The Story of Helly part 5/7
The old man said: “No,
I’ll send you any place you want to go in my garden, but you can’t go home
until you appreciate it.”
“Well then,” said
Helly, “at least put me where there are other
children to play with.”
The old man said: “All right, if that’s what you want. But what will happen
if you start bothering them?”
“Oh,” said Helly, “I
promise not to do that.” But to herself she said: “Maybe I couldn’t cope with the birds but I can certainly handle children. I’ll make them so tired of me they’ll beg the old man
to send me home.”
But the old man knew what she was thinking and said: “So it’s to the children you go, but you won’t be able to talk to them. They’ll be able to look at you but not to hear anything you say.” Then he closed his eyes and said: “Let this little girl be turned into a picture, a picture of a little girl just like Helly, a picture in a book for children.”
“No, no,” Helly shouted. But even as she was speaking she became smaller and smaller, and then she suddenly found that she had become a picture in a picture book. The name of the book was
The Stor2 of Helly. Then the old
man took
the book to a bookshop and asked the owner of the shop to sell it.
The Story of Helly, with the picture of Helly in it, was
in the bookshop for a long, long
time. It became all dusty, and no
matter how she shouted, she was only a
picture and no one could hear her voice.
Finally one day a young boy picked up the book and decided to buy
it. He took the book home and showed
it to the children in his neighborhood. Helly tried and tried to call out to them, but they couldn’t hear a word she said.
One day when the boy was
reading the book he stopped to
look at the picture of Helly. He said: “But
she’s so pale. I know what I’ll do-I’ll color her.” So he got out his colored pencils and started coloring Helly. The pencils were
very sharp and hurt Helly’s face very
much. Shouting out with pain, she began
wishing very hard that
the old man would come. She’d
tell him how sorry she was and
promise to be good.
At this moment the
old man appeared and said loudly:
“Helly, come here to me. I want to talk to you. Come out of that book.”
And suddenly Helly was out of the book and back in the garden, The old man asked her how she was and if she had had a good time with the other children.
Looking around at the garden, the birds, and the sky, Helly said: “How can I tell you, old man? My whole body hurts
horribly. I’ve been colored yellow,
blue, green, red, white, black,
purple, and pink. Please take pity on me. Isn’t it time for me to go
home now?”
The old man said: “No, Helly. It’s still too soon for you to go home. You don’t really appreciate it yet. So where would you like to live now? There are many nice places in my garden here. The garden is full of parrots and nightingales. And there’s my beautiful palace. What else could
you
want?”
Helly answered: “Please, old man, let me go, and keep your
garden for yourself. Keep your old
flowers and parrots and nightingales.
I don’t want to live in a white marble palace. Please
send me back to my own home.
Please, please !” But the old man shook his head and said: “No, not
home, but I’ll send you any place else that you want.”
Helly said: “Well, then, send me back to play with the other children, but please make it so that they can hear my voice.”
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