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?”
Helly, feeling very sad and lonely, answered: “It makes no difference to me. I’m the way I am and as long as I live I won’t change.”
The old man laughed
and said: “I tell you, there’re ways to make you change your mind. I’ll
turn you into a chicken and send you to
live in a cage with the other
birds-with the hens and the
roosters and the doves. Let’s see if you can bother them.”
Helly said: “I’m the way I am and as
long as I live I won’t change. I’ll
peck the chickens and the doves, peck
their eyes right out.”
The old man only
looked at her. Then he raised his
head and called out: “Can you hear me,
hens? Can you hear me, roosters? Can you hear me, doves? Here’s Helly, whom I’m leaving with you. Let us see how she gets
along with all of you.”
Helly sat herself down on
the ground, saying: “I’m the way I am and as long as I live I won’t change.” But as she spoke
she was turning into a short-legged
chicken’ Instead of her smooth black hair, she now had a black crest on her head. Instead o[ her bright red dress, her body was now covered with red
feathers.
The old man called a boy and said to him: “Take this Short-legged, black-crested,
red-feathered hen and lock her up in the bird cage.”
The boy caught Helly by the
legs and threw her into the cage,
which was made of gold and silver. The chickens
and the doves in the cage took
one look at Helly and didn’t like her at all. They flew at her and pecked at
her head and clawed at her back. It was
terrible, and soon she had a bad
headache. She cried and wept, she sat down and she stood up, and she could
see that
the roosters were much stronger
than she. Then she ran away into a distant corner of the cage and tried
to take refuge from the other birds.
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