(fairytale)

Once upon a time there was a boy named Ivan. He studied in the third grade and all the time lagged behind in Ukrainian, in maths, and even in singing. “I’ll make it!” he said at the end of the first quarter. “I’ll catch up with you all in the second.” So he was late and lagged behind, lagged behind and was late.

And then one day Vanya came to school, as always, late. Ran into the dressing room. The cleaner Natasha came out from behind the hangers and asked:

“Who are you?”

“It’s me, Ivan Petrenko from the third grade.” the boy replied.

“You must be his grandfather?”

“What kind of grandfather am I?”

“Yes, just look in the mirror!” Natasha said.

The boy looked in the mirror and nearly fell over. He shouted: “Mother!” and ran out of the school. He rushed and reflected: “Well, if my mother doesn’t recognize me, then everything is lost.”

Vanya ran home and called. Mom opened the door for him.

“Who do you want, grandpa?” Mom asked.

Poor Vanya turned away and went aimlessly. He walked and though: “What a lonely, unfortunate old man I am. No mother, no children, no grandchildren, no friends … And most importantly, I didn’t have time to learn anything.”

So Vanya thought and walked, walked and thought, and he himself did not notice how he went out of the city and ended up in the forest. Suddenly he saw that aside, behind the fir trees, some kind of house was turning white. Ivan entered the house – there were no owners. And hay was piled up in the corner. Grandfather laid down in the hay, buried himself deeper in it, warmed himself, cried softly, wiped his tears with his shabby beard and fell asleep.

When he woke up, he noticed that the room was light, and around the table there were some guys – two boys and two girls. Big bills were placed before them. The guys counted and mumbled.

“Two years, and five more, and seven more, and three more. This is for you Sergiy Volodymyrovich. And these are yours, Olga Grigorivna.”

Not boys and girls, but wicked wizards and snide sorceresses were sitting at the table! It was they who turned Vanya Petrenko and another boy and two girls into old men. After all, a child who wasted time in vain didn’t notice how he or she were aging. The time lost by these guys, the wizards took for themselves. And they became little children, while the children became old men.

The clock showed midnight, and Sergiy Volodymyrovich, the chief magician, spoke softly: “You know, the guys we turned into old people today can still get younger. If they find each other, come here exactly at twelve o’clock at night and turn the clock hand seventy-seven circles back, then the children will become children again. As for us, we can really perish.”

The wizards were silent. Then Olga Grigorivna said: “They won’t come by twelve. Loafers. If only they procrastinate for a minute, they’ll be late forever.”

Vanya got out of the house and, without wasting time, rushed to the city to look for old schoolchildren.

He was looking for old people, but he couldn`t find a single suitable one. Exactly at noon, Ivan went into a small square and sat down on a bench to rest. And suddenly he jumped up. He saw an old woman sitting on another bench, dangling her legs. She took out a newspaper from her pocket and unfolded it. Vanya gasped with happy: “School truth!”

“Grandmother! Honestly, you are a schoolgirl!”

The old lady also jumped with joy.

“That’s right, that’s right! I am Marusya Gryvko, a third grade student. And who are you?”

Vanya told Marusya who he was. They joined hands and ran to look for the rest of their buddiess. They searched for an hour, two, and the third started ticking. .

Finally, they entered a courtyard of a huge house noticing an old woman drawing school classics with chalk on the pavement and jumping on one leg.

Vanya and Marusya rushed to her:

“Grandmother! Are you a schoolgirl?”

“Schoolgirl.” the old woman replies. “I am third grade student Nadya Valenko. And who are you?”

Vanya and Marusya told her who they were. All three took hands and ran into the hut. Along the road they saw a funny granddad counting crows and picking his nose… Not speaking a lot, they dragged him together with them….

At one minute to twelve, the guys at the clock got up. Exactly at midnight, Nadya extended her hand to the arrows and – one, two, three rounds- twisted them back, from right to left.

The wizards jumped up screaming, but they couldn’t move. At first, they become adults. At the fortieth turn the wizards became decrepit, hunched and nasty old people. On the seventy-seventh, the vicious wizards cried out and disappeared, as if they had not been in the world.

The school kids looked at each other and laughed happily -, they became children again. They were saved, but you should remember that a person who wastes time, does not notice how he is getting old.