“Actually, I am from home. I bought some food, came home, laid the table and then found myself in the meadow,” tried to explain Vovka, feeling that his words were not very convincing.
“Poor thing!” The mouse took pity on him.
“You laid the table and found yourself here?” The cat was doubtful.
“Why, yes! First I had a slice of cheese and then went here.” Vovka sighed. He realized that it was the most unbelievable explanation in the world. If all this hadn’t happened to him, he would have never believed such stories.
“Cheese?! What cheese? Wer-re there any holes in it? How did it appear and why did it vanish her-re?”
“The cheese was so delicious! Like the one you have in your pot on the stove. It smells the same. I have never seen such cheese before, but today, when I was helping that old lady in the store…”
“The old lady? The old lady!” The cat interrupted Vovka and quite unexpectedly gave him a hug. “My dear-rest, my sur-rely best! So, she has been found! Our Gr-randma fr-rom the dair-ry, the Cheese Fair-ry has been found! Where is she?”
“But…I don’t know.” Vovka had no idea what to say. “She vanished! Right there, in the store!”
“Vanished at once, left us no chance…” The cat became sad again.
“Let’s give our guest something to eat at first, Curdfritter. He is still not sitting, so how can he be further speaking? See in people no vice – when they visit, please, be nice. Better look into your pot, or you’ll have your cheese all burnt,” grumbled the little mouse. “Have a seat!” She led Vovka to a table and made him sit down to a wide wooden bench. “You must be hungry after your walk, and meanwhile let us talk.”
Vovka obeyed and got ready to listen. He was really hungry by that time. The only thing he hadn’t decided about yet was whether he should wash his hands. On the one hand, he always washed his hands at home. On the other, he didn’t believe that there could be any bacteria in a magic place like that. And Vovka had no doubts that the place he had got at was really magic.
“My name is Cheese-eater, the cat is Curdfritter, and the mistress of the dairy is the Cheese Fairy. First eat the porridge, then listen to our story. You need to eat more to grow strong. If you put in porridge some butter, it will only make you smarter. The strength of a mill comes from the wind, a man’s – from what he can eat.” The mouse was talking and at the same time putting on the table wooden plates, clay jars and pots. Curdfritter brought hot pots and pans from the stove.
“Why are you eating nothing?” asked Vovka. Somehow he didn’t feel right having all the food for himself.
“When you’ve got many dishes to make, you won’t car-re what’s on a plate,” purred Curdfritter. “Since our Gr-randma the Cheese Fair-ry disappear-red, I have had no r-rest or appetite. Befor-re that I always ate with pleasure, but it’s not like that now.” Curdfritter sighed.
“Don’t listen to his complaints; let me fill again your plates. Eat and drink our bread and milk. But I’ll surely have no rest, if you don’t say that our cheese is the best,” said Cheese-eater.
“Thank you, I just love cheese, and you have the most delicious kind of it!” exclaimed Vovka.
“Cheese is cer-rtainly our best, and we gladly shar-re it with our guest. Fr-rom the sunr-rise we are awake, for there is always mor-re cheese to make. Do you know The Crow and the Fox fable?” asked Curdfritter.
“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.
“Talk business and not about our miseries,” reproached the cat Cheese-eater. “I will explain it all and you, Vova, eat some more. Many men, many minds, one head is not the same as many ones.”
And Vovka began to listen.
“We lived happily, worked not lazily. The cheese-maker was the Fairy and we helped her at the dairy. A fairy-tale is fast to flow; the story itself is rather slow. We had to work hard to provide all the fairy-tales with milk, cottage cheese, sour-cream, cheese and butter, warm clothes and felt boots made of our sheep’s wool. The sun rises early, and so did we in the morning. When you’ve got cows, goats and rams, there is no time for idle hands. Our herds are magic, of course. Still, we’ve got a lot to do. All the cows, goats and sheep need to be fed and watered. If you spare the food, you’ll have no milk. In summer you need to lead the animals to the pasture. Our sheep are so clever that they go all by themselves early in the morning and are in stalls by night. In winter it’s quite different, though. Summer gets, winter spends. Hay-makers prepare hay and then cart-drivers from all the fairy-tales bring it to this place. And then, when summer comes again, everything goes in its usual way. All the animals go to the pasture and graze there.
Something strange happened, though, not long ago. A cow hadn’t come back home, we thought it might have lost its way. But then there was another one, then the third one. At first we thought about a wolf or a bear. But no bear can a cow steal, if it’s not alone in the field. If you stole a cow, get a pail, for you must of it take care. So, we were the worst fearing, and the cows and sheep kept disappearing. Oh, how much we pitied them! They may be only animals for you, but for us they were like human beings, so sweet and kind. The Cheese Fairy was by these losses distressed, but where they’d come from couldn’t guess. There was some talk that a wolf was the one to blame. But all the wolves belong in their own fairy-tales; they would never do a thing like that. So, this can be only a stranger. The cows become less in number; soon our fairy-tales will suffer from hunger. Everything in the stories will go wrong, so little children will read them no more.