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Королевская корова
Nina Dashevskaya - The Queen's Cow (translated by Alexander Suponya)
Once upon a time, a boy walked up to his mother and asked, “Could you draw me a cow? Pretty please?”
This boy’s mother was nothing of the ordinary - she was a queen! Her son, the Prince, was not a bit less special than his mother.
“Oh well,” thought the Queen, “It seemed as if I can do anything. Fill the sky with fireworks for three days? Done! Why limit myself to fireworks if war could erupt at the tips of my fingertips? Or maybe, I could wish for a palace - even one with a plumbing system - to be built out of thin air on an empty plain, and it would be done instantly! And yet, I cannot draw a cow. Maybe, I should call forth our court painter to do it instead?”
The Queen looked at her son, fixed his lace collar, looked into the stern grey eyes of the future King, and understood that she would have to draw the cow. By herself.
With a sigh, she took out a stack of pink paper stamped with the royal emblem on every sheet, dipped her golden quill into her inkwell of golden ink, and doodled something resembling a suitcase. Then she gave the suitcase four stick legs and a string-like tail.
With the body already drawn, it was time to draw the head. Can you easily imagine what a cow’s face looks like? Well, the Queen couldn’t imagine it at all, no matter how hard she tried! Nevertheless, she gathered her confidence, shook away the extra ink drops from her quill, and began to draw the face, as masterfully as she possibly could: dots for eyes, a mere line for a nose… then the ears, how could someone forget about the ears? Oh, and the horns - what kind of cow has no horns?
The suitcase with a human face now joyfully waved its string of a tail and munched on the chamomiles around it. It smiled from ear to ear.
Shrugging, the embarrassed queen showed her creation to the Prince. Suddenly, the future heir’s eyes suddenly brightened up.
“Look, mommy! The cow is so wonderful! I wanted mine to look exactly like this… so that it smiled just the way you drew it!” The young Prince started jumping up and down out of excitement, and even spinned a full turn around his heel. Only he had the privilege to ever face away from the Queen, and in happy times like this he would not dare to miss the opportunity.
The Queen looked at her little Prince and thought, “Here he is, my child. A future king - just and good-hearted!” She looked back at her drawing and corrected herself, “No, simply good-hearted… Once he’ll grow up, he could repeal the royal tax, inter the death penalty, dismiss the army… For God’s sake, he could bring the kingdom to its ruins! No, I must be stricter with him…”
She kissed the Prince on the tip of his tiny, sweaty, freckled nose.
Once upon a time, a boy walked up to his mother and asked, “Could you draw me a cow? Pretty please?”
This boy’s mother was nothing of the ordinary - she was a queen! Her son, the Prince, was not a bit less special than his mother.
“Oh well,” thought the Queen, “It seemed as if I can do anything. Fill the sky with fireworks for three days? Done! Why limit myself to fireworks if war could erupt at the tips of my fingertips? Or maybe, I could wish for a palace - even one with a plumbing system - to be built out of thin air on an empty plain, and it would be done instantly! And yet, I cannot draw a cow. Maybe, I should call forth our court painter to do it instead?”
The Queen looked at her son, fixed his lace collar, looked into the stern grey eyes of the future King, and understood that she would have to draw the cow. By herself.
With a sigh, she took out a stack of pink paper stamped with the royal emblem on every sheet, dipped her golden quill into her inkwell of golden ink, and doodled something resembling a suitcase. Then she gave the suitcase four stick legs and a string-like tail.
With the body already drawn, it was time to draw the head. Can you easily imagine what a cow’s face looks like? Well, the Queen couldn’t imagine it at all, no matter how hard she tried! Nevertheless, she gathered her confidence, shook away the extra ink drops from her quill, and began to draw the face, as masterfully as she possibly could: dots for eyes, a mere line for a nose… then the ears, how could someone forget about the ears? Oh, and the horns - what kind of cow has no horns?
The suitcase with a human face now joyfully waved its string of a tail and munched on the chamomiles around it. It smiled from ear to ear.
Shrugging, the embarrassed queen showed her creation to the Prince. Suddenly, the future heir’s eyes suddenly brightened up.
“Look, mommy! The cow is so wonderful! I wanted mine to look exactly like this… so that it smiled just the way you drew it!” The young Prince started jumping up and down out of excitement, and even spinned a full turn around his heel. Only he had the privilege to ever face away from the Queen, and in happy times like this he would not dare to miss the opportunity.
The Queen looked at her little Prince and thought, “Here he is, my child. A future king - just and good-hearted!” She looked back at her drawing and corrected herself, “No, simply good-hearted… Once he’ll grow up, he could repeal the royal tax, inter the death penalty, dismiss the army… For God’s sake, he could bring the kingdom to its ruins! No, I must be stricter with him…”
She kissed the Prince on the tip of his tiny, sweaty, freckled nose.
