This story happened in a small courtyard surrounded by multi-storey apartment buildings. In the centre of the courtyard, a children's playground was set up, where all the children living on this street and even on the neighbouring street loved to play.
The street was always noisy, because the local children loved their courtyard. There was so much here: carousels, slides, plenty of ladders, even a small football field where the boys kicked a ball around.
But there was one thing that upset everyone—the swings, which children loved most of all, were only one.
And as you know, for children, swinging on the swings is the best thing to do outside. So everyone tried to grab the swings first and stay on them as long as possible. For this reason, quarrels often broke out between the children. And those who were older would occupy the swings first and wouldn't let the younger ones swing. So instead of joy, the swings brought only disappointment.
Once, there was even a serious quarrel between the children, where one boy hit another over the right to occupy the swings first. Then the parents came out for a meeting in the courtyard and, after consulting with each other, decided to remove the swings from the playground altogether.
These swings only cause trouble all the time; children quarrel because of them. It's better if they're not here at all. And so it was decided.
The children found out about this and most of them were upset by the decision. The older boys suggested that they should take turns swinging, and they even found and attached sand timers to the swing frame somewhere, which measured exactly five minutes.
And so it went. Before sitting on the swings, the timer would be flipped. A child would swing until the last grain of sand in the timer fell. And during that time, a huge queue of those wanting to swing on the swings would build up.
The children even chose a timekeeper who was supposed to make sure that no one swung longer than the allotted time. And whoever had swung had to give their place to the next person in the queue.
In this way, all disputes quieted down, everyone managed to have a swing, because nothing better could be thought of.
But a boy named Pasha was terribly unhappy with these rules. So he asked his parents to take him to the village to his grandmother and grandfather and build him swings there. After all, then he could swing as much as he wanted.
Dad bought the necessary structure at the shop, and when the weekend came, he and Pavlik went to the village.
Dad and Grandpa tinkered all day and they made a reliable and sturdy structure, which made Pasha very happy. Now he has his own personal swings and no one will stand nearby with a timer and count out five minutes.
Pavlik stayed in the village, he swung every day from morning to evening. But after a few days, Pasha began to feel sad; something was missing. Only old people lived in the village, and there was no one to play with here at all. Even the swings stopped being fun. He missed his friends.
Grandma and Grandpa even began to worry that their grandson might be ill.
The following weekend, his parents came to the village. Pasha greeted them with great joy; he began to ask them to take him back to the city. After all, his friends were there in the courtyard, and it was always so interesting and fun to play with them. You could talk with them, even ride on the carousel while waiting for your turn on the swings.
Finally, his parents took Pavlik back to the city. As they drove up to their house, Pasha saw Kostya and Dima through the window. He jumped out of the car, ran across the whole courtyard to his friends and hugged them.
The boys were also happy to see Pavlik, because they thought he was ill and had missed him very much.
I was in the village, but I realised that I missed you there!
Pasha said to the boys.
Come on, let's go and play ball!
You did the right thing!
Kostya answered Pavlik.
We missed you too!
Pasha couldn't believe his eyes when he looked towards the playground, where instead of one swing, there were now six. The children were playing peacefully, no one was quarrelling. There were now enough swings for everyone, and some were even free.
The friends ran racing to the swings, each took theirs and started swinging. They chatted merrily, discussed many things, even remembered how they used to stand in the queue for the swings, and this made them laugh.
Pasha invited Kostik and Dima to his birthday party at his place in the village; he understood that playing, running around and even swinging on the swings, even if taking turns, was more pleasant with friends, and he was very happy about this.
