The Story of Helly part 7/7

The Story of Helly part 7/7

The old man closed his eyes and said  loudly:  “Let Helly be young and beautiful just as she was the  first day she came here.”

Helly  looked  and saw  that everything  was as before,  as though she had just stepped into the garden. And  there, coming  out of the distant flowers, was her mother  running toward  her. Helly  ran to meet her. They hugged each other, crying with happiness  and laughing with  joy.

Helly said: “Mother, Mother,  please don’t send me away from home any more. I don’t want a garden  full of  flowers. I don’t want parrots and nightingales.  I don’t want  to be painted,  nor  to be hit ‘ding, dang, dong.’ Please  take me home.  . . .”

Helly’s mother was shaking Helly and saying:  “Helly, Helly, wake up. It’s morning  and  the sun  is shining. You’ve  had quite enough sleep.”

The Story of Helly part 6/7

The Story of Helly part 6/7

The old man said:  “All right, then, that’s what  I’ll do.” Helly said to herself  “If  the children can hear me,  I’ll scream so hard  that they’ll get  tired of me and ask  the old man to send me home.”

But  the old man knew what she was thinking and said:

“All right, I’ll make  it so the children  not only can hear you but will like your screams as well.”

Then he said with a loud voice: “Helly, become a sounding iron.” And with  these words Helly found  that she had been turned into a big flat piece of iron.

Then  the old man took Helly to the nearby schoolyard  and hung her up by a chain  to be used as a school bell. When  it was  time  for  recess, the school  janitor  took a big club and banged  on the sounding-iron so hard  that Helly shouted: “My belly! My belly! Ding, dang, dong!” Over and over again: “My belly ! My belly! Ding, dang, dong!”

And at the sound of Helly’s screams  the children ran out of their  classrooms onto  the playground.  They clapped their hands,  laughed,  played,  and danced, delighted  to be outdoors and free of their studies.

The Story of Helly part 5/7

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.”

The Story of Helly part 4/7

The Story of Helly part 4/7

Presently the boy brought  some grain  to feed  the birds’ They swarmed  around  the  feeding  tray and began gobbling up the grain. When Helly came and tried  to get a bite,  they flew at her again. And again  she had  to retreat  to the far corner of the cage, where she sat and thought how hungry

she was.

She said  to herself:  “What a world  ! What a horrible world  ! Nobody ever worries about me. Nobody  ever  thinks  that I too need  food and water.  I’m all alone here.”

Then she went and asked  the other birds  to please give her some of the grain and let her have some water,  but they didn’t  answer. None  of  the hens and  roosters  and doves took pity on her. Instead, whenever Helly came  near  them  they would peck her on the head. They pecked her so much  that part of  the crest  fell off her head. And  finally she quit talking entirely, she quit walking around,  she quit pecking, and she quit begging  for food and water. All she did was sit  in her far corner of the cage and murmur:  “What  a world  ! What a horrible world ! No water,  no food.”

One day she  remembered  the old man and said  to herself: “I wish he were here now and would ask how I’m feeling. I’d tell him, all right, how horrible everything  is. I’d tell him  I’d do anything he wanted,  go wherever  he wanted me to go, if only he would set me free and let me be happy again.”

The Story of Helly part 3/7

The Story of Helly part 3/7

Her mother answered:  “This is the old man’s garden.”

But Helly couldn’t believe  that her mother would leave her here all alone  in a green and  flowery garden. So she laughed  and said: “I’m the way  I am and as long as I live I won’t change. If you leave me here,  I’ll bother  the old man so much  that he’ll get sick and tired of me and send me back home.”

Helly’s mother  said nothing and  took her  to the old man. He  lived  in a white marble palace  in the center  of the garden. Her mother greeted the old man, sat down, and said: “Well, old man,  I’11  leave my girl here with you. When she’s  learned to behave herself you can send her home.” Then  she got up, said good-bye, and started  to leave.

Helly yelled:  “Mother, Mother! I don’t want  to stay with this old man.  I don’t want  to stay here.”

But her mother  made no reply. She walked  on  into the garden  and disappeared  among  the flowers and trees. The old man said  to Helly:  “Well, baby, come  here. So here you are and here you stay. Now where would you like to live?”

The Story of Helly part 2/7

The Story of Helly part 2/7

One evening a wise old man  from a distant city came  to visit Helly’s mother. She  told  the old man how Helly bothered everyone,  even the dog, and how nobody  liked her. The old man thought  for a while and  then said:   “You know, I think your daughter  doesn’t appreciate her home and her neighborhood. If she did, she wouldn’t  be always bothering everyone. The trouble is that she has never been sad and unhappy  because  she was  lonely. Now, I  think you should  send her somewhere  far  from home where she would be by herself and very, very  lonely.”

Helly’s mother  laughed and said: “How could I send her away? Where could I send her  to be  lonely?  Is there a place where no one could hear her voice and her crying? Where? Where?”

The Story of Helly part 1/7

The Story of Helly

The Story of Helly part 1/7

It wasn’t a thousand years ago, nor a hundred years  either. It was  just two years ago or maybe last year.  In our neighborhood,  in our lane,  there  lived a girl whose name was Helly, and she was eight years old. As a matter of fact,  in our neighborhood,  in our lane, many boys and girls were living. There was a girl named Zari. Zai did embroidery  and a little housework. She also washed dishes,  brought  tea, and washed the cups and saucers  occasionally,  but she could not clean  greasy plates very well.

Another girl was called Lilly. She sang songs. She had memorized several  long  songs. Whenever anyone  asked her, she would sing one of these songs. But she never  sang when she was by herself, nor did she sing when her brother was studying or doing his homework.