“May I go?” asked the officer, looking at Vovka’s Mama for some reason.
“Good-bye,” said she.
Everybody started to say good-bye and was asking him to call as soon as he got news.
“May I come later, if you don’t mind?” asked Cheesekin, a little embarrassed.
And everyone told him that they would look forward to seeing him again.
The path was leading them away from a light and sunny bank of the river; the forest became dark and gloomy. Squirrels didn’t jump on bushy boughs of fur-trees any more, birds didn’t sing. Only sometimes a worried mother-bird would call its chickens, “Come on, fly home; you’ve got me to follow!” The Wolf cowardly put his tail between his legs, Cheese-eater climbed Vovka’s shoulder and was looking round attentively.
“We are approaching a damned place,” growled the Wolf hoarsely. He was evidently ready to run away, but ashamed to confess his cowardice.
“Why is it damned?” Vovka got interested.
“Baba Yaga’s old house is not far away, so everybody left this place long ago. You won’t find a fool to live here.”
“Don’t listen to him, Vova.” Cheese-eater was calm. “Nobody lives there any more. Baba Yaga(the old witch) moved house three years ago and doesn’t visit this place now. There are only fly agarics and toadstools, spider’s webs and lots of dust there. Nobody has lived in the house since that time.”
“But the place is still damned, it has never been good and it will never be,” insisted the Wolf.
“You are both right,” said Vovka, trying to reconcile them with each other. “Baba Yaga has moved and this is good. The one who is dressed up as a wolf definitely lives here; there is no other place he may go to.”
“No, it can’t be so!” exclaimed both Cheese-eater and the Wolf. “Who will dare to live in the dark forest, where Drowsiness lives and makes everyone who comes here drowsy and sleepy? And to live in the old Baba Yaga’s house! What if she comes to the place where she used to live and sees a stranger wandering in her private lands?”
“But someone dared to steal the Cheese Fairy’s cows and sheep, and then got her as well. Such a place fits this robber,” finished Vovka.
The Wolf scratched the back of his head.
“I guess you are right. Then we’ve got to be cautious, because the man is really evil.”
“Let’s do the following,” offered Vovka to his friends. “We’ll go openly and you, Wolf, will be our hidden force. You’ll creep quietly, and if something happens, you’ll get us out of trouble. Cheese-eater, if you feel any danger, hide under my shirt or into my pocket at once. You are small and will creep everywhere, and also you can get into any crack. If I’ll be in need for help, you’ll call for it.”
