About forty years ago, in St. Petersburg on Vasilyevsky Island, there was a landlord of a male guesthouse. Among the thirty or forty children who studied at that hostel there was one boy named Alyosha, who was then no more than 9 or 10 years old. His parents, who lived far, far from St. Petersburg, brought him to the capital two years before, gave him to a boarding school and returned home, having paid the teacher a stipulated fee for several years in advance. Alyosha was a smart little boy, he studied well, and everyone loved and caressed him.
The days of teaching for him passed soon and pleasantly, but when Saturday came and all his comrades hurried home to his relatives, then Alyosha felt his loneliness bitterly. Alyosha fed the chickens who lived near the fence in a house specially built for them and played and ran in the yard all day. He especially loved the black crested, called Chernushka. Chernushka was more affectionate to him than others.
Once, for the holiday, the cook was catching a chicken, and Alyosha, throwing herself on her neck, did not let Chernushka be killed. I gave the cook for this imperial - a gold coin, a gift from my grandmother.
After the holiday he went to bed, almost fell asleep, but heard someone calling him.A little black woman came to him and said in a human voice: Come follow me, I will show you something pretty. Get dressed soon! And he boldly followed her. Out of her eyes came out as if rays that illuminated everything around them, although not as brightly as small candles. They went through the front.
“The door is locked with a key,” said Alyosha; but the chicken did not answer him: she flapped her wings, and the door itself opened.
Then, after passing through the canopy, they turned to the rooms where the centenary old Dutch women lived. Alyosha never visited them. The chicken flapped its wings again, and the door to the old woman’s chambers opened. We went into the second room, and Alyosha saw a gray parrot in a golden cage. Chernushka said not to touch anything.
Passing by the cat, Alyosha asked her for paws ... Suddenly she meowed loudly, the parrot laughed and started shouting loudly: “Durrak! fool! " Chernushka hastily left, and Alyosha ran after her, the door after them slammed shut ...
Suddenly they entered the hall. On both sides, knights in shiny armor hung on the walls. Chernushka walked on tiptoe in front and Alyosha ordered to follow her quietly and quietly ... At the end of the hall was a large door. As soon as they approached her, two knights jumped off the walls and rushed to the black chicken. Chernushka raised her crest, spread her wings, and suddenly became big, big, higher than the knights, and began to fight them! The knights attacked her strongly, and she defended herself with wings and nose. Alyosha became scared, his heart fluttered strongly, and he fainted.
The next night, Chernushka came again.They went again, but this time Alyosha did not touch anything.
They entered another room. Chernushka is gone. Here came a lot of small people, no more than a half-arshin tall, in elegant multi-colored dresses. They did not notice Alyosha. Then the king entered. For the fact that Alyosha saved his minister, Alyosha now knew a lesson, not teaching. The king gave him hemp seed. And they asked not to tell anyone about them.
Classes began, and Alyosha knew any lesson. Chernushka didn’t come. Alyosha was ashamed at first, and then got used to it.
Moreover, Alyosha became a terrible prankster. One day, a teacher, not knowing what to do with him, asked him to memorize pages twenty by another morning and hoped that he would at least be quieter that day. But Alyosha deliberately mischievous more ordinary that day. The next day I could not utter a word, because there was no seed. He was taken to the bedroom and told to learn a lesson. But by lunch, Alyosha did not know the lesson. He was left there again. By night, Chernushka appeared and returned the grain to him, but asked to be corrected.
The next day, the lesson answered. The teacher asked when Alyosha learned a lesson. Alyosha was bewildered, ordered to bring the rods. The teacher said that he would not flog if Alyosha said when he learned the lesson. And Alyosha told everything, forgetting about the promise made to the underground king and his minister. The teacher did not believe, and Alyosha was carved.
Chernushka came to say goodbye. She was chained. She said that people now have to move far. I asked Alyosha to correct herself again.
The minister shook hands with Alyosha and disappeared under the next bed. The next morning, Alyosha had a fever.Six weeks later, Alyosha recovered and tried to be obedient, kind, modest and diligent. Everyone again fell in love with him and began to caress, and he became an example for his comrades, although he could no longer memorize twenty printed pages all of a sudden, which, however, he was not asked.
