𝙈𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙞 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝘿𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙮

      The sun was slowly rising over the forest. It illuminated the trees, fir trees and mountains. A couple of rays of light penetrated through the glass windows of the house of the gray wolf Mardi, who was snoring and sleeping in his hammock of vines and leaves. The sun hits his eyes and the wolf wakes up, yawning and stretching his arms up. He gets up and looks around. Dolly the sheep sleeps carefree in a cat bed, and a mouse named Pie, which the wolf himself gave her in honor of the fact that she loves to eat pies, like a hamster, decided to run in a wheel and lose a little extra weight. Mardi takes out the last potato pie and a red apple from the refrigerator. He leaves the pie for Pie, and takes the apple with him and goes outside to get some fresh air. He leaves, leaving the door of his house open and goes for a walk in the forest. A gray wolf walks along the path and eats an apple. Suddenly he hears someone’s beautiful song and he wonders who sings it like that? Having gone to the source of the song, he saw a cute girl walking on a nearby path. Apparently she was blonde, her age was probably that of a teenager of about thirteen or fourteen. In her left hand she holds a basket with something inside, and she is dressed in a blue short skirt, black long shorts at the bottom of the skirt, red boots, a blue sleeveless vest and a red raincoat with a cape and hood. It's strange that she's wearing it, because there wasn't a cloud in the sky. She sang the same song: Wolf Mardi really liked the song and the girl herself. Looking at her, he licked his tongue, as if he wanted to eat the girl. Although it only seemed so at first glance. The wolf really liked the girl and wanted to make friends with her. He finished his apple, threw the tiles from the apple back and, like a confident gentleman, went to meet the girl. They crossed paths with each other and Mardi was the first to say hello: — O! Good morning, mademoiselle! It's a wonderful day today, isn't it? I know it’s good, that’s why you sing, isn’t it? — he asks the girl, but she is silent and looks questioningly at the wolf, like a child at an uncle whom he sees for the first time. — Let me introduce myself! My name is Mardi! But you can just call me Mar! Or Dee! Or Ard! What's your name, mademoiselle? The girl blinked twice and only then broke the silence: — Sorry... Uncle Di! But... My parents don't allow me to talk to strangers. — Right! It is immediately obvious that you are a very good and obedient girl. But I'm not a stranger! I introduced myself to you, which means I am an acquaintance. You can trust me! But the girl looked at the wolf with suspicion and did not trust his words so easily. — This is suspicious! Sorry, but I don't have time to talk to you. I have to go. — Where to go? — asked Mardi. — I can’t say that. Bye-bye. — the girl answers and they passed by the wolf, after which she moved on. The wolf was a little sad that this girl not only did not trust him, but did not even introduce herself to him. — TELL ME AT LEAST WHAT IS YOUR NAME??? — he shouted at her back, but she didn’t stop and didn’t answer, but continued to walk as if she was ignoring him. The wolf lowered his ears and nose and became sad from such a strange meeting and acquaintance, which did not go as he had planned. Gray even sighed heavily, shaking his right shoulder.

***

      The girl in the red raincoat continued her journey and walked further through the thicket of the forest and on the way she met the hunter Jomer Fagulag. He was sneaking around with a gun in his hands, looking for a bear. The hunter in the forest seemed quite friendly to her and she decided to say hello to him. Maybe he won’t refuse to see her off either. — Hello! — she said, and the hunter himself shushed her and began speaking in broken Russian mixed with English words: — Hush, georal! I loog for lital beyar! A lital beyar is hiding somewhere in the forest hire. — What? — I sei hat I looking for lital beyar! — Jomer repeated. But the girl again couldn’t make out anything and, looking questioningly at the hunter, asked in a louder voice: — I'm sorry, what? I do not understand you? Can you speak Russian normally? — No. — He answers her, shaking his head. — Is hard to know your language. I cam from America. — A! So you are American! And I thought that you were Ukrainian. — the girl answers. — You sei Orkainian? — asked Fagulag. Then the wolf himself came running and stood between them, addressing the girl. — Girl, this hunter is a villain and a murderer! Run! — You agen? — Jomer was indignant and raised his gun, aiming at the wolf’s head. — STOP!!! — the bespectacled fox came running screaming and grabbed the hunter’s gun and began to try to take it away. — Don’t even think about hitting me! I'm wearing glasses, but people with glasses don't get hit. — Ket owai fom me, you stoopit foxy. — tried to snatch the weapon back to himself, only pushing the redhead to the floor. The girl's eyes widened and her mouth gaped at what she saw. She didn't like the way he treated the fox like that, who was just protecting his friend, and he wanted to kill him with a gun. — How dare you? — asks the girl in the red raincoat and kicks the American between the legs with her right foot. The hunter grabbed the sore spot, jumped on the spot and was offended by the girl who treated him like that. She approached the fox and extended a helping hand to him. Rufus extended his hand and the girl helped him up. — Are you in pain, red-haired sir? — she asked him worriedly. — No. I've fallen many times and gotten worse bruises. — the bespectacled fox answers, adjusting his glasses. — And you should be ashamed for attacking a defenseless little fox with glasses. — she scolded the hunter. — Hey! He attacked me first. Ai was just fighting back. — Jomer explained. — You shouldn’t have aimed the gun at my friend! — Rufus explained, folding his arms over his chest. — And anyway, stupid American, have you forgotten that it’s not hunting season? Do you want problems with Russian laws? — No! I dot wat to! — he says, and putting the gun on the ground, he ran away without it. — Thank you for worrying about me, madam. — says the fox and shakes the girl’s hand. — My name is Rufus, how should I know you? — Alice. Alice Krasnogorkova. — the girl introduced herself with a bow. — But my friends call me the girl in the red raincoat, because I always put it on and wear it, winter and summer. Even when it's not raining outside. I like this raincoat and that's why I always wear it. — Very nice to meet you! — Rufus shook Alice’s hands again, and the wolf opened his mouth and did not understand. That is, she speaks calmly with the fox, but not with him? — By the way, excuse me for what is probably a rude question, but why are you wearing glasses? — Because I like glasses. I have poor vision, and my contact lenses are not comfortable, they fall out and itch. And they don’t hit people with glasses, but I don’t like being hit. — the fox explained. — A! I understand you. My grandmother, whom I am visiting now, also has the same vision problems. Except that no one beats her at all, because she is a lady. Okay, I don't have time to talk. Grandma is waiting for me and worried. So I guess I'll go. — Bye. Maybe we'll see you again, Seleznyova. — the fox jokingly called her Alisa Selezneva as a farewell, to which she laughed on the way: — “Seleznyova! He called me Seleznyova!” — she thought in her mind as she laughed outside. The girl and the fox went their separate ways. The wolf grabbed the fox by the hand and asked him: — How did you even do this? — What are you talking about, Mardi? — She didn’t even want to talk to me, let alone be friends with me, and didn’t say where she was going or what her name was. However, she told you all this. How? Rufus smiled slyly and, removing his hand, Mardy replied: — Calm down, buddy! I'm just more attractive and likable to her because I'm blind, I wear glasses and I almost got hurt. Girls usually like characters who suffer or look like they are disabled. Not all girls, of course, sympathize with such girls, but still she belongs to those I mentioned. The wolf scratched the back of his head and looked into the camera, breaking the fourth wall: — Does she like a suffering disabled person? If so, does this mean that she is a sadist?

***

      Alice continued to walk further along the path in a good mood. On the way, she decided to pick a couple of daisies for herself, making a bouquet for her grandmother. While she was picking flowers, Mardi ran after her and, hiding his hands behind his back, said: — I know we don’t know each other and you don’t trust me, but let’s start all over again!... Hello. My name is Mardi... Your name, as I understand it, is... Alice? Right? And are you going to visit your grandmother? And I love making relationships with people and teenagers among them. I like to make friends, even though I am a predator. Let me, as a sign of my sincere kindness, and as proof that I am not lying at all, and just want to get to know you, give you this beautiful rose! — said the gray wolf and extended his right hand, in which there was a red and fresh rose. The girl in the red raincoat turned around. She, of course, looked a little questioningly at the wolf, but listened to him carefully. Then seeing the rose in his hand, she stood up and slowly walked towards the gray one. It seemed that she would take the rose from him as a sign of agreement to be friends. However, she changed her questioning look to a stern one and said: — Uncle, maybe stop following me? I told you clearly that I don’t trust strangers, and my parents forbid me to talk to strangers. If you don't leave me alone, I will use karate. Throwing her basket aside, she stood in a fighting stance as proof, making her palms open, while clasping her fingers together. She sharply waved her hand on a large stone that was nearby and, as if with the sharpest sword, cut down this boulder with one wave of her hand using a karate move into two halves. The upper half quietly rolled off the lower half and fell to the ground. — Wow! — Mardi said. He liked this fighting technique using the example of a stone. — So it turns out you also know karate? And I am a former champion in boxing without rules. — he told her, deciding to share his past and, as proof, he approached a tree with a small trunk. The wolf took a fighting stance, clenched his hands into fists and began to hit a vertical log in the center. He was not in pain, and the tree was slowly losing its bark and interior while the wolf was beating him. He beat him and beat him, even kicked him. Suddenly a crash was heard, the tree itself began to lean towards Mardi and was about to fall. Fortunately, the wolf moved to the left and the tree fell, covering the hole in the ground with leaves. At that moment someone screamed from the hole: — HEY, DOC!!! WHO TURNED THE LIGHTS OUT??? WHAT KIND OF JOKES??? — Wow! — Alice also published. She was surprised that the wolf was capable of such a thing. She took the basket in her hands again and said: — Sorry, but I have to go. Please don't follow me anymore! Find yourself another girl in a red riding hood! She turned around and left. — Why are you avoiding me and not trusting me? Do you think that I will eat you and attack you? I'm not that kind of wolf! Why you do not believe me? — the wolf asks the girl, following her, and then stopped, without waiting for an answer. — Bye, Uncle Gray Wolf! — Alice waves her hand goodbye, without turning around and moves on. The wolf gets angry with himself, grabs his lower eyelids, pulling them out of his eyes so hard, as if he is about to tear them off his eyes. He gritted his teeth and kicked the broken half of the stone like a ball, not even feeling the pain in his leg when his toes hit the stone. — What a fool I am! Well, what am I doing wrong? Well, how can I prove to her that I’m good and just want to be friends with her? — he asked himself out of anger and began to mark time. Having caught his breath and calmed down a little, he decided to run after the girl further and still try to convince her. At the same time, the Wolf did not look at his feet and accidentally tripped over an elongated thick root of a tree with his right hind paw. Trying to keep his balance, he jumps and moves forward, accidentally pushing the girl in the raincoat. The girl dropped the basket from her hands to the ground, and she moved further away, also trying to maintain her balance, and fell straight into the ravine. Mardy, having come to his senses, looked around and looked at himself, making sure that he himself had not been hurt. He himself was unharmed, but he was immediately distracted from these thoughts by a cry: — HELP!!! HELP!!! HELP ME!!! Distracted by the scream, the wolf saw that it was a girl in a red raincoat screaming, who grabbed the edge of the ravine with her hands and could barely hold on, trying to climb up herself. However, she was not strong enough to get up on her own. The wolf saw her and did not stand aside. Coming closer to the edge of the ravine, he grabbed a stone with both hands and held on tightly to it, while he stretched his tail forward. — GRAB MY TAIL!!! QUICKER!!! Alice, trying to hold on to her left hand, reached out with her right hand to the wolf's tail, but could not reach it. — COME ON!!! GRAB!!! — I... I CAN'T!!! — she shouted and could not resist, as she immediately flew down, emitting a heart-rending cry: — A-A-A-A-A... — NO-O-O!!! — Mardi shouts. Luckily, Alice landed on a small slope that sent her down like a log. Then she managed to grab onto two protruding stones and tried to hold on to them. She held on as best she could and continued shouting: — HELP!!! HELP!!! — HOLD ON, I WILL GET YOU OUT OF THERE!!! — the wolf shouted down to her and began to look around in search of the necessary objects. Close to his luck was a tree with vines. He picked up one of the vines. He tied one end of the vine around his waist, and the other around that same tree. Then he jumped down, wrapped in a vine, as if he were bungee jumping. — BANZA-AY!!! — he just shouted, but accidentally flew past and ended up even lower. At that very moment, Alice again could not resist and fell. This time she landed on the branches of some old tree, which was located in this very ravine. Clinging to it and almost falling for the third time, she clings to a branch and tries to hold on to it. — MR. WOLF, HELP!!! — HOLD ON, MADAME!!! — the gray one shouts to her and begins to swing to reach the girl and grab her. The girl again could not resist, no matter how hard she tried, and slipped from the branches. Luckily she didn't fall. The wolf himself managed to grab her. — I’m holding it! — he said. Suddenly he noticed that they began to slowly descend. This is because together they were very heavy and the vine was slowly torn. It was old and rotten, ready to break and cause them to fall. — Oh no! — they said at the same time, frowning on their faces. Grunting, the vine broke and they still fell. Fortunately, at that time they were not high and were closer to the ground. Somewhere around one meter. Although it seemed to them that they would fall even longer. Therefore, they landed quickly and did not get hurt. The wolf held the girl in his arms and they fell and rolled down the slope into the center of the ravine. They landed on their sides. At that moment, one stone fell from above and fell in leaps, also rolling down the slopes and hit Mardi on the head, leaving him with a bump and causing him to lose consciousness, emitting a long and quiet groan in pain Alice gasped in fright and widened her eyes. For the first time, she worried about this gray wolf savior, who saved her life and almost died himself, but in the end suffered a little. Taking the unfortunate wolf into her arms, like a bridegroom, she dragged him along with her. Fortunately, the wolf was not so heavy for her. Having found a path nearby that led to the top from the ravine and returning to that very bridge, she found her basket of gifts and took out a first aid kit from there. — “It turns out I’m not wearing it in vain!” — she thought to herself. Taking the first aid kit and taking out some brilliant green from it, she anointed it on the sore bump on the wolf’s head. Mardy gritted his teeth as the bump stung a little. Then Alice took out an adhesive plaster and stuck it on the wolf's bump. Worried about her savior, the girl is moved, looking at his unfortunate face of suffering and kisses his black nose in gratitude. The wolf had a blush on his cheeks with joy, and then he smiled.

***

      The girl was very strong. Therefore, without much difficulty she took the gray and wounded wolf in her arms, holding the basket with her right elbow and, like a bridegroom, carried her savior with her, holding him in her arms. They still had a little time to go and they finally reached their grandmother’s house in the middle of the forest, to which she was actually going. Grandma Alice's house looked two-story and small. Outside at the exit there was a beautiful garden with flowers, small stones and a vegetable garden with a scarecrow. Three rabbits were tending the garden. One was white, the other was gray, and the third was brown. Sometimes, if they get hungry and want to eat, they take one cabbage leaf at a time and eat it, but otherwise they try to eat too much and not eat it all. Grandma, as a reward, either bakes pies for them, or reads fairy tales before bed, or gives them a vacation. Now the white rabbit was working in the garden and sowing the soil with a rake, the gray rabbit was transplanting a new flower from the garden into a new pot, and the brown rabbit was getting water from the well, filling grandma's kettle with it. The rabbits saw that Alice had come, ran up to the girl in a red raincoat and were very happy to see them. Alice even leaned over and patted each of them on the head. The rabbits, of course, noticed the wolf, which she brought in her arms. He was unconscious or as if he was sleeping. Luckily they weren't afraid of him, they became curious and just decided to sniff him. Alice entered the house, not forgetting to knock on the door first, and walked in. She took off her shoes, closed the door and started calling her grandmother: — GRANDMA!!! GRANDMA, ARE YOU HOME??? IT'S ME, ALICE!!! So far she hasn't responded. Apparently she went for a walk and is not at home. Then she decided to wait for him. The girl put the wolf on the green sofa in the hallway and covered it with a tablecloth from the floor. — Lie here for now! — she said and walked away with the basket. The brown rabbit put the kettle on the stove and began to heat up the tea. For now, he began to examine the wolf himself. Taking a small iron spoon, he asked the gray one to open his mouth wider. Mardi did just that, sticking out his tongue in one go. The rabbit examined his throat and it was fine. Then he took out an electronic thermometer and stuck it in the wolf's right armpit. After some time, the rabbit learned that the temperature was normal. About thirty-four point two degrees. Then Alice returned and put a blue bag with ice cubes on the wolf's head. At first Mardi gritted his teeth from the sharp cold, and then sighed with relief. — You were so brave! If it weren't for you, I would have died there in the ravine. — she thanks him. — Thank you. — Now tell me, why were you following me? — I told you. I just wanted to be friends with you. I really liked you. — he explained to her. Then he felt ashamed and turned away. — And in fact, it’s my fault that you ended up in the ravine. You wouldn't have gotten there if I hadn't accidentally pushed you. I was just hoping to try to talk to you one more time that I wasn't even looking at my feet and I tripped. It's all my fault! I deserve this bump on my head. — answering all this, he put his palm on the bag of ice and let out a quiet but long groan from the pain in his head. — You did very badly, wolf! — Alice said sternly at first, and then she changed her severity to mercy and added: — But nevertheless, you saved me, trying to make amends for your guilt and at the same time, you still convinced me that I could trust you. That's why I forgive you. — Please! Just call me Mardi! — the wolf introduced himself again and the girl answered: — Sorry, Mardi... By the way, what is this strange name? — They named me that by taking two nicknames and mixing them together. That's how I got my name. Many people tell me that my name is somehow strange, foreign and not Russian... But I’ve gotten used to it a long time ago. At that moment the grandmother returned home. She was an elderly woman, around the age of fifty or sixty, who had even built up her muscles. Apparently she is a female bodybuilder. She also wears contact lenses, since her eyesight has been impaired since childhood. She, too, was not afraid of the wolf, but mistakenly decided that it was a dog. — Wow! Alice, have you brought a dog to our home? — No, grandma. It's a wolf! — Wolf?... What happened to him? Why is he lying on the sofa, moaning and holding ice on his head? — He feels bad! He hit himself and almost died, saving me when I almost... Got hit in the head with an anvil from someone. — Alice lied about the trouble she was in, so as not to worry her grandmother too much. — If it weren’t for him, I would have been lost. Only he himself suffered because of me and I decided to take him here to us. Let him lie down with us and rest. By the way, his name is Mardi. Don't ask why he has such a strange name. He says that he was named that way as a child, mixing two names for wolves. — I’m very glad to meet you. — the old woman shook the wolf’s right paw with her hands. — My name is Maria. Just Masha for you! My granddaughter's friend and savior is also my friend. — Very nice to meet you, mademoiselle! — Mardi says and closes his eyes, falls asleep. Grandma gasped and got a little scared. — He died? — No, grandma. He's just sleeping. — the girl in the red raincoat answers, listening to the chest of the gray wolf. I think he needs to be given a rest. Alice and Maria, together with the brown rabbit, leave the corridor, deciding to leave their guest alone and in silence for now. The main thing is that Mardi still achieved his goal. Even better than planned. Not only was he able to meet and make friends with that girl in the red raincoat, but he even met her grandmother personally. With these thoughts, the wolf fell asleep with a smile on his face.