A brick and a piece of wax were lying next to each other on the kitchen shelf. The brick was supposed to be here - after all, the owner sharpened knives on it. And they became sharp after that! But no one knew how the wax got on the shelf. A long time ago, someone put it there and forgot.
At night, when no one was in the kitchen, wax and brick had long conversations with each other. One day the wax asked the brick:
- Tell me, neighbor, why are you so hard? Brick replied:
- I wasn't always like this. Me and my brothers are made of soft clay. The clay was kneaded with water, crushed for a long time, bricks were prepared, and then they were put into the fire. It was there that we became loud and firm.
- Oh, how I would like to be like you! - wax sighed. “When you start sharpening a knife, it’s nice to watch.” Burn-burn! Only sparks fly in all directions. And if I try to expose my back to a knife, it will instantly cut me into pieces. No, no, don’t try to persuade me, it’s very bad to be soft.
In the morning the hostess lit the fireplace. The flames danced across the logs.
Then the wax remembered that the brick became hard after being in the fire. He moved to the very edge of the shelf and rolled down onto the iron sheet in front of the fireplace. Oh, how hot he felt! He went limp and began to melt. It’s true that he would have melted completely if the owner had not entered the kitchen at that moment. And I must say that the owner was a puppeteer. He walked around the courtyards and gave funny performances with his dolls made of wood and rags.
The owner bent down to light the pipe with coal from the hearth, and suddenly saw wax that wanted to become hard like a brick, but instead almost melted.
“That’s wonderful,” exclaimed the owner, “I’ll fashion a new doll from this wax!”
That's what he did - he sculpted a doll and named it Pulcinello.
The doll turned out to be so funny that anyone who looks at her upturned nose, ear-to-ear mouth and sly eyes will certainly laugh.
When the performance ended, the owner put Pulcinello out from behind the screen. Pulcinello bowed in all directions, and the owner spoke for him in a thin voice:
- Dear gentlemen! There was a time when I envied bricks just because they were hard. You can build a house from fire-hardened brick, but you cannot make Pulcinello from it. Of course, you can’t build a house out of me, and you should keep me away from the fire. But I am cheerful myself and I am cheerful to you. So you see, old, young and even little gentlemen, that everyone is good in his place.
Then Pulcinello hid behind the screen and the spectators, satisfied, went home.
How did the owner of Pulvcinello know what the brick and wax were talking about on the shelf at night? Yes, very simple. He himself invented this tale and told it to us. And we told you.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru