LITMIR.BIZ

      003. The story of the Ghost Engine and how Baba Yaga wanted to get to Chu-Chukhin

      After Chu-Chukhin slipped away from Baba Yaga, her affairs went very badly. Not a single new engine came into her network. She, however, tried to get metal from the swamp, melt it down and make spoons, but even here she was plagued by failures.

      Firstly, the metal was heavy, dirty, all corroded and covered with a rusty coating. The fox seemed to be helping her, but more and more her paw turned out to be sick, or she had a runny nose when she had to climb into the water, or even unknown illnesses occurred, which went away on their own after half an hour. In a word, she was a useless assistant.

      And, secondly, even if they managed to catch something and melt it down, the spoons turned out to be all defective, with impurities, with rust, sometimes they even broke and it became more and more difficult to sell them.

      That day Baba Yaga returned from the city in a very bad mood. Not only did she not manage to sell anything of what she brought to the market in Poltava, but former buyers came to her and returned everything that she had sold the previous time. Spoons bent, broke, their chipped edges with signs of rust threatened the health of customers.

      Baba Yaga heard such things from Poltava customers that she was ready to scatter the entire forest in her path out of anger, and if she had gotten her hands on Chu-Chukhin, then he would have been in trouble.

      – How did you go?! – the Fox emerged from behind the warm stove.

      – What did you bring? – the stupid cat Peach immediately came running. Little Blackie immediately realized that this was the case, that it was better for him to sit somewhere far away, and quietly slipped out the window.

      Baba Yaga cursed very strongly, and when she calmed down a little, the cunning Fox immediately sat down on the bench.

      – Eh, our affairs are not honey! – she sighed. “And it seems to me that they need to be corrected.”

      – It’s clear to Peach that our affairs are bad! – the old woman snapped. – But how can I fix them?

      – Don’t get excited, don’t get excited, – Fox reassured her. – Here a completely different approach is needed. You need to understand the reasons…

      – What is there to understand about them?! – Baba Yaga exploded again. Although it has calmed down a little, the inner fire has not completely died out. “It all started with Chu-Chukhin,” she explained. “After he managed to escape, they just sprinkled salt on the road to us for the locomotives.” None of them are coming. No one gives in to persuasion. And the magic of the swamp, it begins to seem to me that it used to pull steam locomotives into itself, began to weaken. The magic of mechanical locomotives does not entice you to climb up to the chimney in swampy places.

      – So maybe the solution lies on the surface? – the Fox winked at Baba Yaga.

      – How is that?

      – It all began with Chu-Chukhin and everything must end with Chu-Chukhin. And if his escape somehow affected the swamp itself, then the swamp should return everything to its place.

      – You speak wisely, – the old woman grinned. She understood little of what Fox said, but she still realized that she was saying something worthwhile. – So what needs to be done?

      – It’s very simple, – Fox smiled. – I read in your books that there are spells for summoning ghosts. So, if you summon several ghosts from the swamp and…

      – And let them attack the engines! – Baba Yaga jumped up. “Let them scare them away and disperse this entire depot.”

      – We could do it that way, – Fox stopped her. – But the engines will quickly figure out what’s what and everything will go back. – Yes, and it’s somehow straightforward. This requires a more sophisticated approach.

      – Which one is this? – Baba Yaga did not understand.

      – We will perform a ceremony, – explained the Fox. – We’ll call a few spirits of locomotives that are lying in the swamp, we’ll tell them that we wanted to rescue everyone, but we don’t have enough strength.” And we’ll ask them to go to the neighboring depot and call a locomotive named Chu-Chukhin for help.

      – And they will tell you that Chu-Chukhin won’t even want to go from us… – croaked the old woman, always doubting everything.

      – I don’t exclude that such a possibility exists, – Fox continued meanwhile. “But we will warn them not to mention us in conversation with him.” Because he is a proud locomotive and if they call him to help, he may be offended and not go.

      – And when he comes to us, we’ll push him into the oven this time! – Baba Yaga rubbed her hands. For the first time that day she was in a good mood.

      – Exactly! – Fox smiled slyly at her.

      ***

      That evening the fire flared up, only the first star appeared in the sky. The sun had not yet completely set and therefore the glow of the fire blocked even the sunlight.

      Dry dead wood, marsh grass, charcoal, for which the cat Chernysh was responsible, burned with a bright fire, piled in a certain way in the middle of the clearing. The trees, as soon as they saw the first flames, tried to move their branches further away, and some even moved to the sides.

      Baba Yaga fussed around the fire, now throwing something into the fire, now adding

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