“Of course, I do,” smiled Vovka. “Everybody does.”
“But not ever-ryone understands. Have you r-read it? R-remember how the Fox cheated the Crow and r-ran away with the cheese? But when you r-read it next time, the Cr-row has cheese again. How did it appear, if the Fox had stolen it?”
“But…this is a fairy-tale!” Vovka was confused. “You may read it a hundred of times and it will always be the same.”
“And so it can be said, but not in this land,” said Cheese-eater gently. “The Cheese Fairy, Curdfritter and I are making special magic cheese here. It’s for all fairy-tales – for the Crow and the Fox, for the Cheshire cat or the Greedy Little Bears, if they happen to drop in. We work for all the fairy-tales where there is cheese, milk, butter or sour-cream. You can’t make dough for the Round Loaf without sour-cream, or pan-cakes without milk, so what would the old man with his old wife do? You can think for yourself how many fairy-tales won’t do without our help.”
“We have special cows, sheep and goats. They gr-raze in a magic meadow, that’s why the milk is magic, too. The cows have gr-rass but the milk is for-r us. Oh, how well it was with our Gr-randma fr-rom the dair-ry, the Cheese Fair-ry! Making cheese for all, having no gr-rief at all… We used to have so much cheese that we didn’t know what to do with it. And now with the Cheese Fairy gone everything went wrong.” Curdfritter wiped his tears with a red paw.
“And out of the sheep’s wool the Cheese Fairy and I were spinning yarn to knit socks, mittens, hats, scarves and shawls. When your hands and feet are warm, don’t be afraid of cold,” said Cheese-eater. “Sheep grow wool not only for themselves. Do you know how cold it can be in our winter fairy-tales? If the Stepdaughter went looking for snowdrops without warm clothes, what would become of her? Or the girl that met Father Frost – remember she was left under the tree all alone. And also the old man that took the Fox in his sleigh… Whatever fairy-tale you read, the Cheese Fairy takes care that everyone can be warm in it.”
“Whatever she does, ever-rything is so nice. Only the one who has a special gift can make magic por-ridge and cheese. And now the old lady is gone as if she has never been befor-re. And our gift of making cheese is not the same without her-r. Besides, our sheep keep disappear-ring…”
“What gift? What sheep?” Vovka was puzzled.
