Two Crows (Clara)
Once upon a time there were two crows. One was “clever”, and the other was “stupid.” The “clever” crow had everything the proper way. Her nest was made of thick and thin branches and full with all sorts of luxury stuff: bright beads, colored bottle glass shards, shiny chewing gum wrappers, and old and new coins. The pride of the “clever” crow was there, too: a metal spectacles frame with green glasses, that she nicked directly from the bench on which hard of hearing Ivan Kuzmich was sitting and reading a newspaper. The crow stared at the sun, reflected in Ivan Kuzmichs’ glasses, and decided that THAT — something that bright and brilliant — must definitely belong to her. Every morning and sometimes in the evening she croaked loudly boasting to the whole neighborhood that she had stolen the sun.
Everyone respected her...
Her husband sat on a poplar close to the nest and guarded the treasures of his spouse. In spring, baby birds appeared in the nest, and the whole being of the “clever” crow was ruled by a different passion: to feed, to keep warm, to protect the screaming and squeaking softlings that all of a sudden became even more important for her than “her sun.” When the nestlings grew up and flew out of the nest, she was “released”. Suddenly, she felt uncomfortable: how it could be that she who was so clever, who owned the sun, who was respected and feared by the neighbors was throughout the spring engaged in some kind of nonsense. So she would croak with redoubled zeal about her merits and gossip about the others’ shortcomings.
One of those victims was the “stupid” crow. Everybody thought that she was “a bit off her head.” She didn’t even have a home. She had nothing but nonsense. Just think of it: can a decent crow be friends with pigeons and Hans, the dog of Ivan Kuzmich?
When she was born there were no signs of trouble. Her parents Tess and Ufim were very proud of Clara: that was the “stupid” crow’s name. Faster than all her brothers and sisters, she learned to fly, to choose the best delicacies from a garbage can, to steal chicks from the neighbors’ nests and to nick right from under the noses of careless sparrows and pigeons pieces of buns with raisins and poppy seeds that generous students were throwing to them.
They had a bite in a cafeteria in front of the poplars where pigeons, sparrows, crows, a few cats and Hans the dog lived and feuded with each other. During his morning and evening walks with Ivan Kuzmich, Hans barked and dispersed all who crossed his way. The only exception was a big, black cat named Moo-Moo with slightly bulging eyes and a white spot on his forehead. He often sat on a bench or on a canopy above the entrance door. One day, he jumped off it right on the Hans’ back.
Clara would have probably lived all her life like a “clever” crow if it were not for two occurrences. Once in early spring some mischievous boys put a pigeon’s egg in Clara’s nest that was empty that year. Clara was surprised but started to clutch it. When the wet chick got out and the last pieces of the shell fell off him she clearly saw that it was a pigeon nestling. That was when it happened to her.
Two conflicting feelings began to tear her apart pulling her in opposite directions: the first was “To eat the doweling…He is a stranger!” and the second: “To warm him with her body and to feed him right now.” Clara sat on the edge of her nest with the open beak and the wide spread wings. It was the first shock in her life that used to be so lucky and simple. Clara was confused: hate and love called her at the same time. Convulsions passed through her body. Her breath caught. She felt as if a black funnel of despair opened inside, sucking her strength and life. The choice was not coming... She felt that she was dying. With the last effort, she pulled her attention from herself and looked at the chick. He was so stupid, miserable and naked; the large head with the open beak hung on his thin neck... Clara realized that he was feeling just as bad as she was and that he was no different from the dying Clara. She felt sorry for him and for herself. She thought about what he could be like when he grew up... The funnel inside her began to diminish, the weakness was subsiding.... Suddenly, a warm wave filled her whole being...
Clara chose love and life...
At the same time the belief in that what she did was right and the hope that everything would be fine came upon her. Clara felt wise and happy, although she was also a bit confused of who she was: a pigeon or a crow?The birds were still accepting her, but made fun of her anyway. At a meeting of the pack the “clever” crow shouted more loudly than anybody: “Shame, shame! The likes of you have no place in our pack!”
All supported her...
Clara’s parents felt sorry for her. The pigeons felt flattered that the “stupid” crow often stayed overnight and dined with them with her son, but they believed, too, that something was likely to be wrong with her.
Only the “stupid” crow felt good like never before and did not notice the ridicule. She didn’t attend the meetings, but instead she often visited the window sill and the balcony of Ivan Kuzmichs’ apartment. The second occurrence had to do with Clara’s curiosity. Who knows when and why questions started appearing in her head, and waiting for the answers to them she would sit on the window sill all day long. She was interested in everything: what the dog was doing? Why Ivan Kuzmich was feeding the dog? Why the dog and the man lived together? Who left whom with whom? Was Ivan Kuzmich abandoned and left with Hans, or Hans with Ivan Kuzmich? And finally, why, when Ivan Kuzmich had a piece of sausage right next to him he didn’t just eat it straightaway but instead looked at white sheets of paper looking like a bouquet, and flicked through them? Clara would never be distracted by such silly things; she would do the most important first: eat the sausage. So, tortured by questions, she sat and watched hour after hour. But one winter she suddenly realized that Hans thought that he was a human being, and Ivan Kuzmich found in his white pieces of paper something more important than sausage.Following this discovery, Clara became even more “stupid.”She lost her interest in the affairs of the relatives, stopped worrying that the pack kicked her out; she ate and flew less. To her surprise, she started missing Hans and Ivan Kuzmich very much; she used to miss that much only her nest on a bird cherry tree.
That winter Ivan Kuzmich was ill for a long time; he was coughing and stopped going out, so he let Hans out on the balcony. It was a pretty frosty morning when Clara, cold and hungry, decided to look for food and to do some exercise.
Passing by Ivan Kuzmichs’ balcony, she saw Hans, who became hoarse of barking and had his paws frostbitten. Hans lied next to the closed balcony door, trembling all over and with dried saliva in the corners of his mouth. Ivan Kuzmich was sleeping in the next room. Clara understood it at once. She got cramps in her feet and an ache in her chest because of her sympathy to Hans. She began to feel that it was her who spent the whole night on the cold balcony and had the lungs frostbitten of barking. Clara shook the sensation off and pulled herself together. She sat down next to the dog and tried to hoarsely cough, like Ivan Kuzmich did. Hans began to whimper.... Then she started to bark like Hans: the dog wagged his tail. Clara then flew up to the room where the old man slept, slipped her beak through a crack in a pane and opened it. Then she sat on the nightstand beside the bed and began to bark. Ivan Kuzmich immediately opened his eyes and stared at Clara. She coughed, and then started to bark again. Ivan Kuzmich finally woke up. Clara felt a chill inside when he realized that he wanted only to have a nap, but the sleeping pill made him sleep all night, and Hans stayed on the balcony in such frost...
All ended well. By the summer Hans and Ivan Kuzmich finally recovered. But after that, when Hans went out for a walk, he didn’t chase everyone who came his way because his frostbitten paw still ached a little, and he wised up after that cold night. The same could hardly be said about Clara.
After that, Clara began to think that she could be a pigeon, and a crow, and a dog, and a man, all at once. But most of all she wanted to be a human being in order to understand what was so important in the white sheets of paper of Ivan Kuzmich.
Tess and Ufim tried to reason with her; they treated her with zeleneka grass that was so difficult to find; they gave her “dead” and “living” water to drink, protected her from the relatives’ sneers and rudeness, and even searched out their distant relative on the father’s side, Zega the Wise Raven and asked him for help. But the Wise Raven said that he could not help someone who needed no help; he couldn’t close the road that he did not open, neither could he stop the one who had larger wings... From all that Clara’s clever parents understood only one thing: that Clara’s illness was incurable, and left her alone.
The “stupid” crow felt absolutely happy, she liked life more and more: she started to feel smells more acutely, to distinguish the shades of black and white, to see colorful dreams. In the morning she would go to a pigeon loft, where carrier pigeons lived, and talked with them about the places they used to fly above. Daytime she flew to Ivan Kuzmich and knocked at his window with her beak. Ivan Kuzmich always left something delicious for Clara: a slice of cheese or sausage, a pancake, and called her “my savior.” Hans always waited for her with his paws and muzzle on the window sill. When she appeared, he happily barked and wagged his tail so much that he created a light breeze. Clara barked in response...
So the summer passed. Then autumn came, and after it, winter. Clara was very cold. Once, late at night when the sun had already set and nothing could be seen around, Clara saw three silvery-white crows who told her that they came for her. An even warm light, understanding and love came from them. Clara suddenly felt relieved... She saw “her own people”, they were calling her “home”.
Clara flapped her wings, and four silvery-white crows flew away.
In the morning pigeons found her dead body and informed everyone that the “stupid” crow had died. The “clever” crow was gossiping with the neighbors about her “useless” life for a long time.
Ivan Kuzmich and Hans continued to wait for Clara every day as they had the feeling that she would appear ... Several winters and summers passed... Ivan Kuzmich read all the books he could find about crows, but most of all he liked a children's book with big pictures, one of which showed a crow looking like a Clara. He and Hans grew quite old. They didn’t go for a walk far away because both got quickly tired. Then one day they passed by a playground, that apart from a new sandbox and swings had benches on which they could sit and rest. Suddenly, Hans barked with a rolling bark, like in his youth, and creating a breeze with his tail, rushed to a three-year-old boy who was building something impressive with stones and sand. Before the boy’s mother could know, Hans licked him from head to toe.
Kolya, that was the boy’s name, was laughing, hugging the dog with both arms and barking into his ear. Ivan Kuzmich also liked Kolya very much, and he gave him the book with Clara’s picture.
The kid didn’t let the book out of his hands and even slept with it. The bird in the picture seemed very dear and familiar to him, and when his mother went shopping and left him alone for a short while, he only needed to open the book with Clara, and the fear disappeared, and the time before the arrival of his mother flew by unnoticed. The clever bird seemed to be saying to him: “Do not worry, everything will be fine.” The other crow on the poplar next to his window that croaked very loudly and intrusively every morning and evening also seemed sort of familiar to Kolya. But he did not like her and thought that she was stupid... At night, he dreamed of silvery-white birds...
When Kolya woke up in the morning, he felt very happy and realized that he had many friends and that everything was ahead of him...
And he also realized that dreams come true
Once upon a time there were two crows. One was “clever”, and the other was “stupid.” The “clever” crow had everything the proper way. Her nest was made of thick and thin branches and full with all sorts of luxury stuff: bright beads, colored bottle glass shards, shiny chewing gum wrappers, and old and new coins. The pride of the “clever” crow was there, too: a metal spectacles frame with green glasses, that she nicked directly from the bench on which hard of hearing Ivan Kuzmich was sitting and reading a newspaper. The crow stared at the sun, reflected in Ivan Kuzmichs’ glasses, and decided that THAT — something that bright and brilliant — must definitely belong to her. Every morning and sometimes in the evening she croaked loudly boasting to the whole neighborhood that she had stolen the sun.
Everyone respected her...
Her husband sat on a poplar close to the nest and guarded the treasures of his spouse. In spring, baby birds appeared in the nest, and the whole being of the “clever” crow was ruled by a different passion: to feed, to keep warm, to protect the screaming and squeaking softlings that all of a sudden became even more important for her than “her sun.” When the nestlings grew up and flew out of the nest, she was “released”. Suddenly, she felt uncomfortable: how it could be that she who was so clever, who owned the sun, who was respected and feared by the neighbors was throughout the spring engaged in some kind of nonsense. So she would croak with redoubled zeal about her merits and gossip about the others’ shortcomings.
One of those victims was the “stupid” crow. Everybody thought that she was “a bit off her head.” She didn’t even have a home. She had nothing but nonsense. Just think of it: can a decent crow be friends with pigeons and Hans, the dog of Ivan Kuzmich?
When she was born there were no signs of trouble. Her parents Tess and Ufim were very proud of Clara: that was the “stupid” crow’s name. Faster than all her brothers and sisters, she learned to fly, to choose the best delicacies from a garbage can, to steal chicks from the neighbors’ nests and to nick right from under the noses of careless sparrows and pigeons pieces of buns with raisins and poppy seeds that generous students were throwing to them.
They had a bite in a cafeteria in front of the poplars where pigeons, sparrows, crows, a few cats and Hans the dog lived and feuded with each other. During his morning and evening walks with Ivan Kuzmich, Hans barked and dispersed all who crossed his way. The only exception was a big, black cat named Moo-Moo with slightly bulging eyes and a white spot on his forehead. He often sat on a bench or on a canopy above the entrance door. One day, he jumped off it right on the Hans’ back.
Clara would have probably lived all her life like a “clever” crow if it were not for two occurrences. Once in early spring some mischievous boys put a pigeon’s egg in Clara’s nest that was empty that year. Clara was surprised but started to clutch it. When the wet chick got out and the last pieces of the shell fell off him she clearly saw that it was a pigeon nestling. That was when it happened to her.
Two conflicting feelings began to tear her apart pulling her in opposite directions: the first was “To eat the doweling…He is a stranger!” and the second: “To warm him with her body and to feed him right now.” Clara sat on the edge of her nest with the open beak and the wide spread wings. It was the first shock in her life that used to be so lucky and simple. Clara was confused: hate and love called her at the same time. Convulsions passed through her body. Her breath caught. She felt as if a black funnel of despair opened inside, sucking her strength and life. The choice was not coming... She felt that she was dying. With the last effort, she pulled her attention from herself and looked at the chick. He was so stupid, miserable and naked; the large head with the open beak hung on his thin neck... Clara realized that he was feeling just as bad as she was and that he was no different from the dying Clara. She felt sorry for him and for herself. She thought about what he could be like when he grew up... The funnel inside her began to diminish, the weakness was subsiding.... Suddenly, a warm wave filled her whole being...
Clara chose love and life...
At the same time the belief in that what she did was right and the hope that everything would be fine came upon her. Clara felt wise and happy, although she was also a bit confused of who she was: a pigeon or a crow?The birds were still accepting her, but made fun of her anyway. At a meeting of the pack the “clever” crow shouted more loudly than anybody: “Shame, shame! The likes of you have no place in our pack!”
All supported her...
Clara’s parents felt sorry for her. The pigeons felt flattered that the “stupid” crow often stayed overnight and dined with them with her son, but they believed, too, that something was likely to be wrong with her.
Only the “stupid” crow felt good like never before and did not notice the ridicule. She didn’t attend the meetings, but instead she often visited the window sill and the balcony of Ivan Kuzmichs’ apartment. The second occurrence had to do with Clara’s curiosity. Who knows when and why questions started appearing in her head, and waiting for the answers to them she would sit on the window sill all day long. She was interested in everything: what the dog was doing? Why Ivan Kuzmich was feeding the dog? Why the dog and the man lived together? Who left whom with whom? Was Ivan Kuzmich abandoned and left with Hans, or Hans with Ivan Kuzmich? And finally, why, when Ivan Kuzmich had a piece of sausage right next to him he didn’t just eat it straightaway but instead looked at white sheets of paper looking like a bouquet, and flicked through them? Clara would never be distracted by such silly things; she would do the most important first: eat the sausage. So, tortured by questions, she sat and watched hour after hour. But one winter she suddenly realized that Hans thought that he was a human being, and Ivan Kuzmich found in his white pieces of paper something more important than sausage.Following this discovery, Clara became even more “stupid.”She lost her interest in the affairs of the relatives, stopped worrying that the pack kicked her out; she ate and flew less. To her surprise, she started missing Hans and Ivan Kuzmich very much; she used to miss that much only her nest on a bird cherry tree.
That winter Ivan Kuzmich was ill for a long time; he was coughing and stopped going out, so he let Hans out on the balcony. It was a pretty frosty morning when Clara, cold and hungry, decided to look for food and to do some exercise.
Passing by Ivan Kuzmichs’ balcony, she saw Hans, who became hoarse of barking and had his paws frostbitten. Hans lied next to the closed balcony door, trembling all over and with dried saliva in the corners of his mouth. Ivan Kuzmich was sleeping in the next room. Clara understood it at once. She got cramps in her feet and an ache in her chest because of her sympathy to Hans. She began to feel that it was her who spent the whole night on the cold balcony and had the lungs frostbitten of barking. Clara shook the sensation off and pulled herself together. She sat down next to the dog and tried to hoarsely cough, like Ivan Kuzmich did. Hans began to whimper.... Then she started to bark like Hans: the dog wagged his tail. Clara then flew up to the room where the old man slept, slipped her beak through a crack in a pane and opened it. Then she sat on the nightstand beside the bed and began to bark. Ivan Kuzmich immediately opened his eyes and stared at Clara. She coughed, and then started to bark again. Ivan Kuzmich finally woke up. Clara felt a chill inside when he realized that he wanted only to have a nap, but the sleeping pill made him sleep all night, and Hans stayed on the balcony in such frost...
All ended well. By the summer Hans and Ivan Kuzmich finally recovered. But after that, when Hans went out for a walk, he didn’t chase everyone who came his way because his frostbitten paw still ached a little, and he wised up after that cold night. The same could hardly be said about Clara.
After that, Clara began to think that she could be a pigeon, and a crow, and a dog, and a man, all at once. But most of all she wanted to be a human being in order to understand what was so important in the white sheets of paper of Ivan Kuzmich.
Tess and Ufim tried to reason with her; they treated her with zeleneka grass that was so difficult to find; they gave her “dead” and “living” water to drink, protected her from the relatives’ sneers and rudeness, and even searched out their distant relative on the father’s side, Zega the Wise Raven and asked him for help. But the Wise Raven said that he could not help someone who needed no help; he couldn’t close the road that he did not open, neither could he stop the one who had larger wings... From all that Clara’s clever parents understood only one thing: that Clara’s illness was incurable, and left her alone.
The “stupid” crow felt absolutely happy, she liked life more and more: she started to feel smells more acutely, to distinguish the shades of black and white, to see colorful dreams. In the morning she would go to a pigeon loft, where carrier pigeons lived, and talked with them about the places they used to fly above. Daytime she flew to Ivan Kuzmich and knocked at his window with her beak. Ivan Kuzmich always left something delicious for Clara: a slice of cheese or sausage, a pancake, and called her “my savior.” Hans always waited for her with his paws and muzzle on the window sill. When she appeared, he happily barked and wagged his tail so much that he created a light breeze. Clara barked in response...
So the summer passed. Then autumn came, and after it, winter. Clara was very cold. Once, late at night when the sun had already set and nothing could be seen around, Clara saw three silvery-white crows who told her that they came for her. An even warm light, understanding and love came from them. Clara suddenly felt relieved... She saw “her own people”, they were calling her “home”.
Clara flapped her wings, and four silvery-white crows flew away.
In the morning pigeons found her dead body and informed everyone that the “stupid” crow had died. The “clever” crow was gossiping with the neighbors about her “useless” life for a long time.
Ivan Kuzmich and Hans continued to wait for Clara every day as they had the feeling that she would appear ... Several winters and summers passed... Ivan Kuzmich read all the books he could find about crows, but most of all he liked a children's book with big pictures, one of which showed a crow looking like a Clara. He and Hans grew quite old. They didn’t go for a walk far away because both got quickly tired. Then one day they passed by a playground, that apart from a new sandbox and swings had benches on which they could sit and rest. Suddenly, Hans barked with a rolling bark, like in his youth, and creating a breeze with his tail, rushed to a three-year-old boy who was building something impressive with stones and sand. Before the boy’s mother could know, Hans licked him from head to toe.
Kolya, that was the boy’s name, was laughing, hugging the dog with both arms and barking into his ear. Ivan Kuzmich also liked Kolya very much, and he gave him the book with Clara’s picture.
The kid didn’t let the book out of his hands and even slept with it. The bird in the picture seemed very dear and familiar to him, and when his mother went shopping and left him alone for a short while, he only needed to open the book with Clara, and the fear disappeared, and the time before the arrival of his mother flew by unnoticed. The clever bird seemed to be saying to him: “Do not worry, everything will be fine.” The other crow on the poplar next to his window that croaked very loudly and intrusively every morning and evening also seemed sort of familiar to Kolya. But he did not like her and thought that she was stupid... At night, he dreamed of silvery-white birds...
When Kolya woke up in the morning, he felt very happy and realized that he had many friends and that everything was ahead of him...
And he also realized that dreams come true
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