Nobility is stronger than fear!

Nobility is always stronger than fear and self-interest

Nearby, in the sources of a swampy and shallow water, overgrown along the banks with reddish, reed and tall forbs, but from this no less beloved by all the heroes of this book and singing it as «full-flowing», «wide», «rich in all kinds of large fish», «running up to the ocean itself», the Yauza River, in one of the gardens with tall grasses and fragrant flowers, spreading apple trees, cherries, plums and other woody and shrub plants, a multitude of both songbirds and non-songbirds lived a hedgehog.

The hedgehog lived, of course, not alone in this garden. The hedgehog had dad Hedgehog, mom Hedgehog and several brothers and sisters.

The hedgehog was the youngest in the family and the biggest coward in the whole huge garden.

And maybe further.

And although daddy the Hedgehog and mommy Hedgehog, and all the older brothers and sisters, told the hedgehog many and many times that all hedgehogs are very brave and are not afraid to fight even with a poisonous snake, the hedgehog did not become any braver from this. And the hedgehog from these stories became even cowardly.

As soon as a branch rustled on a tree or the grass rustled, the hedgehog imagined that it was a snake crawling and, as befits each of the family of hedgehogs according to the stories of the elders, he would have to fight it.

And the hedgehog ran away in the opposite direction from rustling and rustling.

Out of breath from running, the hedgehog climbed into the deepest thickets of the garden, under the most overgrown bush, curled up there tightly – tightly into a thorny ball.

And the hedgehog remained in this state until hunger forced him to leave the shelter. And even then, carefully, sensitively listening to the rustles, until the obvious absence of any snake nearby returned the little hedgehog to his cheerful and sociable disposition.

He tried to cultivate fearlessness towards snakes in his son and his cheerful and good-natured dad, a hedgehog, by his benevolent nature with the help of all kinds of games and stories about fearless Hedgehogs!

And while the hedgehog was next to his strong and brave dad – the hedgehog, he was not afraid of any snakes, had fun with him and bravely looked around.

But as soon as the hedgehog dad plunged into his adult affairs, and the hedgehog was left alone, he began to sensitively listen to every rustle, ready to immediately run away from all his four legs from the insidious snake, with which he, as a representative of hedgehogs, inevitably needed would join the single combat and win!

As a result of such constant cowardice of the hedgehog, who had never seen mice, everyone began to call him the Mouse. This name turned into his name, which was not at all offensive for the hedgehog himself, because he himself did not know anything about the mouse yet.

But, as much as the hedgehog was cowardly, so, and maybe more, he was an inquisitive and passionate lover to travel and discover new places!

Many inhabitants of the neighborhood knew the little traveler – hedgehog, his good-natured, inquisitive disposition and were glad to see him. The hedgehog was not at all afraid of children in his habitat, because they did not offend him and sometimes even treated him to delicious sweets, for example, «ice cream»!

The hedgehog loved this «ice cream» even more than wild raspberries, and when he saw children in the forest, he tried to catch their eyes – what if they had this wonderful «ice cream» with them!

And every morning the little thorny traveler set off on his next journey, along the way to everyone he met, wishing good morning.

And everyone they met also smiled at the little hedgehog and wished him a good journey. And the hedgehog happily ran on. The chicken, while his mother was distracted by other chickens, ran out onto the path to greet the little Mouse and chuckled – take me with you for a walk in the forest!

Hedgehog Mouse also greeted the chicken, but he didn’t take it with him – little one, you will get lost in the forest without a mother, grow up … The chicken chuckled – yes, I am growing, growing … And he looked after the little hedgehog Mouse for a long time.

Hedgehog was glad with all his heart to every meeting on his way. And the more the hedgehog met all kinds of inhabitants in his travels, the more joyful it was for the hedgehog to travel, because there was no chance of meeting a snake, who did not like any meetings and where there was movement, did not appear. Both the hedgehog mom and the hedgehog dad talked about this to the hedgehog in order to somehow cheer up their cowardly son.

Making his way around the small swamp, the hedgehog met a beautiful frog, wished the green beauty – good luck in the hunt and recognition of her singing talent!

– Kuva – kuva – kuuvaaa… – the solo singer sang, touched by praise.

Hedgehog invited her to go with him along the banks of the Yauza! The ringing frog, having got out of the creek, also greeted the brave traveler and wished him a good mushroom hunt. But when the hedgehog proposed to go on a journey with him, she rolled her eyes, croaked affably, but she was in no hurry to go with him, she felt good here, friends, girlfriends, a lot of midges.

And the restless traveler, the little hedgehog ran on.

Here is the familiar meadow by the stream, which is in a hurry fill the Yauza with your water. Lush grass grows here and you can meet familiar inhabitants or completely new ones, and it was very cool for a little traveler curious about everything new. And indeed, the hedgehog saw a sheep from afar, which were a rarity on the banks of the Yauza. But the hedgehog was a traveler and had already met these calm, slow persons earlier, and he joyfully greeted the sheep – good morning, Sheep!

All enveloped in white fluffy wool, the lamb that nibbled the grass on the lawn nodded in response, waved its short tail back and forth and smiled after the hedgehog, as her mouth was full of juicy soft riverine grass. «Apparently, she recently settled in that house with a fence», the hedgehog decided and hurried on.

A huge watchdog in a vast estate near the forest gnawed a huge bone, trying to gnaw it and get to the middle, to the delicious filling of this bone, left his tasty occupation for the sake of greeting and good morning to the hedgehog's wish, looked carefully after the little traveler, answered affably – woof, don't get lost in the woods!

– I'm not mistaken! – the hedgehog answered cheerfully to the dog and ran happily on. The watchdog also wanted to run after the hedgehog along the forest paths, but he had to guard the entire estate with a beautiful house, which the dog loved and protected very much. The dog was also very fond of all the inhabitants of the estate and the beautiful house, him, the watchdog, the estate and his house. So, the watchdog reasoned, considering not only a cozy booth, but everything that was in the estate and the entire estate as his own. But the dog looked for a long time towards the hedgehog who ran away along the path, even for a while forgot about his tasty bone.

And the hedgehog had already disappeared behind the bushes and ran on. The trampled path in this place was smooth and level. And the hedgehog was easy to run, and there was such beauty on the sides! He greeted the hedgehog and the ladybug sitting on a plantain leaf and ready to fly into the blue and cloudless sky today!

– Good morning, baby!

The ladybug was not offended by the «baby», because the hedgehog said it kindly and not offensively. And the «baby» also greeted the hedgehog – wiggled her antennae – wires and flew next to the hedgehog.

A huge fat turkey coming out of the yard into the open gate stopped by the path and to greet the hedgehog, opening his luxurious tail with a fan, also wished him a good day and a joyful journey, but looked sternly after the hedgehog – and where he was running, so small and alone, a mess, decided the strict father of the turkey family. He would never have let his little son wander along the banks of the Yauza alone. But the turkey reasoned that way, because his turkey son did not have such sharp needles as the hedgehog did. And the hedgehog at any time could curl up into a ball and turn into a prickly lump inaccessible to anyone's teeth! Therefore, the hedgehog dad and the hedgehog mom did not interfere with the travels of their «prickly» son. And the hedgehog fearlessly ran further, hurrying to meet something unknown and beckoning him to travel as soon as possible.

And now the hedgehog is again in a deserted place, houses and estates are left behind, and you still have to run to others. The «baby» flew away somewhere, which joined the hedgehog from the plantain leaf, the huge turkey is no longer visible, but the hedgehog runs on.

But the hedgehog's path was blocked by a strict goose and the hedgehog stopped to greet her too. The goose was not alone, but with her son and was heading to the Yauza to teach her son to swim. The strict goose was very worried about the hedgehog – why is he alone, and not with his mother?!

The hedgehog hastily greeted the strict goose and hurried to take her leave, fearing that she would pinch him now for traveling without parents.

«It is evident that the strict goose, like the angry turkey, does not understand that I am not her son with soft fluff, I have needles!» – the hedgehog reasoned mentally, but still he hurried to increase the distance between himself and the strict parent of a fluffy cute gosling.

And the little son of the goose, not knowing about the hedgehog's needles, gazed with admiration after the independent brave man – wow, so small, much less than me and travels himself, I would sooner grow up! And the fluffy gosling looked after the hedgehog for a long time, until he disappeared into the thick grass.

And the hedgehog ran on, hurrying to see as many new unknown places as possible for him until evening and to meet new people he met, to wish them a good day now, because the morning was long over.

It was a clear, sunny day. And the clear warm Sun warmed Yauza and everything around with its rays.

Near the forest, on the lawn, a herd of goats with a stern bearded goat grazed, every now and then menacingly putting forward its sharp horns! But a herd of goats with little kids looked adoringly at the goat's sharp horns and grazed safely under the protection of their formidable protector.

Hedgehog greeted the formidable goat, goats and little kids. The whole herd greeted a greeting and a hedgehog.

And one inquisitive kid rang a bell – where are you going?

Hedgehog Mouse sniffed – in Forest …

Here is the forest!

The hedgehog ran along the forest path, not forgetting to greet all the inhabitants of the forest who met on his way …

In response, the inhabitants of the forest just as joyfully and benevolently greeted the hedgehog …

It was good for the hedgehog in his native forest! And he could travel the whole day through forest glades and gullies, climbing farther and farther from home, echoing with the inhabitants of the forest, depending on the season, eating either forest berries, then apples from forest apple trees, or sweet juicy roots that the hedgehog washed in the tributaries of the Yauza or in hidden forest springs, springs. Or russula mushrooms, which were abundant in the rainy months.

And the hedgehog usually returned home at sunset, tired of running through the woods, but happy, having dinner with his friendly family and during dinner he said that he saw something interesting! The hedgehog was telling and who he met new, colorfully describing all this. The relatives were interested in listening to their little traveler, through whom they learned the world around them. All this was so entertaining that every evening the family greeted their storyteller and connoisseur of their native land with delight. And the hedgehog excitedly sniffed his tiny nose and looked forward to the next day!

Once the hedgehog wandered so far from his home that he had to return at dusk.

It was a warm summer evening. There was already twilight in the copse under the dense crowns of trees.

And in these twilight, climbing the hillocks, rolling into holes, stumbling over dry twigs, the Little Mouse hedgehog hurried home.

In the deepening twilight, the bushes and trees acquired outlandish outlines and sometimes very scary in the imagination of a little hedgehog. And owls and eagle owls flying over the trees seemed to the little hedgehog to be monstrous dragons and their cry was the cry of unknown night monsters in the night forest.

Hedgehog Mouse hurriedly ran through the forest, trying not to look around. He used to be so late that the hedgehog mother was already waiting for her restless son on the path to the house, but to be so far from home in the forest on a real dark night, this happened to the little traveler for the first time.

So that it was not so scary to run alone through the dark forest, the Little Mouse hedgehog decided to sing his uncomplicated song …

And from this very thought the Little Mouse really didn't feel so scared and even the trees lost their frightening look, but seemed enveloped in spring color, which made the Little Mouse very happy and gave him vigor in the night forest.

Yes, hedgehog Mouse himself tried to fantasize from trees and bushes something friendly and cheerful. And to the cries of night birds he tried to pick up a cheerful melody. This, after all, was his native forest, so why should he be afraid! So, the belated traveler encouraged himself.

All the forest friends of the Little Mouse hedgehog have long been asleep. And no one greeted the little traveler in the night forest. From this, the hedgehog Mouse again returned to the fear of snakes, which now no one could prevent from crawling anywhere, including towards him! And then the little mouse hedgehog decided to scare away all the snakes himself, so that if they were nearby, they would crawl away to the other side from him. Let the snakes not touch him, and he will not touch the snakes, so the belated traveler decided and began to gather courage, so that «the whole forest!» sing your road song!

Little Mouse called his song «Home with a song!»

Song of the hedgehog Mouse «Home with a song!»

I'm a hedgehog! I'm a hedgehog!

My skin of needles!

Here!

Bumps, pits, bumps,

Hard dried knots

I lost count!

Only everyone has known for a long time

That I'm running home with a song!

And my mother meets me at the gate!

How is life, mom will ask,

My little hedgehog is stubborn

The bravest, the smartest!

And he will call to the table, where the dinner is delicious!

Here!

Dad is at home! Sisters! Brothers!

Mom in the best dress!

And the rosy sweet cake is already waiting!

I'll wash myself clean, clean!

And I'll sit on the chair quickly!

Because the table is set!

Tea is poured into cups!

This is the last turn to the house!

I'm a hedgehog! I'm a hedgehog!

My skin of needles!

Here!

Bumps, pits, bumps,

I lost count of the hard, dry twigs!

Only everyone has known for a long time

That I'm running home with a song!

And my mother meets me at the gate!

Here!

Seeing his mother's handkerchief in the dark, the hedgehog slowed down, giving himself the opportunity to catch his breath. And the fearless Hedgehog was approaching his house and waiting for him, singing his wonderful song!

But so far, the little hedgehog Mouse, with all its four legs, was running through the night copse, hurrying to run to his garden as soon as possible, where everything was familiar and did not seem terrible and monstrous, and there it was already not far from mother's white kerchief!

And the belated traveler, under the words of his song – bumps, pits, bumps, hard dried knots, I lost track of how I could, accelerated my run.

At about the same time, only not along the copse, but through the garden, I also ran to my home a little mouse and running past the summer kitchen, I saw the door ajar. Without having time to think about anything, the mouse quickly ducked behind the kitchen threshold and immediately found itself under a brightly burning light right at the feet of the Kitchen Mistress!