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– Oh dear! – she exclaimed, unable to restrain herself. In front of her, in the clearing, there was a grimy broken-backed house nailed-up with boards and sheet metal. From the outside, all in patches, it seemed shabby. And in the middle of the clearing a huge beast laid. Puffs of smoke were billowing out of his nostrils as if it was harsh winter, and its flanks were heaving heavily. – How hard it twisted you… – she clucked her tongue, coming closer. Of course, the mother taught her that the wounded beast is twice dangerous. But she was so sorry for the poor creature which was breathing heavily, trembling, sniffing, and floundered with huge paws, covering its eyes with pain.

Suddenly the monster’s eyes opened. It was as surprised at the other’s presence in the forest as the little girl. It raised its head and the girl cried from fear. The beast sat down and cried too. They looked each other in the eyes and didn’t stop crying. And it would be quite amusing, if the monster she felt sorry for didn’t have three heads, and hence six eyes. Fortunately, it had only four paws, like all animals. The two hind ones obviously served it as feet, and the two fore ones as arms-wings.

Of course, it couldn’t be that the grimy shabby house belonged to the monster. After all, it was almost as big as the house itself. That’s what the girl thought. At that moment, an old man came out of the house, following their cry. He was frowning awfully and it looked even scarier than the monster. Sometimes the mood and facial expression can distort the person so much that no monster can be compared to him. So the girl fell silent immediately and looked at the owner of the strange house. The monster also fell silent, waved its huge tail and sighed heavily. It looked so funny that the girl even smiled. And the fear had gone.

– What’s going on here, Gorynych?  – the owner of the house  grumbled petulantly as if the girl wasn’t here.

She looked at the monster with surprise and narrowed her eyes distrustfully.

– It can’t be! It’s a circus act! Confess! It’s Matvey Ivanovich asked you to play a trick on me, so I believe that miracles happen? – and the girl curiously tilted her head to one side, looking at the strange forest inhabitants one after another.

– Who is Matvey Ivanovich? – the monster asked with a deep voice and blinked in confusion with all its huge eyes.

– What do you mean, miracles don’t happen?! – the old man frowned even harder.