Little ida flowers. Poem flowers of little idygabriak cherubina de

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Little Ida's flowers (fairy tale)

My poor flowers are completely withered! - said little Ida. - Last night they were so beautiful, and now they have completely hung their heads! Why is this? she asked the student sitting on the couch.
She loved this student very much - he knew how to tell the most wonderful stories and carve funny figures: hearts with crumbs of dancers inside, flowers and magnificent palaces with doors and windows that could be opened. This student was a great merry fellow!
- What about them? she asked again and showed him her wilted bouquet.
- You know? - said the student. - The flowers were at the ball tonight, so now they have hung their heads!
- But flowers don't dance! - said little Ida.
- They are dancing! - answered the student. - At night, when it is dark all around and we are all asleep, they dance so merrily with each other, they give such balls - it's just a miracle!
- Can't the children come to their ball?
- Why, - said the student, - the little daisies and lilies of the valley also dance.
- And where do the most beautiful flowers dance? Ida asked.
“You’ve been outside the city, where is the big palace where the king lives and where is such a wonderful garden with flowers? Do you remember the swans that swam up to you for bread crumbs? This is where real balls take place!
“Yesterday I was there with my mother,” said little Ida, “but there are no more leaves on the trees, and there is not a single flower in the whole garden! Where did they all go? There were so many of them in the summer!
- They are all in the palace! - said the student. - I must tell you that as soon as the king and courtiers move to the city, all the flowers immediately run from the garden right to the palace, and there they start having fun! I wish you had a look! The two most beautiful roses sit on the throne - this is the king and queen. Red cockscombs stand on both sides and bow - these are kamer-cadets. Then all the other beautiful flowers come and the ball begins. Blue violets represent little sea cadets and dance with young ladies - hyacinths and crocuses, and tulips and large yellow lilies are elderly ladies, they look to dance decently and generally behave decorously.
- Can't the flowers get it for dancing in the royal palace? - asked little Ida.
- Why, no one knows about it! - said the student. - True, at night the old caretaker sometimes looks into the palace with a large bunch of keys in his hands, but the flowers, as soon as they hear the jingle of the keys, will now calm down, hide behind the long curtains that hang on the windows, and only slightly peep out of there with one eye. "Something smells like flowers here!" - mutters the old caretaker, but sees nothing.
- That's funny! - said little Ida and even clapped her hands. - And I too can not see them?
“You can,” said the student. - One has only, as you go there again, look through the windows. I saw a long yellow lily there today; she lay and stretched on the sofa - imagining herself a lady of the court.
- Can flowers from the Botanical Garden also come there? It's far away!
“Don't be afraid,” the student said, “they can fly if they want! Have you seen beautiful red, yellow and white butterflies that look like flowers? After all, they were before flowers, they just jumped off their stalks, beat in the air with petals, like wings, and flew. They behaved well, for which they received permission to fly during the day; others must sit still on their stalks, while they fly, and their petals have finally become real wings. You saw them yourself! By the way, maybe flowers from the Botanical Garden do not even appear in the royal palace! Perhaps they do not even know further that such fun goes on there at night. I'll tell you what! then the professor of botany will be surprised - who lives nearby! - when you come to his garden, tell some flower about the big balls in the royal palace. He will tell the others about it and they will all fly away. The professor will come to the garden, and there is not a single flower there, and he will not understand where they have gone!

- But how can a flower tell others? Flowers have no language!
- Of course not, - said the student, - but they know how to explain themselves in pantomime! You yourself saw how they sway and move their green leaves, a little breeze will blow. It comes out so nicely for them - as if they were talking.
- Does the professor understand their pantomime? - asked little Ida.
- How! One morning he came to his garden and saw that a large nettle was making signs with leaves of a lovely red carnation; with this she wanted to say to carnation: "You are so cute, and I love you very much!" The professor did not like this, and now he hit the nettles on the leaves - her leaves are all the same as fingers - but he got burned! Since then, he has not dared to touch the nettles.
- That's funny! - said Ida and laughed.
- Well, is it possible to stuff a child's head with such nonsense? - said the boring adviser, who also came to visit and was sitting on the sofa. He hated the student and always grumbled at him, especially when he carved intricate and funny figures, like a man on a gallows and with a heart in his hands - he was hanged for stealing hearts - or an old witch on a broomstick, with her husband on nose. The adviser did not like all this very much, and he always repeated:
- Well, is it possible to stuff a child's head with such nonsense? Silly inventions!
But Ida was very amused by the student's story about flowers, and she thought about it all day.
"So the flowers hung their heads because they were tired after the ball!" And little Ida went to her table, where all her toys were; the drawer of the table was also chock-full of various goods. Sophie's doll lay in her bed and slept, but Ida told her:
“You’ll have to get up, Sophie, and lie in a drawer tonight; poor flowers are sick, they must be put in your bed - maybe they will recover!
And she took the doll out of the bed. Sophie looked at Ida very displeased and did not say a word - she was angry that her bed was taken away.
Ida put the flowers in bed, covered them well with a blanket and told them to lie still, for this she promised to give them tea, and then they would get up tomorrow morning completely healthy! Then she closed the curtains so that the sun would not shine in the flowers' eyes.
The student's story did not go out of her mind, and, getting ready to go to bed, little Ida could not resist looking behind the window curtains that had been lowered for the night; on the windows stood wonderful mother's flowers - tulips and hyacinths, and little Ida whispered to them:
- I know that you will have a ball tonight!
The flowers stood to themselves, as if nothing had happened, and did not even budge, but little Ida knew what she knew.
In bed, Ida thought about the same for a long time and kept imagining how cute it must be when the flowers are dancing! "Was it possible that my flowers were also at the ball in the palace?" - she thought and fell asleep.
But in the middle of the night little Ida suddenly woke up; she now saw in her dream flowers, a student and an adviser who scolded the student for stuffing her head with trifles. It was quiet in the room where Ida was lying, a night light was on on the table, and Mom and Dad were fast asleep.
- I would like to know: do my flowers sleep in the doll's bed? - said little Ida to herself and slightly raised herself off the pillow to look through the half-open door, behind which were her toys and flowers; then she listened - it seemed to her that they were playing the piano in that room, and so softly and tenderly as she had never heard before.

The tale that at night flowers gather for a ball, where they have fun and dance. The girl Ida found out about this story, and wanted to see such a holiday. After nightfall, the little girl was lucky enough to see a flower ball.

The fairy tale Flowers of little Ida download:

Fairy tale Flowers of little Ida read

My poor flowers are completely withered! - said little Ida. - Last night they were so beautiful, and now they have completely hung their heads! Why is this? she asked the student sitting on the couch.

She loved this student very much - he knew how to tell the most wonderful stories and carve funny figures: hearts with crumbs of dancers inside, flowers and magnificent palaces with doors and windows that could be opened. This student was a great fun-lover!

What about them? she asked again and showed him her wilted bouquet.

You know? - said the student. - The flowers were at the ball tonight, so now they have hung their heads!

But flowers don't dance! - said little Ida.

They dance! - answered the student. - At night, when it is dark all around and we are all asleep, they dance so merrily with each other, they give such balls - it's just a miracle!

Can't the children come to their ball?

Why, - said the student, - after all, little daisies and lilies of the valley dance too.

Where do the most beautiful flowers dance? Ida asked.

You’ve been outside the city, where is the big palace, where the king lives in summer, and where is such a wonderful garden with flowers? Do you remember the swans that swam up to you for bread crumbs? This is where real balls take place!

Yesterday I was there with my mother, - said little Ida, - but there are no more leaves on the trees, and there is not a single flower in the whole garden! Where did they all go? There were so many of them in the summer!

They are all in the palace - said the student. - I must tell you that as soon as the king and courtiers move to the city, all the flowers immediately run from the garden right to the palace, and there they start having fun! I wish you had a look! The two most beautiful roses sit on the throne - this is the king and queen. Red cockscombs stand on both sides and bow - the ego of the chamber junkers. Then all the other beautiful flowers come and the ball begins. Hyacinths and crocuses represent little sea cadets and dance with young ladies - blue violets, and tulips and large yellow lilies are elderly ladies, they watch the dances and, in general, order.

Can't the flowers get it for dancing in the royal palace? - asked little Ida.

Why, no one knows about this! - said the student. - True, at night the old caretaker sometimes looks into the palace with a large bunch of keys in his hands, but the flowers, as soon as they hear the jingle of the keys, will now calm down, hide behind the long curtains that hang on the windows, and only slightly peep out of there with one eye. “Something here smells of flowers,” the old caretaker mutters, but he sees nothing to see.

That's funny! - said little Ida and even clapped her hands. - And I too can not see them?

You can, - said the student. - One has only, as you go there again, look through the windows. I saw a long yellow lily there today; she lay and stretched on the sofa - imagining herself a lady of the court.

Can flowers from the Botanical Garden also come there? It's far away!

Do not be afraid, - said the student, - they can fly whenever they want! Have you seen beautiful red, yellow and white butterflies that look like flowers? After all, they were flowers before, they just jumped from their stalks high into the air, beat them with petals, like wings, and flew. They behaved well, for which they received permission to fly during the day; others must sit still on their stalks, while they fly, and their petals have finally become real wings. You saw them yourself! By the way, maybe flowers from the Botanical Garden do not even appear in the royal palace! Maybe they don't even know that there is such fun going on there at night. I'll tell you what: the professor of botany will be surprised later - you know him, he lives next door! - when you come to his garden, tell some flower about the big balls in the royal palace. He will tell the others about it, and they will all run away. The professor will come to the garden, and there is not a single flower there, and he will not understand where they have gone!

But how can a flower tell others? Flowers have no language.

Of course not, - said the student, - but they know how to communicate with signs! You yourself saw how they sway and move their green leaves, a little breeze will blow. It comes out so nicely for them - as if they were talking!

Does the professor understand their signs? - asked little Ida.

How so! One morning he came to his garden and saw that a large nettle was making signs with leaves to a lovely red carnation; with this she wanted to say to carnation: "You are so sweet, I love you very much!" The professor did not like this, and he immediately hit the nettle on the leaves - the leaves of the nettle are like fingers - but he burned himself! Since then, he does not dare to touch her.

That's funny! - said Ida and laughed.

Well, is it possible to stuff a child's head with such nonsense? - said the boring adviser, who also came to visit and was sitting on the couch.

He hated the student and always grumbled at him, especially when he carved intricate, funny figures, like a man on a gallows and with a heart in his hands - he was hanged for stealing hearts - or an old witch on a broomstick, with her husband on nose.

The adviser did not like all this very much, and he always repeated:

But Ida was very amused by the student's story about flowers, and she thought about it all day. "So the flowers hung their heads because they were tired after the ball!" And little Ida went to her table, where all her toys were; the drawer of the table was also chock-full of various goods. Sophie's doll lay in her bed and slept, but Ida told her:

You will have to get up, Sophie, and lie down this night in a box: the poor flowers are sick, they need to be put in your bed - maybe they will recover!

And she took the doll out of the bed. Sophie looked at Ida very displeased and did not say a word - she was angry that her bed was taken away from her.

Ida laid down the flowers, covered them well with a blanket and told them to lie still, for this she promised to give them tea, and then they would have gotten up completely healthy tomorrow morning! Then she pulled up the curtains so that the sun would not shine in the eyes of the flowers.

The student's story did not go out of her mind, and, getting ready to go to bed, Ida could not help but look behind the window curtains that had been lowered for the night: on the windows there were wonderful mother's flowers - tulips and hyacinths, and little Ida whispered to them:

I know you will have a ball tonight!

The flowers stood as if nothing had happened, and did not even budge, but little Ida knew what she knew.

In bed, Ida thought about the same for a long time and kept imagining how cute it must be when the flowers are dancing! "Was it possible that my flowers were also at the ball in the palace?" - she thought and fell asleep.

But in the middle of the night, little Ida suddenly woke up, she saw in her dream now flowers, a student and an adviser who scolded the student for stuffing her head with trifles. It was quiet in the room where Ida was lying, a night light was on on the table, and Mom and Dad were fast asleep.

I would like to know: are my flowers asleep in the bed? - said little Ida to herself and got up from the pillow to look through the half-open door, behind which were her toys and flowers; then she listened - it seemed to her that they were playing the piano in that room, but very quietly and tenderly; she had never heard such music before.

That's right, the flowers are dancing! - said Ida. - Lord, how I would like to see!

But she didn’t dare to get out of bed so as not to wake up Mom and Dad.

If only the flowers would come in here! - she said.

But the flowers did not enter, and the music continued, so quiet, gentle, just a miracle! Then Idochka could not stand it, slowly climbed out of the crib, crept on tiptoe to the door and looked into the next room. What a delight it was there!

There was no night light in that room, but it was still as bright as day, from the moon, looking out of the window directly at the floor, where tulips and hyacinths stood in two rows; not a single flower remained on the windows - only pots of earth. The flowers danced very nicely: they either stood in a circle, then, holding the long green leaves, as if by the hands, circled in pairs. A big yellow lily was playing on the piano - this is probably her little Ida saw in the summer! She remembered well how the student said: "Oh, how she looks like Miss Lina!" Everyone laughed at him then, but now Ida really felt as if the long yellow lily looked like Lina; She played the piano in the same way as Lina: she turned her elongated face to one side, then to the other and nodded to the beat of the wonderful music. Nobody noticed Ida.

Suddenly little Ida saw that a big blue crocus jumped right into the middle of the table with toys, went to the doll's bed and pulled back the curtain; there were sick flowers, but they rose briskly and nodded their heads, letting us know that they, too, wanted to dance. The old smoking-room with a broken lower lip got up and bowed to the beautiful flowers; they did not look at all like the sick - they jumped off the table and began to have fun with everyone.

At that moment, something banged, as if something had fallen to the floor. Ida looked in that direction - it was a Shrovetide willow: she also jumped off the table to the flowers, believing that she was akin to them. The willow was also cute; it was decorated with paper flowers, and at the top was a wax doll in a wide-brimmed black hat, exactly the same as that of the councilor. The willow jumped in the middle of the flowers and stomped loudly with its three red wooden stilts - she danced the mazurka, and the other flowers did not succeed in this dance, because they were too light and could not stomp. But then the wax doll on the willow suddenly stretched out, twirled over the paper flowers and shouted loudly:

Well, is it possible to stuff a child's head with such nonsense? Silly inventions!

Now the doll was exactly like an adviser, in a black wide-brimmed hat, the same yellow and angry! But the paper flowers hit her thin legs, and she again shrank into a small wax doll. It was so funny that Ida couldn't help laughing.

The willow continued to dance, and the adviser, willy-nilly, had to dance with her, no matter whether he stretched out to its full length, or remained a small wax doll in a black wide-brimmed hat. Finally, the flowers, especially those that were in the doll's bed, began to ask for him, and the pussy willow left him alone. Suddenly, something loudly knocked in the drawer where Sophie's doll and other toys were lying. The smoking-room ran along the edge of the table, lay down on his stomach and opened the drawer. Sophie stood up and looked around in surprise.

Yes, you, it turns out, have a ball! she said. - Why didn't they tell me?

Do you wanna dance with me? - asked the Smoking-room.

Good gentleman! - said Sophie and turned her back to him; then she sat down on the box and waited - maybe one of the flowers would invite her, but no one thought to invite her. She coughed loudly, but even then no one approached her. The smoking-room danced alone, and very well!

Seeing that the flowers were not looking at her, Sophie suddenly fell from the box onto the floor and made such a noise that everyone ran to her and began to ask if she had hurt herself. Everyone spoke to her very affectionately, especially those flowers that had just slept in her bed; Sophie did not hurt herself in the least, and the flowers of little Ida began to thank her for the wonderful bed, then they took her with them to the moon circle on the floor and began to dance with her, while other flowers circled around them. Now Sophie was very pleased and told the flowers that she willingly gave up her crib to them - she felt good in the drawer too!

Thanks! - said the flowers. - But we cannot live that long! In the morning we will die completely! Just tell little Ida to bury us in the garden where the canary is buried; in the summer we will grow up again and will be even more beautiful!

No, you mustn't die! - said Sophie and kissed the flowers.

At this time the door opened, and a whole crowd of flowers entered the room. Ida could not understand where they came from - must have been from the royal palace. Ahead were two lovely roses with small golden crowns on their heads - they were the king and queen. Behind them, bowing in all directions, were wonderful levkoi and carnations. The musicians - large poppies and peonies - blew on the husks of the peas and turned completely red from the strain, and the little blue bells and white snowdrops rang as if they were wearing bells. That was funny music! Then there was a whole crowd of other flowers, and they all danced - and blue violets, and red marigolds, and daisies, and lilies of the valley. Flowers danced and kissed so sweetly that it was simply a feast for the eyes!

Finally, everyone wished each other good night, and little Ida quietly made her way to her bed, and all night she dreamed of flowers and everything that she saw.

In the morning she got up and ran to her table to see if her flowers were there.

She pulled back the curtains - yes, they were in the crib, but completely, completely wilted! Sophie, too, was lying in her place in the drawer and looked completely sleepy.

Do you remember what you need to tell me? Ida asked her.

But Sophie looked at her stupidly and did not open her mouth.

What are you bad! - said Ida. - And they still danced with you!

Then she took a cardboard box with a pretty bird painted on the lid, opened the box and put the dead flowers there.

So much for your coffin! - she said. - And when my Norwegian cousins ​​come, we will bury you in the garden, so that next summer you will grow even more beautiful!

Jonas and Adolf, Norwegian cousins, were lively little boys; their father gave them a new bow, and they came to show them to Ida. She told them about the poor dead flowers and allowed them to help bury them. The boys walked in front with bows on their shoulders; behind them little Ida with dead flowers in a box. They dug a grave in the garden, Ida kissed the flowers and lowered the box into the pit, and Jonas and Adolf fired over the grave from bows - they had neither guns nor cannons.

Princess on the Pea
Little Ida's Flowers
Nasty boy
Mermaid
The king's new dress
chamomile
The Steadfast Tin Soldier
Garden of Eden
Storks
Ole Lukkoye
Rosebush elf
Swineherd
Buckwheat
Bronze boar
Twinned

Princess on the Pea
Once upon a time there was a prince, and he wanted to take for himself a princess too, only a real one. So he traveled all over the world, but something like that was not found. There were plenty of princesses, but were they real? He couldn't get to that; so he returned home with nothing and was very grieved - he really wanted to get a real princess.
Once in the evening the weather broke out: lightning flashed, thunder rumbled, and rain poured as if from a bucket; horror what is!
Suddenly there was a knock at the city gates, and the old king went to open it.
A princess stood at the gate. My God, what did she look like! Water ran from her hair and dress straight into the toes of her shoes and out of her heels, but she still insisted that she was a real princess!
"Well, we will find out!" - thought the old queen, but did not say a word and went into the bedroom. There she removed all the mattresses and pillows from the bed and laid a pea on the boards; she put twenty mattresses on top of a pea, and twenty down jackets on top.
The princess was put on this bed for the night.
In the morning they asked her how she slept.
- Oh, very bad! - said the princess. - I almost didn’t close my eyes! God knows what kind of bed I had! I was lying on something so hard that my whole body is now bruised! Just awful!
It was then that everyone saw that she was a real princess! She felt the pea through forty mattresses and down jackets - only a real princess could be such a delicate person.
And the prince married her. Now he knew he was taking a real princess for himself! And the pea was sent to the Cabinet of Curiosities; there it lies, if only no one stole it.
Know that this story is true!
Little Ida's Flowers
- My poor flowers have completely withered! - said little Ida. - Last night they were so beautiful, and now they have completely hung their heads! Why is this? she asked the student sitting on the couch.
She loved this student very much - he knew how to tell the most wonderful stories and carve funny figures: hearts with crumbs of dancers inside, flowers and magnificent palaces with doors and windows that could be opened. This student was a great fun-lover!
- What about them? she asked again and showed him her wilted bouquet.
- You know? - said the student. - The flowers were at the ball tonight, so now they have hung their heads!
- But flowers don't dance! - said little Ida.
- They are dancing! - answered the student. - At night, when it is dark all around and we are all asleep, they dance so merrily with each other, they give such balls - it's just a miracle!
- Can't the children come to their ball?
- Why, - said the student, - the little daisies and lilies of the valley also dance.
- And where do the most beautiful flowers dance? Ida asked.
“You’ve been outside the city, where is the big palace where the king lives in summer and where such a wonderful garden with flowers? Do you remember the swans that swam up to you for bread crumbs? This is where real balls take place!
“Yesterday I was there with my mother,” said little Ida, “but not in the trees! more leaves, and not a single flower in the whole garden! Where did they all go? There were so many of them in the summer!
- They are all in the palace - said the student. - I must tell you that as soon as the king and courtiers move to the city, all the flowers immediately run from the garden right to the palace, and there they start having fun! I wish you had a look! The two most beautiful roses sit on the throne - this is the king and queen. Red cockscombs stand on both sides and bow - the ego of the chamber junkers. Then all the other beautiful flowers come and the ball begins. Hyacinths and crocuses represent little sea cadets and dance with young ladies - blue violets, and tulips and large yellow lilies are elderly ladies, they watch the dances and keep order in general.
- Can't the flowers get it for dancing in the royal palace? - asked little Ida.
- Why, no one knows about it! - said the student. - True, at night the old caretaker sometimes looks into the palace with a large bunch of keys in his hands, but the flowers, as soon as they hear the jingle of the keys, will now calm down, hide behind the long curtains that hang on the windows, and only slightly peep out of there with one eye. “Something here smells of flowers,” the old caretaker mutters, but sees nothing to see.
- That's funny! - said little Ida and even clapped her hands. - And I too can not see them?
“You can,” said the student. - One has only, as you go there again, look through the windows. I saw a long yellow lily there today; she lay and stretched on the sofa - imagining herself a lady of the court.
- Can flowers from the Botanical Garden also come there? It's far away!
“Don't be afraid,” the student said, “they can fly whenever they want! Have you seen beautiful red, yellow and white butterflies that look like flowers? After all, they were flowers before, they just jumped from their stalks high into the air, beat them with petals, like wings, and flew. They behaved well, for which they received permission to fly during the day; others must sit still on their stalks, while they fly, and their petals have finally become real wings. You saw them yourself! By the way, maybe flowers from the Botanical Garden do not even appear in the royal palace! Maybe they don't even know that there is such fun going on there at night. I'll tell you what: the professor of botany will be surprised later - you know him, he lives next door! - when you come to his garden, tell some flower about the big balls in the royal palace. He will tell the others about it, and they will all run away. The professor will come to the garden, and there is not a single flower there, and he will not understand where they have gone!
- But how can a flower tell others? Flowers have no language.
- Of course not, - said the student, - but they know how to communicate with signs! You yourself saw how they sway and move their green leaves, a little breeze will blow. It comes out so nicely for them - as if they were talking!
- Does the professor understand their signs? - asked little Ida.
- How! One morning he came to his garden and saw that a large nettle was making signs with leaves of a lovely red carnation; with this she wanted to say to carnation: "You are so sweet, I love you very much!" The professor did not like this, and he immediately hit the nettle on the leaves - the leaves of the nettle are like fingers - but he burned himself! Since then, he does not dare to touch her.
- That's funny! - said Ida and laughed.
- Well, is it possible to stuff a child's head with such nonsense? - said the boring adviser, who also came to visit and was sitting on the sofa.
He hated the student and always grumbled at him, especially when he carved intricate, funny figures, like a man on a gallows and with a heart in his hands - he was hanged for stealing hearts - or an old witch on a broomstick, with her husband on nose. The adviser did not like all this very much, and he always repeated:
But Ida was very amused by the student's story about flowers, and she thought about it all day.
"So the flowers hung their heads because they were tired after the ball!" And little Ida went to her table, where all her toys were; the drawer of the table was also chock-full of various goods. Sophie's doll lay in her bed and slept, but Ida told her:
“You’ll have to get up, Sophie, and lie down this night in a box: the poor flowers are sick, they must be put in your bed — perhaps they will recover!”
And she took the doll out of the bed. Sophie looked at Ida very displeased and did not say a word - she was angry that her bed was taken away.
Ida laid down the flowers, covered them well with a blanket and told them to lie still, for this she promised to give them tea, and then they would have gotten up completely healthy tomorrow morning! Then she closed the canopy to keep the sun out of the flowers.
The student's story did not go out of her mind, and, getting ready to go to bed, Ida could not help but look behind the window curtains that had been lowered for the night: there were wonderful mother's flowers on the windows - tulips and hyacinths, and little Ida whispered to them:
- I know that you will have a ball tonight!
The flowers stood as if nothing had happened, and did not even budge, but little Ida knew what she knew.
In bed, Ida thought about the same for a long time and kept imagining how cute it must be when the flowers are dancing! "Was it possible that my flowers were also at the ball in the palace?" - she thought and fell asleep.
But in the middle of the night, little Ida suddenly woke up, she saw in her dream now flowers, a student and an adviser who scolded the student for stuffing her head with trifles. It was quiet in the room where Ida was lying, a night light was on on the table, and Mom and Dad were fast asleep.
- I would like to know: do my flowers sleep in the bed? - said little Ida to herself and got up from the pillow to look through the half-open door, behind which were her toys and flowers; then she listened - it seemed to her that they were playing the piano in that room, but very quietly and tenderly; she had never heard such music before.
- That's right, the flowers are dancing! - said Ida. - Lord, how I would like to see!
But she didn’t dare to get out of bed so as not to wake up Mom and Dad.
- If only the flowers would come in here! - she said. But the flowers did not enter, and the music continued, so quiet, gentle, just a miracle! Then Idochka could not stand it, slowly climbed out of the crib, crept on tiptoe to the door and looked into the next room. What a delight it was there!
There was no night light in that room, but it was still as bright as day, from the moon, looking out of the window directly at the floor, where tulips and hyacinths stood in two rows; not a single flower remained on the windows - only pots of earth. The flowers danced very nicely: they either stood in a circle, then, holding the long green leaves, as if by the hands, circled in pairs. A large yellow lily was playing on the piano - this is probably her little Ida saw in the summer! She remembered well how the student said: "Oh, how she looks like Miss Lina!" Everyone laughed at him then, but now Ida really seemed like a long yellow lily like Lina; She played the piano in the same way as Lina: she turned her elongated face first to one side, then to the other and nodded to the beat of the wonderful music. Nobody noticed Ida.
Suddenly little Ida saw that a large blue crocus jumped right into the middle of the table with toys, went to the doll's bed and pulled back the curtain; there were sick flowers, but they rose briskly and nodded their heads, letting us know that they, too, wanted to dance. The old smoking-room with a broken lower lip got up and bowed to the beautiful flowers; they did not look at all like the sick - they jumped off the table and began to have fun with everyone.
At that moment, something banged, as if something had fallen to the floor. Ida looked in that direction - it was a Shrovetide willow: she also jumped off the table to the flowers, believing that she was akin to them. The willow was also cute; it was decorated with paper flowers, and at the top was a wax doll in a wide-brimmed black hat, exactly the same as that of the councilor. The willow jumped in the middle of the flowers and stomped loudly with its three red wooden stilts - she danced the mazurka, and the other flowers did not succeed in this dance, because they were too light and could not stomp.
But then the wax doll on the willow suddenly stretched out, twirled over the paper flowers and shouted loudly:
- Well, is it possible to stuff a child's head with such nonsense? Silly inventions!
Now the doll was exactly like an adviser, in a black wide-brimmed hat, the same yellow and angry! But the paper flowers hit her slender legs, and she again shrank into a small wax doll. It was so funny that Ida couldn't help laughing.
The willow continued to dance, and the adviser, willy-nilly, had to dance with her, no matter whether he stretched out to its full length, or remained a small wax doll in a black wide-brimmed hat. Finally, the flowers, especially those that were in the doll's bed, began to ask for him, and the pussy willow left him alone. Suddenly, something loudly knocked in the drawer where Sophie's doll and other toys were lying. The smoking-room ran along the edge of the table, lay down on his stomach and opened the drawer. Sophie stood up and looked around in surprise.
- Yes, you have, it turns out, a ball! she said. - Why didn't they tell me?
- Do you want to dance with me? - asked the Smoking-room.
- Good gentleman! - said Sophie and turned her back to him; then she sat down on the box and waited - perhaps one of the flowers would invite her, but no one thought to invite her. She coughed loudly, but even then no one approached her. The smoking-room danced alone, and very well!
Seeing that the flowers were not looking at her, Sophie suddenly fell from the box onto the floor and made such a noise that everyone ran to her and began to ask if she had hurt herself. Everyone spoke to her very kindly, especially those flowers that had just slept in her bed; Sophie did not hurt herself in the least, and the flowers of little Ida began to thank her for the wonderful bed, then they took her with them to the moon circle on the floor and began to dance with her, while other flowers circled around them. Now Sophie was very pleased and told the flowers that she willingly gave up her crib to them - she felt good in the drawer too!
- Thanks! - said the flowers. - But we cannot live that long! In the morning we will die completely! Just tell little Ida to bury us in the garden where the canary is buried; in the summer we will grow up again and will be even more beautiful!
- No, you must not die! - said Sophie and kissed the flowers. At this time the door opened, and a whole crowd of flowers entered the room. Ida could not understand where they came from - must have been from the royal palace. Ahead were two lovely roses with small golden crowns on their heads - they were the king and queen. Behind them, bowing in all directions, were wonderful levkoi and carnations. The musicians - large poppies and peonies - blew on the husks of the peas and turned completely red from the strain, and the little blue bells and white snowdrops rang as if they were wearing bells. That was funny music! Then there was a whole crowd of other flowers, and they all danced - and blue violets, and red marigolds, and daisies, and lilies of the valley. Flowers danced and kissed so sweetly that it was simply a feast for the eyes!
Finally, everyone wished each other good night, and little Ida quietly made her way to her bed, and all night she dreamed of flowers and everything that she saw.
In the morning she got up and ran to her table to see if her flowers were there.
She pulled back the curtains - yes, they were in the crib, but completely, completely wilted! Sophie, too, was lying in her place in the drawer and looked completely sleepy.
- Do you remember what you need to tell me? Ida asked her.
But Sophie looked at her stupidly and did not open her mouth.
- What are you bad! - said Ida. - And they danced with you!
Then she took a cardboard box with a pretty bird painted on the lid, opened the box and put the dead flowers there.
- Here's a coffin for you! - she said. - And when my Norwegian cousins ​​come, we will bury you in the garden, so that next summer you will grow even more beautiful!
Jonas and Adolf, Norwegian cousins, were lively little boys; their father gave them a new bow, and they came to show them to Ida. She told them about the poor dead flowers and allowed them to help bury them. The boys walked in front with bows on their shoulders; behind them little Ida with dead flowers in a box. They dug a grave in the garden, Ida kissed the flowers and lowered the box into the pit, and Jonas and Adolf fired over the grave from bows - they had neither guns nor cannons.
Nasty boy
Once upon a time there was an old poet, a real good poet and very kind. Once in the evening he was sitting at home, and bad weather broke out in the yard. It was raining like a bucket, but the old poet felt so comfortable and warm near the tiled stove, where the fire burned brightly and apples were baking merrily hissing.
- It's bad to get into such bad weather - the thread will not remain dry! - he said. He was very kind.
- Let me in, let me in! I'm cold and wet! the child suddenly shouted outside the door.
He cried and knocked on the door, and the rain kept pouring down, the wind still beat on the windows.
- Poor thing! - said the old poet and went to open the doors.
Behind the door stood a little boy, completely naked. Water dripped from his long golden hair, he shivered from the cold; if they hadn't let him in, he probably would have died.
- Poor thing! - said the old poet and took his hand. - Come to me, I will warm you, give you some wine and an apple; you are such a pretty boy!
He was really pretty. His eyes shone like two bright stars, and his wet golden hair curled in curls - well, quite an angel! - even though he turned blue from the cold and trembled like an aspen leaf. He had a wonderful bow in his hands; the only trouble is that it was completely spoiled by the rain, the paint on the long arrows faded.
The old poet sat down closer to the stove, took the baby on his knees, squeezed out his wet curls, warmed his hands in his hands and boiled sweet wine for him. The boy cheered up, his cheeks flushed, he jumped to the floor and began to dance around the old poet.
- Look, what a cheerful little boy you are! - said the old poet. - What is your name?
- Cupid! - answered the boy. - Don't you know me? Here is my bow. I can shoot! Look, the weather has cleared up, the month is shining.
- And your bow is spoiled! said the old poet.
- That would be grief! - said the little boy, took the bow and began to examine it. - He is completely dry, and nothing happened to him! The bowstring is taut! I'm going to try it now.
And he drew his bow, laid down the arrow, took aim and shot the old poet right in the heart!
- You see, my bow is not spoiled at all! - he shouted, laughed loudly and ran away.
Bad boy! He shot the poet at the old man, who let him warm up, caressed him, gave him wine and gave him the best apple!
The good old man lay on the floor and cried: he was wounded in the heart. Then he said:
- Fu, what a nasty boy this Cupid is! I will tell all good children about him so that they are careful not to mess with him - he will offend them too.
And all good children - both boys and girls - began to beware of this Cupid, but he still knows how sometimes to deceive them; such a rogue!
Students are coming from lectures, and he is nearby: a book under his arm, in a black coat, and you don't recognize him! They think that he is also a student, they will take him by the arm, and he will shoot an arrow right into their chest.
Or there are girls coming from the priest or to the church - he is right there too; always chasing people!
Otherwise, sometimes it will climb into a large chandelier in the theater and burn there with a bright flame; people think at first that it is a lamp, and only then they will only figure out what the matter is. He runs along the royal garden and along the fortress wall. And since he wounded your parents in the heart! Ask them, they will tell you. Yes, that wicked boy, this Cupid, you better not mess with him! He only does what he runs after people. Think, since he shot an arrow even at your old grandmother! It was a long time ago, long gone and past has grown, but still it has not been forgotten, and it will never be forgotten! Ugh! Angry Cupid! But now you know about him, you know what a nasty boy he is!
Mermaid
In the open sea, the water is completely blue, like the petals of the most beautiful cornflowers, and transparent, like clean glass - but deep down there! Not a single anchor will reach the bottom; at the bottom of the sea many, many bell towers would have to be put one on top of the other, only then they could stick their heads out of the water. At the very bottom live mermaids.
Do not think that there, at the bottom, is one bare white sand; no, unprecedented trees and flowers grow there with such flexible stems and leaves that they move as if they were alive at the slightest movement of the water. Big and small fish dart between the branches - just like our birds. In the deepest place there is the coral palace of the sea king with high lancet windows made of the purest amber and with a roof of shells that open and close, depending on whether the tide is high or low, it is very beautiful: after all, in each shell there is a pearl of such beauty that any of them would adorn the crown of any queen.
The sea king was widowed a long time ago, and his old mother, an intelligent woman, but very proud of her family, was in charge of his household: she carried a dozen oysters on her tail, while the nobles had the right to carry only six. In general, she was a person worthy of all praise, especially because she loved her little granddaughters very much. All six princesses were pretty little mermaids, but the youngest, delicate and transparent, like a rose petal, with deep blue eyes like the sea, was the best of all. But she, like other mermaids, did not have legs, but only a fish tail.
Day after day, the princesses played in the huge palace halls, where fresh flowers grew on the walls. Fishes floated in through the open amber windows, like swallows fly in here; the fish swam up to the little princesses, ate from their hands and allowed themselves to be stroked.
There was a large garden near the palace; there grew fiery-red and dark blue trees with ever-swaying branches and leaves: their fruits sparkled like gold, and their flowers like lights. The earth was strewn with fine bluish sand, like a sulfur flame, and therefore there was an amazing bluish reflection on everything - you might have thought that you were floating high, high in the air, and the sky was not only above your head, but also under feet. In the calm, the sun could be seen from the bottom; it looked like a purple flower, from the cup of which light was pouring.
Each princess had her own corner in the garden; here they could dig and plant whatever they wanted. One made herself a flower bed in the shape of a whale, the other wanted her bed to look like a little mermaid, and the youngest made herself a garden bed round like the sun and planted it with bright red flowers. This little mermaid was a strange child; so quiet, thoughtful ... Other sisters decorated their garden with different varieties that they got from sunken ships, and she loved only her bright, like the sun, flowers and a beautiful white marble boy who fell to the bottom of the sea from some lost ship. The little mermaid planted a red weeping willow near the statue, which grew magnificently; its branches wrapped around the statue and sloped towards the blue sand, where their violet shadow waved - the top and roots as if playing and kissing each other!
Most of all, the little mermaid loved to listen to stories about people living above on earth. The old woman grandmother had to tell her everything she knew about ships and cities, about people and about animals. The little mermaid was especially interested and surprised that the flowers on the ground smelled - not that; what is it in the sea! - that the forests there are green, and the fish that live in the branches sing loudly. Grandmother called the birds as fish, otherwise the granddaughters would not understand her: they had never seen birds before.
“When you turn fifteen,” my grandmother said, “you will also be allowed to float to the surface of the sea, sit on the rocks in the moonlight and look at the huge ships sailing past, at the forests and cities!
This year the eldest princess was just about to be fifteen years old, but the other sisters — and they were the same old age — had to wait longer, and the youngest — the longest — had to wait. But each promised to tell the other sisters what she would like best on the first day - they had few grandmother stories, they wanted to know more about everything.
No one was as drawn to the surface of the sea as the youngest, quiet, pensive little mermaid, who had to wait the longest. How many nights had she spent at the open window, gazing into the blue of the sea, where whole flocks of fish moved with their fins and tails! She could see the moon and the stars through the water; they, of course, did not shine so brightly, but they seemed much more than they seem to us. It happened that a large dark cloud seemed to glide beneath them, and the little mermaid knew that it was either a whale swimming or a ship with hundreds of people passing by; they did not even think of the pretty little mermaid who stood there, in the depths of the sea, and held out her white arms to the keel of the ship.
But then the eldest princess turned fifteen years old, and she was allowed to float to the surface of the sea.
How many stories were there when she came back! Best of all, according to her, was to lie on a sandbank in calm weather and bask in the moonlight, admiring the city stretching along the coast: there, like hundreds of stars, lights were burning, music, noise and roar of carriages were heard, towers with spiers could be seen, the bells were ringing. Yes, precisely because she could not get there, this sight attracted her most of all.
How eagerly the youngest sister listened to her stories! Standing in the evening at the open window and peering into the blue of the sea, she only thought that about a big noisy city, and it even seemed to her that she could hear the ringing of bells.
A year later, the second sister received permission to rise to the surface of the sea and sail wherever she wanted. She emerged from the water just at the moment when the sun was setting, and found that nothing could be better than this sight. The sky shone like molten gold, she said, and the clouds ... but here she really didn’t have enough words! Purple and violet, they quickly swept across the sky, but even faster they rushed towards the sun, like a long white veil, a flock of swans; the little mermaid also swam towards the sun, but it sank into the sea, and the pink evening dawn spread across the sky and water.
A year later, the third princess surfaced to the surface of the sea; this one was the boldest of all, and swam into a wide river that emptied into the sea. Then she saw green hills covered with vineyards, palaces and houses surrounded by dense groves, where birds sang; the sun was shining and warm so that she had to dive into the water more than once to refresh her flaming face. In a small bay she saw a whole crowd of naked children splashing in the water; she wanted to play with them, but they got scared of her and ran away, and instead of them some black animal appeared and started yapping at her so terribly that the mermaid got scared and swam back into the sea; it was a dog, but the mermaid had never seen a dog before.
And so the princess remembered all these wonderful forests, green hills and adorable children who can swim, even though they do not have a fish tail!
The fourth sister was not so brave; she kept herself more in the open sea and said that it was best of all: wherever you looked, for many, many miles around, there was only water and the sky overturned like a huge glass dome; in the distance, like sea gulls, large ships rushed, merry dolphins played and tumbled, and huge whales shot out of hundreds of fountains from their nostrils.
Then it was the turn of the penultimate sister; her birthday was in winter, and therefore she saw something that others did not see: the sea was greenish, large ice mountains floated everywhere - pearls, she said, but so huge, higher than the tallest bell towers built by people! Some of them were bizarre in shape and shone like diamonds. She sat down on the largest one, the wind fluttered her long hair, and the sailors in fright walked around the mountain further away, By evening, the sky was covered with clouds, lightning flashed, thunder rumbled and the dark sea began to throw ice blocks from side to side, and they sparkled with the blaze of lightning ... The sails were removed on the ships, people rushed about in fear and horror, and she calmly floated on the icy mountain and watched as the fiery zigzags of lightning, cutting through the sky, fell into the sea.
In general, each of the sisters was delighted with what she saw for the first time - everything was new to them and therefore they liked it; but, having received, as grown-up girls, permission to swim everywhere, they soon looked at everything and a month later began to say that everywhere is good, but at home, at the bottom, it is better.
Often in the evenings, all five sisters, holding hands, would rise to the surface; everyone had the most wonderful voices that people do not have on earth, and so, when a storm began and they saw that the ship was doomed to perish, they swam up to it and sang in gentle voices about the wonders of the underwater kingdom and persuaded the sailors not to be afraid to sink to the bottom ; but the sailors could not make out the words; it seemed to them that it was just a roaring storm; yes, they still would not have been able to see any miracles at the bottom - if the ship died, people drowned and sailed to the palace of the sea king already dead.
The younger mermaid, while her sisters floated hand in hand to the surface of the sea, remained alone and looked after them, ready to cry, but mermaids do not know how to cry, and this made her even harder.
- Oh, when will I be fifteen years old? she said. - I know that I will really love the world and the people who live there!
Finally she turned fifteen.
- Well, they raised you too! said the grandmother, the queen dowager. - Come here, we must dress you up like other sisters!

Hans Christian Andersen

Little Ida's Flowers

My poor flowers are completely withered! - said little Ida. - Last night they were so beautiful, and now they have completely hung their heads! Why is this? she asked the student sitting on the couch.

She loved this student very much - he knew how to tell the most wonderful stories and carve funny figures: hearts with crumbs of dancers inside, flowers and magnificent palaces with doors and windows that could be opened. This student was a great fun-lover!

What about them? she asked again and showed him her wilted bouquet.

You know? - said the student. - The flowers were at the ball tonight, so now they have hung their heads!

But flowers don't dance! - said little Ida.

They dance! - answered the student. - At night, when it is dark all around and we are all asleep, they dance so merrily with each other, they give such balls - it's just a miracle!

Can't the children come to their ball?

Why, - said the student, - after all, little daisies and lilies of the valley dance too.

Where do the most beautiful flowers dance? Ida asked.

You’ve been outside the city, where is the great palace where the king lives in summer and where such a wonderful garden with flowers? Do you remember the swans that swam up to you for bread crumbs? This is where real balls take place!

Yesterday I was there with my mother, ”said little Ida,“ but not in the trees! more leaves, and not a single flower in the whole garden! Where did they all go? There were so many of them in the summer!

They are all in the palace - said the student. - I must tell you that as soon as the king and courtiers move to the city, all the flowers immediately run from the garden right to the palace, and there they start having fun! I wish you had a look! The two most beautiful roses sit on the throne - this is the king and queen. Red cockscombs stand on both sides and bow - the ego of the chamber junkers. Then all the other beautiful flowers come and the ball begins. Hyacinths and crocuses represent little sea cadets and dance with young ladies - blue violets, and tulips and large yellow lilies are elderly ladies, they watch the dances and keep order in general.

Can't the flowers get it for dancing in the royal palace? - asked little Ida.

Why, no one knows about this! - said the student. - True, at night the old caretaker sometimes looks into the palace with a large bunch of keys in his hands, but the flowers, as soon as they hear the jingle of the keys, will now calm down, hide behind the long curtains that hang on the windows, and only slightly peep out of there with one eye. “Something smells of flowers here,” the old caretaker mutters, but sees nothing to see.

That's funny! - said little Ida and even clapped her hands. - And I too can not see them?

You can, - said the student. - One has only, as you go there again, look through the windows. I saw a long yellow lily there today; she lay and stretched on the sofa imagining herself a lady of the court.

Can flowers from the Botanical Garden also come there? It's far away!

Do not be afraid, - said the student, - they can fly whenever they want! Have you seen beautiful red, yellow and white butterflies that look like flowers? After all, they were flowers before, they just jumped from their stalks high into the air, beat them with petals, like wings, and flew. They behaved well, for which they received permission to fly during the day; others must sit still on their stalks, while they fly, and their petals have finally become real wings. You saw them yourself! By the way, maybe flowers from the Botanical Garden do not even appear in the royal palace! Maybe they don't even know that there is such fun going on there at night. I'll tell you what: the professor of botany will be surprised later - you know him, he lives next door! - when you come to his garden, tell some flower about the big balls in the royal palace. He will tell the others about it, and they will all run away. The professor will come to the garden, and there is not a single flower there, and he will not understand where they have gone!

But how can a flower tell others? Flowers have no language.

Of course not, - said the student, - but they know how to communicate with signs! You yourself saw how they sway and move their green leaves, a little breeze will blow. It comes out so nicely for them - as if they were talking!

Does the professor understand their signs? - asked little Ida.

How so! One morning he came to his garden and saw that a large nettle was making signs with leaves of a lovely red carnation; with this she wanted to say to the carnation: "You are so sweet, I love you very much!" The professor did not like this, and he immediately hit the nettle on the leaves - the leaves of the nettle are like fingers - but he burned himself! Since then, he does not dare to touch her.

That's funny! - said Ida and laughed.

Well, is it possible to stuff a child's head with such nonsense? said the boring counselor, who also came to visit and was sitting on the sofa.

He hated the student and always grumbled at him, especially when he carved intricate, funny figures, like a man on a gallows and with a heart in his hands - he was hanged for stealing hearts - or an old witch on a broomstick, with her husband on nose. The adviser did not like all this very much, and he always repeated:

Well, is it possible to stuff a child's head with such nonsense? Silly inventions!

But Ida was very amused by the student's story about flowers, and she thought about it all day.

"So the flowers hung their heads because they were tired after the ball!" And little Ida went to her table, where all her toys were; the drawer of the table was also chock-full of various goods. Sophie's doll lay in her bed and slept, but Ida told her:

You will have to get up, Sophie, and lie down this night in a box: the poor flowers are sick, they need to be put in your bed - maybe they will recover!

And she took the doll out of the bed. Sophie looked at Ida very displeased and did not say a word - she was angry that her bed was taken away.

Ida laid down the flowers, covered them well with a blanket and told them to lie still, for this she promised to give them tea, and then they would have gotten up completely healthy tomorrow morning! Then she closed the canopy to keep the sun out of the flowers.

Little Ida's Flowers

- My poor flowers have completely withered! - said little Ida. - Last night they were so beautiful, and now they have completely hung their heads! Why is this? she asked the student sitting on the couch.

She loved this student very much - he knew how to tell the most wonderful stories and carve funny figures: hearts with crumbs of dancers inside, flowers and magnificent palaces with doors and windows that could be opened. This student was a great fun-lover!

What about them? she asked again and showed him her wilted bouquet.

You know? - said the student. - The flowers were at the ball tonight, so now they have hung their heads!

But flowers don't dance! - said little Ida.

They dance! - answered the student. - At night, when it is dark all around and we are all asleep, they dance so merrily with each other, they give such balls - it's just a miracle!

Can't the children come to their ball?

Why, - said the student, - after all, little daisies and lilies of the valley dance too.

Where do the most beautiful flowers dance? Ida asked.

You’ve been outside the city, where is the great palace where the king lives in summer and where such a wonderful garden with flowers? Do you remember the swans that swam up to you for bread crumbs? This is where real balls take place!

Yesterday I was there with my mother, ”said little Ida,“ but not in the trees! more leaves, and not a single flower in the whole garden! Where did they all go? There were so many of them in the summer!

They are all in the palace - said the student. - I must tell you that as soon as the king and courtiers move to the city, all the flowers immediately run from the garden right to the palace, and there they start having fun! I wish you had a look! The two most beautiful roses sit on the throne - this is the king and queen. Red cockscombs stand on both sides and bow - the ego of the chamber junkers. Then all the other beautiful flowers come and the ball begins. Hyacinths and crocuses represent little sea cadets and dance with young ladies - blue violets, and tulips and large yellow lilies are elderly ladies, they watch the dances and keep order in general.

Can't the flowers get it for dancing in the royal palace? - asked little Ida.

Why, no one knows about this! - said the student. - True, at night the old caretaker sometimes looks into the palace with a large bunch of keys in his hands, but the flowers, as soon as they hear the jingle of the keys, will now calm down, hide behind the long curtains that hang on the windows, and only slightly peep out of there with one eye. “Something smells of flowers here,” the old caretaker mutters, but sees nothing to see.

That's funny! - said little Ida and even clapped her hands. - And I too can not see them?

You can, - said the student. - One has only, as you go there again, look through the windows. I saw a long yellow lily there today; she lay and stretched on the sofa - imagining herself a lady of the court.

Can flowers from the Botanical Garden also come there? It's far away!

Do not be afraid, - said the student, - they can fly whenever they want! Have you seen beautiful red, yellow and white butterflies that look like flowers? After all, they were flowers before, they just jumped from their stalks high into the air, beat them with petals, like wings, and flew. They behaved well, for which they received permission to fly during the day; others must sit still on their stalks, while they fly, and their petals have finally become real wings. You saw them yourself! By the way, maybe flowers from the Botanical Garden do not even appear in the royal palace! Maybe they don't even know that there is such fun going on there at night. I'll tell you what: the professor of botany will be surprised later - you know him, he lives next door! - when you come to his garden, tell some flower about the big balls in the royal palace. He will tell the others about it, and they will all run away. The professor will come to the garden, and there is not a single flower there, and he will not understand where they have gone!

But how can a flower tell others? Flowers have no language.

Of course not, - said the student, - but they know how to communicate with signs! You yourself saw how they sway and move their green leaves, a little breeze will blow. It comes out so nicely for them - as if they were talking!

Does the professor understand their signs? - asked little Ida.

How so! One morning he came to his garden and saw that a large nettle was making signs with leaves of a lovely red carnation; with this she wanted to say to the carnation: "You are so sweet, I love you very much!" The professor did not like this, and he immediately hit the nettle on the leaves - the leaves of the nettle are like fingers - but he burned himself! Since then, he does not dare to touch her.

That's funny! - said Ida and laughed.

Well, is it possible to stuff a child's head with such nonsense? - said the boring adviser, who also came to visit and was sitting on the sofa.

He hated the student and always grumbled at him, especially when he carved intricate, funny figures, like a man on a gallows and with a heart in his hands - he was hanged for stealing hearts - or an old witch on a broomstick, with her husband on nose. The adviser did not like all this very much, and he always repeated:

But Ida was very amused by the student's story about flowers, and she thought about it all day.

"So the flowers hung their heads because they were tired after the ball!" And little Ida went to her table, where all her toys were; the drawer of the table was also chock-full of various goods. Sophie's doll lay in her bed and slept, but Ida told her:

You will have to get up, Sophie, and lie down this night in a box: the poor flowers are sick, they need to be put in your bed - maybe they will recover!

And she took the doll out of the bed. Sophie looked at Ida very displeased and did not say a word - she was angry that her bed was taken away.

Ida laid down the flowers, covered them well with a blanket and told them to lie still, for this she promised to give them tea, and then they would have gotten up completely healthy tomorrow morning! Then she closed the canopy to keep the sun out of the flowers.

The student's story did not go out of her mind, and, getting ready to go to bed, Ida could not help but look behind the window curtains that had been lowered for the night: there were wonderful mother's flowers on the windows - tulips and hyacinths, and little Ida whispered to them:

I know you will have a ball tonight!

The flowers stood as if nothing had happened, and did not even budge, but little Ida knew what she knew.

In bed, Ida thought about the same for a long time and kept imagining how cute it must be when the flowers are dancing! "Was it possible that my flowers were also at the ball in the palace?" - she thought and fell asleep.

But in the middle of the night, little Ida suddenly woke up, she saw in her dream now flowers, a student and an adviser who scolded the student for stuffing her head with trifles. It was quiet in the room where Ida was lying, a night light was on on the table, and Mom and Dad were fast asleep.

I would like to know: are my flowers asleep in the bed? - said little Ida to herself and got up from the pillow to look through the half-open door, behind which were her toys and flowers; then she listened - it seemed to her that they were playing the piano in that room, but very quietly and tenderly; she had never heard such music before.

That's right, the flowers are dancing! - said Ida. - Lord, how I would like to see!

But she didn’t dare to get out of bed so as not to wake up Mom and Dad.

If only the flowers would come in here! - she said. But the flowers did not enter, and the music continued, so quiet, gentle, just a miracle! Then Idochka could not stand it, slowly climbed out of the crib, crept on tiptoe to the door and looked into the next room. What a delight it was there!

There was no night light in that room, but it was still as bright as day, from the moon, looking out of the window directly at the floor, where tulips and hyacinths stood in two rows; not a single flower remained on the windows - only pots of earth. The flowers danced very nicely: they either stood in a circle, then, holding the long green leaves, as if by the hands, circled in pairs. A large yellow lily was playing on the piano - this is probably her little Ida saw in the summer! She remembered well how the student said: "Oh, how she looks like Miss Lina!" Everyone laughed at him then, but now Ida really seemed like a long yellow lily like Lina; She played the piano in the same way as Lina: she turned her elongated face first to one side, then to the other and nodded to the beat of the wonderful music. Nobody noticed Ida.

Suddenly little Ida saw that a large blue crocus jumped right into the middle of the table with toys, went to the doll's bed and pulled back the curtain; there were sick flowers, but they rose briskly and nodded their heads, letting us know that they, too, wanted to dance. The old smoking-room with a broken lower lip got up and bowed to the beautiful flowers; they did not look at all like the sick - they jumped off the table and began to have fun with everyone.

At that moment, something banged, as if something had fallen to the floor. Ida looked in that direction - it was a Shrovetide willow: she also jumped off the table to the flowers, believing that she was akin to them. The willow was also cute; it was decorated with paper flowers, and at the top was a wax doll in a wide-brimmed black hat, exactly the same as that of the councilor. The willow jumped in the middle of the flowers and stomped loudly with its three red wooden stilts - she danced the mazurka, and the other flowers did not succeed in this dance, because they were too light and could not stomp.

But then the wax doll on the willow suddenly stretched out, twirled over the paper flowers and shouted loudly:

Well, is it possible to stuff a child's head with such nonsense? Silly inventions!

Now the doll was exactly like an adviser, in a black wide-brimmed hat, the same yellow and angry! But the paper flowers hit her slender legs, and she again shrank into a small wax doll. It was so funny that Ida couldn't help laughing.

The willow continued to dance, and the adviser, willy-nilly, had to dance with her, no matter whether he stretched out to its full length, or remained a small wax doll in a black wide-brimmed hat. Finally, the flowers, especially those that were in the doll's bed, began to ask for him, and the pussy willow left him alone. Suddenly, something loudly knocked in the drawer where Sophie's doll and other toys were lying. The smoking-room ran along the edge of the table, lay down on his stomach and opened the drawer. Sophie stood up and looked around in surprise.

Yes, you, it turns out, have a ball! she said. - Why didn't they tell me?

Do you wanna dance with me? - asked the Smoking-room.

Good gentleman! - said Sophie and turned her back to him; then she sat down on the box and waited - perhaps one of the flowers would invite her, but no one thought to invite her. She coughed loudly, but even then no one approached her. The smoking-room danced alone, and very well!

Seeing that the flowers were not looking at her, Sophie suddenly fell from the box onto the floor and made such a noise that everyone ran to her and began to ask if she had hurt herself. Everyone spoke to her very kindly, especially those flowers that had just slept in her bed; Sophie did not hurt herself in the least, and the flowers of little Ida began to thank her for the wonderful bed, then they took her with them to the moon circle on the floor and began to dance with her, while other flowers circled around them. Now Sophie was very pleased and told the flowers that she willingly gave up her crib to them - she felt good in the drawer too!

Thanks! - said the flowers. - But we cannot live that long! In the morning we will die completely! Just tell little Ida to bury us in the garden where the canary is buried; in the summer we will grow up again and will be even more beautiful!

No, you mustn't die! - said Sophie and kissed the flowers. At this time the door opened, and a whole crowd of flowers entered the room. Ida could not understand where they came from - must have been from the royal palace. Ahead were two lovely roses with small golden crowns on their heads - they were the king and queen. Behind them, bowing in all directions, were wonderful levkoi and carnations. The musicians - large poppies and peonies - blew on the husks of the peas and turned completely red from the strain, and the little blue bells and white snowdrops rang as if they were wearing bells. That was funny music! Then there was a whole crowd of other flowers, and they all danced - and blue violets, and red marigolds, and daisies, and lilies of the valley. Flowers danced and kissed so sweetly that it was simply a feast for the eyes!

Finally, everyone wished each other good night, and little Ida quietly made her way to her bed, and all night she dreamed of flowers and everything that she saw.

In the morning she got up and ran to her table to see if her flowers were there.

She pulled back the curtains - yes, they were in the crib, but completely, completely wilted! Sophie, too, was lying in her place in the drawer and looked completely sleepy.

Do you remember what you need to tell me? Ida asked her.

But Sophie looked at her stupidly and did not open her mouth.

What are you bad! - said Ida. - And they danced with you!

Then she took a cardboard box with a pretty bird painted on the lid, opened the box and put the dead flowers there.

So much for your coffin! - she said. - And when my Norwegian cousins ​​come, we will bury you in the garden, so that next summer you will grow even more beautiful!

Jonas and Adolf, Norwegian cousins, were lively little boys; their father gave them a new bow, and they came to show them to Ida. She told them about the poor dead flowers and allowed them to help bury them. The boys walked in front with bows on their shoulders; behind them little Ida with dead flowers in a box. They dug a grave in the garden, Ida kissed the flowers and lowered the box into the pit, and Jonas and Adolf fired over the grave from bows - they had neither guns nor cannons.

Little Ida "s flowers

“My poor flowers are quite dead,” said little Ida, “they were so pretty yesterday evening, and now all the leaves are hanging down quite withered. What do they do that for, ”she asked, of the student who sat on the sofa; she liked him very much, he could tell the most amusing stories, and cut out the prettiest pictures; hearts, and ladies dancing, castles with doors that opened, as well as flowers; he was a delightful student. "Why do the flowers look so faded to-day?" she asked again, and pointed to her nosegay, which was quite withered.

“Don" t you know what is the matter with them? " said the student. “The flowers were at a ball last night, and therefore, it is no wonder they hang their heads.”

"But flowers cannot dance?" cried little Ida.

“Yes indeed, they can,” replied the student. “When it grows dark, and everybody is asleep, they jump about quite merrily. They have a ball almost every night. "

"Can children go to these balls?"

“Yes,” said the student, “little daisies and lilies of the valley.”

"Where do the beautiful flowers dance?" asked little Ida. “Have you not often seen the large castle outside the gates of the town, where the king lives in summer, and where the beautiful garden is full of flowers? And have you not fed the swans with bread when they swam towards you? Well, the flowers have capital balls there, believe me. "

“I was in the garden out there yesterday with my mother,” said Ida, “but all the leaves were off the trees, and there was not a single flower left. Where are they? I used to see so many in the summer. "

“They are in the castle,” replied the student. “You must know that as soon as the king and all the court are gone into the town, the flowers run out of the garden into the castle, and you should see how merry they are. The two most beautiful roses seat themselves on the throne, and are called the king and queen, then all the red cockscombs range themselves on each side, and bow, these are the lords-in-waiting. After that the pretty flowers come in, and there is a grand ball. The blue violets represent little naval cadets, and dance with hyacinths and crocuses which they call young ladies. The tulips and tiger-lilies are the old ladies who sit and watch the dancing, so that everything may be conducted with order and propriety. "

“But,” said little Ida, “is there no one there to hurt the flowers for dancing in the king" s castle? "

“No one knows anything about it,” said the student. “The old steward of the castle, who has to watch there at night, sometimes comes in; but he carries a great bunch of keys, and as soon as the flowers hear the keys rattle, they run and hide themselves behind the long curtains, and stand quite still, just peeping their heads out. Then the old steward says, 'I smell flowers here,' but he cannot see them. "

“Oh how capital,” said little Ida, clapping her hands. "Should I be able to see these flowers?"

“Yes,” said the student, “mind you think of it the next time you go out, no doubt you will see them, if you peep through the window. I did so to-day, and I saw a long yellow lily lying stretched out on the sofa. She was a court lady. ”

“Can the flowers from the Botanical Gardens go to these balls? " asked Ida. "It is such a distance!"

“Oh yes,” said the student “whenever they like, for they can fly. Have you not seen those beautiful red, white, and yellow butterflies, that look like flowers? They were flowers once. They have flown off their stalks into the air, and flap their leaves as if they were little wings to make them fly. Then, if they behave well, they obtain permission to fly about during the day, instead of being obliged to sit still on their stems at home, and so in time their leaves become real wings. It may be, however, that the flowers in the Botanical Gardens have never been to the king "s palace, and, therefore, they know nothing of the merry doings at night, which take place there. I will tell you what to do, and the botanical professor, who lives close by here, will be so surprised. You know him very well, do you not? Well, next time you go into his garden, you must tell one of the flowers that there is going to be a grand ball at the castle, then that flower will tell all the others, and they will fly away to the castle as soon as possible. And when the professor walks into his garden, there will not be a single flower left. How he will wonder what has become of them! ”

“But how can one flower tell another? Flowers cannot speak? "

“No, certainly not,” replied the student; “But they can make signs. Have you not often seen that when the wind blows they nod at one another, and rustle all their green leaves? "

"Can the professor understand the signs?" asked Ida.

“Yes, to be sure he can. He went one morning into his garden, and saw a stinging nettle making signs with its leaves to a beautiful red carnation. It was saying, 'You are so pretty, I like you very much.' But the professor did not approve of such nonsense, so he clapped his hands on the nettle to stop it. Then the leaves, which are its fingers, stung him so sharply that he has never ventured to touch a nettle since. ”

"Oh how funny!" said Ida, and she laughed.

“How can anyone put such notions into a child" s head? " said a tiresome lawyer, who had come to pay a visit, and sat on the sofa. He did not like the student, and would grumble when he saw him cutting out droll or amusing pictures. Sometimes it would be a man hanging on a gibbet and holding a heart in his hand as if he had been stealing hearts. Sometimes it was an old witch riding through the air on a broom and carrying her husband on her nose. But the lawyer did not like such jokes, and he would say as he had just said, “How can anyone put such nonsense into a child" s head! what absurd fancies there are! ”

But to little Ida, all these stories which the student told her about the flowers, seemed very droll, and she thought over them a great deal. The flowers did hang their heads, because they had been dancing all night, and were very tired, and most likely they were ill. Then she took them into the room where a number of toys lay on a pretty little table, and the whole of the table drawer besides was full of beautiful things. Her doll Sophy lay in the doll "s bed asleep, and little Ida said to her,“ You must really get up Sophy, and be content to lie in the drawer to-night; the poor flowers are ill, and they must lie in your bed, then perhaps they will get well again. ” So she took the doll out, who looked quite cross, and said not a single word, for she was angry at being turned out of her bed.

Ida placed the flowers in the doll "s bed, and drew the quilt over them. Then she told them to lie quite still and be good, while she made some tea for them, so that they might be quite well and able to get up the next morning. And she drew the curtains close round the little bed, so that the sun might not shine in their eyes.

During the whole evening she could not help thinking of what the student had told her. And before she went to bed herself, she was obliged to peep behind the curtains into the garden where all her mother "s beautiful flowers grew, hyacinths and tulips, and many others. Then she whispered to them quite softly,“ I know you are going to a ball to-night. " But the flowers appeared as if they did not understand, and not a leaf moved; still Ida felt quite sure she knew all about it.

She lay awake a long time after she was in bed, thinking how pretty it must be to see all the beautiful flowers dancing in the king "s garden.“ I wonder if my flowers have really been there, ”she said to herself, and then she fell asleep. In the night she awoke; she had been dreaming of the flowers and of the student, as well as of the tiresome lawyer who found fault with him. It was quite still in Ida "s bedroom; the night-lamp burnt on the table, and her father and mother were asleep.

“I wonder if my flowers are still lying in Sophy" s bed, ”she thought to herself;“ how much I should like to know. ” She raised herself a little, and glanced at the door of the room where all her flowers and playthings lay; it was partly open, and as she listened, it seemed as if some one in the room was playing the piano, but softly and more prettily than she had ever before heard it.

“Now all the flowers are certainly dancing in there,” she thought, “oh how much I should like to see them,” but she did not dare move for fear of disturbing her father and mother. “If they would only come in here,” she thought; but they did not come, and the music continued to play so beautifully, and was so pretty, that she could resist no longer. She crept out of her little bed, went softly to the door and looked into the room. Oh what a splendid sight there was to be sure!

There was no night-lamp burning, but the room appeared quite light, for the moon shone through the window upon the floor, and made it almost like day. All the hyacinths and tulips stood in two long rows down the room, not a single flower remained in the window, and the flower-pots were all empty. The flowers were dancing gracefully on the floor, making turns and holding each other by their long green leaves as they swung round. At the piano sat a large yellow lily which little Ida was sure she had seen in the summer, for she remembered the student saying she was very much like Miss Lina, one of Ida "s friends. They all laughed at him then, but now it seemed to little Ida as if the tall, yellow flower was really like the young lady. She had just the same manners while playing, bending her long yellow face from side to side, and nodding in time to the beautiful music. Then she saw a large purple crocus jump into the middle of the table where the playthings stood, go up to the doll "s bedstead and draw back the curtains; there lay the sick flowers, but they got up directly, and nodded to the others as a sign that they wished to dance with them. The old rough doll, with the broken mouth, stood up and bowed to the pretty flowers. They did not look ill at all now, but jumped about and were very merry, yet none of them noticed little Ida.

Presently it seemed as if something fell from the table. Ida looked that way, and saw a slight carnival rod jumping down among the flowers as if it belonged to them; it was, however, very smooth and neat, and a little wax doll with a broad brimmed hat on her head, like the one worn by the lawyer, sat upon it. The carnival rod hopped about among the flowers on its three red stilted feet, and stamped quite loud when it danced the Mazurka; the flowers could not perform this dance, they were too light to stamp in that manner.

All at once the wax doll which rode on the carnival rod seemed to grow larger and taller, and it turned round and said to the paper flowers, “How can you put such things in a child" s head? They are all foolish fancies; " and then the doll was exactly like the lawyer with the broad brimmed hat, and looked as yellow and as cross as he did; but the paper dolls struck him on his thin legs, and he shrunk up again and became quite a little wax doll. This was very amusing, and Ida could not help laughing. The carnival rod went on dancing, and the lawyer was obliged to dance also. It was no use, he might make himself great and tall, or remain a little wax doll with a large black hat; still he must dance. Then at last the other flowers interceded for him, especially those who had lain in the doll "s bed, and the carnival rod gave up his dancing. At the same moment a loud knocking was heard in the drawer, where Ida "s doll Sophy lay with many other toys. Then the rough doll ran to the end of the table, laid himself flat down upon it, and began to pull the drawer out a little way. Then Sophy raised himself, and looked round quite astonished, “There must be a ball here to-night,” said Sophy. “Why did not somebody tell me?”

"Will you dance with me?" said the rough doll.

“You are the right sort to dance with, certainly,” said she, turning her back upon him. Then she seated herself on the edge of the drawer, and thought that perhaps one of the flowers would ask her to dance; but none of them came. Then she coughed, “Hem, hem, a-hem;” but for all that not one came. The shabby doll now danced quite alone, and not very badly, after all.

As none of the flowers seemed to notice Sophy, she let herself down from the drawer to the floor, so as to make a very great noise. All the flowers came round her directly, and asked if she had hurt herself, especially those who had lain in her bed. But she was not hurt at all, and Ida "s flowers thanked her for the use of the nice bed, and were very kind to her. They led her into the middle of the room, where the moon shone, and danced with her, while all the other flowers formed a circle round them. Then Sophy was very happy, and said they might keep her bed; she did not mind lying in the drawer at all.

But the flowers thanked her very much, and said, - “We cannot live long. To-morrow morning we shall be quite dead; and you must tell little Ida to bury us in the garden, near to the grave of the canary; then, in the summer we shall wake up and be more beautiful than ever. "

“No, you must not die,” said Sophy, as she kissed the flowers. Then the door of the room opened, and a number of beautiful flowers danced in. Ida could not imagine where they could come from, unless they were the flowers from the king "s garden. First came two lovely roses, with little golden crowns on their heads; these were the king and queen. Beautiful stocks and carnations followed, bowing to every one present. They had also music with them. Large poppies and peonies had pea-shells for instruments, and blew into them till they were quite red in the face. The bunches of blue hyacinths and the little white snowdrops jingled their bell- like flowers, as if they were real bells. Then came many more flowers: blue violets, purple heart "s-ease, daisies, and lilies of the valley, and they all danced together, and kissed each other. It was very beautiful to behold.

At last the flowers wished each other good-night. Then little Ida crept back into her bed again, and dreamt of all she had seen.

When she arose the next morning, she went quickly to the little table, to see if the flowers were still there. She drew aside the curtains of the little bed. There they all lay, but quite faded; much more so than the day before. Sophy was lying in the drawer where Ida had placed her; but she looked very sleepy.

"Do you remember what the flowers told you to say to me?" said little Ida. But Sophy looked quite stupid, and said not a single word. “You are not kind at all,” said Ida; "And yet they all danced with you." Then she took a little paper box, on which were painted beautiful birds, and laid the dead flowers in it. “This shall be your pretty coffin,” she said; “And by and by, when my cousins ​​come to visit me, they shall help me to bury you out in the garden; so that next summer you may grow up again more beautiful than ever. "

Her cousins ​​were two good-tempered boys, whose names were James and Adolphus. Their father had given them each a bow and arrow, and they had brought them to show Ida. She told them about the poor flowers which were dead; and as soon as they obtained permission, they went with her to bury them. The two boys walked first, with their crossbows on their shoulders, and little Ida followed, carrying the pretty box containing the dead flowers. They dug a little grave in the garden. Ida kissed her flowers and then laid them, with the box, in the earth. James and Adolphus then fired their crossbows over the grave, as they had neither guns nor cannons.