Princess Nila This story started with rain. Many wonderful stories started while it was raining. Just the very proper sort of weather for wonders to begin. Especially a warm and light summer rain. But first it was a heavy downpour, accompanied with threatening flashes of lightning, deafening peals of thunder and piercing gusts of wind. And only after the weather ceased showing off all those rainstorm special effects and the downpour had gradually turned into a quiet, tender drizzle, there appeared the first sign of wonder. A tiny girl in a purple dress dotted with pink spots, holding tight on a mottled paper kite, was hovering above a flowerbed just at the bank of one of the ponds of the Retro amusement and recreation park. "Whoa, whoa, I'm going to fall into the water," the girl was shouting. "Just let the kite go and drop yourself over here," a voice from among the flowers advised, "it's not that high and the ground is quite soft after the rain." Just at the moment when the kite had reached the water edge, the girl released her hold of the paper aircraft and dropped down right onto the muddy bank. "Hey, get up quickly and run over here," the same voice came from somewhere in the flowerbed. The girl got up to her feet and shook some of the mud off her soaked dress and said: "Well, my frock needs a good wash and I do a bath. And who is there talking to me?" "Oh, please be quick to come over here!" replied the voice. "Why should I?" asked the girl. "Because they may notice you." "They? Who are they?" "The big folk." The tiny girl, who was only two inches tall, looked up, surveyed the air around her and said: "There's nobody around here except you, who I suppose can't be much bigger than me. Why don't you show up?" There was some noise in within the flowerbed, as if tiny feet pattering on the muddy ground, then some flower stalks moved apart and a small red and blue umbrella came shoved outside through the gap in the plant wall. And before long the girl could take a good look at the little, whiskered creature holding the umbrella above its stocky and furry body. "Why," exclaimed the girl, "you're a talking hamster, aren't you?" "No," responded the creature, "though I do look like a talking hamster, I'm no talking hamster. Actually I'm a human, at least I used to be once in the human shape and as all humans talk, so do I within this my new appearance. Anyway, I never get offended when called Hamster and my full name is Henry the Hamster. And may I know yours, my deer girl?" "Nila," replied the girl, "just Nila. I hardly can think of any fuller name." "No wonder," said Henry the Hamster, "and I bet you can't say where you come from." "No," the girl shook her head. "No doubt you are bewitched like all of us here," Henry said and heaved a heavy sigh. "Bewitched? All of you? You mean there are other creatures like you," Nila asked in a surprised tone. Henry walked closer to the girl (and this he did just in the human way - on his hind legs, his forth ones serving him as arms) and said: "This amusement park is a real sanctuary for bewitched persons like you and me. The world is full with wicked wizards and witches, and they keep indulging themselves in casting all sorts of spells upon people, turning them into all sorts of creatures. And one day it happened (nobody knows when exactly and why) that some of those bewitched persons of the smallest size, the ones up to the size of a cat, were brought over here by some magic force. There's about a score of such creatures as me dwelling in this park. They look like mice, birds, cats, whatever. All we can remember is that once we were humans. But we can't remember anything about our previous lives except our first names. Just no recollection at all. Neither the places where we were born, nor the things we used to do." "It's just the same thing with me," Nila said sadly. "All I can remember is the kite that brought me here. But where from..." "Anyway, you are the first bewitched thing in the park that looks like human," Henry said. "What do you mean by "looks like?" the girl inquired angrily. "Oh, sorry. No offence really. Surely you're a human but a very little one. And a very beautiful one, in spite of all that mud over you." The girl smiled. "Yeah, I do need a good wash. And you said something about "big folk". Who are they?" "Why, just the ordinary people, not bewitched and in their usual size and shape." "Then why should I be afraid of them?" "Because I'm certain for sure - they all do not know a thing about magic and witchcraft. They just don't believe in such things. If they see you they'll try to catch you and then treat you like a curious anomaly of nature, not as a girl. They'll send you to some lab to examine you day and night with all those microscopes, X-rays and other scientific stuff. To get seen by big folk for you means much more danger than me. For them I'm just an animal without any special curiosity about me, though I'm not so lucky as my friend Ann the Duck. She looks like all the other ducks that just belong here, I mean this park and all its ponds. But when the big folk see me, they take me for some runaway pet and always try to catch me. And every time it's a real narrow escape." "But where can I hide from the big folk?" Nila asked. "Oh, there's the best hiding place over there, on that side of the pond. Why, the rain has stopped. We should hurry - any minute the park is going to be crowded with big folk." "Do we have to walk around the water?" the girl looked along the banks of the pond to find the route very long for such tiny creatures as she and Henry. "Not around, but across," Henry the hamster declared proudly. "You mean swimming?" Nila asked. "I mean sailing," Henry replied, folded up his umbrella and seized the girl's hand. "Come with me." He dragged Nila up to a big burdock leave that grew by the water, released the girl's hand and plunged under the green shelter. "Just a second, Nila!" the girl heard Henry shout, then there was a splash and from under the leave, right onto the water, there came a small raft made of shrub twigs. In a blink of the eyes, Henry jumped on the water-craft, a long pole in his hands. "Nila, just hop on here!" Henry cried, driving the raft closer to the bank edge with the pole. "Is it safe enough to carry us both?" Nila pointed at the raft with a dubious gesture. "Don't worry! As the captain of this vessel, I guarantee you the safest pond voyage in the world and then you might even suspect that in the human shape I used to be a prominent sailor, someone like Captain Cook or Admiral Nelson." The girl hesitated for a few seconds, then jumped onto the raft. Henry pushed off with the pole and the little craft moved slowly along the water surface. “We’ve gotta use some effort to navigate quick and safe up to the opposite bank,” Henry said as he put down the pole and picked up one of the two oars that lay on the raft. “Take the other oar, Nila, and we’ll both paddle.” Standing on each side of the raft, they began paddling with the oars and pretty soon they were halfway across the pond. "What about some break,” asked Nila, breathing hard. “I just feel exhausted.” “But a very short one,” Henry responded and stopped paddling. He looked up at the sky and said: “See – the sun is coming out of the clouds. It won’t take the big folk long to fill the pond with rowboats and water bikes. The Boat Rental station is on the next pond which is connected with this one through the short canal that is on our left. Any minute there may show up rowing or pedaling people.” "It'd be better if we could travel under sail," Nila pronounced, sounding tired. "I do go under sail on another raft but only after the sunset," Henry said. "The sail attracts much attention in the daytime." Meantime, while Henry and Nila were restoring their breath and strength, on the left side of the pond there appeared a rowboat with a man and a young girl inside. They steadily rowed, steering the boat toward the middle of the pond. All of a sudden the girl exclaimed: "Dad! Dad! Just look over there! There's a hamster and a little doll floating on a small raft." "Where? I see nothing afloat," replied the girl's father. "Just over there, ahead of us," the girl pointed at the raft. "Oh, my gosh, the doll's alive, she moves! It's not a doll but a tiny girl! Dad, let's row fast to get them!" The boat started moving with the double speed, each second getting closer and closer to the raft bearing the two tiny sailors. "We got noticed! We got noticed!" Henry shouted. "Let's go fast," Nila seized her oar. "No use paddling now," Henry gave out a sigh, "they will overtake such little creatures as we are anyway." "Then what shall we do?" Nila asked in consternation. "We need some help, some air force help," Henry replied, put two of his fingers in his mouth, gave out a long, loud whistle and then shouted at the top of his voice: "Ann, SOS! SOS, Ann! Middle of the pond! Chased by big folk!" "Wow! It's a whistling and shouting hamster!" The man in the boat said in surprise. "Mary, we're gonna get famous and rich for discovering these curious creatures. Wonder who that Ann is. Another talking thing?" They had almost reached their aim and stopped rowing, letting the boat drift up to the little raft. The girl produced a cell phone from her bag and started crying at it: "Mom, you won't believe! You and Jack, just pedal your water bike faster to come here and see what we've found. Give the phone to Jack. Hey, bro, you won't believe..." Just at that moment a duck alighted on the bow of the boat, quacked several times and then pronounced: "No doubt your brother won't believe it." While the girl stared stupidly at another incredible creature, the bird jumped toward her, snatch the phone from her hand with an abrupt bill movement and soared high into the air. "Bombs away, Ann!" Henry shouted from the raft. Ann the Duck opened her bill to let the cell phone drop down into the water just beside the rowboat. "My phone, my phone!" the girl in the boat cried and leaned over the board, trying to get the gadget out of the pond in vain. "More bombs now!" Henry commanded again. This time it was bird poop that came down richly on the both eyes of the girl's father. "What the hell... I can't see a thing," the man roared, wiping his eyes with both his hands. Nila and Henry were laughing heartily, when Ann alighted just ahead of their raft. In her bill she held a long piece of string. Henry at once dashed to grasp the loose end of the string and tied it fast to the short post sticking out at the bow of the raft. "Go, girl! Go now!" He shouted. Ann flapped her wings and took off in the air. She flew only a few inches above the water surface, towing the raft toward the bank of the pond. "Yeah, we did it! We really did it!" Henry and Nila kept on shouting and brandishing their oars victoriously, while standing in the middle of the rapidly racing raft. "We are the winners! Yes, we are!"
Copyright © 2005 Gene Gennady |