The Magic Cheese - стр. 7
“My name is Cheese-eater, the cat is Curdfritter, and the mistress of the dairy is the Cheese Fairy. First eat the porridge, then listen to our story. You need to eat more to grow strong. If you put in porridge some butter, it will only make you smarter. The strength of a mill comes from the wind, a man’s – from what he can eat.” The mouse was talking and at the same time putting on the table wooden plates, clay jars and pots. Curdfritter brought hot pots and pans from the stove.
“Why are you eating nothing?” asked Vovka. Somehow he didn’t feel right having all the food for himself.
“When you’ve got many dishes to make, you won’t car-re what’s on a plate,” purred Curdfritter. “Since our Gr-randma the Cheese Fair-ry disappear-red, I have had no r-rest or appetite. Befor-re that I always ate with pleasure, but it’s not like that now.” Curdfritter sighed.
“Don’t listen to his complaints; let me fill again your plates. Eat and drink our bread and milk. But I’ll surely have no rest, if you don’t say that our cheese is the best,” said Cheese-eater.
“Thank you, I just love cheese, and you have the most delicious kind of it!” exclaimed Vovka.
“Cheese is cer-rtainly our best, and we gladly shar-re it with our guest. Fr-rom the sunr-rise we are awake, for there is always mor-re cheese to make. Do you know The Crow and the Fox fable?” asked Curdfritter.
“Of course, I do,” smiled Vovka. “Everybody does.”
“But not ever-ryone understands. Have you r-read it? R-remember how the Fox cheated the Crow and r-ran away with the cheese? But when you r-read it next time, the Cr-row has cheese again. How did it appear, if the Fox had stolen it?”
“But…this is a fairy-tale!” Vovka was confused. “You may read it a hundred of times and it will always be the same.”
“And so it can be said, but not in this land,” said Cheese-eater gently. “The Cheese Fairy, Curdfritter and I are making special magic cheese here. It’s for all fairy-tales – for the Crow and the Fox, for the Cheshire cat or the Greedy Little Bears, if they happen to drop in. We work for all the fairy-tales where there is cheese, milk, butter or sour-cream. You can’t make dough for the Round Loaf without sour-cream, or pan-cakes without milk, so what would the old man with his old wife do? You can think for yourself how many fairy-tales won’t do without our help.”
“We have special cows, sheep and goats. They gr-raze in a magic meadow, that’s why the milk is magic, too. The cows have gr-rass but the milk is for-r us. Oh, how well it was with our Gr-randma fr-rom the dair-ry, the Cheese Fair-ry! Making cheese for all, having no gr-rief at all… We used to have so much cheese that we didn’t know what to do with it. And now with the Cheese Fairy gone everything went wrong.” Curdfritter wiped his tears with a red paw.