The Sky Elephant (work by V. Bianki)

Andy has no friends. His father is a sailor, currently sailing the seas. His mother never has time: the two of them live alone in a house at the edge of a bay. All around them is just water, and sand, and bushes.

Andy is bored.

His mother told him: on the other side of the bay live green froglets. They leap from tussock to tussock; they fall into the water, splashing. So, Andy got a fixed idea: bring him the froglets and that's that!

Today's no different: he played under a tree, got bored - and it's back to the same old:

"Wanna froglets!"

"Aren't you annoying!" his mother replies. "Just wait till the furnace is hot - I'll go, bring you friends."

And indeed: she got finished soon, and came onto the porch. She looked at the sky: what if it'll rain? The lad'll get scared...

Nay, what rain! It's sunny. It's scorching. The sky is the bluest; the white clouds are flying high. Only one cloud of apparently darker hue is beyond the other shore. `Tis small - and very far away.

"There's no wind," mother thinks. "The weather won't change any time soon. The other shore is an arm's-width away. I'll be back quickly."

She took the oars, clanged them into proper positions.

Speaks to Andy:

"Sit here, don't go anywhere! If I see that you're gone, I'll throw all froglets back into the water."

She locked the gates herself: the boy won't get over the fence. She pushed the boat into the water, swung the oars - like a bird did the boat fly over the smooth bay.

Andy's mom is young, agile.

Andy got left home alone. He sat on the porch, seeing how the black boat is fleeing over the blue water.

Soon the boat shrunk to a size of a goose, then a duck.

It's boring to just sit here and wait.

Andy began to look at the clouds.

The clouds are different in the sky: one - like a bun, another - as a ship. The ship stretched-out - and became a towel.

The little clouds became as a swarm of gulls over the blue bay. And below, over that other shore - a dark cloud. Just like a little elephant in the picture book: and the trunk, and the tail.

A funny elephant: continues to climb higher, growing before one's eyes...

The tall forest on the shore hid from mother's eyes the dark cloud. The boat hit the duckweed nose first.

The shore got splashed by a light wave.

Mother jumped-out, pulled the boat ashore. Took the tin for the froglets and entered the forest.

And in the forest - a marsh. Froglets sit on tussocks. Funny, little. Probably, still yesterday they swam as tadpoles: each got a stumpy tail on the behind.

"Splash, splash! Splat, splat, splat!" - all into the water. Try to catch them!

Mother forgot about the dark cloud. Jumps from tussock to tussock, chasing the froglets. She'll catch one, put it into the tin - and goes for another one.

She didn't notice how everything around her grew quiet. Over the bay the swallows flew very low - and vanished. In the forest, the birds stopped singing. A wet, cold shadow appeared.

And when mother looked up, the black sky loomed very low...

Andy saw how the little sky elephant grew into a big one.

The big elephant grew a trunk, twirled it around - and pulled it back in.

Then from somewhere he drew three thin trunks.

They stretched, stretched - and suddenly bonded into one thick, long ubertrunk.

The ubertrunk went down. It stretched, stretched and reached the ground.

Then the elephant walked. Its thick black legs moved eerily. The earth shook under it.

The huge sky elephant walked across the bay straight to Andy...

Mother saw, as straight between her and the bay a round pillar descended. To meet it, from the marsh, an identical pillar ascended.

The raging wind picked it up and jammed into the cloud.

The cloud roaring and booming raced through the sky.

Mother cried and fled to the boat. The wind knocked her down, pressed to the ground, and held-on tightly.

She couldn't get up: the air became resilient and tough like thick rubber.

Mother crawled, grabbing the tussocks.

In the back she was painfully hit by the tin in which she collected froglets. She also saw how some dark dots rushed from the ground into the sky. The rain rose like a wall before her eyes. Entire air boomed, and it grew dark, like in the cellar.

Closing her eyes, she crawled by guesswork: in darkness she completely lost where the boat was, where the bay, where Andy. And when all of a sudden she stopped hearing the thunder, she only thought: "I am deaf!" - and opened her eyes.

All clear. The rain's gone.

The black cloud was quickly moving to the other shore.

The boat lay upside down.

Mother ran, overturned it, pushed into the waves, and began to paddle with all her might.

The huge sky elephant roared and walked straight towards Andy. It grew as tall as a mountain, covered half of the sky, swallowed the sun. No longer could one see either the legs or the tail - only the thick trunk that rotated.

The roar approached. The black shadow covered the sand.

Suddenly the dry sand under the porch rose in a pillar, and painfully, like needles, stabbed Andy's face.

Andy jumped up:

"Mommy!.."

Immediately the wind grabbed him, picked him high over the porch, rotated and rushed him through air.

The rain burst - and with it onto the ground fell pieces of duckweed, fishes, and frogs.

Mother paddled with all her strength. The boat jumped on the bumpy waters.

Finally - the shore.

It was terrible to behold: the house's roof, shutters, doors were torn off. The fence lay, toppled. The tree broke in two, dipped its crown to the ground.

Mother ran to the house, shouting loudly for Andy. On the upturned sand, under her feet, lay pieces of duckweed, dead fish, and big branches.

Nobody answered her.

Mother ran into the house. Andy was nowhere to be found.

She ran into the garden - same there.

And the wind had died down, and in the blue sky the sun shone once again.

Only in the great distance, thundering slightly, the small black thundercloud retreated.

"My Andy got carried away!" mother yelped and followed the cloud.

Beyond the house is sand. Then bushes. They grab the dress, impede the running speed.

Mother's strength gave out, she moved forwards every slowly. And suddenly stopped completely: before her on a bush hanged a piece of Andy's shirt.

She rushed forwards. She yelped, waving her hands: the thin body of Andy, scratched and naked, lay on the ground under a bush.

Mother grasped him by the arms, pulled to her chest. Andy opened his eyes and wailed loudly.

"The elephant," Andy asked, sobbing, "is gone?"

"Gone, gone!" his mother consoled him, hurriedly walking with him back to the house.

Through tears Andy saw the toppled fence, the broken tree, the roofless house.

All was destroyed, broken, smashed. Only right at their legs on the sand jumped a little green froglet.

"Look, sonny, froglet! And how funny-looking: with a tail! It came to you via the wind from the other shore."

Andy looked, wiped his eyes with the hands.

Mother put him down on the ground before the frightened froglet.

Andy sobbed for the last time and said in an important tone:

"Howdy buddy!"