Vyhľadávanie
The Know-All Egg
A hen laid an egg and when she had cackled loudly to announce it to all the world, she stroked the egg's head and said: "My dear child, I am your Mummy and I'll teach you everything you need to know."
"I don't need to learn anything. I know everything already," the egg retorted, scowling so that everyone could see at first glance that he really meant it.
"But I must teach you a lot of things."
"I know a lot of things!"
"I must teach you what stones are..."
"I know what stones are!"
"... so you won't trip up and break yourself."
"I shan't trip and break!"
No matter what the hen said, the egg gave the same reply: "I know, I know, I know!"
"I must teach you what a saucepan is!"
"I know what a saucepan is!"
"And I must teach you what hot water is, too."
"I know what hot water is!"
"But I must teach you what hot water can do."
"I know what hot water can do!" shouted the egg. I can have a nice bath in it and I won't feel at all cold. I know! I know! I know!"
And before the hen had time to say anything at all, the egg jumped into a pot of boiling water.
Since that time the egg has never said "I know! I know! I know!", but he has never learned anything either, for the farmer ate him for breakfast.
Translated by Heather Trebtická
The Haughty Goose
A self-satisfied goose strutted round the yard gaggling all the time:
"You hens, you hens.... You scuttle here and there, scratching in the dirt all day and when you lay an egg, you cackle loudly for all the world to hear, as if you'd done something no one else in the world can do. But in the end the farmer takes the egg away from you anyway!
Rover, Rover - you bark at everyone. You think that you are lord of the whole yard, but you are chained up from morning to night, you have to obey the farmer and you even lick his hand to show how fond you are of him!
Buttercup, Buttercup - you chew all day, you see nothing of the world, you give the farmer's wife good milk but you've never even tasted it yourself."
She had something to say to everyone she met.
Finally she came to a little pig lying near the trough at the end of the yard.
"Little pig, little pig," she said, wringing her wings, "just take a look at yourself! You eat everything they pour into your trough, while I pick out only the tastiest grass in our meadow. You're covered in mud and I bathe in the stream every day. You've got nothing but hard bristles on your bare skin and I have beautiful warm, silky feathers..." and she kept on and on.
At first the little pig frowned and listened in silence. But then he stopped frowning and just waited for the goose to stop honking at last. When the goose at last did fall silent, the little pig smiled and said calmly: "You're quite right, Mrs Goose. I eat everything the farmer puts in my trough, I don't bathe in the stream, nor have I got such beautiful feathers as you, and it wasn't even me the farmer's wife was looking for everywhere a little while ago."
"The farmer's wife was looking for me?" the goose asked in surprise, putting on a haughty look.
"Yes, I think she wants you," the little pig nodded, "because she muttered something about needing a bit more down for a new pillow and having to make a lot of potato pancakes, because that's what the farmer likes best with roast goose."
Who knows why, but from that time on, the goose was haughty no more.
Translated by Heather Trebtická
The Holes in the Cheese
There was a piece of cheese on the table and it was full of holes.
"I didn't do it," the horse hastened to say. "I don't like cheese."
"It wasn't me, either," the sheep declared crossly. You can see for yourselves, it isn't sheep's cheese."
"It's bound to be the cat," shouted the dog. "Everything bad is always done by cats."
"Only a mouse could do that," the cat objected. "They're the ones that eat cheese."
"If I'd been the one to find the cheese," said the mouse, "I would have eaten it all and I wouldn't just have made holes in it."
Soon all the animals in the yard had joined in the quarrel about the cheese.
"I've never seen anything like it in my life!" the turkey gobbled petulantly, turning red in the face with annoyance.
"Nor have I! Nor have I!" the cock crowed at the top of its voice. "And I'm first up every morning!"
They quarrelled and quarrelled, shouting at the tops of their voices, but they couldn't decide where the holes in the cheese had come from.
They were so busy quarrelling, they didn't even notice when a crow flew down and gobbled up the cheese without a word.
"What do you think you're doing?" the dog suddenly barked and flung itself at the crow. But she escaped from under his very nose, flying up to sit on a nearby tree.
"Is anything the matter?" she asked, unconcerned, nodding in the direction of the empty table, where the cheese had been. "You've been quarrelling all this time over the holes in the cheese and I've left you those. I've only eaten what was round them."
Translated by Heather Trebtická
(From: A Little Bit of Everything, Junior Publishers, 1996]
