Far from the bright city lights, the honking of horns and screeching of brakes from passing cars, the clanging of trams and trains rushing along the rails, far from the eternally hurrying, running, flying, walking, crawling residents of this enormous forest expanse, there existed something quite different — quite opposite to it.
Namely: a small, remote settlement with its kind, calm, trusting residents. These forest dwellers rarely ventured beyond the boundaries of their place of residence; they were quite content with everything they had: a forest school, a market at the clearing, a lake instead of a bathhouse, a little shop in the glade, where they often met and discussed local and non-local news.
One warm, clear summer day, many animals and birds made their way to the shop in the morning for provisions for their families and, according to old custom, after their purchases, sat on benches to rest and chat with one another.
The Hare was sharing her recipe for cabbage bake with her friend Goat, Platypus was telling Echidna about new trends in building homes in aquatic conditions, the Elephant was dozing, sitting on a bench, warmed by the rays of the warm and gentle sunshine…
When suddenly, this entire idyll was disrupted by the loud cry of the Kookaburra. She was the mouthpiece for broadcasting all news occurring beyond the boundaries of this little forest.
Well, what? Sitting around, chatting, bored! You haven't seen anything beyond your nose and this forest, you don't know anything better than this shop and you've never been anywhere else?! Well, I didn't slack off, I flew to the neighbouring enormous forest and saw there a marvel of marvels: indescribable beauty, enormous size, unprecedented capacity — a supermarket. There's an uncountable amount of goods for any taste, size and smell. There are plenty of visitors and shoppers there too, and entertainment as well… Not a place, but a fairy tale!
The animals and birds stared spellbound at the Kookaburra and listened to her every word. And each of them in their fantasies was mentally in this mysterious fairy-tale shop.
Having listened to the Kookaburra's speech to the end, the forest residents, inspired by the dream, decided they absolutely must visit the wondrous shopping and entertainment centre. And, so as not to postpone the plan for long, it was decided to realise this dream on the coming weekend.
And so, that day arrived. All those interested gathered at the forest clearing to make the long journey together. Present were: Dingo, Possum, Wallaby, Wombat, Echidna, Tawny Frogmouth, Kookaburra and many other residents of the small forest expanse.
The road ahead was long, but the goal was set — no obstacles existed, the animals set off on their way. Whether long or short, and there, in the distance, the desired object already appeared. The crowd quickened their pace and after some time all together crossed the threshold of the shop about which the Kookaburra had spoken so much and in such detail.
Oh, wonder! The shelves groaned with delicacies and treats, diverse aromas tickled the nose, and colourful labels beckoned, as if saying: "buy me, buy me".
For about half an hour all the forest residents wandered between the aisles and marvelled at the abundance and variety of the product range.
Yeah, this isn't our little shop in the forest.
Said the Tawny Frogmouth — bulging her already enormous eyes from delight.
Suddenly, someone's enticing voice made everyone listen and look around. In the second aisle of counters, on the left side, stood the beautiful Snake in fancy attire with a microphone in hand, and with a smoothly flowing pleasant voice was inviting everyone to visit their department. The crowd rushed to this call, and even a whole queue formed, but no one knew what they would be selling there.
And the Snake continued to broadcast:
Only today, only now, only with us, you can purchase goods possessing magical qualities. Only with them will you feel upon yourself the power of magic occurring with you after their use.
The queue kept growing, even a small scuffle was brewing, pressure from those wanting to get in was felt from all sides. They had to call the security guards, the Wombats, to calm the crowd and normalise the situation, to put everything in order.
And the Snake continued:
We have a product for beauty! The young become even more beautiful, and adults — younger.
The Possum listened to this and left the queue, deciding that she was already sufficiently young and beautiful.
And here's a product for strengthening teeth! They become strong, firm, don't deteriorate, but only strengthen.
The Platypus and Echidna wanted to buy this wonder, but then, after thinking it over, decided that in their forest there were enough medicinal and environmentally pure products to support health, particularly, strong teeth, and they too left the queue, not succumbing to persuasion.
Only the Wombat continued to stand and listen to the sweetly flowing voice of the Snake, advertising a new product:
Dear public! To all those wishing to lose weight and improve the condition of their fur and skin, I recommend this magical miraculous product. After its use, you will feel lightness in your body, excess weight will disappear within a matter of days, your skin will become smooth and elastic, and your fur will acquire a beautiful shine.
Hearing these prophecies, the Wombat understood that this product was exactly for him. This was exactly what he had dreamed of, what he strived for. But, being by his nature lazy, he decided that in a short time he would achieve the desired result, without applying any effort on his part.
The product wasn't cheap, but the desire to realise the dream was enormous. The Wombat laid out the necessary sum (and this was all his savings) and acquired the coveted goods.
Coming home, he began to use it diligently. But days passed, weeks, a month, and no changes were visible. Disappointed and upset by the absence of the result promised by the Snake, the Wombat shared his trouble with the wise Bee, who at that time was gathering healing nectar from fragrant flowers in the meadow.
Settling on another flower, the Bee looked at him attentively and, shaking her head, said:
Mate, mate, so big, yet you believe in fairy tales.
And, flapping her wings, she flew off to work further. And the Wombat, so enormous, clumsy and trusting, remained standing in place, thoughtfully watching the Bee with his gaze.
