, - with offense in a voice expressly Prinze politely answered, remembering lessons of good manners which to it were so long taught by the Beautiful Fairy. - I also did not know that this yours. Take them to yourself, I do not need the stranger!

- Fool! - spitefully the dwarf answered. - Unless you do not see that I got stuck at this damned tree and I cannot take away the treasure?! The brainless blockhead, help me!

The prince, having pretended that he did not take offense, looked more attentively at the dwarf and just now noticed what absolutely dropped out at him from a field of vision earlier. The dwarf really could not come off a tree: his long fluffy white beard got confused in the lower branches of a pine, and hands were too short to reach them.

The prince, without thinking twice, dexterously scrambled on the lower branches of a tree with intention to help an unfortunate being. But, how many he applied efforts, he did not manage to release the dwarf's beard from green embraces in any way. Such impression was made that it was pasted to them tightly.

"How the dwarf managed so to get confused?" - Prinze perplexedly thought. But here it was dawned by a guess. The prince leaned an ear against rough dry bark of a tree and in a whisper said: "The sister pine, tell what here occurred? Why you offend this unfortunate being?"

In response to its request in Prinze's head the stream of fancies began to spin and he understood everything. The matter is that dwarfs quite nasty handled trees and in general the nature: they cut them needlessly, broke branches, cut out knives the scribble or just were rude. For it to them often got from fairies, but not always fairies managed to catch them in the act - often they were forced to correct only consequences: to treat the deformed trees, to grow up new following cut down. Similar occurred and here.

The prince mentally saw how this dwarf approached a tree, dexterously scrambled on its top and looked out for something in the distance. Then he began to climb up and so reached the lower thick branch of a pine. Here it stopped, got a knife from a pocket and efficiently began to cut out a banal inscription on bark of an unfortunate tree, something it seems "There was a dwarf Hnum here - the hunter, best in the world, for treasures". The face of the dwarf was wrinkled from tension, even the tip of a red uvula leaned out at it of a mouth - so he tried, cutting out this idiotic inscription. The tree, meanwhile, began to tremble from indignation, an insult and pain, and then its branch suddenly downloaded, as if from strong wind, and the dwarf fell down directly the earth. When falling his beard was hooked and tightly got confused in branches. So the dwarf remained the captive of a tree at many o'clock.

Again brought a sharp hail out of a condition of mental conversation with Prinze's pine:

- Well that you there, fell asleep perhaps? Immediately release me, you hear?! Or I am not responsible for myself!

- Calm down, the kind dwarf, - trying to make the voice quieter, Prinze told, remembering manuals of the Fairy what even in the most conflict situations should be behaved with advantage, and quiet and polite tone soothingly will work on the most angered interlocutor. - Now I will ask for you for this wonderful tree because only the one who deprived you of freedom will be able to release you.

And then Prinze deliberately loudly exclaimed, addressing a pine:

- The sister pine, release this dwarf on freedom, for the sake of the Beautiful Fairy - the hostess of this wood and my beloved spouse!

The pine moved branches, as if from whiff of an easy breeze, but did not release the captive on freedom.

- Yes this rotten snag fit only for firewood will be damned! - spitefully the dwarf screamed, but Prinze did not listen to him: it went deep into reading fancies again.