Ирина Илларионова

Отрывок из перевода книги Елены Корнеевой ”The Greatest Gift Granted to Man”

Once upon a time in a small, but noisy city lived a little boy. At first he didn’t differ from his friends: he liked to play, walk, think beyond the moon, he had a lot of friends and hobbies. Time passed, he grew up a bit and learnt many new things, but he stopped looking at the world with the eyes of a child: he no longer noticed wonderful things in it, amazing things, stopped cheering about everything which happened…
In one of the rainy autumn days he fell seriously ill. A lot of doctors visited him; they prescribed him with different remedies, but no one, even his parents, knew the cause of the illness. Every day he ran a high temperature, was in a bad mood, had no appetite, and a bad headache. They brought him into different hospitals, even to very famous doctors in big cities, but no one could help him. They said to the parents that a cure of his illness hadn’t been invented and nobody knew how to help that child. Day by day the boy became more ill.
One day the little boy went for a walk and met a smiley girl. They got acquainted, made friends and this is how the girl, Olya, learned about Misha’s serious illness.
She thought hard and realised that only sad and cheerless people fall ill, and that a joyful person has no time and no reason to fall ill. After that she started to make Misha laugh every day, to think of different stories, funny games, merry riddles and tasks. Suddenly some changes happened in the boy’s life: he started to notice that: the events around him did not happen by chance; that there isn’t anything better than friendship; that tomorrow can be more interesting than today. He started again to see colorful dreams and one night he got into a fairytale land of children’s Fantasy. The fact is that the fascinating land of children’s Fantasies has existed for many thousands years and every night only joyful children, who can dream and rejoice, get to this land, where everything is possible.
Grown-up people have never been to that mysterious land, there are no sad or upset children there, only talented and open-hearted children can get there. This is the place, where the most miraculous things happen: all the children can fly and every child can get an answer even to the most complicated question.
So, that night the boy Misha after an unusually happy day, spent playing with Olechka, got to the land of Fantasy in his dreams …
“Strange”, thought Misha, “there’s no sun in the sky, no grass, but it is light all around and you walk as if on a soft blanket!” All of a sudden right in front of him an enormous gate radiating with rainbow light appeared. “Where am I?” he thought and he heard someone saying loudly, “This is the land of Fantasy, are you ready to enter this country?” “Why not?!” thought Misha, and again from somewhere a voice raised, “Welcome!” and the gate opened. Behind it he saw a lot of children of many ages, each dressed differently, but all of them were happy and friendly.
“Are you a newcomer?” asked a girl in a short bluish dress with beautiful dark blue bows in her plaits.
“I think so, because it is my first time here”, answered Misha.
“Let’s go now, I’ll show you everything”. She took Misha by the hand and they rushed to a huge dazzling Palace. “This is the Palace of Childhood: here every child can get any information he wants. For instance, what would you like to learn now?”
Misha lost courage at first, then said,
“I would like to know the cause of my illness and to have an opportunity to be healthy”.
“Aren’t you healthy?” asked the girl, screwing up her eyes.
“Before I got here I had been seriously ill for a few months, but no one knows how I can be cured”.
“Really, that’s strange?!” said Misha’s companion, looking attentively at him once again. “Are you sure you are correct? I have never seen sick children before this day!…Let’s get acquainted now. Everyone here calls me Blue Bowknot”.
“Is it a name?” wondered Misha. “For example, my name is Misha”.
“No one cares about it here: your name in the Land of Fantasy must reflect your character or highlight your appearance. Can you see what beautiful plaits with bowknots I have?”
“Yes, the plaits are beautiful, but how many girls with dark blue bowknots like you are there?” asked Misha.
“You are mistaken, there are no girls like me, only I have dark blue bowknots. At home they call me Tanya, but there are so many Tanyas, one can be confused. There is only one Blue Bowknot. So think out a new name for you, hurry up, I have so much to do and I don’t have time to muck about with you!”
“All right, I will be Braveheart!”
“That’s better, it is sensible at least!” said Blue Bowknot approvingly. “Now come up to the door and pronounce your new name.”
“Misha cautiously came up to the door of the huge white palace. It seemed to him that it was made of water.”
“I am Braveheart”, pronounced Misha loudly.
“Is it your first time in the Land of Fantasy?” uttered the voice from nowhere.
“It is”, said Misha.
“Come in!” Suddenly the water disappeared.
“So now you will go without me”, said Blue Bowknot, “I am on duty today and I don’t have time. I’ll go back to the gate in case newcomers like you appear.”
The moment Misha wanted to thank Blue Bowknot she disappeared.
“Everything is so unusual” thought Misha and stepped over the threshold. He found himself in a huge bright room, on the walls there were different children’s drawings, wishes and photos.
“What would you like to know, Braveheart?” uttered the voice from nowhere.
“I would like to know the cause of my illness and recover”, said Misha.
“Well, then close your eyes and see!”
When Misha closed his eyes, he found himself in a huge lit tunnel, along which he flew at a very high speed. “The main thing is not to bump into anything”, said Misha to himself, “but the most strange thing is that I don’t control my movements”. In a few minutes he was in a huge bright white space. The voice said again: “Look!” On the wall he saw himself two years ago: he was sitting at his desk during the school break, two girls came up to him; they were laughing and joking loudly.
“Don’t laugh at me”, said Misha.
“All right”, answered one of the friends and she started to tell what had happened with her yesterday.
“What a liar you are”, said Misha, “such things can’t have happened!”
“Can’t they?” said the girl indignantly. “They can happen with me!”
“I don’t believe you”, said Misha loudly.
He saw a few pictures of the past like this fly before his eyes. He saw himself as others see him for the first time.
“Can I have been like this?” wondered Misha.
“Yes. You have been, and even now you haven’t changed much”, uttered the voice. “You turned into a trustless adult too early, that is why you turned sick with an adult illness”.
“What do I do now? How can I put it right?” said Misha with a trembling heart.
“In the whole world there is only one remedy for this illness, but no one even the best doctor can cure you of it, if don’t like to change, if you don’t start to dream again, believe in miracles and become happy and grateful again”.
“Can I just want and become happy?” asked Misha.
“Children are children only because they can be happy, unlike most adults, at any thing. And so can you?”
“I think, I can as well”, said Misha quietly and thoughtfully. “Can I be mistaken?!”
“Maybe”, pronounced the voice. “Have you recently made your parents and friends happy?!”
“Only when I was little. I remember my parents laughing at me and I went on doing funny things and enjoy”.
“That’s it, do you do it now?”
“Now Olechka makes me happy”
“Misha looked forward smiling: in front of his eyes an image of the funny, teasing girl appeared, who wanted to do something good for her sick friend”.
“Can you see that it’s impossible to be healthy and happy, if distrust lives in you, if there is no joy in you and you can’t dream and fantasize? Only like this a person can fall seriously ill! But no one has invented a remedy for sad distrustful adulthood.”
“How can I change then? I want to change very quickly to be absolutely healthy and happy for my parents and make Olechka to be happy”, asked Misha.
“The main thing is to believe in it, to believe that you can be healthy, always healthy and happy, because happy children do not fall ill. Recollect all your childhood cherished dreams, the most miraculous and courageous fantasies, draw, compose, tell jokes, be glad at every new day, only like this you can preserve your childishness and health. Childhood, my friend, is a great gift and you need to learn how to appreciate it. You need to appreciate this gift in other people, appreciate their creative work, respect their dreams and give them an opportunity to enjoy their fantasies as yours.
Misha began to think. “And who are you? Whose voice can I hear? Who am I speaking to?”
“To your Childhood, my friend, which you were about to lose. The less real I become, the less real you become, that means, your life power fades away. No one, even the greatest magician, can bring back childhood to a child, if he doesn’t want it. Only in childhood any fantasy is possible, any dream can come true, miracles happen. That is all possible owing to children’s belief in miracles; they expect them and help them to happen! Now you have an answer to your question and must go home, you’ll wake up soon, but you will remember your adventure in the Land of Fantasy, where everything is possible… ”
With these words Misha woke up. There was a new morning out of his window, melting snow dripped musically to the ground, the mother was busy about the kitchen, the father was about to go to work, and Misha wanted to see Olechka as soon as possible and tell her everything and to thank her for wonderful friendship and trust with which she helped him bring his childhood back. The boy wanted to tell everyone quickly that now he was healthy. He knew that if he believed in it, if he could be happy and dream about it, soon everyone would see a healthy and happy child in him…

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