The Gingerbread House

Once upon a time there lived a brother Vanya and sister Masha.

One day they went berry picking to the forest. They walked and walked through the forest, looking for berries. Suddenly they came to a little house, standing in the middle of the forest opening. Curious, the children came closer and discovered that it’s a special little house. The house was made out of gingerbread dough. It smelled sweet, sparked with shiny frosting, and gleamed with bright colors of the candy drop roof.

The children ran up to the house in excitement. They were braking off candy drops and filling their pockets.

Little did they know that the cottage house belonged to a bear. The bear heard the noise of his roof braking. He roared angrily, “What are you doing here?”

Frightened by the roar, Vanya and Masha took off running as fast as they could. The bear ran after them. He was enraged and determined to catch the trespassers.

Vanya and Masha were getting tired, the bear was getting closer.  Suddenly, they ran into a hazel tree. The children stopped and asked, “Hazel tree, hazel tree, please help us hide. There is an angry bear running after us!”

The hazel tree hid the children, so when the bear was passing by he didn’t notice anyone.

The bear ran and ran. Then he stalled, confused to see that there was no one to chase on the road. He turned around.

Meanwhile, Vanya and Masha took another path to get to the river. The bear saw them and sprinted toward the children ever so fast. The brother and sister saw a flock of ducks in the water. The children asked the ducks, “Dear ducks, dear ducks, please help us get to the other side of the river. There is an angry bear running after us!”

The ducks lined up side by side, creating a bridge for the brother and sister to walk to the other side of the river.

The bear was so close that in a split minute the children got to the other bank of the river, the heavy bear foot stepped on the first duck. The ducks took off in the air.

With the hundreds big and small splashes the bear plopped down in the water. The river picked him up and carried down with the flow far, far away, all the way to the big blue sea.

Vanya and Masha decided to return to the gingerbread house. They offered the ducks to come along.

At the gingerbread house they ate and snacked, they joked and laughed, and they lived happily ever after.

THE END