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Королевская корова
The Queen's Cow
By Nina Dashevskaya
Translated by Sophia R.
A little boy came to his mother and asked, “could you draw a cow for me?”
His mother wasn’t just a mother, she was also a queen! And that made the little boy a prince.
“Oh” the queen thought. “I can do so many things! I can have fireworks go on for three days straight, I can even start a war with a wave of my hand! Or I could easily have another castle built, but drawing cows? I don’t have that kind of skill. Maybe I should call in the court artist?”
The queen adjusted her son’s collar and looked in to the deep, grey eyes of the future king. “No, she said to herself, I have to draw it myself.”
She took a deep breath and took out a pink piece of paper with the queen’s emblem on it. She then dipped her golden pen into her golden inkwell and drew something that most closely resembled a suit case. She then drew on some stick like legs and a tail that looked like a broom.
Now she needed to draw the face. Can you imagine a face of a cow? The queen couldn’t seem to remember how cow faces look at all, not one little bit. But she bravely shook off the extra ink from her pen and started to draw a face the best way she knew how: two dots for eyes, a stick of a nose. And the ears, she couldn’t forget the ears! Oh, and horns, it is a cow after all…
In her final picture, the suitcase with a human face happily waved its broom-like tail, ate grass, and grinned from ear to ear.
She sheepishly shrugged her shoulders and showed her son the picture. The serious face of her heir suddenly lit up.
“Oh Mommy! What a wonderful cow! It’s exactly the kind of cow I wanted. The smiling kind!”
He excitedly began hopping on one leg, and then began spinning around from astonishment (he was the only person in the whole kingdom who was allowed to turn his back to the queen).
The queen looked at him and thought “My little boy, the future king… oh how kind and fair he is!” Here she stopped for a second and corrected herself “no, just kind… he’ll grow up, get rid of taxes, punishment for crimes, and even dissolve the army. He’ll bring the whole kingdom to the devil” she thought ruefully, “I need to be stricter with him.”
Then she leaned down and kissed her boy on his little, freckled nose.
By Nina Dashevskaya
Translated by Sophia R.
A little boy came to his mother and asked, “could you draw a cow for me?”
His mother wasn’t just a mother, she was also a queen! And that made the little boy a prince.
“Oh” the queen thought. “I can do so many things! I can have fireworks go on for three days straight, I can even start a war with a wave of my hand! Or I could easily have another castle built, but drawing cows? I don’t have that kind of skill. Maybe I should call in the court artist?”
The queen adjusted her son’s collar and looked in to the deep, grey eyes of the future king. “No, she said to herself, I have to draw it myself.”
She took a deep breath and took out a pink piece of paper with the queen’s emblem on it. She then dipped her golden pen into her golden inkwell and drew something that most closely resembled a suit case. She then drew on some stick like legs and a tail that looked like a broom.
Now she needed to draw the face. Can you imagine a face of a cow? The queen couldn’t seem to remember how cow faces look at all, not one little bit. But she bravely shook off the extra ink from her pen and started to draw a face the best way she knew how: two dots for eyes, a stick of a nose. And the ears, she couldn’t forget the ears! Oh, and horns, it is a cow after all…
In her final picture, the suitcase with a human face happily waved its broom-like tail, ate grass, and grinned from ear to ear.
She sheepishly shrugged her shoulders and showed her son the picture. The serious face of her heir suddenly lit up.
“Oh Mommy! What a wonderful cow! It’s exactly the kind of cow I wanted. The smiling kind!”
He excitedly began hopping on one leg, and then began spinning around from astonishment (he was the only person in the whole kingdom who was allowed to turn his back to the queen).
The queen looked at him and thought “My little boy, the future king… oh how kind and fair he is!” Here she stopped for a second and corrected herself “no, just kind… he’ll grow up, get rid of taxes, punishment for crimes, and even dissolve the army. He’ll bring the whole kingdom to the devil” she thought ruefully, “I need to be stricter with him.”
Then she leaned down and kissed her boy on his little, freckled nose.
