Tales and Legends from the Land of the Tzar/The Red Flamingoes
THE RED FLAMINGOES.
There lived, once upon a time, a Russian peasant, with his wife and two children, a little girl and a wee little boy.
One day the peasant and his wife were getting ready to go to market, so they said to the little girl, who was to stop at home,—
"We are going up to town to market, and will buy you a pretty little handkerchief and a cake but you must promise to be a good girl while we are away; take care of your little brother, and don't go out into the road, but remain in the garden and play."
So saying, they left the hut and went off to market. The little girl took her little brother, and, after putting him on the grass under the window, left him to play with some kittens, while she went to look out of the garden gate at the village children, who were playing about in the road. After having watched them for some time, she thought it would be rather jolly to go and join them in their game. Away she ran, quite forgetting what her parents had said. While she was playing with her companions she noticed some red flamingoes fly into the garden. Now, these creatures had the reputation of stealing very small children, so when our little friend saw them she left her game and ran back to the garden to look after her little brother, when what was her grief to find him missing. She searched and searched all over the place, but in vain; he was nowhere to be found!
"Perhaps those horrid red flamingoes have stolen him!" she thought.
So she ran out into the fields as fast as ever her legs could carry her, in hopes of overtaking the flamingoes, when, greatly to her surprise, she saw a stove standing in a field with a quantity of cakes and things baking on it.
"Stove! stove!" she cried, "can you tell me whither the flamingoes have gone?"
"Yes," replied the stove; "but first eat one of my cakes, and then I will tell you where they have gone."
But the little girl was in too great a hurry to think of eating anything.
"We don't eat any pastry at home," she answered, and ran on farther, until she came in sight of an apple-tree.
"Apple-tree, apple-tree!" she cried, "can you tell me where the flamingoes have flown to?"
"First eat one of my apples," answered the tree. But the little girl replied as before,—
"We eat no apples at home," and ran on until she came to a river of milk, the banks of which were of jelly.
"Milky river and jelly banks, tell me, oh! tell me, whither the flamingoes have flown?"
But they replied,—
"First taste us, sweet maiden, and we will tell you what we know."
"No, not now, for at home we do not waste our time in eating and drinking when we have other things of greater importance to do."
The little girl at last got very tired from all the running she had done, and was just about to sit down and rest, when she suddenly beheld a hedgehog close to her. At first she was inclined to push it out of her way, but then she thought she might prick herself, and besides the hedgehog would most likely be able to tell her something about the flamingoes; so she turned, and, with a very sweet little smile, asked it coaxingly,—
"Dear little hedgehog, tell me, if you can, whither the flamingoes have gone?"
The hedgehog at first looked scornfully at her, but on second thoughts it condescended to show her the way. She thanked it, and ran on until she came to a funny-looking old hut, standing on chickens' legs! which kept on going round and round like a windmill, and in it sat an old gipsy; but who was it that sat at the window playing with a golden apple? It was a nice pretty little boy, with a curly head of hair! When the little girl saw him she flew to the window, and caught the chubby little fellow in her arms; for he was no other than her lost brother, and she ran away as fast as her legs could carry her.
When the old gipsy saw what had happened she called the red flamingoes, and ordered them to overtake the little girl, who, when she saw the creatures flying after her, ran on faster and faster, till she came to the milky river and jelly banks.
"Hide me! hide me!" she cried, "for the flamingoes are chasing me."
"Taste us first, pretty maiden, and then we will hide you."
She obeyed this time as quickly as she could, and then was told to hide under one of the jelly banks. The flamingoes, not noticing this, flew past; and when they were a good way off, the little girl crept from under the jelly bank, thanked it, promised to recommend it to all her friends, and ran along with her brother in her arms. But the flamingoes soon saw her, and began to fly after her again. What was she to do? Suddenly she remembered the apple-tree, and, running up to it, asked it to hide her.
"Not unless you promise to eat one of my apples," was the reply.
There was no help for it; so the little girl took an apple, and, after she had bitten it, the apple-tree covered her over with leaves and blossoms. The flamingoes, not seeing her, flew past, as before. When she thought the coast was clear, the little girl got out from under the leaves and ran on; but the flamingoes saw her again, and were after her in a moment. They were now just over her head, and if the stove had not been quite so close to where she was, she would have been at a loss to know what to do. She climbed into the stove, and took some of the pastry in with her, and after she had eaten a cake or two, she got out again, while the flamingoes flew past.
On ran the little girl and the creatures after her. Fortunately her home was not very far off now. The birds were very close upon her; this time, in fact, their wings actually touched her face! They even tried to take away the little boy! But still on ran the little girl, tired though she was. At last she managed to get inside the house, and after shutting the doors and windows very quickly, she dropped down on the nearest chair to rest. Meanwhile the flamingoes flew round, trying their hardest to get in; but, finding that they could not succeed, they screamed and screamed till they became quite hoarse, and were obliged to return to the old gipsy without the child.
When the peasant and his wife came back from market, and saw that their little boy was quite safe and happy, they gave the little girl the handkerchief and the cake, which they had promised her, and also a little lecture on obedience when they heard the story. Of course, the little girl never forgot the lecture, and still less the flamingoes. From that day she never went out to play in the road when told to look after her little baby brother, but lived happily with her parents many years after.