Elemoont/Chapter 6
in which the Elemoont thinks he was slightly excited throwing the Hunter to the Moon and want to help him, but does not know how to do it.
And what was the Elemoont doing at that time? Throwing the Hunter to the Moon, he thought that he was slightly excited. "But can anybody know that local hunters so light?" thought he, "Our hunter you'll throw nowhere, although you'll blow at him for a hundred years!" Remembering the Lunar hunters, the Elemoont looked at the Moon with alarm and suddenly saw that it wrapped up in a large leaf of a burdock! "What does this mean?" was astonished the Elemoont.
"What do you say?" took an interest local parrot Prokhor that sat on a branch and by the light of the candle read a newspaper.
"I said the Moon was wrapped up in a leaf of a burdock," explained the Elemoont, "Never such event had been!"
The parrot laid its newspaper aside, put out the candle, and attentively looked at the Moon. After it, he also attentively looked at the Elemoont and expressively twisted its paw about its temple. But the Elemoont already understood that he saw a mental burdock and the parrot could not see it if only it was not also a telepathist. Although on the Earth, parrots that are telepathists are found very rarely.
"You are right,” said the Elemoont, "I fancied I saw it. That's I want to say, that somebody splendidly made fool of himself on the Moon."
"If you fell down from the Moon then many things can appear to you," said the parrot with sympathy striking a match to light his candle again, "Oh, the matches grew damp!"
"But how do you come to know about it?" asked the Elemoont.
"And you look at himself," replied the parrot.
The Elemoont looked at himself but saw nothing unusual: the Elemoont as the Elemoont.
"That’s what it is," said the parrot, "What are you going to do now?"
"I don't know," honestly confessed the Elemoont, "It is necessary to return to the Moon because I had thrown the Hunter there, and we had had the special elephants on our Moon which treated hunters exactly just as hunters treated elephants. If they meet the Hunter, he will not avoid much jittery."
"It serves that boaster right," said the Parrot.
"You don't know what you say about it," returned the Elemoont, "The Elephants-for-Hunters have two trunks each and out of every ones they hit outright by cherrystones."
"By cherrystones!" repeated the parrot in derisive tone.
"But do you know what dimensions have cherrystones on the Moon?" And the Elemoont showed what size has cherrystones on the Moon.
"This way one can get a bump!" exclaimed the parrot.
"Or two ones," confirmed the Elemoont, "And so long they hunt in packs... in herds I want to say, then you can imagine how many bumps will get the Hunter if he meet with the Elephants–for–Hunters."
"It will be a too much punishment for our Hunter," heave a sigh the parrot, "After all he is a simple boaster and hurt nobody."
"The more I have to rescue him somewhat quicker," said the Elemoont, "I almost confident that he already experiences troubles."
Prokhor at last lighted his candle and again turned his newspaper. "They write here that at the Antarctic Continent penguins are building a space ship to fly to the Moon," reported he. The Elemoont looked at the newspaper page and saw that the penguins build a gigantic rocket of snow. "They build the space ship of snow?" was astonished he. "But of what can they build it?" asked the parrot, "There is not anything besides snow at the Antarctic Continent!"
"Well I'll try to come there and understanding with penguins," decided the Elemoont, "But how can I get the Antarctic Continent?"
"I think you can get there by trolley-bus," said Prokhor.
And the Elemoont went to a nearest trolley-bus stop.