The collection of short stories "Little Monster" was born in travel. Gennady Yakovlevich Snegirev traveled all over the country: from the Black Sea to the White Sea, from the desert to the tundra. The inhabitants of the wild nature became the main characters of the writer's works.

The writer Gennady Yakovlevich Snegirev saw a lot and told about it in his books. He saw a lot because he often and for a long time traveled by train, steamboat, deer, and walked. And most importantly - because he knows how to see everything wonderful around him. That's the way it's made!
And what does it mean - wonderful?
Some people believe that nothing is miraculous. It seems to them, these people, that they know everything in the world and that everything in life is ordinary. Can some kind of mitten, or grass, or even a simple frog seem wonderful to someone?
Read this book and you will see that there is nothing ordinary: the whole world is interesting, wonderful!

Read the book "Little Monster" online

Starling

I went for a walk in the forest. It is quiet in the forest, only sometimes you can hear the trees cracking from the frost.

The Christmas trees stand and do not move, there is snow on the branches of the pillow.

I kicked the tree with my foot - a whole snowdrift fell on my head. I began to shake off the snow, I look - a girl is coming. Snow is up to her knees. She will rest a little and go again, and she herself looks up at the trees, looking for something.

Girl, what are you looking for?

The girl shuddered and looked at me.

I went out onto the path, I didn’t turn off the path into the forest, otherwise there were full boots of snow. I walked a little, my feet were cold. Went home.

On the way back I look - again this girl is walking ahead of me along the path quietly and quietly and crying. I caught up with her.

Why, I say, are you crying? Maybe I can help.

She looked at me, wiped away her tears and said:

Mom ventilated the room, and Borka, the starling, flew out the window and flew into the forest. Now it will freeze at night!

Why were you silent before?

I was afraid, - she says, - that you would catch Borka and take it for yourself.

Together with the girl, we began to look for Borka. It is necessary to hurry: it has already become dark, and at night the owl will eat Borka. The girl went one way and I went the other. I examine each tree, there is no Borka anywhere. I wanted to go back, suddenly I hear a girl screaming: "I found it, I found it!"

I run up to her - she stands near the Christmas tree and points up:

Here he is! Freeze, poor guy.

And a starling sits on a branch, fluffed out its feathers and looks at the girl with one eye.

The girl calls him

Borya, come to me, good one!

And Borya just clung to the Christmas tree and does not want to go. Then I climbed up the tree to catch him.

As soon as he reached the starling, he wanted to grab it, but the starling flew over to the girl’s shoulder. She was delighted, hid it under her coat.

And then, - he says, - while I bring it to the house, it will freeze.

We went home. It was already dark, the lights in the houses were lit, there was still a little to go. I ask the girl:

How long have you had a starling?

And she walks quickly, afraid that the starling under the coat will freeze. I follow the girl, I try to keep up.

We came to her house, the girl said goodbye to me.

Goodbye, she just told me.

I looked at her for a long time, while she was cleaning snow boots on the porch, waiting for the girl to tell me something else.

The girl left and closed the door behind her.

camel mitten

My mother knitted me mittens, warm, from sheep's wool.

One mitten was already ready, and the second mother only knitted up to half - there was not enough wool for the rest. It’s cold outside, the whole yard is covered with snow, they won’t let me walk without mittens - they are afraid that I will freeze my hands. I’m sitting by the window, watching the tits jump on the birch, quarreling: they probably didn’t share the bug.

Mom said:

Wait until tomorrow: in the morning I'll go to Aunt Dasha, I'll go and ask for wool.

It’s good for her to say “see you tomorrow” when I want to go for a walk today! Out from the yard, Uncle Fedya, the watchman, comes to us without mittens. And they won't let me.

Uncle Fedya came in, brushed off the snow with a broom and said:

Maria Ivanovna, they brought firewood there on camels. Will you take? Good firewood, birch.

Mom got dressed and went with Uncle Fedya to look at the firewood, and I look out of the window, I want to see the camels when they leave with firewood.

Firewood was unloaded from one cart, the camel was taken out and tied at the fence. Such a big, shaggy one. The humps are high, like hummocks in a swamp, and hang sideways. The whole muzzle of the camel is covered with frost, and he chews something with his lips all the time - probably he wants to spit.

I look at him, and I myself think: "Here, my mother does not have enough wool for mittens - it would be nice to cut the camel, just a little bit so that it does not freeze."

I quickly put on my coat and felt boots. I found scissors in the chest of drawers, in the top drawer, where all sorts of threads and needles are, and went out into the yard. He approached the camel, stroked its side. The camel is nothing but squints suspiciously and chews everything.

I climbed onto the shaft, and from the shaft I sat astride between the humps.

The camel turned to see who was swarming there, but I was scared: suddenly he would spit or throw him to the ground. It's high!

I slowly took out the scissors and began to cut off the front hump, not the whole, but the very top, where there is more wool.

I cut a whole pocket, started cutting from the second hump so that the humps were even. And the camel turned to me, stretched out its neck and sniffs the boots.

I was very frightened: I thought he would bite my leg, but he only licked the felt boots and chewed again.

I trimmed the second hump, went down to the ground and quickly ran into the house. I cut off a piece of bread, salted it and took it to the camel - because he gave me wool. The camel first licked the salt and then ate the bread.

At this time, my mother came, firewood was unloaded, the second camel was taken out, mine was untied, and everyone left.

My mother began to scold me at home:

What are you doing? You'll get cold without a hat!

And I forgot to wear a hat. I took wool out of my pocket and showed it to my mother - a whole bunch, just like sheep, only red.

Mom was surprised when I told her that it was a camel who gave it to me.

Mom spun thread from this wool. A whole ball turned out, it was enough to finish the mitten and there was still left. And now I go for a walk in new mittens. The left one is common, and the right one is camel. She is half red, and when I look at her, I remember a camel.

Guinea pig

Behind our garden is a fence. Who lives there, I did not know before. Just recently found out. I caught grasshoppers in the grass, I look - the eye from the hole in the fence is looking at me.

Who are you? - I ask.

And the eye is silent and keeps looking, spying on me. Looked, looked, and then said:

And I have a guinea pig!

It became interesting to me: I know a simple pig, but I have never seen a sea pig.

I, - I say, - had a living hedgehog. Why a guinea pig?

I don't know, he says. She must have lived in the sea before. I put her in a trough, but she is afraid of water, escaped and ran under the table!

I wanted to see a guinea pig.

And what, - I say, - is your name?

Seryozha. How about you?

We made friends with him.

Seryozha ran after the guinea pig, I look through the hole for him. He was gone for a long time. Seryozha came out of the house, carrying some kind of red rat in his hands.

Here, - she says, - she didn’t want to go, she will have children soon: she doesn’t like to be touched on her stomach, growls!

And where is her piglet?

Serezha is surprised:

What piglet?

Like what? All pigs have a snout on their nose!

No, when we bought her, she didn't have a patch.

I began to ask Seryozha what he feeds the pig.

She, - she says, - loves carrots, but she also drinks milk.

Seryozha did not have time to tell me everything, he was called home.

The next day I was walking near the fence and looked through the hole: I thought Seryozha would come out, take out the pig. And he never came out. It was raining, and, probably, my mother did not let him in. I began to walk in the garden, I look - under the tree something red lies in the grass.

I came closer, and this is Seryozha the guinea pig. I was delighted, but I don’t understand how she got into our garden. I began to examine the fence, and there was a hole below. The pig must have crawled through that hole. I took her in my hands, she does not bite, she only sniffs her fingers and sighs. All wet. I brought the pig home. I searched and searched for a carrot, but did not find it. He gave her a cabbage stalk, she ate the stalk and fell asleep on the rug under the bed.

I sit on the floor, look at her and think: “What if Seryozha finds out who the pig lives with? No, he won’t find out: I won’t take it out into the street!”

I went out onto the porch, I hear a car rumble somewhere nearby. He went up to the fence, looked into the hole, and it was in Seryozha’s yard that a truck was standing, things were being loaded onto it. Seryozha fumbles with a stick under the porch - probably looking for a guinea pig. Serezha's mother put pillows in the car and says:

Seryozha! Get your coat on, let's go!

Seryozha cried:

No, I'm not leaving until I find a pig! She will have children soon, she probably hid under the house!

I felt sorry for Seryozha, I called him to the fence.

Seryozha, - I say, - who are you looking for?

Seryozha came up, and he was still crying:

My mumps is gone, and then I have to leave!

I tell him:

I have your pig, she ran into our garden. I'll take it to you now.

Oh, - he says, - how good! And I thought: where did she go?

I brought him a pig and slipped it under the fence.

Mom is calling Seryozha, the car is already buzzing.

Seryozha grabbed the pig and said to me:

You know? I will definitely give you when she gives birth to children, a little pig lady. Goodbye!

Seryozha got into the car, his mother covered him with a raincoat, because it started to rain.

Seryozha also covered the pig with a cloak. When the car was leaving, Seryozha waved his hand at me and shouted something, I didn’t make out - probably about the pig.

wonderful boat

I was tired of living in the city, and in the spring I went to the village to the familiar fisherman Micah. Mikheev's house stood on the very bank of the Severka River.

A little light Micah sailed away on a boat to fish. There were huge pikes in Severka. They kept all the fish in fear: they came across roaches right from the pike's mouth - the scales on the sides were torn off, as if scratched with a comb.

Every year, Mikhey threatened to go to the city for pike lures, but he could not get himself together.

But one day Micah returned from the river angry, without fish. He silently dragged the boat into the mugs, ordered me not to let the neighbor's guys in, and left for the city for spinners.

I sat down by the window and watched the wagtail running around the boat.

Then the wagtail flew away and the neighbors guys approached the boat: Vitya and his sister Tanya. Vitya examined the boat and began to drag it to the water. Tanya sucked her finger and looked at Vitya. Vitya shouted at her, and together they pushed the boat into the water.

Then I left the house and said that it was impossible to take a boat.

Why? - asked Vitya.

I didn't know why myself.

Because, - I said, - this boat is wonderful!

Tanya took her finger out of her mouth.

What's wonderful about her?

We will only drive to the turn and back, - said Vitya.

It was far from the turn of the river, and while the guys were swimming back and forth, I kept coming up with something wonderful and amazing.

An hour has passed. The guys came back, but I didn’t come up with anything.

Well, - Vitya asked, - why is she wonderful? A simple boat, once even aground and flowing!

Yes, how amazing is she? Tanya asked.

Didn't you notice anything? - I said, and I tried to think of something as soon as possible.

No, they didn’t notice anything, ”Vitya said sarcastically.

Of course, nothing! Tanya said angrily.

So you didn't notice anything? - I asked loudly, and I myself wanted to get away from the guys.

Vitya fell silent and began to remember. Tanya wrinkled her nose and also began to remember.

We saw the tracks of a heron in the sand, - Tanya said timidly.

They also saw how it was already swimming, only the head was sticking out of the water, - said Vitya.

Then they remembered that water buckwheat had bloomed, and they also saw a white water lily bud under water. Vitya told how a flock of fry jumped out of the water to escape the pike. And Tanya caught a big snail, and a small snail was still sitting on the snail ...

Isn't it all wonderful? I asked.

Victor thought and said:

Wonderful!

Tanya laughed and shouted:

How wonderful too!

Uka

I collected cranberries in the swamp. I scored half a basket, and the sun was already low: it was peeking out from behind the forest, it was about to disappear.

My back was a little tired, I straightened up, I looked - a heron flew by. Probably sleep. She has been living in the swamp for a long time, I always see her when she flies by.

The sun has already set, but it is still light, the sky in that place is red-red. It is quiet around, only someone is shouting in the reeds, not very loud, but heard far away: "Uk!" Wait a little and again: "Uk!"

Who is this? I've heard this scream before, but I didn't pay attention. And now I was somehow curious: maybe this is the heron screaming like that?

I began to walk near this place, where the cry is heard. Close to screaming, but no one is there. It will be dark soon. Time to go home. Only a little passed - and suddenly the screaming stopped, you can't hear it anymore.

"Aha, - I think, - so here!" I hid, I stand quietly, quietly, so as not to frighten. He stood for a long time, finally on a hummock, very close, he answered: "Uk!" - and again silence.

I sat down to get a better look, I look - the frog is sitting and not moving. Little at all, but screaming so loud!

I caught her, I hold her in my hand, but she doesn’t even break out. Her back is gray, and her belly is red-red, like the sky above the forest, where the sun has set. I put it in my pocket, took a basket of cranberries - and went home. Lights had already been switched on in our windows, and they must have sat down to supper.

I came home, my grandfather asked me:

Where did you go?

Caught a bite.

He does not understand.

What, - he says, - for such a trick?

I reached into my pocket to show it, but the pocket was empty, only a little wet. "Uh, - I think, - nasty Uka! I wanted to show her grandfather, but she ran away!"

Grandfather, - I say, - well, you know, Uka is like that - she always screams in the swamp in the evening, with a red belly.

Grandpa doesn't understand.

Sit down, - he says, - eat and go to bed, we'll figure it out tomorrow.

I got up in the morning and walked all day, thinking about Uka: did she return to the swamp or not?

In the evening I went again to the same place where I caught Uku. He stood for a long time, listening to everything: would he scream.

"Uk!" - shouted somewhere behind. I searched and searched and couldn't find it. You come closer - it is silent. You move away - he starts screaming again. She probably hid under a hummock.

I got tired of looking for her, I went home.

But now I know who in the swamp screeches so loudly in the evening. This is not a heron, but a small Uka with a red tummy.

sly chipmunk

I built myself a tent in the taiga. This is not a house or a forest hut, but simply long sticks stacked together. There is bark on the sticks, and logs on the bark so that the pieces of the bark are not blown away by the wind.

I began to notice that someone in the plague was leaving pine nuts.

I could never guess who, without me, in my tent eats nuts. It even became scary.

But once a cold wind blew, overtook the clouds, and during the day it became completely dark from bad weather.

I quickly climbed into the tent, I look, but my place is already taken.

In the darkest corner sits a chipmunk. A chipmunk has a bag of nuts behind each cheek.

Thick cheeks, slit eyes. He looks at me, afraid to spit out nuts on the ground: he thinks that I will steal them.

The chipmunk endured, endured, and spat out all the nuts. And immediately his cheeks lost weight.

I counted seventeen nuts on the ground.

At first, the chipmunk was afraid, and then he saw that I was sitting quietly, and began to stuff the nuts through the cracks and under the logs.

When the chipmunk ran away, I looked - nuts are crammed everywhere, large, yellow. It can be seen that a chipmunk in my plague arranged a pantry.

What a cunning chipmunk! In the forest, squirrels and jays will steal all his nuts. And the chipmunk knows that not a single thieving jay will climb into my tent, so he brought his supplies to me. And I was no longer surprised if I found nuts in the plague. I knew that a cunning chipmunk was living with me.

beaver

In the spring, the snow melted quickly, the water rose and flooded the beaver hut.

The beavers dragged the beaver cubs onto dry leaves, but the water crept up even higher, and the beaver cubs had to spread out in different directions.

The smallest beaver was exhausted and began to sink.

I noticed him and pulled him out of the water. I thought it was a water rat, and then I see the tail with a spatula, and guessed that it was a beaver.

At home, he cleaned and dried for a long time, then found a broom behind the stove, sat down on his hind legs, took a twig from the broom with his front paws and began to gnaw it.

After eating, the beaver collected all the sticks and leaves, raked it under him and fell asleep.

I listened to how a beaver sniffles in a dream. "Here, - I think, - what a calm animal - you can leave him alone, nothing will happen!"

He locked the beaver in the hut and went into the forest.

All night I wandered through the forest with a gun, and in the morning I returned home, opened the door, and...

What is it? It's like I'm in a carpentry shop!

White shavings are scattered all over the floor, and a thin, thin leg near the table: a beaver gnawed it from all sides. And he hid behind the stove.

The water subsided overnight. I put the beaver in a bag and quickly carried it to the river.

Since I met a tree felled by beavers in the forest, I immediately think about the beaver that gnawed my table.

night bells

I really wanted to see a deer: to see how he eats grass, how he stands motionless and listens to the silence of the forest.

Once I approached a doe with a deer, but they sensed me and fled into the red autumn grasses. I recognized it from the footprints. Here they were: the footprints in the swamp filled with water before my eyes.

Heard the deer trumpeting at night. Somewhere far away a deer will trumpet, and it echoes along the river, and it seems - very close.

Finally, in the mountains, I came across a deer trail. The deer trampled it to a lonely cedar. The ground near the cedar was salty, and the deer came at night to lick the salt.

I hid behind a rock and waited. The moon shone at night and it was cold. I dozed off.

I woke up to a quiet sound.

It was like glass bells were ringing. A deer was walking along the path.

I never got a good look at the deer, I only heard the ground clinking under its hooves with every step.

During the night, thin ice stalks grew from the frost.

They grew right out of the ground. The deer smashed them with their hooves, and they rang like glass bells.

When the sun rose, the ice stalks melted.

little monster

Our ship was sailing in the Gulf of Anadyr. It was night. I was at the stern. The ice floes rustled and broke. A strong wind with snow was blowing, but the sea was calm, heavy ice did not allow it to rage. The ship made its way between the ice floes at low speed. The ice fields will start soon. The captain steered the ship carefully so as not to crash into the ice.

Suddenly I hear: something is splashing near the very side, even the ship rocked on the wave.

I look: some kind of monster overboard. It will sail away, then it will approach and sigh heavily, heavily. Disappeared, appeared in front of the ship, emerged at the very stern, the water from its splashes burns with a green light.

Whale! And what, I can’t figure it out.

All night long he sailed behind the ship and sighed.

And at dawn I saw him: his head is blunt, like a sledgehammer, no animal has such a long head, its eyes are tiny, and there is only one nostril. It will stick it out of the water, the fountain of steam will release, sigh heavily and again go under the water.

This is a young sperm whale.

Then the captain woke up and went on deck.

I asked him:

Why is he following us?

Yes, that's right, mistook our ship for a whale. Still young, the milk on the lips has not dried up. And it is clear that he lagged behind his mother, from his herd. All sperm whales, as autumn storms begin, go to the equator.

While the captain was talking, the sperm whale left the ship and swam south. Its fountain was visible between the ice for a long time, then disappeared.

The equator went to look, - said the captain.

Here even I sighed: will this little monster find its mother?

Belek

Everywhere you look, there is only ice around. White, greenish, shining in the sun. I began to peer into the narrow strip of water that our ship cut in the ice.

And suddenly I saw two black eyes. They looked at me from the ice floe, which slowly floated past.

Stop! Stop! Someone overboard! I shouted.

The ship slowed down and stopped. I had to lower the boat and return to the ice floe.

The ice floe was covered with sparkling snow. And on the snow, like on a blanket, lay a pup - a baby seal.

The seals leave their babies on the ice, and only in the morning does the mother come to the seal, feed it with milk and swim away again, and it lies all day on the ice floe, all white, soft, like plush. And if not for the big black eyes, I would not have noticed him.

I brought him a bottle of milk, but the squirrel did not drink, but crawled to the side. I pulled him back, and suddenly from his eyes rolled first one tear, then the second, and so it was sprinkled with hail. Belek was crying silently. The sailors made a noise and said that it was necessary to put him on that ice floe as soon as possible. Let's go to the captain. The captain grumbled and grumbled, but nevertheless turned the ship around. The ice had not yet closed, and along the water path we came to the old place. There, the seal was again laid on a snow blanket, only on another ice floe. He almost stopped crying. Our ship sailed on.

Octopussy

In the spring, warm fogs began to undermine the ice floes. And when it got quite warm, a butterfly flew onto the deck with the coastal wind.

I caught her, brought her to the cabin, and began to remember how finches sing in the forest in the spring and hedgehogs run in the clearings.

"It would be nice, - I think, - to catch a hedgehog! But where can you catch him in the northern sea?"

And instead of a hedgehog, I started a little octopus: he got tangled in nets with fish.

I put the octopus in a jar of jam, and put the jar on the table.

So he lived with me in a jar of octopuses. I do something, and he hides behind a pebble and peeps at me. Pebbles are gray and octopuses are gray. The sun will shine on him - it will turn yellow, he disguises himself like that.

Once I was reading a book. At first he sat quietly, and then began to quickly flip through the pages.

The octopus suddenly turned red, then yellow, then green. He was frightened when the pages flashed.

Can a hedgehog do that? He only pricks and snorts.

Somehow I laid a green scarf under the jar - and the octopus turned green.

Once I put a jar with an octopus on a chessboard, and the octopuses did not know what to be - white or black? And then he got angry and blushed.

But I didn't piss him off anymore. And when the real summer came, I released the octopus into an underwater clearing, where it is smaller and the water is warmer: after all, it is still quite small!

Starling
camel mitten
Guinea pig
wonderful boat
Uka
sly chipmunk
beaver
night bells
little monster
Belek
Octopussy

Moscow "Children's Literature" 1975. Drawings by N. Charushin

beaver

In the spring, the snow melted quickly, the water rose and flooded the beaver hut.
The beavers dragged the beaver cubs onto dry leaves, but the water crept up even higher, and the beaver cubs had to spread out in different directions.
The smallest beaver was exhausted and began to sink.
I noticed him and pulled him out of the water. I thought it was a water rat, and then I see - a tail with a spatula, and guessed that it was a beaver.
At home, he cleaned and dried for a long time, then found a broom behind the stove, sat on his hind legs, took a twig from the broom with his front paws and began to gnaw it.

After eating, the beaver collected all the sticks and leaves, tucked them under him and fell asleep.
I listened to how a beaver sniffles in a dream. “Here, - I think, - what a calm animal - you can leave him alone, nothing will happen!”
He locked the beaver in the hut and went into the forest.
All night I wandered through the forest with a gun, and in the morning I returned home, opened the door and ...
What is it? It's like I'm in a carpentry shop!
White shavings are scattered all over the floor, and a thin, thin leg near the table: the beaver gnawed it from all sides. And he hid behind the stove.
The water subsided overnight. I put the beaver in a bag and quickly carried it to the river.
Since I met a tree felled by beavers in the forest, I immediately think about the beaver that gnawed my table.

little monster

Our ship was sailing in the Gulf of Anadyr. It was night. I was at the stern. The ice floes rustled and broke. A strong wind with snow was blowing, but the sea was calm, heavy ice did not allow it to rage. The ship made its way between the ice floes at low speed. The ice fields will start soon. The captain steered the ship carefully so as not to crash into the ice.
Suddenly I hear something splashing at the very side, even the ship rocked on the wave.
I look - some kind of monster overboard. It will sail away, then it will approach and sigh heavily. Disappeared, appeared in front of the ship, emerged at the very stern, the water from its splashes burns with a green light.
Whale! And I can't figure out which one.

All night the ship sailed and sighed.
And at dawn I saw him: his head was blunt, like a sledgehammer, long - not a single animal has such a thing, his eyes are tiny, and there is only one nostril. It will stick it out of the water, the fountain of steam will release, it will sigh heavily and again go under the water.
This is a young sperm whale.
Then the captain woke up and went on deck.
I asked him:
- Why is he following us?
- Yes, that's right, he mistook our ship for a whale. Still young, the milk on the lips has not dried up. And, apparently, lagged behind his mother, from his herd. All sperm whales, as soon as autumn storms begin, go to the equator.
While the captain was talking, the sperm whale left the ship and swam south. Its fountain was visible between the ice for a long time, then disappeared.
- The equator went to look, - said the captain.
Here even I sighed: will this little monster find its mother?

little monster

Our ship was sailing in the Gulf of Anadyr. It was night. I was at the stern. The ice floes rustled and broke. A strong wind with snow was blowing, but the sea was calm, heavy ice did not allow it to rage. The ship made its way between the ice floes at low speed. The ice fields will start soon. The captain steered the ship carefully so as not to crash into the ice.

Suddenly I hear: something is splashing near the very side, even the ship rocked on the wave.

I look: some kind of monster overboard. It will sail away, then it will approach and sigh heavily, heavily. Disappeared, appeared in front of the ship, emerged at the very stern, the water from its splashes burns with a green light.

Whale! And what, I can’t figure it out.

All night long he sailed behind the ship and sighed.

And at dawn I saw him: his head was blunt, like a sledgehammer, long - not a single animal has such a thing, its eyes are tiny, and there is only one nostril. It will stick it out of the water, the fountain of steam will release, sigh heavily and again go under the water.

This is a young sperm whale.

Then the captain woke up and went on deck.

I asked him:

Why is he following us?

Yes, that's right, mistook our ship for a whale. Still young, the milk on the lips has not dried up. And it is clear that he lagged behind his mother, from his herd. All sperm whales, as autumn storms begin, go to the equator.

While the captain was talking, the sperm whale left the ship and swam south. Its fountain was visible between the ice for a long time, then disappeared.

The equator went to look, - said the captain.

Here even I sighed: will this little monster find its mother?