A car-planter. Эйваз Махмуд оглы Зейналов

brother climbed up the mulberry tree as quickly as a cat. When he touched the cap, a sparrow flew out of the cap. The sparrow began to twitter with targeting voice and fly around the cap. Another sparrow joined to it and the birds started twittering loudly together.

      Azer’s brother was at a loss:

      – Daddy, sparrows nestled in the cap. They laid eggs in it.

      – Don’t touch then. Come down. – His father said.

      Not long after the twittering of nestlings with yellow beaks spread over the garden. Azer was looking at them untiringly.

      One day, Azer heard the loud noise of sparrows. He came to the tree quickly and saw his cat on the tree near the nest of the sparrows. The cat stared at the nestlings with watering mouth. But the cat could not approach the nestlings as parent sparrows tried to push it with their beaks, making loud noise.

      – Heyy… Mastan, what are you doing there? – Azer shouted in excitement. – Come down! Be quick!

      The cat obeyed unwillingly and did not approach nestlings any more.

      The nestlings had wings very soon. The parent sparrows taught them to fly.

      Azer showed them to children and said proudly:

      – They are my sparrows!

      WHAT DO FISH WANT?

      Rustam and Aydin were in the third form.

      Once they passed by the pet shop. They entered the shop as soon as they saw parrots in the cage through the window. There were different types of birds in the pet shop. But the multicolored fish in the aquarium attracted their attention much more. The fish were moving with their tails and swimming by the help of their flippers so fast that the children looked at them with great interest.

      In the evening Rustam told his father about the fish which he saw in the pet shop with his friend Aydin:

      – Dad, buy aquarium and fish for me.

      Father fulfilled his dream. Aydin also asked his father about it.

      Some days passed since that day. Aydin came to Rustam after lessons. He looked at the fish in the aquarium, which was in the corridor. He took some feed from the bowl and poured into the water. But the fish did not touch it. Aydin asked:

      – Your fish do not need feed.

      – I have just fed them.

      Aydin said:

      – But my fish are very insatiable ones. They are eating whole day, but do not satiate.

      – Don’t pamper them. Otherwise, they will not be able to move.

      – What can I do? They want to eat. They look at me with open mouth.

      Friends came to Aydin’s house. His fish were swimming over the water with open mouth. Sometimes they rose their heads out of the water, as they wanted to eat. There was enough feed in the aquarium. But the water was very dirty. It became dirtier when fish moved quickly. Aydin showed the fish and said:

      – Do you see how insatiable they are?…

      When he wanted to take feed for them, Rustam said:

      – Wait a little! Don’t you really know what your fish want?

      Aydin looked at his friend in surprise:

      – Of course, feed…

      Rustam shook his head:

      – No, they do not need feeding.

      – What do they want then?

      – Bring the textbook “Nature science” to me.

      Aydin brought the book. Rustam looked for the unit dedicated to fish and found it. There was such a note there: while remaining in the aquarium for a long time the water becomes dirty and oxygen decreases in the structure of water. The breathing of fish becomes hard. That’s why they rise over the water to breath easily.

      – Why have you forgotten this fact so fast? We had this lesson a week ago. – Rustam reproached his friend.

      Aydin blushed with shame. He did not learn that lesson a week ago.

      BOZLAR

      We were the quests in Ashgabad at a young, famous talented Turkman artist by name Nuryaghdi. I cannot forget the portrait of a dog even today, which I saw in his workshop. That portrait, painted with oil on a big canvas, was hung in the center of the workshop. The long-wooled grey dog with cut off ears, had been created by the artist masterly, was staring at the door with its black extraordinarily expressive eyes. It seemed that the dog tried to assess the visitor with its big clever eyes if a newcomer was a friend or an enemy.

      Later I saw the dog’s photo on the wall of Nuryaghdi’s house. I had read much and seen many films about dogs. I had also heard much about monuments, erected to the honor of dogs. They gained this respect with devotion to their owners. I wondered, for which services did that dog become favorite one of the family?!

      I looked around but could not see the dog there. At last, I had to ask Nuryaghdi pointing on the picture:

      – Is this your dog?

      He looked attentively at the painting as if he saw it for the first time and said:

      – It was our dog. It died two years ago. By the way, it was my savior.

      At that moment, the old, thin, round-shouldered man appeared at the door. He had rare short white beard. He had a striped aragchin (national cap with ornamental embroidery) on his head. There was a smile in his Asian eyes.

      Nuryaghdi crossed his hands on his breast and introduced me the man who greeted us.

      – Let me introduce you my father. It will be better, if my father tells you about Bozlar. By the way, he is the only eyewitness of that accident who remained alive. The old man told us an accident:

      – “I remember that accident as if it happened today. We lived in the suburb, far from the center of the city. There was a holiday in our old tumble-down patrimonial hut. Our first child – my son was born that day. This very unfortunate Nuryaghdi. Our nearest and dearest had just gone away when it was getting dark. Suddenly my wife rushed in horrified. She was weeping, beating her knees and tearing her hair:

      – Oh, man, the stones fell upon us, the stones fell upon us…

      To say the truth, I did not understand anything. What did she want to say? We had just said good-bye to our quests and returned home joyfully. I got angry and shouted at my wife:

      – Damn it, woman! What is the matter? Speak quietly!

      My wife was trembling and weeping:

      – The child disappeared from his cradle.

      I felt dull ache on my head hearing it:

      – What do you say, woman? Аre you out of your mind?

      I ran into the room. The cradle was empty. We were looking for the child everywhere, but could not find him. I was at loss. Had the child been stolen? It was impossible. Nobody was able to come nearer our house because of the fear of Bozlar. Even birds did not fly over the house. Bozlar was very keen-nosed dog. I believed Bozlar as I believed myself. I always entrusted Bozlar with our life. If not, did I keep it in the yard and feed?

      But at that moment it was evident that I should not have trusted it. How did it happen that the child had been stolen, when there were so many people at home but Bozlar was not aware of it?

      I immediately called Bozlar. As soon as the dog heard my voice, it hurried to me shaking with tail. The dog was out of breath. Bozlar was excited for some reason. The dog did not keep eyes from the hill in front of our house. It laid under my feet and whined. I was out of my mind to understand the dog’s strange actions and perlexed look.

      I took Bozlar to the room and showed the empty cradle of my son imitating the baby’s crying. Then I ordered Bozlar:

      – Look for, Bozlar, look for the baby and find him. Be quick!..

      Bozlar