«Вперед, Котенок!» и другие... Сказки для театра - [10]

THE KITTEN. Hey! Who is there?

THE MOTH. Is it silent?

THE LITTLE CARP. Isn't answering?

THE KITTEN. It is rustling.

EVERYBODY. It is rustling.

THE KITTEN. It's climbing out.

EVERYBODY. It's climbing out.

THE KITTEN. It's creeping up.

EVERYBODY. It's creeping up.

THE POT. I warned you! I warned you! I was the first to sound!

THE FLY. Now then… Let me listen… What could it be? One, two, three, four… Boot?.. No, The Boot is here. May be The Cat? Hey, Cat. Have you heard me? Ca-a-t! It's rustling. It's scratching.

THE KITTEN. The Smart Cat can't rustle. He growls and then at once rushes at you. Here it is something else. Let us do it this way: you all go away and I'll sneak up and catch it. I can do it, The Smart Cat taught me.

THE OLD BOOT. And if it goes all the way round and it catches you?

EVERYBODY. It will catch you! It will catch you!

THE LITTLE CARP. Let me listen too. Well then? Now it is scratching louder.

THE POT. Save yourselves!

THE OLD BOOT. But who would steal up on us from under the earth?

THE LITTLE CARP. May be this is… May be this is… a mountain growing!

EVERYBODY. A mountain!

THE LITTLE CARP. Oh, yes! Have you ever seen how the mountains grow? They simply grow up and that's all. When I was The Goldfish!..

EVERYBODY. Tell us, tell us, Little Carp, what are mountains?

THE LITTLE CARP. Mountains — it's something… it's something huge!

THE FLY. Don't listen to him, I've flow all over the world, I've been everywhere.

EVERYBODY. Tell us, tell us, have you even seen the mountains?

THE FLY. To be sure, there is no such thing as mountains in the world.

THE KITTEN. But something is scratching here?

EVERYBODY. And what in the whole world is there? Tell us, tell us!

THE LITTLE CARP. There is the sea.

EVERYBODY. The sea! Tell us, have you ever seen the sea?

THE FLY. The sea is something that doesn't exist either.

EVERYBODY. And what does exist in the world? Tell us!

THE FLY. Then listen… I've flown all over the world. I've been everywhere. There are only garbage dumps in the world. Big and small ones. I've flown all over the world. I've seen everything. Everything!

THE MOTH. Don't listen to her. It's not true! There are the mountains behind the thistles.

THE LITTLE CARP. There is the sea behind the thistles!

THE MOTH and THE LITTLE CARP. The world is quite quite different there behind the Thistles.

EVERYBODY. The world!

THE MOTH and THE LITTLE CARP. There, behind the thistles the life is different too.

EVERYBODY. Life!

THE FLY. Over there on that other garbage dump everything is just the same. Well, how about scratching?

THE KITTEN. It's very close.

THE LITTLE CARP. Here is a big mountain growing!

THE FLY. There is no such thing as mountain.

THE OLD BOOT. Yes. That's true. There were the mountains before, indeed. But now I won't find a thing like that.

EVERYBODY. Where are they?

THE OLD BOOT. They are worn out. Everything is worn out. Everything falls into decay. Everything gets older and goes to ruin.

THE MOTH. But there is the sun in the world.

THE OLD BOOT. It will be worn out too.

THE FLY. And there won't be any sun in the world!

THE LITTLE CARP. But the moon will remain.

THE POT. The moon! Why do you think it is better than me, the old pot? I used to be a shining star too when I was young. And now look at me?

THE OLD BOOT. And the moon will be worn out too.

THE POT. And the stars will be worn out.

THE FLY. And you know what'll be left? One big garbage dump.

THE POT and THE OLD BOOT. Which will be worn out too!

THE KITTEN. Look! Look! It's growing up! It's growing up!

THE LITTLE CARP. And I told you that it was the mountain!

THE FLY. Ha-ha-ha! It is so small! Smaller then The Kitten!

THE LITTLE CARP. But it'll rise soon.

THE FLY. It is such a charming green!

THE MOTH. Yes, it is still green. But then it becomes mature, and the show-white peak shows up, and the pine grove covers its slopes. And the sun rises and thaws the top, fast streams break into a run and form lakes and those in turn flow together into the blue of the sea.

THE LITTLE CARP. And then again I'll become The Goldfish. Oh, I already feel my fins growing! Look, Moth, have you noticed?

THE MOTH. And I'll be fluttering among slender pine trees and drinking the Alpine flowers' nectar. Look, Little Carp, I already feel my wings growing!

THE KITTEN. And me! And me too! Me too!

THE POT. It looks like they have stopped growing! They are so small!

THE OLD BOOT. I think, Little Carp, that there is no place for you to swim here!

THE LITTLE CARP. But it has already two little blue lakes!

THE POT. I think, Moth, there isn't any place for you to fly here…

THE MOTH. But on its summit I can already see a little Alpine flower blossoming.

THE FLY. I know what is it, I suppose. Surely it isn't a mountain. Because a mountain is something that you won't find anywhere. I have already seen it somewhere. Let me remember… On some other garbage dump. Yes. That's it. It looks like a flower. That's right, a flower.

EVERYBODY. Flower!

THE FLY. Sometimes they happen on garbage dumps.

THE POT. Are they dangerous?

THE FLY. Oh, no. They are totally harmless. First they are yellow for some reason. You can see a cloud on its crown! Then — for some reason — they become white. And then die.