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Царь зверей
The King of the Animals
Sergei Sedov
Translated by Dalia Roshal
Once upon a time, the Department of Stuffed Toys decided to choose a king to lead them. Right away, everyone agreed that a lion should be the king. The problem was, there were three lions in the department - there was a Big Lion, a Loud-Voiced Lion, and a Small and Quiet Lion, and the animals had a hard time choosing between the three.
“Big Lion should be our leader,” said Wooden Turtle, who had joined the Department of Stuffed Toys a few generations ago, “He would be a good king because everyone would be afraid of him, even the flying toys and the lego robots.”
So Big Lion became the king. Right away, he climbed up to the top shelf (which was considered to be the most prestigious place for a stuffed toy), pushing two elephants and three monkeys off it, and began to rule using all his power. The rest of the stuffed toys fell to the floor in a pile. They all bowed in front of Big Lion and thought, “Now, that’s the way a real king should act.”
But then, someone bought Big Lion! The buyer’s name was Sam. Sam was six years old and he was very small for his age. Sam never would have seen and bought Big Lion from the shelf in the store if Big Lion hadn’t knocked the other animals off the shelf and hadn’t been sitting so high up and hadn’t been so impressively big.
“We lost our king,” said Wooden Turtle, “But we don’t need to be sad. Life goes on. Loud-Voiced Lion will be our new king.”
Everyone agreed right away, and at the very beginning of his time as king, Loud-Voiced Lion roared so loudly that all the toys in the store fell silent. The bath toy tugboats were quiet for once, and the toy soldiers stopped shooting at each other. Two women who worked at the store fainted, and a big wooden chair that stood in the store-director’s office started shaking.
The stuffed toys looked at Loud Lion and thought, “Now that’s the way a real king should act.”
And at this moment, a boy named Billy entered the toy store. He had earphones in and was listening to music, but he still heard Loud Lion’s roar. Of course, Billy bought Loud Lion right away. He loved anything that was loud.
The poor animals! It took them quite a while to recover after this awful loss. Many stuffed toys cried, and the dampness of their tears was very bad for their soft fur.
And then the wooden turtle said, “Don’t cry, everyone, don’t worry, there is still one more lion among us! Small and Quiet Lion can be our king now, after all, he IS a lion.”
So Small and Quiet Lion became the king. As well as being small and quiet, he was also very shy. He never pushed to get to the front of the crowd of elephants and hippos. So the buyers who visited the toy store never noticed him, and Small and Quiet Lion still rules the Department of Stuffed Toys today.
Why do you think the toys began to behave? They never argue, never push each other, never fight with the people who work in the toy store. They behave, because they know that their king, a Small and Quiet Lion, is always somewhere closeby.
But if a child finds the Small and Quiet Lion somewhere within the Department of Stuffed Toys, and buys him and takes him home, he will be very, very happy. He likes being king, but he would love being a child’s favorite toy even better. And if you do find him and take him home, don’t worry about the other toys - soon, seven new lions will be arriving at the Department of Stuffed Toys, so the Department will have no shortage of possible future kings.
Sergei Sedov
Translated by Dalia Roshal
Once upon a time, the Department of Stuffed Toys decided to choose a king to lead them. Right away, everyone agreed that a lion should be the king. The problem was, there were three lions in the department - there was a Big Lion, a Loud-Voiced Lion, and a Small and Quiet Lion, and the animals had a hard time choosing between the three.
“Big Lion should be our leader,” said Wooden Turtle, who had joined the Department of Stuffed Toys a few generations ago, “He would be a good king because everyone would be afraid of him, even the flying toys and the lego robots.”
So Big Lion became the king. Right away, he climbed up to the top shelf (which was considered to be the most prestigious place for a stuffed toy), pushing two elephants and three monkeys off it, and began to rule using all his power. The rest of the stuffed toys fell to the floor in a pile. They all bowed in front of Big Lion and thought, “Now, that’s the way a real king should act.”
But then, someone bought Big Lion! The buyer’s name was Sam. Sam was six years old and he was very small for his age. Sam never would have seen and bought Big Lion from the shelf in the store if Big Lion hadn’t knocked the other animals off the shelf and hadn’t been sitting so high up and hadn’t been so impressively big.
“We lost our king,” said Wooden Turtle, “But we don’t need to be sad. Life goes on. Loud-Voiced Lion will be our new king.”
Everyone agreed right away, and at the very beginning of his time as king, Loud-Voiced Lion roared so loudly that all the toys in the store fell silent. The bath toy tugboats were quiet for once, and the toy soldiers stopped shooting at each other. Two women who worked at the store fainted, and a big wooden chair that stood in the store-director’s office started shaking.
The stuffed toys looked at Loud Lion and thought, “Now that’s the way a real king should act.”
And at this moment, a boy named Billy entered the toy store. He had earphones in and was listening to music, but he still heard Loud Lion’s roar. Of course, Billy bought Loud Lion right away. He loved anything that was loud.
The poor animals! It took them quite a while to recover after this awful loss. Many stuffed toys cried, and the dampness of their tears was very bad for their soft fur.
And then the wooden turtle said, “Don’t cry, everyone, don’t worry, there is still one more lion among us! Small and Quiet Lion can be our king now, after all, he IS a lion.”
So Small and Quiet Lion became the king. As well as being small and quiet, he was also very shy. He never pushed to get to the front of the crowd of elephants and hippos. So the buyers who visited the toy store never noticed him, and Small and Quiet Lion still rules the Department of Stuffed Toys today.
Why do you think the toys began to behave? They never argue, never push each other, never fight with the people who work in the toy store. They behave, because they know that their king, a Small and Quiet Lion, is always somewhere closeby.
But if a child finds the Small and Quiet Lion somewhere within the Department of Stuffed Toys, and buys him and takes him home, he will be very, very happy. He likes being king, but he would love being a child’s favorite toy even better. And if you do find him and take him home, don’t worry about the other toys - soon, seven new lions will be arriving at the Department of Stuffed Toys, so the Department will have no shortage of possible future kings.
