Yakovlev Yuri
Yuri Yakovlevich Yakovlev
FOUR LEGGED FRIENDS
Do you know how to build a good den? I'll teach you. You'll need this. You need to dig a small hole with your claws and lie down in it more comfortably. The wind will whistle above you, and snow flakes will fall on your shoulders. But you lie there and don’t move. The back, paws, and head will be hidden under the snow. Don’t worry, you won’t suffocate: warm breath will create an outlet in the snow. The snow will cover you tightly. You will lie down on your sides and your paws will go numb. Be patient, be patient, until a huge snowdrift grows above you. Then start tossing and turning. Toss and turn as hard as you can. Crush the snowy walls with your sides. Then stand on all fours and arch your back: raise the ceiling higher. If you are not lazy, you will have a good den. Spacious and warm, just like ours.
So the polar bear taught the little bear Umka, and he lay on the side of her warm furry belly and impatiently kicked his hind legs, as if he was riding a bicycle.
It was warm in the den. It was a long, warm night outside.
And the stars did not shine through the dense snow roof.
“It’s time to sleep,” said the bear.
Umka didn’t answer, he just started shaking his paws harder. He didn't want to sleep.
The bear began to comb Umka's fluffy fur with her clawed paw. She didn't have another comb. Then she washed it with her tongue.
Umka didn’t want to wash. He turned around, turned his head away, and the bear held him with a heavy paw.
“Tell me about the fish,” Umka asked.
“Okay,” the polar bear agreed and began to talk about the fish. - In a distant warm sea, where there are no ice floes, there lives a sad sunfish. It is large, round and only swims straight.
And cannot dodge the shark fish's teeth. That's why it's sad.
Umka listened attentively and sucked his paw. Then he said:
What a pity that the sun is a fish and that a shark ate him. We sit in the dark.
Our sun is not a fish,” the bear objected. - It floats in the sky, in the blue upper sea. There are no sharks there. There are birds there.
When will it arrive?
“Sleep,” the polar bear said sternly. - When you wake up, there will be sun and it will be light.
Umka sighed, grumbled, tossed and turned and fell asleep...
He woke up because his nose itched. He opened his eyes slightly - the entire den was filled with a gentle bluish light. The walls, the ceiling were blue, and even the fur of the big bear was blue, as if it had been tinted blue.
What is this? - Umka asked and sat down on hind legs.
“The sun,” answered the bear.
Has it arrived?
Is it blue and has a fish tail?
It's red. And he doesn't have any tail.
Umka did not believe that the sun was red and without a tail. He began to dig a way out of the den to see what the sun was like. The packed dense snow did not give way, white icy sparks flew from under the claws.
And suddenly Umka jumped back: the bright red sun hit him with a blinding ray. The little bear closed his eyes. And when he opened his eyes again, he felt happy and ticklish. And he sneezed. And, peeling off his sides, he got out of the den.
A fresh, elastic wind blew over the ground with a thin whistle. Umka put his nose up and smelled many smells: the smell of the sea, the smell of fish, the smell of birds, the smell of earth. These smells merged into one warm smell. Umka decided that this is what the sun smells like - a cheerful, dazzling fish that swims in the upper sea and is not afraid of a toothy shark.
Umka ran in the snow, fell, rolled head over heels, and had a lot of fun. He walked to the sea, put his paw in the water and licked it. The paw turned out to be salty. I wonder if the upper sea is also salty?
Then the bear cub saw smoke above the rocks, was very surprised and asked the polar bear:
What's there?
People,” she answered.
Who are these people?
The bear scratched behind her ear and said:
People are bears who walk on their hind legs all the time and can take off their skin.
And I want to,” said Umka and immediately tried to stand on his hind legs.
But standing on my hind legs turned out to be very uncomfortable.
There is nothing good in people,” the bear reassured him. - They smell like smoke. And they cannot waylay a seal and kill it with a blow of their paw.
Can I? - asked Umka.
Try. You see, among the ice there is a round window into the sea. Sit at this window and wait. When the seal peeks out, hit it with your paw.
Umka easily jumped onto the ice floe and ran towards the ice hole. His paws did not move apart, because hair grew on his feet - he was wearing felt boots.
The bear cub reached the hole and lay down at its edge. He tried not to breathe. Let the seal think that he is not Umka, but a snowdrift and that the snowdrift has neither claws nor teeth. But the seal didn’t show up!
Instead, a big bear came. She said:
You don't know how to do anything. You can’t even catch a seal!
There are no seals here! - Umka growled.
There is a seal. But she sees you. Cover your nose with your paw.
Nose? Paw? For what?
Umka opened his small eyes wide and looked at his mother in surprise.
“You are all white,” said my mother, “and the snow is white, and the ice is white.”
And everything around is white. And only your nose is black. He gives you away. Cover it with your paw.
Do bears that walk on their hind legs and skin also cover their noses with their paws? - asked Umka.
The bear did not answer. She went fishing. She had five fishhooks on each paw.
This polar bear cub is one of our most vivid memories from our childhood.
He is kind, naive and of course inquisitive, like all children.
He has a wise and fair mother, he finds himself a friend - a boy.
And, of course, adventures happen to him in the white ice of the Arctic...
Yakovlev, Yu. Umka: fairy tale / Yuri Yakovlev; drawings by G. Nikolsky. – M.: Children's literature, 1969. – 20 p. –
Access mode: http://chetvergvecher.livejournal.com/152009.html. - 10/19/2012.
The polar bear cub Umka is just beginning to explore the world.
He learns to build a good den and catch seals, and when the cheerful sunfish arrives, Umka, together with his mother, the big bear, will set off on an ice floe across the northern seas.
But on the shore he will be remembered by a friend - a small two-legged bear cub who knows how to shed his skin...
Yakovlev, Yu. Umka: fairy tale / Yuri Yakovlev; artist N. Charushina-Kapustina. – M.: Labyrinth, 2011. – 32 p. - (My first books).
The heroes of this kind and wise fairy tale, familiar to us from childhood from the cartoon, have found a new face in the illustrations of the wonderful artist Natalya Charushina-Kapustina, heir to the best traditions of Soviet book graphics.
Umka: based on the story by Yu. Yakovlev “Umka”. – M.: Book house “Azbukvarik Group”, 2010. – 10 p. – (Songs of friends).
A toy book from the series - Songs of Friends. Gift from heroes best fairy tales and cartoons - a wonderful song in a book!
Cartoons
Umka.
Umka is looking for a friend
1969-1970
“Umka” is a favorite cartoon of our childhood.
Umka: cartoon / directors: Vladimir Popov, Vladimir Pekar; roles voiced by: Klara Rumyanova, Margarita Korabelnikova
1969
Umka is looking for a friend: cartoon / directors: Vladimir Popov, Vladimir Pekar; roles voiced by: Margarita Korabelnikova, Vera Vasilyeva
1970
A polar bear cub named Umka accidentally met a boy. They became friends. However, people are leaving the area where Umka lived. The little bear is upset. He decides to find his friend.
The continuation of the cartoon “Umka” tells the story of the adventures of a polar bear cub who is looking for his boy friend at a polar explorers’ station during the New Year. In the second part of the cartoon, having arrived at a nearby polar station, Umka, after a series of funny adventures, secretly from her mother, manages to board a helicopter to continue the search for the boy.
Watch online:
The cartoons “Umka” and “Umka is looking for a friend” were filmed in 1969 and 1970. at the Soyuzmultfilm film studio.
These cartoons gained enormous popularity. And this is due, first of all, to the author of the script, writer Yuri Yakovlev. His stories and tales are particularly touching and kind. Yakovlev once uttered words in which, in essence, he defined the main feature of his work: “Being kind is good and joyful. Good brings a pleasure to a person that the evil one never knows; being kind is happiness.”
The cartoons gained enormous popularity thanks to the successfully invented and drawn image of a polar bear cub, the voice of Klara Rumyanova, the music of Evgeny Krylatov and the song of the bear performed by Aida Vedishcheva.
Natalia Rudenko:
Essentially, these two short cartoons tell the story of the friendship between the baby of the largest land predator and the baby of the most dangerous predator. And this poetic story is by no means for children. It is for parents.
When I was very little, I agreed with every step of Umka, his devotion was natural to me, I took his perseverance for granted... Why, after all, my friend disappeared! You need to look for it, and it will be found.
Then I grew up. My daughter also fully supports Umka’s daring. And now I’m closer to the problems of mama bear. After all, the bear cub needs to be fed and protected from danger, from the evil, scary and incomprehensible. And the friend... Well, he was there, well, he disappeared. There will be another one. And here is a cartoon about how another friend will be DIFFERENT. A cartoon about value, about uniqueness and originality. About honesty and depth of relationships. Something that adults have long forgotten - friendship. Not about partnership, not about cooperation, not about alliances, not even about camaraderie. About friendship - so abstract for an adult and so natural for a small person.
Yuri Yakovlev
- Do you know how to build a good den? I'll teach you. You'll need this. You need to dig a small hole with your claws and lie down in it more comfortably. The wind will whistle above you, and snow flakes will fall on your shoulders. But you lie there and don’t move. The back, paws, and head will be hidden under the snow. Don’t worry, you won’t suffocate: warm breath will create an outlet in the snow. The snow will cover you tightly. You will lie down on your sides and your paws will go numb. Be patient, be patient, until a huge snowdrift grows above you. Then start tossing and turning. Toss and turn as hard as you can. Crush the snowy walls with your sides. Then stand on all fours and arch your back: raise the ceiling higher. If you are not lazy, you will have a good den. Spacious, warm, like ours.
So the polar bear taught the little bear Umka, and he lay on his side near her warm furry belly and impatiently kicked his hind legs, as if he was riding a bicycle.
It was warm in the den. It was a long, warm night outside. And the stars did not shine through the dense snow roof.
“It’s time to sleep,” said the bear.
Umka didn’t answer, he just started shaking his paws harder. He didn't want to sleep
The bear began to comb Umka's fluffy fur with her clawed paw. She didn't have any other comb. Then she washed it with her tongue. Umka didn’t want to wash. He turned around, turned his head away, and the bear held him with a heavy paw.
“Tell me about the fish,” Umka asked.
“Okay,” the polar bear agreed and began to talk about the fish: “In a distant warm sea, where there are no ice floes, there lives a sad sunfish.” It is large, round and only swims straight. And cannot dodge the shark fish's teeth. That's why it's sad.
Umka listened attentively and sucked his paw. Then he said:
- What a pity that the sun is a fish and that a shark ate him. We sit in the dark.
“Our sun is not a fish,” the bear objected. “It swims in the sky, in the blue upper sea.” There are no sharks there. There are birds there.
- When will it arrive?
- Sleep! - the polar bear said sternly. - When you wake up, there will be sun and it will be light.
Umka sighed, grumbled, tossed and turned and fell asleep...
He woke up because his nose itched. He opened his eyes slightly - the entire den was filled with a gentle bluish light. The walls, the ceiling were blue, and even the fur of the big bear was blue, as if it had been tinted blue.
- What is this? - Umka asked and sat down on his hind legs.
“The sun,” answered the bear.
- Has it arrived?
- It has risen!
— Is it blue with a fish tail?
- It's red. And he doesn't have any tail.
Umka did not believe that the sun was red and without a tail, he began to dig a way out of the den to see what the sun was like. The packed dense snow did not give way, white icy sparks flew from under the claws.
And suddenly Umka jumped back: the bright red sun hit him with a blinding ray. The little bear closed his eyes. And when he opened his eyes again, he felt happy and ticklish. And he sneezed. And, peeling off his sides, he got out of the den.
A fresh, elastic wind blew over the ground with a thin whistle. Umka put his nose up and smelled many smells: the smell of the sea, the smell of fish, the smell of birds, the smell of earth. These smells merged into one warm smell. Umka decided that this is what the sun smells like - a cheerful, dazzling fish that swims in the upper sea and is not afraid of a toothy shark.
Umka ran in the snow, fell, rolled head over heels, and had a lot of fun. He walked up to the sea, put his paw in the water and licked it. The paw turned out to be salty. I wonder if the upper sea is also salty?
Then the bear cub saw smoke above the rocks, was very surprised and asked the polar bear:
- What's there?
“People,” she answered.
- Who are these people?
The bear scratched behind her ear and said:
- People are bears who walk on their hind legs all the time and can take off their skin.
“And I want to,” said Umka and immediately tried to stand on his hind legs.
But standing on my hind legs turned out to be very uncomfortable.
“There is nothing good in people,” the bear reassured him. - They smell like smoke. And they cannot waylay a seal and kill it with a blow of their paw.
- Can I? - asked Umka.
- Try. You see, among the ice there is a round window into the sea. Sit at this window and wait. When the seal peeks out, hit it with your paw.
Umka easily jumped onto the ice floe and ran towards the ice hole. His paws didn’t move apart because hair was growing on his feet—he was wearing felt boots.
The bear cub reached the hole and lay down at its edge. He tried not to breathe. Let the seal think that he is not Umka, but a snowdrift and that the snowdrift has neither claws nor teeth. But the seal didn’t show up!
Instead, a big bear came. She said:
- You don’t know how to do anything. You can’t even catch a seal!
- There are no seals here! - Umka growled.
- There is a seal. But she sees you. Cover your nose with your paw.
- Nose? Paw? For what?
Umka opened his small eyes wide and looked at his mother in surprise.
“You’re all white,” said mom, “and the snow is white, and the ice is white.” And everything around is white. And only your nose is black. He's giving you away. Cover it with your paw.
- Do bears that walk on their hind legs and remove skins also cover their noses with their paws? - asked Umka.
The bear did not answer. She went fishing for cod fish. She had five fishhooks on each paw.
A cheerful sunfish swam along the upper blue sea, and there was less and less snow around and more land. The shore began to turn green. Umka decided that his skin would also turn green. But it remained white, only slightly yellowed.
With the advent of the sun, it began for Umka interesting life. He ran on ice floes, climbed rocks and even plunged into the icy sea. He really wanted to meet strange bear-people. He kept asking the bear about them:
- Aren’t they found in the sea? Mother shook her head:
- They will drown in the sea. Their fur is not covered with fat, it immediately becomes icy and heavy. They are found on the shore, near the smoke.
One day, Umka escaped from the big bear and, hiding behind the rocks, went towards the smoke to see strange bears. He walked for a long time until he found himself in a snowy clearing with dark islands of earth. Umka brought his nose to the ground and sucked in air. The earth smelled delicious. The little bear even licked it.
And then he saw an unfamiliar bear cub on two legs. The reddish skin glistened in the sun, and no hair grew on the cheeks and chin. And the nose was not black - pink.
Throwing his hind legs forward, Umka ran towards the two-legged bear cub. The stranger noticed Umka, but for some reason he did not run towards him, but took off running. Moreover, he did not run four paws, which is more convenient and faster, but on the two rear ones. He waved the front ones around without any benefit.
Umka hurried after him. Then the strange bear cub, without stopping, pulled off his skin and threw it on the snow - exactly as the bear had said. Umka ran to the shed skin. Has stopped. Sniffed it. The skin was tough, the short pile glittered in the sun. “It’s a good skin,” thought Umka, “but where’s the tail?”
Meanwhile, the stranger ran away quite far. Umka set off in pursuit. And because he ran on four legs, he soon approached the biped again. Then he threw his front feet onto the snow. The feet were without claws. This also surprised Umka.
Then the two-legged bear dropped... its head. But the head turned out to be... empty: without a nose, without a mouth, without teeth, without eyes. Only large flat ears dangled on the sides, each ear had a thin tail. All this was very interesting and curious. Umka, for example, could not shed his skin or empty head.
Finally he caught up with the biped. He immediately fell to the ground. And he froze, as if he wanted to waylay the seal. Umka leaned towards his cheek and sniffed it. The strange bear didn’t smell like smoke—it smelled like milk. Umka licked him on the cheek. The biped opened his eyes, black, with long eyelashes. Then he stood up and jumped to the side. And Umka stood still and admired. When a paw reached out to Umka - white, smooth, completely without hair - the bear cub even whined with joy.
Then they walked together across a snowy clearing, along earthen islands, and the two-legged bear cub picked up everything that he had thrown away.
He put an empty head with flat ears on his head, pulled his feet without claws onto his paws and climbed into the skin, which turned out to be without a tail, not even a small one.
They came to the sea, and Umka invited his new friend to swim. But he remained on the shore. The bear cub swam for a long time, dived and even caught a silver fish with its claw. But when he came ashore, his new acquaintance was not there. He probably ran to his den. Or went hunting for seals.
Umka did not tell the big bear anything about his acquaintance, but he himself came to the clearing several times in the hope of meeting his two-legged friend. He sniffed, but the wind did not smell of smoke or milk.
The red sunfish swam across the blue upper sea-sky. And there was a big endless day. The darkness completely disappeared. And the den began to melt and filled with blue water. But when there is sun, a den is not needed.
The ice has moved far from the coast. And the lower sea became clear, like the upper one.
One day the big bear said:
“It’s time, Umka, to move onto the ice floe.” We will sail with you across all the northern seas.
— Do two-legged bears swim on ice floes? - asked Umka.
“Only the bravest ones swim,” answered the mother.
Umka thought that maybe he would meet his new friend on the ice floe in northern seas, and immediately agreed to move to a new place. But before setting off, I asked, just in case:
— The shark won’t eat me?
The bear growled quietly and laughed:
“You’re not a sad sunfish.” But you polar bear! And then not a single shark has ever swum into our cold sea.
Mother and son approached the water. We looked back at our native places. And they swam. Ahead is a bear, behind her is Umka. They sailed for a long time on the cold sea. They felt warm in warm skins, greased with lard. A white field of ice appeared in the distance.
Umka and her mother, like all polar bears, began to live on ice floes. They hunted and fished. And the ice floated and floated, taking them further from their native shore...
Winter has come. The cheerful sunfish swam somewhere along the upper sea. And again it became dark for a long time. In the polar night neither Umka nor the bear are visible. But bright northern stars lit up in the sky. Two star scoops appeared. Big ladle - Big Dipper, small - Small.
And when the two-legged bear cub - a boy who lives on the shore - goes out into the street, he looks for a small ladle with his eyes and remembers Umka. It seems to him that it is Umka who is walking across the high sky, and behind him is his mother, the Big Dipper.
Yakovlev Yuri
Yuri Yakovlevich Yakovlev
FOUR LEGGED FRIENDS
Do you know how to build a good den? I'll teach you. You'll need this. You need to dig a small hole with your claws and lie down in it more comfortably. The wind will whistle above you, and snow flakes will fall on your shoulders. But you lie there and don’t move. The back, paws, and head will be hidden under the snow. Don’t worry, you won’t suffocate: warm breath will create an outlet in the snow. The snow will cover you tightly. You will lie down on your sides and your paws will go numb. Be patient, be patient, until a huge snowdrift grows above you. Then start tossing and turning. Toss and turn as hard as you can. Crush the snowy walls with your sides. Then stand on all fours and arch your back: raise the ceiling higher. If you are not lazy, you will have a good den. Spacious and warm, just like ours.
So the polar bear taught the little bear Umka, and he lay on the side of her warm furry belly and impatiently kicked his hind legs, as if he was riding a bicycle.
It was warm in the den. It was a long, warm night outside.
And the stars did not shine through the dense snow roof.
“It’s time to sleep,” said the bear.
Umka didn’t answer, he just started shaking his paws harder. He didn't want to sleep.
The bear began to comb Umka's fluffy fur with her clawed paw. She didn't have another comb. Then she washed it with her tongue.
Umka didn’t want to wash. He turned around, turned his head away, and the bear held him with a heavy paw.
“Tell me about the fish,” Umka asked.
“Okay,” the polar bear agreed and began to talk about the fish. - In a distant warm sea, where there are no ice floes, there lives a sad sunfish. It is large, round and only swims straight.
And cannot dodge the shark fish's teeth. That's why it's sad.
Umka listened attentively and sucked his paw. Then he said:
What a pity that the sun is a fish and that a shark ate him. We sit in the dark.
Our sun is not a fish,” the bear objected. - It floats in the sky, in the blue upper sea. There are no sharks there. There are birds there.
When will it arrive?
“Sleep,” the polar bear said sternly. - When you wake up, there will be sun and it will be light.
Umka sighed, grumbled, tossed and turned and fell asleep...
He woke up because his nose itched. He opened his eyes slightly - the entire den was filled with a gentle bluish light. The walls, the ceiling were blue, and even the fur of the big bear was blue, as if it had been tinted blue.
What is this? - Umka asked and sat down on his hind legs.
“The sun,” answered the bear.
Has it arrived?
Is it blue and has a fish tail?
It's red. And he doesn't have any tail.
Umka did not believe that the sun was red and without a tail. He began to dig a way out of the den to see what the sun was like. The packed dense snow did not give way, white icy sparks flew from under the claws.
And suddenly Umka jumped back: the bright red sun hit him with a blinding ray. The little bear closed his eyes. And when he opened his eyes again, he felt happy and ticklish. And he sneezed. And, peeling off his sides, he got out of the den.
A fresh, elastic wind blew over the ground with a thin whistle. Umka put his nose up and smelled many smells: the smell of the sea, the smell of fish, the smell of birds, the smell of earth. These smells merged into one warm smell. Umka decided that this is what the sun smells like - a cheerful, dazzling fish that swims in the upper sea and is not afraid of a toothy shark.
Umka ran in the snow, fell, rolled head over heels, and had a lot of fun. He walked to the sea, put his paw in the water and licked it. The paw turned out to be salty. I wonder if the upper sea is also salty?
Then the bear cub saw smoke above the rocks, was very surprised and asked the polar bear:
What's there?
People,” she answered.
Who are these people?
The bear scratched behind her ear and said:
People are bears who walk on their hind legs all the time and can take off their skin.
And I want to,” said Umka and immediately tried to stand on his hind legs.
But standing on my hind legs turned out to be very uncomfortable.
There is nothing good in people,” the bear reassured him. - They smell like smoke. And they cannot waylay a seal and kill it with a blow of their paw.
Can I? - asked Umka.
Try. You see, among the ice there is a round window into the sea. Sit at this window and wait. When the seal peeks out, hit it with your paw.
Umka easily jumped onto the ice floe and ran towards the ice hole. His paws did not move apart, because hair grew on his feet - he was wearing felt boots.
The bear cub reached the hole and lay down at its edge. He tried not to breathe. Let the seal think that he is not Umka, but a snowdrift and that the snowdrift has neither claws nor teeth. But the seal didn’t show up!
Instead, a big bear came. She said:
You don't know how to do anything. You can’t even catch a seal!
There are no seals here! - Umka growled.
There is a seal. But she sees you. Cover your nose with your paw.
Nose? Paw? For what?
Umka opened his small eyes wide and looked at his mother in surprise.
“You are all white,” said my mother, “and the snow is white, and the ice is white.”
And everything around is white. And only your nose is black. He gives you away. Cover it with your paw.
Do bears that walk on their hind legs and skin also cover their noses with their paws? - asked Umka.
The bear did not answer. She went fishing. She had five fishhooks on each paw.
The cheerful sunfish swam across the upper blue sea, and around there was less and less snow and more land. The shore began to turn green.
Umka decided that his skin would also turn green. But it remained white, only slightly yellowed.
With the appearance of the sun, an interesting life began for Umka. He ran on ice floes, climbed rocks and even plunged into the icy sea. He wanted to meet strange bears - people. He kept asking the bear about them:
Aren't they found in the sea?
Mother shook her head:
They will drown in the sea. Their fur is not covered with fat, it immediately becomes icy and heavy. They are found on the shore near the smoke.
One day, Umka escaped from the big bear and, hiding behind the rocks, went towards the smoke to see strange bears. He walked for a long time until he found himself in a snowy clearing with dark islands of earth. Umka brought his nose to the ground and sucked in air. The earth smelled delicious. The little bear even licked it.
And then he saw an unfamiliar bear cub on two legs. The reddish skin glistened in the sun, and no hair grew on the cheeks and chin. And the nose was not black - pink.
Throwing his hind legs forward, Umka ran towards the two-legged bear cub. The stranger noticed Umka, but for some reason he did not run towards him, but took off running. Moreover, he ran not on four legs, as was more convenient and faster, but on two hind legs. He waved the front ones around without any benefit.
Umka hurried after him. Then the strange bear cub, without stopping, pulled off his skin and threw it on the snow - exactly as the bear had said. Umka ran to the shed skin.
Has stopped. Sniffed it. The skin was tough, the short pile glittered in the sun. “It’s a good skin,” thought Umka, “but where’s the tail?”
Meanwhile, the stranger ran away quite far. Umka set off in pursuit. And because he ran on four legs, he soon approached the biped again. Then he threw it into the snow...
front feet. The feet were without claws. This also surprised Umka.
Then the two-legged bear threw off its head. But the head turned out to be...
empty: no nose, no mouth, no teeth, no eyes. Only large flat ears dangled on the sides, and each ear had a thin tail. All this was very interesting and curious. Umka, for example, could not shed his skin or empty head.
Finally he caught up with the biped. He immediately fell to the ground. And he froze, as if he wanted to waylay the seal. Umka leaned towards his cheek and sniffed it. The strange bear didn't smell like smoke - it smelled like milk. Umka licked him on the cheek. The biped opened his eyes, black, with long eyelashes. Then he stood up and jumped to the side.
And Umka stood still and admired. When a white, smooth, completely hairless paw reached out to Umka, the little bear even whined with joy.
Then they walked together across a snowy clearing, along earthen islands, and the two-legged bear cub picked up everything that he had thrown away. He put an empty head with flat ears on his head, pulled his feet without claws onto his paws and climbed into the skin, which turned out to be without a tail, not even a small one.
They came to the sea, and Umna invited his new friend to swim. But he remained on the shore. The bear cub swam for a long time, dived and even caught a silver fish with its claw. But when he came ashore, his new acquaintance was not there. He probably ran to his den. Or he went hunting in a clearing, hoping to meet a two-legged friend. He sniffed, but the wind did not smell of smoke or milk.
The red sunfish swam across the blue upper sea-sky.
And there was a big endless day. The darkness completely disappeared. And the den began to melt and filled with blue water. But when there is sun, a den is not needed.
Current page: 1 (book has 1 pages in total)
Yakovlev Yuri
Umka
Yuri Yakovlevich Yakovlev
FOUR LEGGED FRIENDS
– Do you know how to build a good den? I'll teach you. You'll need this. You need to dig a small hole with your claws and lie down in it more comfortably. The wind will whistle above you, and snow flakes will fall on your shoulders. But you lie there and don’t move. The back, paws, and head will be hidden under the snow. Don’t worry, you won’t suffocate: warm breath will create an outlet in the snow. The snow will cover you tightly. You will lie down on your sides and your paws will go numb. Be patient, be patient, until a huge snowdrift grows above you. Then start tossing and turning. Toss and turn as hard as you can. Crush the snowy walls with your sides. Then stand on all fours and arch your back: raise the ceiling higher. If you are not lazy, you will have a good den. Spacious and warm, just like ours.
So the polar bear taught the little bear Umka, and he lay on the side of her warm furry belly and impatiently kicked his hind legs, as if he was riding a bicycle.
It was warm in the den. It was a long, warm night outside.
And the stars did not shine through the dense snow roof.
“It’s time to sleep,” said the bear.
Umka didn’t answer, he just started shaking his paws harder. He didn't want to sleep.
The bear began to comb Umka's fluffy fur with her clawed paw. She didn't have another comb. Then she washed it with her tongue.
Umka didn’t want to wash. He turned around, turned his head away, and the bear held him with a heavy paw.
“Tell me about the fish,” Umka asked.
“Okay,” the polar bear agreed and began to talk about the fish. – In a distant warm sea, where there are no ice floes, there lives a sad sunfish. It is large, round and only swims straight.
And cannot dodge the shark fish's teeth. That's why it's sad.
Umka listened attentively and sucked his paw. Then he said:
- What a pity that the sun is a fish and that a shark ate him. We sit in the dark.
“Our sun is not a fish,” the bear objected. - It floats in the sky, in the blue upper sea. There are no sharks there. There are birds there.
- When will it arrive?
“Sleep,” the polar bear said sternly. – When you wake up, there will be sun and it will be light.
Umka sighed, grumbled, tossed and turned and fell asleep...
He woke up because his nose itched. He opened his eyes slightly - the entire den was filled with a gentle bluish light. The walls, the ceiling were blue, and even the fur of the big bear was blue, as if it had been tinted blue.
- What is this? – Umka asked and sat down on his hind legs.
“The sun,” answered the bear.
- Has it arrived?
- It has risen!
– Is it blue and with a fish tail?
- It's red. And he doesn't have any tail.
Umka did not believe that the sun was red and without a tail. He began to dig a way out of the den to see what the sun was like. The packed dense snow did not give way, white icy sparks flew from under the claws.
And suddenly Umka jumped back: the bright red sun hit him with a blinding ray. The little bear closed his eyes. And when he opened his eyes again, he felt happy and ticklish. And he sneezed. And, peeling off his sides, he got out of the den.
A fresh, elastic wind blew over the ground with a thin whistle. Umka put his nose up and smelled many smells: the smell of the sea, the smell of fish, the smell of birds, the smell of earth. These smells merged into one warm smell. Umka decided that this is what the sun smells like - a cheerful, dazzling fish that swims in the upper sea and is not afraid of a toothy shark.
Umka ran in the snow, fell, rolled head over heels, and had a lot of fun. He walked to the sea, put his paw in the water and licked it. The paw turned out to be salty. I wonder if the upper sea is also salty?
Then the bear cub saw smoke above the rocks, was very surprised and asked the polar bear:
- What's there?
“People,” she answered.
-Who are these people?
The bear scratched behind her ear and said:
– People are bears who walk on their hind legs all the time and can take off their skin.
“And I want to,” said Umka and immediately tried to stand on his hind legs.
But standing on my hind legs turned out to be very uncomfortable.
“There is nothing good in people,” the bear reassured him. “They smell like smoke.” And they cannot waylay a seal and kill it with a blow of their paw.
- Can I? – asked Umka.
- Try. You see, among the ice there is a round window into the sea. Sit at this window and wait. When the seal peeks out, hit it with your paw.
Umka easily jumped onto the ice floe and ran towards the ice hole. His paws did not move apart, because hair grew on his feet - he was wearing felt boots.
The bear cub reached the hole and lay down at its edge. He tried not to breathe. Let the seal think that he is not Umka, but a snowdrift and that the snowdrift has neither claws nor teeth. But the seal didn’t show up!
Instead, a big bear came. She said:
- You don’t know how to do anything. You can’t even catch a seal!
- There are no seals here! - Umka growled.
- There is a seal. But she sees you. Cover your nose with your paw.
- Nose? Paw? For what?
Umka opened his small eyes wide and looked at his mother in surprise.
“You’re all white,” said mom, “and the snow is white, and the ice is white.”
And everything around is white. And only your nose is black. He gives you away. Cover it with your paw.
– Do bears that walk on their hind legs and remove their skin also cover their noses with their paws? – asked Umka.
The bear did not answer. She went fishing. She had five fishhooks on each paw.
The cheerful sunfish swam across the upper blue sea, and around there was less and less snow and more land. The shore began to turn green.
Umka decided that his skin would also turn green. But it remained white, only slightly yellowed.
With the appearance of the sun, an interesting life began for Umka. He ran on ice floes, climbed rocks and even plunged into the icy sea. He wanted to meet strange bears - people. He kept asking the bear about them:
- Aren’t they found in the sea?
Mother shook her head:
- They will drown in the sea. Their fur is not covered with fat, it immediately becomes icy and heavy. They are found on the shore near the smoke.
One day, Umka escaped from the big bear and, hiding behind the rocks, went towards the smoke to see strange bears. He walked for a long time until he found himself in a snowy clearing with dark islands of earth. Umka brought his nose to the ground and sucked in air. The earth smelled delicious. The little bear even licked it.
And then he saw an unfamiliar bear cub on two legs. The reddish skin glistened in the sun, and no hair grew on the cheeks and chin. And the nose was not black - pink.
Throwing his hind legs forward, Umka ran towards the two-legged bear cub. The stranger noticed Umka, but for some reason he did not run towards him, but took off running. Moreover, he ran not on four legs, as was more convenient and faster, but on two hind legs. He waved the front ones around without any benefit.
Umka hurried after him. Then the strange cub, without stopping, pulled off his skin and threw it on the snow - exactly as the bear had said. Umka ran to the shed skin.
Has stopped. Sniffed it. The skin was tough, the short pile glittered in the sun. “It’s a good skin,” thought Umka, “but where’s the tail?”
Meanwhile, the stranger ran away quite far. Umka set off in pursuit. And because he ran on four legs, he soon approached the biped again. Then he threw it into the snow...
front feet. The feet were without claws. This also surprised Umka.
Then the two-legged bear threw off its head. But the head turned out to be...
empty: no nose, no mouth, no teeth, no eyes. Only large flat ears dangled on the sides, and each ear had a thin tail. All this was very interesting and curious. Umka, for example, could not shed his skin or empty head.
Finally he caught up with the biped. He immediately fell to the ground. And he froze, as if he wanted to waylay the seal. Umka leaned towards his cheek and sniffed it. The strange bear didn't smell like smoke - it smelled like milk. Umka licked him on the cheek. The biped opened his eyes, black, with long eyelashes. Then he stood up and jumped to the side.
And Umka stood still and admired. When a white, smooth, completely hairless paw reached out to Umka, the little bear even whined with joy.
Then they walked together across a snowy clearing, along earthen islands, and the two-legged bear cub picked up everything that he had thrown away. He put an empty head with flat ears on his head, pulled his feet without claws onto his paws and climbed into the skin, which turned out to be without a tail, not even a small one.
They came to the sea, and Umna invited his new friend to swim. But he remained on the shore. The bear cub swam for a long time, dived and even caught a silver fish with its claw. But when he came ashore, his new acquaintance was not there. He probably ran to his den. Or he went hunting in a clearing, hoping to meet a two-legged friend. He sniffed, but the wind did not smell of smoke or milk.
The red sunfish swam across the blue upper sea-sky.
And there was a big endless day. The darkness completely disappeared. And the den began to melt and filled with blue water. But when there is sun, a den is not needed.
The ice has moved far from the coast. And the lower sea became clear, like the upper one.
One day the big bear said:
“It’s time, Umka, to move onto the ice floe.” We will sail with you across all the northern seas.
– Do two-legged bears swim on ice floes? – asked Umka.
“Only the bravest ones swim,” answered the mother.
Umka thought that maybe he would meet his new friend on an ice floe in the northern seas, and immediately agreed to move to a new place. But before setting off, I asked, just in case:
– The shark won’t eat me?
The bear growled quietly and laughed:
“You’re not a sad sunfish.” You're a polar bear!
And then, not a single shark has ever swum into our cold sea.
Mother and son approached the water. We looked back at our native places.
And they swam. Ahead is a bear, behind her is Umka. They sailed for a long time on the cold sea. They felt warm in warm skins, greased with lard. A white field of ice appeared in the distance.
Umka and her mother, like all polar bears, began to live on ice floes.
They hunted and fished. And the ice floated and floated, taking them further from their native shore...
Winter has come. The cheerful sunfish swam somewhere along the upper sea. And again it became dark for a long time. In the polar night neither Umka nor the bear are visible. But bright northern stars lit up in the sky.
Two star scoops appeared. The big dipper is Ursa Major, the small one is Ursa Minor.
And when the two-legged bear cub - a boy who lives on the shore - goes out into the street, he looks for a small ladle with his eyes and remembers Umka. It seems to him that it is Umka who is walking across the high sky, and that Mother Ursa Major is walking with him.
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