"Mum's fallen ill," Dina thought sadly, "and Dad walks around with his head down. His blue eyes have turned grey and very sad. Dad made breakfast today. Of course, the porridge isn't as tasty as Mum's. And the pancakes are flat and dry. And the tea isn't fragrant at all… Even the bedtime stories from the big book, read by Dad, aren't as interesting as they used to be".
After breakfast, Dina went to see Mum. Her long black braid had turned grey. Her face was white as a pillowcase, and her eyes were huge, with no sparkle of life in them.
Mum, how are you? When will you be like you were before? I miss you so much," Dina asked with a tremor in her voice and burst into tears.
My wonderful princess," Mum said weakly, "it seems I won't get up anymore. My strength is fading, I'm getting weaker and weaker. Don't cry, I'll be gone soon, but I'll always be with you.
Mum closed her eyes and seemed to fall asleep.
There you are," said Dad, quietly opening the door, "come on, Dina, don't bother Mum while she's resting. Your grandmother will arrive soon, she'll help us.
Dad and Dina went out into the yard. They lived in a small but very cosy house on the edge of the village. They had a wonderful garden where fruit trees grew, bushes with different berries, and flowers: two beautiful well-kept flower beds with roses and annuals. And there were also swings in the garden, which Dina and Mum loved to swing on and watch the clouds.
The path from the house to the gate was covered with pink stones, with white borders on the sides, and marigolds grew along them. Dina and Dad went out onto the street. A cart drawn by a pony with a long fringe came down the road, raising dust.
It's Grandmother!" cried Dina and clapped her hands, forgetting for a moment the sorrow that had settled in their home.
Dad opened the gates, and the pony entered the yard. Dad unharnessed Buyan and led him to the barn to give him spring water brought from the small wood that morning, and filled his manger with barley. Meanwhile, Grandmother was already in her daughter's room. She didn't take Dina with her, and the girl went to Buyan. They knew each other and were friends. Dina had brought several lumps of sugar in advance and treated the pony.
Dad brushed him with a special brush and left. Dina combed his fringe and mane and began to braid little plaits with bright narrow ribbons. Buyan touched his lips to Dina's cheek as if kissing her, and looked at her intently. His blue-violet eyes radiated tenderness and love. Dina hugged the pony around the neck and burst into tears. Buyan whinnied sadly, and tears flowed from his eyes. Both were crying.
Dina saw something fall to the floor. It was a bracelet woven from horsehair with a silver thread, with a tiny horseshoe hanging from it. Dina was sure she hadn't braided Buyan's mane with a silver thread. And certainly hadn't cut a plait. The girl put the bracelet on her wrist and hugged Buyan tightly around the neck.
Grandmother came into the barn.
I knew you'd be with Buyan," she said. "What's that bracelet you've got? Why did you cut a plait from the pony, Dina?
I didn't cut anything, Buyan gave it to me himself!
Himself? Well," Grandmother was surprised and patted her friend's mane with a smile, "I always knew my pony wasn't as simple as he seems. He can do even more tricks!
Grandmother, tell me what Buyan can do!" Dina asked.
Once I set off to visit a friend in the neighbouring town," Grandmother began to tell, "and a heavy rain started. Not a single drop fell on us, though streams were flowing along the road! And recently I went to the neighbouring village to the shop. The sun was blazing, and the wind raised dust, it was hard to breathe. There were still ten minutes to the village, but literally a minute later we were near the shop! The wind died down, the dust settled. I think my Buyan arranged all this. So, Dina, treasure the bracelet, it's your talisman.
Grandmother gently stroked Buyan and went out of the barn with Dina.
Let's go and prepare lunch, and then great deeds await us: we need to prepare you for a journey. Only magic can save your mum! And you'll have to go to an enchanted forest to see a witch. She'll give you medicine. Only don't tell your parents," Grandmother asked. "I'm afraid Dad won't let you go. But only a child can enter the enchanted forest.
Dina couldn't believe her ears. How could she, still a small girl, save Mum? But for her sake, she was ready for anything!
Is the witch evil?" Dina asked.
She's neither evil nor good, just a witch. She's evil to evil people, but you're a child with a pure soul, you shouldn't be afraid of her. My grandmother told me that the witch doesn't hurt children.
How old is she?" Dina asked in surprise. "Maybe she doesn't even live there anymore.
If there's an enchanted forest, then there's a witch!" Grandmother said firmly.
That evening, Dina didn't need to be persuaded to go to bed. After all, she had to set off with the first rays of the sun.
Beyond the village was a small birch grove, and no one ever went beyond it. There stood a thick wall of white fog day and night, winter and summer. A barely visible path led into the mist, but it was unknown where it came from.
As soon as the horizon began to pale in the east, Grandmother woke Dina. The girl washed, had breakfast and put on a yellow hoodie that Mum had knitted before she fell ill. On her back was a light rucksack. Grandfather had woven it from willow cut on the day of the spring equinox. In the rucksack, Grandmother put a bottle of spring water, pies with rhubarb, and at the very bottom, under a napkin, a small bag of loose soil from under the blackcurrant bush in the garden. Everything that could protect or save the little girl on the way to the witch, the woman had gathered.
The very edge of the sun appeared, and Grandmother and Dina were already in the birch grove.
I don't know what's beyond the fog," said Grandmother, "whether it's the enchanted forest right away or not. But I know for certain that you mustn't leave the path under any circumstances, no matter what happens! And don't look back, or you might stumble and lose the path.
Grandmother hugged her granddaughter tightly, waited for the girl to disappear into the fog and went home.
In the Fog
Dina walked along the path. Through the thick fog, nothing was visible. The path led to a turbulent wide river, across which a narrow bridge without railings was thrown. You couldn't even see the other bank. How could she cross the river?
Suddenly, from nowhere, a thick rope appeared. It stretched parallel to the narrow bridge. Dina grabbed the rope firmly with both hands and confidently moved forward. The girl saw that the rope was made of horsehair with a silver thread. "Buyan took care of me," she decided.
Sometimes the bridge slipped from under her feet, something shapeless floated in the river, it was hard to see through the fog, but the lifesaving rope seemed to hold Dina herself, not letting her fall. Finally, the bridge ended, the rope disappeared, and Dina was back on the path.
Suddenly the fog began to turn pink. Dina remembered an old fairy tale that said such mist was very dangerous and could gnaw anyone down to the bone. The girl decided to calm herself and pulled the hood of her yellow hoodie over her head. She pulled it over her whole face, and through the yellow threads the fog stopped being pink.
She walked strictly down the centre of the path, catching with her side vision how tentacles came from the fog and tried to reach her, but they were just a centimetre short. How long this lasted was hard to say. Dina was very frightened, but Mum's hoodie protected the girl from the tentacles. Finally, the fog turned white again and began to thin out.
The path, straight as an arrow, suddenly began to wind. Dina had to keep looking at her feet. She wanted to drink and eat, but the girl was afraid to stop: she'd have to take off her rucksack, and she could leave the path.
After another turn, the path became straight again. It led the girl to a clearing and branched off in three directions. Three paths led into tunnels. One was rainbow, the second was golden, and the third was covered with small white flowers with a pleasant delicate fragrance.
"Which way should I go?" the girl wondered. "Grandmother didn't tell me about other paths".
Dina took off her rucksack, ate a pie, drank some spring water and suddenly heard her mother's voice.
A rainbow is not real, gold won't restore health, and any plant can be medicinal. You'll choose the right path, my princess!" whispered Mum.
Dina put on her rucksack and boldly entered the flowering tunnel. Through the branches of the plants, the sun shone and you could see the blue sky, no fog at all!
At the Witch's House
The tunnel ended, and the path led Dina straight to the witch's cottage at the edge of the forest. The house was befitting the witch: carved, covered with ivy, with a tower with a weather vane in the shape of a rooster. The rooster was like a real one, with a bright multicoloured tail. A light breeze blew towards Dina, the rooster weather vane ruffled and proudly crowed its "Cock-a-doodle-doo". A red-haired girl of about eight, Dina's age, came out of the house.
Hi, Dina!" said the girl.
Hi!" answered Dina. "How do you know my name?
Grandmother said you'd come soon, so I'm waiting for you.
Is your grandmother the witch?" exclaimed Dina.
Yes," the girl confirmed proudly, "when I grow up, I'll be a witch too!
What's your name?
Tonya. Come inside, you're tired, you need to rest.
Where's your grandmother?" Dina asked impatiently, "I have very important business with her.
Grandmother told me to meet you and give you tea.
My mum is ill, my grandmother said only a witch can help me!" exclaimed Dina, "I don't have time for tea!
But until you drink tea and rest, you won't know what to do to save your mum. That's what my grandmother told me!" said Tonya firmly, pressing her lips together.
There was nothing to do. Dina washed up from the journey and sat at a round table with a lacy lilac tablecloth. On it stood a cheerful samovar, jam and fragrant buns. The girls drank tea, but suddenly Dina's eyes began to close. Tonya helped her to the sofa. A soft down pillow embraced Dina's tired head. Before falling asleep, Dina saw a pleasant old woman with a lacy lilac shawl draped over her shoulders.
Dina, you must bring me a mother-of-pearl button from a Roly-Poly doll," said the old woman.
Dina didn't have time to ask where to find the Roly-Poly and how to take a button from it. Grandmother disappeared, and the girl fell asleep.
Dina's First Dream.
I'm walking through an unfamiliar city, it's flooded up to the second floor with an ocean. Everything's frozen, and the ice is greenish. That's why it seems to me that it's ocean water, though I know it anyway!
I'm walking on the roof of a tall building, very slippery. To avoid falling, I slide down the roof like a slide. Not scary at all! I look, and the building is five storeys high — wow!
A plump lady is walking in front of me, suddenly she falls through the ice! I carefully approach and can't believe my eyes: a neat little hole, as if drawn with a compass. How could such a plump woman fall through such a small hole? I wander on, but then I feel very ashamed: a person is in trouble, I need to save them!
I go back. Everything is quiet, and no one is beating against the ice. As if nothing happened. I carefully kneel down and lower my hand into the hole. The water is warm. I feel a head, pull by the scarf, and suddenly in front of me is a small Roly-Poly. She blinked her eyes and squeaked: "Thank you!". The Roly-Poly carefully tore off the top mother-of-pearl button and handed it to me. And left. Surprisingly, she was completely dry. I grip the mother-of-pearl button tightly in my fist, afraid to lose it. I turn around and see that the Roly-Poly is gone, and instead a plump lady walks into the distance.
At the Witch's House
Dina woke up. She was standing on the clearing again in front of three tunnels, but with her fist clenched. The girl carefully opened her palm, saw the mother-of-pearl button and rushed down the tunnel to the witch's house. A light breeze blew towards her. The rooster weather vane ruffled and proudly crowed its "Cock-a-doodle-doo". A red-haired boy, Dina's age, came out of the house.
Hi, Dina!" said the boy.
Where's Tonya?" Dina was surprised. "What's your name?
Tonny," the boy answered with a smile, "we can't waste a minute, you need to drink tea again and rest! It's already noon, there's not much time left before sunset!
Where's the witch?" asked Dina.
But Tonny didn't explain anything, he held out his hand to the girl and practically dragged her to the table. Dina put the mother-of-pearl button on a crystal plate that stood next to her cup.
Drink your tea and sleep! We need to hurry!
A soft down pillow embraced Dina's tired head. Before falling asleep, Dina saw the old woman in the lacy lilac shawl again.
Dina, you must bring me a pirate's arrow," she said.
Dina's Second Dream.
I'm a grown-up girl, dressed in a corset dress. I've only seen such things in a big book about princesses. A young man in dark blue velvet trousers and a torn white shirt with puffy sleeves runs up to me.
Hurry, pirates are approaching the shore!" he shouts.
There's no time to think, pirates are no joke.
The guy grabs my hand, and we run to the sea. Why to the sea? A small hill with dried tall wormwood stalks right at the water's edge — that's all the shelter! I peer over the hill. Something incredible! There's no ship with a pirate flag. Not far from us are stakes, and on them are skeletons. One has a tricorn on its skull, another has a red bandana, another has a patch over the eye socket, the rest of the clothes have rotted away. The skeletons have long and tangled hair. The skeletons saw me, and clouds of arrows flew towards us. There were about a dozen skeletons, but hundreds of arrows.
The guy caught three arrows, stuck two in the ground, and the rest of the arrows flew to them like magnets. He gave me the third arrow, and we walked away, cheerfully chatting about nothing.
At the Witch's House
Dina woke up. She was standing on the clearing again in front of three tunnels with her fist clenched. Carefully opening her palm, she saw a small arrow.
The girl ran to the witch's house. A light breeze blew, but the weather vane became different, now it was an owl. The owl ruffled and growled: "Hoot-hoot-hoot". Grandmother, whom Dina had already seen before falling asleep, stood on the threshold.
Hello, Dina! Give me the pirate arrow, please. You have very little time left. Have you noticed that there's an owl instead of a rooster now? You need to get home before sunset, or you'll stay here FOREVER and won't be able to help your mum!
What should I do?
Drink tea and sleep! But you need to come back very quickly. Bring me a spine from a dragon's tail.
Dina drank her tea without a word and lay down on the sofa.
Dina's Third Dream.
A shore, grey sky, dark sea, on the shore — a flat mountain. It's multilayered. Light grey and almost black layers alternate. Tree roots stick out of the mountain, they're intertwined. Some embrace each other in a friendly way, and some fight.
White stone buildings and coniferous trees are scattered chaotically over the mountain. It's their roots that stick out of the sheer walls. The trees are very dark, you can't even tell what colour they are: blue or green. In the centre of the mountain is a round square, as if drawn with a compass. On the square is a large dragon of a light grey colour.
It looks at the houses and sometimes grabs people from the street. It throws a person high and swallows them. For a while, legs stick out of its mouth, twitching in convulsions. A terrible noise hangs over the city. It's people screaming in fear. A giant emerges from the sea, but he doesn't come ashore. He's about 50 metres tall. And he reaches from the sea to the dragon and takes its head off, impales it on a metal spike sticking out here on the compass square.
Silence falls over the city. The giant goes back to the sea. New people in grey identical clothes appear on the tree roots. They seem to bud: before your eyes, they grow from something shapeless into adults. The roots throw them into the city.
There's no way to escape the city, the roots won't let you. All people look the same and are dressed in grey. There are no children.
I know that after some time, the giant will return, put the dragon's head back on its body and everything will be as before.
How do I get a dragon spine?
Suddenly I see a black raven as tall as me. He walks importantly and pretends not to notice me. I shout to him:
Hello, respected Raven!
Ah, it's Dina," growled the Raven, "hello, hello.
Respected Raven, could you help me?
Help? Amazing presumption! Why should I help you?
You see, I need a spine from a dragon's tail, but I can't fly, and I can't get to the mountain, the tree roots won't let me," Dina said calmly.
What do you have to pay for my service?" asked the Raven.
In my rucksack are two incredibly delicious pies with rhubarb. Would you like one?
An enticing offer, give me a pie!
Dina took off her rucksack and gave the Raven one pie. The Raven ate it quickly and flew off. He had to gain a lot of height. The roots reached for the Raven, and at one point it seemed to Dina that the Raven wanted to come back. But now he's near the headless dragon. He grabbed the biggest spine with his beak — it popped out of the tail like a carrot from a garden bed. Dina gave the Raven the second pie, and put the spine in her rucksack.
At the Witch's House
Dina woke up on the clearing in front of three tunnels. The girl ran to the witch's house. A light breeze blew, the owl weather vane ruffled and growled "Hoot-hoot-hoot". Grandmother stood on the threshold of the house.
Dina, you've collected everything I needed. While you were getting the treasures, I prepared medicine for your mum. She'll definitely become healthy again. You can't stay with us, the sun will set soon. Hurry and drink magic tea and sleep. You'll find out everything at home!
Dina drank a cup of tea, lay down on the sofa and immediately fell asleep.
Dina's Fourth Dream, or Dina's Return.
I'm in the room where I drank tea and slept. The table is set, but there's no one there. Suddenly a tall double door appears on the wall that wasn't there before. It slowly and creakily opens. My skin crawls, but the dark opening beckons me. I enter. Tall windows let through the last rays of the setting sun. In this room are cabinets with books, like in a library. I walk down a wide aisle, and the thought beats in my head: "It's time to go home, the sun will set soon!".
At the end of the library is a cabinet with mirror doors, I approach it and open the door. In the cabinet are dolls the size of a child: some small, some adult. On the lowest shelf are dolls of Tonya and Tonny. A sinister voice of the witch sounded:
If you don't get home before sunset, you'll become such a doll, there's a place for you on the shelf!
And suddenly everything disappeared. I can't see anything, I reach out my hand and can't see it. I touched my nose, my ears — everything's in place, but I can't see my hands or legs. Absolute darkness, it's warm, soft, as if alive, embraces me from all sides, it's cosy in it, but I need to go home! How did I get here?!
Suddenly small bright flashes appear in the darkness, there are more and more of them. And now I myself have become one of these small flashes and I'm flying in a rainbow tunnel. It twists in a spiral, the darkness disappears, I feel very cheerful, cosy and don't want to go home at all.
And then I hear a loud whinny. Who is it? It's Buyan calling me! I need to go home, Mum is waiting for me, she's very ill, and I should have medicine for her!
And Dina opened her eyes. She's sitting in a manger full of barley. As if she hadn't gone anywhere, in her yellow hoodie and with her rucksack on her back. She jumped to the floor, took off her rucksack. In the rucksack is only her bottle of spring water and under a napkin some kind of bag. Dina untied the bag, and there's just soil. But where's the medicine?! Did Dina never go anywhere and just sleep the whole time?
Dad came into the barn to Buyan:
Dina, what are you doing here? It's time for breakfast, Grandmother is waiting for us!" Dad took Dina by the hand, and they went to the kitchen.
"What's happening?" Dina wondered, "didn't Dad notice I was gone? And why breakfast? I was supposed to come back before sunset, and that's dinner…".
In the kitchen, Grandmother was bustling about, and when she saw Dina, she could barely contain her surprise and said:
Sit down for breakfast, just don't forget to wash your hands.
Dina took off her rucksack and put it on her chair and went out with Dad. Grandmother quickly opened the rucksack and pulled out a bottle with golden water. A white paper rolled into a tube was tied to the bottle with a silver thread. Grandmother untied the silver thread and unrolled the paper. Words began to appear on the paper. As soon as Grandmother read them, they disappeared and new ones appeared. Like a living letter!
"Give the patient a tablespoon of medicine at breakfast, and then she must eat at least a crumb of bread. For lunch, give two spoonfuls of medicine and a piece of bread with cheese. For dinner, she must drink all the rest, and the patient will come to eat herself. That's all! Health to your daughter!".
Dad and Dina returned.
I don't feel like eating at all," Dad said quietly and left the kitchen.
Dina, how did you get back so quickly, I only just finished making breakfast and you're already here! I saw with my own eyes how you went into the fog.
Grandmother, I spent the whole day at the witch's! I only lay down to rest just before sunset. Everything happens through dreams there.
Alright, Dina, you'll tell me everything later. It's time to give Mum the medicine," said Grandmother.
But Grandmother, I didn't see any medicine!" exclaimed Dina, "I didn't find anything in my rucksack!
The medicine is in the bottle instead of spring water.
And Grandmother showed her granddaughter the bottle with golden liquid.
Grandmother did everything as written in the letter, and at dinner the whole family gathered. Mum became just as she was before: cheerful and beautiful, and everyone was happy!
