Funny Children's Stories. Bilingual Edition

Тут нам стало всем так смешно, что мы долго не могли остановиться. Мальчик этот тоже стал с нами смеяться. И от этого нам стало ещё смешнее. У нас некоторые даже на землю уп

али от смеха. А когда мы наконец кончили смеяться, мы ему объяснили, что он должен делать.

И тут он очень испугался и хотел убежать. Ну, мы его поймали, коне

чно, и стали заставлять его делать всё, как положено. И когда он понял, что ему от нас не отвертеться, он стал спичку зубами доставать. А мы уж пожалели его и сказали, что он может подбор

одком себе помогать. И он спичку всё-таки вытащил.

Вытащил этот мальчик спичку и убежал. А мы ещё долго стояли там, вспоминали, как он на одной ноге вокру

г песочницы прыгал, и смеялись. Почему это было так смешно, я объяснить не могу. Но ничего смешнее этого в моей жизни пока ещё не было.

A Silver

Half-Ruble

In early spring, as soon as we can find a piece of pavement clean of snow and ice, we play different coin games: Coin Wall, Treasury, Flip Over, and Catch Up.

In Catch Up, we just throw the coin by hand. I have an advantage in this game. My fingers are pretty long. So it is easy for me to cover my coin and someone else’s with my fingers. This means that I “ate” the other coin. And the owner of the other coin pays me one kopeck.*

All yards have different rules for Catch Up. Our rules are the strictest. When you throw the coin, you cannot bend over. And you need to throw the coin while your hand is no lower than your chest.

And although I often win at this game, I cannot say that I like to play it. Because you need to find a large clean space in order to play this game. And we certainly do not have much of that. And I do not really feel like playing in the dirt. Especially because some of us like to throw the coin right where there is a lot of dirt. And I do not think it is much of a game then.

For Flip Over, you do not need a lot of dry ground. But here a lot depends on the coin itself.

In Flip Over, the most important thing is who will be the first to break the stack. Everyone throws the coin from some distance to the line. The closer your coin lands to the line, the better. But the coin must go over the line, otherwise it is going to be considered a short fall. The one who throws the best is the first to start the game. He will be the first to break up the pile of coins stacked on the ground.

A good, heavy coin flies nicely, and when it falls, it does not roll anywhere. It is also easier to break up the pile with it. When you strike with a regular five-kopeck coin, it is difficult to flip over another coin. A coin can most likely be flipped over by a heavier coin. As soon as a coin is flipped, it is collected by the one who flipped it over.

Once I saw someone playing with a medal. And I realized that this was it! A medal was what I needed.

And I asked my dad to give me his medal. But when my dad found out what I needed his medal for, he said, “Are you out of your mind? If anyone sees you playing with my medal...”

And I immediately understood that what I said was stupid. Of course, Dad was absolutely right. If anyone saw me playing with the medal, Dad and I would be sent to prison. Mom would probably be sent to prison too. And I decided to tell the guy who played with a medal not to do that anymore. But after that, I never saw that guy again.

So, I have never had a chance to have a good coin. That is why I do not like to play Flip Over. However, I do like to play Coin Wall and Treasury. For these games, you only need a really small patch of dry ground near the wall of a building. And a regular silver half-ruble is the best type of coin for these games.

In Coin Wall and Treasury, everything depends only on you. You really have to know what to do with your silver half-ruble. Otherwise, nothing good can come out of it. Before you make your shot, you need to tap over the entire wall and find the spot where the sound is high pitched. Because spots where the sound is low pitched are hollow. And then your half-ruble will fall straight down to your feet. But if you find a good spot on the wall, your silver coin will fly far away, in the direction you want.

Coin Wall is similar to Catch Up. The only difference is that you are playing against the wall. The rest of the rules are the same. Having long fingers helps me in this game as well. Because here you also need to cover over your coin and someone else’s with the fingers of your hand. And you have to prove that you have a strong hold on the coin and that it would be impossible to strike it out from under your fingers with another coin.