Tricks of Madam Baba-Yaga. Сергей Чаров

Hello, hello, Evseich!

      Why did you get up so early?

      Shoemaker.

      I heard

      The queen yesterday drowned her shoes.

      So I came early to find out,

      Maybe we should like to have a new one?

      King.

      Well, not shoes, only one shoe by the stream

      Was thrown away when she set in the beams

      on the bridge; then she got it herself…

      Shoemaker.

      How! Not knowing how to swim or dive?!

      King.

      Oh! Yes, she did not even wet her dress,

      When she went into water for the shoe access.

      She reached almost the middle of the river,

      took the shoe off the snag, and said with no shiver:

      «With our growth, that we have with you,

      Only in the sea you need swim skill to reach.

      And passing our river by wading

      Is the same as crossing it by bridge».

      Shoemaker.

      But there are just whirlpools all around!

      King.

      Oh! Just do not say to her it out loud!

      Knowing this is not so admirable…

      And about the whirlpools it is, too, undesirable.

      She’ll be afraid of water like the plague,

      And why should I her worried make?

      I know all the shallows in the river,

      So I let her go alone with no shiver.

      But how much joy she had in her eyes,

      That she managed herself to get the shoe at once!

      Shoemaker.

      You have foreseen all in advance…

      King.

      After all, one can drown in a bath.

      Shoemaker.

      Well, this is already

      philosophy, on this topic

      I will be happy in the evening to be talking,

      And now, excuse me, I have to work, so bye.

      King.

      Of course, Evseich, have a nice day, bye!

      The shoemaker leaves.

      King.

      So… And now what is my beloved doing?

      Ah! Probably, she is exploring her wardrobe.

      Looking for a walk dress —

      Is her daily stress.

      Queen (crying from the palace).

      Honey, where are you?

      King (shouting back).

      I’m here, darling!

      Queen (shouts).

      I have such a trouble!

      I feel so down…

      King (shouts).

      Come here, my dear, calm down.

      King (silently).

      Strange people are these women: whatever happens,

      Everything is breaking their balance.

      And now, probably, nothing new,

      Nonsense, I remember just a few.

      Hmm, maybe half of the dresses roted…

      And she just this event spotted,

      She even didn’t wear most of dresses,

      She puts on just new things and then displaces them.

      Queen (says frustratingly, coming up).

      Here, take a look at my cloth!

      My whole mantle was eaten with a moth!

      King.

      Well, probably, she did eat it…

      Queen.

      Yeah, it ate it!

      Look – not a single undamaged hair!

      (Moth butterflies take off from the remains.)