“There are a lot of interesting things there,” said Cheese-eater. “Berries, mushrooms, herbs…”
“Not of this kind. Look for something unusual and call us, if you find anything.”
“Maybe, it would be better if we didn’t do it, Vova,” suddenly said the Wolf, looking down. “Let this monster be.”
“You are afraid, aren’t you?” guessed Vovka. “So am I – a little bit. But we are many, and it is alone. And also, this is a fairy-tale land, and you should know that in fairy-tales evil is always defeated by good.”
“I know that, but if only you had seen it yourself, walking on its hind legs, fire out of the mouth, as if it were the Three-headed Serpent. Anyone would have been scared.”
“Last time you told us that there had been smoke coming out of his mouth,” smiled Vovka.
“So what’s the difference?” The Wolf waved aside. “There is no smoke without fire.”
“You are wrong here,” said the boy, and they went along the path.
The farther they walked away from the place where the Wolf had seen the monster, the gloomier was the Wolf and the merrier was Vovka. They were walking in silence for some time, but then heard Cheese-eater’s squeaking.
“Come here, come here! I’ve found something.”
Vovka and the Wolf ran to her call, racing each other. Cheese-eater was sitting under the rowan, pointing at a small object that was similar to a short yellow cotton stick.
“I don’t know,” she looked embarrassed, “maybe I am wrong, but you told me to look for something unusual, and such things don’t belong here. Also, it smells so dreadfully!” she added in a whisper.
“It doesn’t ‘smell’. It stinks!” The Wolf was indignant. “It stinks of a man!”
“Exactly – of a man!” confirmed Vovka. “When you said that the wolf was walking on its hind legs, I suspected that it had run away from a circus. But when I heard about the smoke, I guessed at once that it was smoking a cigarette.”
“What does a ‘cigarette’ mean?” asked Cheese-eater.
“A cigarette is a small paper tube stuffed with tobacco. On the other end of it there is a filter, the one you have found. They light a cigarette, it smoulders and people inhale different poisonous substances, breathing the smoke out.”
“If anyone does smoke in our fairy-tales, he smokes a pipe.” The Wolf was puzzled.
“That’s what I am saying – it was a human being. I thought so at once, but I had to check it. Now we know this for sure. He was carrying a strange load in a sack over his shoulder. I’d like to know what was in that sack.”
