to her ankles sank in a gentle cloud. Pleasant to the touch in every way! Above her head the birds were chirping, folding songs of Happiness. On the walls, between the big round windows where the Sky was reflected, hung pictures of amazing beauty on which were images of clouds of unimaginable shapes that merged into one, well recognizable: a bouquet of flowers, or a cute dog, or something else.
The walls of the Air Castle were colored with sunlight and gilded with precious dust. Wonderfully shimmering and sparkling with luxury and wealth. In large golden tubs at the entrance and all over the castle were golden roses. Nightingales especially loved them, hiding between the leaves and buds. All other objects were of pure gold or clouds. The finest weave of gold lace adorned the pillars with bouquets of golden forget-me-nots in gold embossed vases, gold covers were carelessly thrown over soft airy chairs, and gold curtains were tied with lush gold bows.
It seemed as if no one lived in the Air Castle. However, none of this was true! Its owner, being a very busy, businesslike gentleman who loves to travel. Anyway, he did visit his Air Castle quite often. In his remaining time, he asked Mr. Somebody to look after them, and allowed excursions. He was quite satisfied with such a state of affairs, and there were plenty of people willing to pay quite a lot of money for Air Beauty.
One of the reasons why Sonya was gallantly met at the exit by Somebody who gave her a hand. As soon as the princess’s feet touched the first step of the Air Staircase, the Air Castle melted into thin air as the princess looked away. Running down the steps, melting into the air one by one, Sophia stumbled and… fell into the Cloud! Where, as well, an Air Staircase was carefully attached – to another Cloud. Running down ladders from Cloud to Cloud she found herself at the bottom.
The walk on the Clouds was a success! The princess was pleased. For a long time she remembered the details, telling papa about what Cloud felt like: it looked like soft, cool absorbent cotton or like a small, fluffy white dog. The ones that were like whipped dough rolled perfectly into balls. You could play snowballs with them. And take a couple with you as a souvenir!
On holidays, when guests would gather, Sonyechka would take out from the crystal Jewelry Box in the sideboard the snowballs wrapped in an openwork napkin…Cloudy Snowballs! Everyone gasped and grabbed their heads, carefully, a little fearfully, trying to touch the weightless ball. Satisfied with the treasure, Sonyechka smiled, letting me examine the curiosity and turn it in my hands. However, after one Prince tried to throw an air snowball at the New Year’s table at the Princess, Sonya stopped showing her treasure. The box then got dusty somewhere, and then got lost altogether.
Somebody
* (Cineva)
In the Light of the Rays of this Sun, there are different days. Some days are hot, so that smoke puffs up from the asphalt, others are a month until noon, or it suddenly starts pouring rain on empty space. Today a rosebush at the gate blossoms and fragrances the whole garden, and the next day it closed its buds and seems to be asleep. Nature has no bad weather. Every weather is a blessing. And all trouble is the caprice of men. Never mind wet shoes! It’s so nice to walk in a puddle in summer after it’s been raining, just to get knee-deep in it! Or the heat. Never mind! Such intoxicating evenings, drinking tea with a basket of apples and smacking cold sour cream!
“What if you don’t have a shoe change or a cold cabbage soup?” You ask, “Is that a problem?” Well, no! No way! In all these cases, someone will definitely take care of you. A serious gentleman, about 45 years old. In a black hat of medium size, tailored suit, blue shirt and shiny leather expensive boots, with the same briefcase and a strange brand of unknown company on it: “Жизнь”, which means “Life”.
This Unknown Somebody, who always appears to shoot stars or lights down to Earth, or to put up an aerial staircase to visit the Air Castle, also makes the rosebushes look nice and has a pretty butterfly sure to flutter about. He is also able to stop the rain in a jiffy, so that Princess Sonyechka is able to undo everything in reverse with her spell alone. It is said that it is He who hangs the Month in the Sky, though no one knows for certain.
However, without the Somebody, our lives would become dull, tedious, filled with terrors. It’s frightening to think: how can we live if the Stairway of the Air is not put back in place, and nobody ever throws even a small handful of stars to Heaven by nightfall? But Mr. Somebody does everything very delicately and tactfully, saving even the most difficult situations. That’s why he is loved. If, my children, you meet one somewhere, someday, thank him heartily for everything.
Golden Flower
In the Light of the Rays of the Sun dreams are different: magical and not so magical, beautiful and horrible, alien, golden, light, airy as smoke, flying like birds into the blue-blue sky, charming, wonderful, or… about the Golden Flower!
That Princess Sonya dreamed of one May spring. When the fragrance of blossoming apples and cherry blossoms – There’s nowhere to escape. The sidewalks and rooftops are covered with it, and it seems as if it’s snowing with flowers. If you don’t know there is no such thing, you might well believe it. A simple lilac bush behind someone’s fence in May will outdo, with ease, any Coco Chanel! The cherry tree is already filling up with juicy berries. Snowdrops and violets are inaccessible. It seems there is nothing more to desire in this abundance.
Sonyechka fell asleep quickly. And she had this extraordinary dream. She dreamt of a large Golden Flower. Its bud was as big as the Princess herself. All pure gold! Each petal was airy, almost weightless, alive, shining from the Sunbeams. Glittering so brightly that even in her sleep Sonya squeezed her big, beautiful eyes the color of the Sky.
In the middle of the Golden Flower were pretty little stamens, curling openwork into large and other curls. The leaves fluttered as if in the wind. Dewdrops could be seen on some. But it was not dew at all, but precious jewels, scattered by some foolish rich man! They were worth a fortune! Some were real diamonds, and others were crystal-blue topazes, reflecting the Blue of Heaven.
Sonja had never seen such beauty before! As she approached the Golden Flower closer, she felt a wonderful fragrance, comparable to the finest perfumes in the world. All worries and sorrows, all bad things receded at that moment and were forgotten forever. Sonyechka’s legs lifted off the ground by themselves and she flew away, together with sparrows carrying miniature golden flowers in their beaks. And then a butterfly flew up to her and sat on her shoulder. It quietly folded its big, beautiful, with gilding and bright spots of all known and unknown colors – wings and sat still. Everything around was wonderful and magical.
Sonyechka wanted to think of everything wonderful, as wonderful as everything around her! She remembered her most cherished dream, and it immediately came true. Then another one came true.
All night Princess Sonya made wishes, and they came true. Waking up in the morning the happiest of Princesses, still sleepy and half-asleep in the last of the moments of sleep she managed to remember what else she dreamed. And she woke up! The most cherished thing she wanted was very near. Not in a dream, but in reality. She had only to stretch out her hand.
Next to her, on a velvet pillow, lay the Golden Flower, fulfilling all her dreams.
A Dream of Princess Sonya being Stolen from behind a High Fence
In the Light of the Rays of the Sun, Princess Sonya slept and slept, being transported several times a day to the Kingdom of Sleep. Where, however, she liked, because there were amazing Adventures waiting for her.
This time, entering the Beautiful Gate, Sonyechka felt something wrong. For the streets, familiar to her, were somehow different. Everything said that time had stopped here for 100-200-300 centuries. The alleys paved with wild stone, twined with ivy and flowers, with old houses, the buildings of some kings, showed her the wonderful clothes of passers-by walking toward her as on a fashionable catwalk…. The princess was transported back a long way.
The sun shining above her and the unceasing chattering from the open windows