There once lived a very athletic and inventive young gopher named Kilsus. Kilsus came into the world not like other children, but upside down, and his mother gave him such a strange name. Read his name backwards, and you'll understand everything.
After waking from winter hibernation, Kilsus stretched sweetly in bed: "What a wonderful dream I had! I must tell my friends about it!" He quickly jumped out of bed, washed up, skillfully did a set of exercises, and headed outside.
Kilsus squinted from the bright sun, and a light breeze blew pleasantly cool air on him. There was still some snow here and there, but on the open meadows, the first grass was already sprouting. This is where the friends met. Squirrels and gophers hugged each other, patted each other on the shoulder, and shook paws.
Kilsus, how happy I am to see you!
Greeted the squirrel Strelochka with open arms.
Me too, very, very much! I missed you so much!
Then Kilsus boastfully said:
I had such an unusual dream, as if I traveled back in time to Tsar Peter the Great himself. He showed me his favorite royal game of bat throwing—a stick game where you need to knock down structures. Each structure has its own name: "cannon," "fork," "star." The rule is simple: you need to use as few bats as possible when knocking out the figures. Oh, how skillfully the tsar beat the boyars.
Will you show us how to play this "royal game"?
Asked Pestik.
What do we need for this?
Pushka asked with interest.
We need a flat meadow, ours will do. We'll draw a square 2 by 2 meters—that will be the city. We'll need 5 identical wooden blocks to build city figures from them. We also need 2 bats.
But why two? There's only one city?
Strelochka didn't understand.
Each player throws twice. The tsar taught me—"The bat should not fly like a 'needle' from above, but should crawl along and strike with a turn of the whole city. Here skill and tactics are important, like in war!"
Kilsus built the first figure "cannon" in the city, importantly stepped back 13 meters from the city—this is the line, aimed carefully, took a swing, and with a deep twist of his body threw the bat, but it flew over the target.
Friends looked at the "tsar's favorite" in bewilderment.
Bad luck.
Kilsus sighed. He threw the bat from the halfway line (6.5 m), but also unsuccessfully.
Maybe I'll have better luck? Let me try.
Strelochka asked, but she only knocked out part of the figure from the city. All friends tried to knock out the figure, but nothing worked:
I had no luck either.
They said with a sigh.
Kilsus, did the tsar tell you what to do to win? Maybe there's some secret here that we don't know. Why can't we knock out the figures?
Pushka asked.
No, he didn't say anything like that. Maybe I didn't see the whole dream?
So what do we do now? The game is interesting, but we can't play it!
Strelochka regretted.
Kilsus, dear, sleep a little more, ask the tsar for the secret of the city game!
Pleaded the squirrel Pushka. All friends, with pleading eyes, supported her.
Alright, so be it. I'll visit the tsar again.
Kilsus agreed and, after drinking mint tea to fall asleep quickly, lay down in bed.
The gopher tossed and turned in bed for a long time, but sleep wouldn't come. Then he decided to count sheep. He imagined them swimming past him in slow motion. And when the 235th sheep swam by, Kilsus saw a shepherd boy.
Excuse me, could you tell me where the tsar lives?
Not far, there on that hill are the tsar's chambers!
The boy answered with a bow. The gopher ran forward with all his might.
The tsar is building a fleet, we're not allowed to let anyone through!
The guards announced, blocking Kilsus's way.
The gopher, sadly hanging his head, wandered, not understanding where he was going. He went far from the royal court. Suddenly he heard cheerful shouts: "Throw more accurately! Hurray! I hit! Set up the next figure!"
The gopher followed the noise and soon saw peasant children playing gorodki on a small hill, and the shepherd boy he already knew. Kilsus was very surprised: "I thought only tsars played such a game." The children knocked out the figures very skillfully. Kilsus came closer.
Come play with us!
Called the shepherd boy to Kilsus.
No, no, I don't know how!
Everyone here knows how to play, are you a foreigner? Where are you from and where are you going?
Well, I went to the tsar, wanted to find out the secret of the "Gorodki" game, what do you need to do to win? But they wouldn't let me see him.
Well, anyone knows that—you need to PRACTICE!
The peasant boy laughed loudly and the children continued:
Few people get it right the first time, I studied for a long time. In our Vyatka region, we call this game "wooden dolls"!
And I'm from Chernigov region, we call it "piglets"!
And in our Omsk region we call it "ryukhi," "chukhi," or "chushki"!
And I call it GORODKI!
The loud voice of the tsar rang out and Kilsus woke up.
Before him, surrounding the bed, stood his friends.
Well? What did the tsar say?
His friends rushed to him.
Nothing special, he said that to everyone who learns to play well, he will come visit in a dream and have tea with each one, and now, everyone to practice!
