A little snail went beyond the sea... (Russian folk saying)
Rain was tapping on the garden leaves. Peonies and roses hung their heads sadly, dropping delicate petals under the blows of cold drops. Several snails huddled together under a large burdock leaf.
Mama, why are we called grape snails when we live here in the Moscow region, where there has never been any grapes?.. Where it's so cold…
The smallest of the snails whispered desperately.
You know, my dear, our ancestors lived on the shore of a warm southern sea, but their own carelessness brought them to these harsh lands. Foolish snails crawled into a box of ripe and juicy grapes – they knew they shouldn't do this, that the law of nature commands them to be content with berries in the garden and not take what humans have picked... But the temptation was so great! So many berries lay in the box left on the ground – ripe, fragrant... The snails thought they would just taste a little and crawl back home. But it was so delicious, the berries called to them, wouldn't let them go... Our ancestors didn't notice how the lid slammed shut and the box was carried away to who knows where.
Her mother answered sadly.
And we should be grateful that they managed to get to this garden. Of course, there's no grapes here, but still we can somehow survive.
The eldest daughter of the snail mother finished speaking in a didactic tone.
Yes…
The youngest snail moved her antennae sadly, and suddenly her eyes sparkled mischievously – but surely it's possible to return?! She stirred and, delighted by the suddenly appearing happy thought, almost cried out
Mama! Sisters, brothers! Let's go back! After all, there is such a beautiful country in the world where our ancestors lived! Let's go there!
A little snail went beyond the sea…
The elder sister smirked, and the mother said sadly:
Little snail, think about how far that is! You can't even imagine such a distance!..
The little snail said nothing. She hid in her shell and began to think hard. ...Of course, to the sea is probably very far. But there, precisely there, in the sunny south is where she belongs! There is where all grape snails belong, who by a bitter misunderstanding ended up in these harsh lands. And if she walks for a long, long time – it doesn't matter how long – she will get there, where her soul so yearns and flies!
The next morning, waking up early, the Snail set out on her journey. She remembered that south is the direction where trees show their side without moss. Our heroine also knew some other signs by which all forest and garden dwellers know how to find their way.
… What a wonderful candy! It's lying quite close – about three meters away. Half an hour of crawling! Well, so what... It's not so bad if I have to deviate from the path. We'll make up for it later.
Oh, another candy! What should I do? This way I could waste a whole day for nothing... Maybe I shouldn't go after it?.. Oh, why, why right now, why do I have to give up this candy?! How much I want to try it! No, this won't do. If I force myself not to eat this candy – the snail decided – my mood will be ruined. And in a bad mood I won't be able to crawl far!
Good candies they were! Five whole pieces. And now – on the road! No more deviations.
That's what she is – the Snail – a heroic traveler! Already almost twenty minutes crawling strictly in the southern direction! How many tens of centimeters have been covered? Or meters...
But what is this?!. Oh horror! A stone ridge! About fifty centimeters high! – The snail scrambled up the first pebble. Sharp! Hard! Brrr! The second one is even sharper. The third... And how many more ahead?.. No, this is unbearable!
The snail didn't even notice how she ended up on the ground. She can't overcome this mountain! Theoretically, of course, it's possible – if you keep climbing up, ignoring that it's hard and slippery and prickly... But... No, this isn't for her! After all, is it really necessary to go so strictly south? You could go along the stone ridge – maybe you'll end up where you need to...
An hour, two, three passes on the path... Evening comes... It gets dark...
Hey, Snail! Where have you been all day?
Rosanna, what are you doing here?!
Seeing her elder sister, our acquaintance nearly lost her pearlescent home in amazement.
What do you mean where?! Look around, where are you?
Her sister was no less confused.
Oh... I thought I was going south... I just didn't want to climb the wall...
The snail recognized the familiar peonies and roses with horror. There was the snails' home – the big dark green burdock...
For three days her brothers and sisters laughed at the unlucky traveler. And she sat, huddled in her shell, not even wanting to eat the treats that her caring mother brought her. She didn't want to, she was being stubborn, but she ate anyway – she couldn't starve! And besides, mother knows what to bring – such flowers and berries that are simply impossible to refuse.
Poor Snail couldn't understand how it happened that she wanted to go toward a high and beautiful goal, but instead she was crawling senselessly between tasty candies and sharp stones.
Time passed. Our acquaintance grew up, became more serious and wiser. The dream of the sunny south – the coveted homeland of grape snails – never left her.
With the thought of her failed journey, the Snail learned to overcome obstacles. One day she decided to climb a large ribbed stone next to which their burdock grew. She climbed for four hours, scraped her whole foot, but accomplished what she set out to do. Then she lay recovering for two days, receiving her mother's tender care and waving off her sisters' mockery.
Do you want to go south? Do you really want to? Or are you just reveling in this dream, using it to rise above other snails?
One day her mother asked the Snail seriously.
Mama!.. Mommy!.. I don't know... I only think about this, I don't want anything else... But maybe it's just a childhood dream... After all, I probably can't even reach the edge of the village. I'm so slow... And I don't know how to overcome obstacles at all... But the thought of the south seems to me the main thing in life, its purpose and meaning!
Our acquaintance was taken aback.
...I wonder how far she's already gone?.. The stone ridge is nowhere to be seen... Probably people took it apart. But what is this? – The snail stopped at the edge of a large puddle. How to cross it? No ford, no way around... Feeling sad, the snail sat down on a leaf at the edge of the murky water. The sun peeked out from behind the clouds. It started to get warm... And it's not so bad here! Oh, what berries! – A black currant bush grows right at the edge of the water. Could this be the sea?.. And currants – grapes... Well, so what if the berries are small! But they're sweet! Better currants by the shell than grapes beyond the mountain...
After eating the berries, the Snail settled down to rest under the currant bush. The thought of settling here pleased her more and more. For the rest of the day the snail was blissful, basking in the sun and lazily wondering whether she should continue her journey.
In the evening it got cold again, and the damp rain that had become usual this year started up again...
Quite wet and chilled by morning, our acquaintance was already ashamed of her inconstancy, which made her take the first respite given to strengthen her on a difficult journey for its final goal.
She went around the puddle, spending a good three days on it. Then she had to overcome a clay embankment that towered above the tops of the tallest sedge... After crossing it, the Snail nearly fell into an abyss filled with murky water, called a ditch by people. That's when our traveler realized the horror of her situation: behind – an almost impassable wall, ahead – a ditch threatening to drown her.
What to do? The snail hadn't even had time to really get scared – when something completely incredible started happening around her: loud splashes, banging, squelching sounds, and appearing from somewhere above, some huge object of indefinite shape began to fall on her.
Risking falling into the water, the Snail crawled to the side as fast as she could, hurrying to take shelter from the danger. The terrible black mass was getting closer, descending right over her head... Lord, have mercy! ...The terrible object landed a fraction of a millimeter from the snail, who didn't even notice how she ended up on the clay stuck to it and rose with it into the air above the ditch.
By the clay lumps that were constantly falling into the water, the Snail began to clamber toward the middle of the terrible object on which she had so suddenly found herself. So... A little more... "But this is a person!" – raising her head, the Snail saw that she was sitting on a rubber boot of a boy who, cleverly stepping over the ditch, was heading toward the exit from the garden.
"And how do I get down from here now?" – wondered our traveler. However, the person seems to be going in the direction we need... All is in God's will... Having gotten on the boot, the Snail had already crossed the terrible ditch and been carried across a distance that would have taken her two weeks to overcome on her own... Let's see what happens next.
And next was crossing a highway, which amazed poor Snail with an indescribable roar and flashing of huge monsters that defied description. Our acquaintance didn't know whether to be horrified, thrown by fate into such terrible places, or to rejoice that God's Providence was carrying her across obstacles she couldn't overcome on her own.
Sometimes tightly closing her eyes, sometimes opening them wide, curled up in a little ball, the Snail (it seemed to her that even her shell had shriveled), kept whispering to herself: "Glory to You, O Lord! How You carry me – I don't know, but where – I believe... I believe that You will bring me to where I myself could not reach..."
And the boy kept walking and walking. Here he came up to tall iron poles, above which some kind of semi-transparent canopy was visible... "Oh-oh-oh!" – the boy suddenly swung and ...kicked a bottle lying near the bus stop. From the impact the snail fell off the boot and, flipping in the air, flew off in an unknown direction. She landed in someone's ladies' purse.
What will happen now?.. The Snail was already so tired of thinking, worrying and absorbing new impressions that, finding herself in a dark bag, lying on something soft, she threw off the troubling thoughts that had been bothering her and, having prayed: "Lord, into Your hands I commit myself!", sank into sleep.
After sleeping for quite a while, she woke up in complete darkness. Somewhere nearby there was an incomprehensible rumble and roar. Hearing them, our traveler tightly closed her eyes and began to pray again... again didn't notice how she fell asleep... In her sleep she seemed to see everything around swaying, hearing abrupt words: "flight 11-20... boarding... passengers...".
The Snail didn't wake up.
A hot ray of sunlight, playing, peeked into the opening of the bag, tickled the snail huddled in her shell home. She moved her antennae in bewilderment and crawled toward the exit from her shelter – toward the gentle ray. "Lord, what will be there, above? What awaits me?" (The Snail didn't notice that she had completely forgotten how to simply think and worry – she constantly turned to the Lord). Here she had already reached the opening...
Bright light and fresh air, filled with previously unknown aromas, overwhelmed our traveler. The sound of the surf could be heard, the chirping of birds... The path along which the lady who had become the Snail's traveling companion walked unhurriedly wound along vineyards laid out on a gentle mountain slope... Seeing golden bunches of grapes ripening under the southern sun, our heroine decisively pushed off from the purse and rolled head over heels into the grass.
An hour later she was already sitting on a grape leaf and telling the snails gathered from all around about the misadventures of several generations of their relatives and about the great mercy of God shown to the Snail in her difficult journey...
