Once upon a time there was a little black boy named Little Zambo.
Mom and Dad adored him because he was obedient and polite.
One day, for his birthday, his mother sewed him a wonderful red blouse and blue satin pants.
And dad bought at the market a green silk umbrella with a yellow handle and charming little shoes made of soft red leather with sharp, turned-up toes.
There was no happier baby in the world than Little Zambo. He looked so dapper in his outfit! Well, how could he not go for a walk in the jungle? And so, walking among banana trees and coconut palms, he met a terrible man-eater tiger.
“I’ll eat you, plump, delicious Zambo,” said the tiger.
- Oh, dear Mr. Tiger! - Zambo pleaded. “Please let me go, and I’ll give you my beautiful red blouse for this.”
“Okay,” the tiger graciously agreed.
He put on a beautiful red Zambo blouse and went on singing:
“I am the most beautifully dressed tiger in all the jungle.”
And Little Zambo wandered on and soon met another bloodthirsty tiger.
“I’ll tear you into pieces and eat you now!” - said the tiger.
“Please don’t do this,” Zambo asked tearfully. - I'll give you my blue satin pants.
“Okay,” the tiger agreed, “go ahead.”
He pulled on his blue satin pants and, very pleased with himself, sang:
“I am the most beautifully dressed tiger in all the jungle.”
Little Zambo ran further and again met the terrible tiger, who wanted to eat him.
“Please let me go,” Zambo told him, “and I will give you leather shoes with sharp, curved toes.”
“What good are your shoes to me if I have four paws and only two?” - said the tiger.
“But you can wear them on your ears,” Little Zambo told him. “Then you won’t be afraid of either dust or cold.”
“Yes, you’re right,” the tiger rejoiced. - This is a great idea! Give them here quickly and I will let you go.
The tiger grabbed soft leather shoes with pointed, upturned toes and put them on his ears. He was terribly pleased.
“Now I’m the most beautifully dressed tiger in the whole jungle,” he rejoiced.
And poor Little Zambo went further and again, unfortunate, collided with the tiger. In exchange for his life, Zambo promised the tiger his green silk umbrella with a long yellow handle.
“I don’t need him,” the tiger objected. “I don’t have extra paws to carry it.”
“But you can hold it with the tip of your tail,” Zambo suggested.
- I really can do this. Give me an umbrella and go home,
- said the tiger and, confident that he was the most gorgeous tiger in all the jungle, walked away with dignity, holding the umbrella with the tip of his tail.
And poor Little Zambo sat naked on the sand and cried bitterly, because the ugly bloodthirsty tigers had taken all his gifts from him.
Suddenly he heard a terrible roar that was getting stronger and stronger.
- Oh, Lord! What a nightmare! These are probably the tigers coming back to eat me, a poor and unfortunate little thing. What should I do?
With the speed of lightning and the agility of a monkey, Little Zambo climbed the palm tree and looked down.
He saw tigers fighting under the tree on which he was sitting, each of which proved that he was the most beautifully dressed tiger in all the jungle.
They pulled off all of Little Zambo's beautiful clothes and began to bite each other with their terrible white fangs, fight with their clawed paws and hit each other with their long tails.
Little Zambo jumped down in horror and hid under his green silk umbrella with a long yellow handle, which lay at a distance. And the tigers were chasing each other under the tree. They grabbed each other by the tails and angrily tried to tear them off.
Little Zambo looked out from under the umbrella and shouted:
- Dear tigers, why did you throw these beautiful clothes here? Don't you need her anymore?
The tigers only grumbled in response. They could not answer anything, because each of them was afraid to let his neighbor’s tail out of his teeth, lest he run away.
Little Zambo shouted more boldly:
“If you don’t need it, tell me and I’ll take it for myself.”
But the tigers again only growled without opening their mouths.
Then Zambo put on his clothes: a red blouse, blue satin pants, soft leather shoes with sharp, upturned toes, and, picking up a green silk umbrella with a long yellow handle, ran home.
And the tigers kept getting angry and angry, but could not let go of each other’s tails from their teeth. Wanting to eat each other, they ran around the tree faster and faster, so that even their legs could not be seen, and in the end all that was left of them was a trail of melted animal butter, on which delicious golden cakes were fried.
Papa Zambo passed by and, seeing the oil path, was very happy. He ran home and brought a large pot from there. He put the delicious yellow butter there and took it home.
When Zambo's mother saw the big pot of butter, she clapped her hands joyfully.
“Today we will have delicious hot flatbreads for dinner,” she joyfully told Zambo.
She took out flour, eggs, milk and sugar and baked many delicious cakes.
They sat at the table and ate hot yellow cakes with brown fried stripes that looked like little tiger cubs.
Little Zambo ate twenty-seven tortillas, mom ate fifty-five tortillas, and dad a hundred and sixty-nine, because he was very, very hungry.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru