The story that I want to tell you happened not too long ago in a city
so big that it takes many days if you try to cross it by bike. Even by
car it takes several hours.
This city is crammed full of life. Life that walks and stands and crawls,
strolls, creeps, jumps and sometimes even flies. Nobody knows how
many people exactly are living in this city, but there might be about
seven and onety three quarter phantastillion ten and one billion gillion tweleven million hundred and twenty-four thousand three hundred forty-eight and eleven.
There is rarely a house that does not have at least twenty stories to
accommodate all the people of the city.
And when you walk the streets of the city, the dizzy buzz of noises
becomes so loud from time to time that you have to cover your ears
for a bit to clear your head again.
In this city, there began a day
just like any other, a regular weekday,
when most of the people were running
errands early in the morning or going to
work. It must have been about seven a.m.,
when a small and slightly hunch-backed
snail was standing at a crosswalk.
It first looked to the right…
…and then to the left…
…and just
to be sure also up…
…and down.
You never know.
…and after it had convinced itself that all cars
were still quite far away, it started its journey.
And as it is common among all snaily creatures,
it was moving incredibly ...........s.....l....o....w.l.......y... It hadn’t even moved three inches
by the time everybody else had already crossed the
street and disappeared into the bustling crowds
on the other side. The first cars came, some with
silently squeaking tires, to a halt in front of the
crosswalk.... ...... …I know what you're expecting now:
people checking their wristwatches in annoyance,
noisy complaints, long blasts of honking, maybe
some random ruffian picking up the little snail to
carry it to the other side of the street hastily, so
that things could moveonfinallymoveon!
That's what you're counting on, right?
Nothing like that happened.
In a van that had stopped right in front of the crosswalk, there was a
small tree frog. His job was to forecast the weather every day (once in
the morning at six, then again at seven thirty, at noon and then again
at eight in the evening).
He was the only weather-frog far and wide, and this is why he was
broadcast on every TV channel in the city. The frog was about to
honk his horn – considering that it was seven already and his next
forecast was coming up in half an hour – when he saw, in his
rear-view mirror, how behind him the sun was rising slowly
and bathing all of the houses one by one in golden light.
He frowned and thought to himself: I'm always
talking about the weather. And I've been doing
this for so long now that I can't even recall the
last time that I actually felt and enjoyed the
weather. After all, there is no weather in the
weather studio.
He sat like that for a moment and then he
turned off the engine of his van, got out and
grabbed his weather-frog ladder to climb on
to the roof of a house.
And he picked the
highest one in the street.
About the same time, an Italian violin that
was famous well beyond the city limits,
got out of her limousine and asked the
driver to help her get on the roof of the
car so that everybody would see her.
«Signorina,» the driver piped up,
«The rehearsal at the Philharmonic!»
The violin wasn’t worried.
«At the Philharmonic, there are only
empty rows of chairs at this point of
the day. Some musically challenged
mice at best! But look around you
– this place is full of people!
There is no place nicer to play
than this!»
As she stood on the roof, she curtsied and
began to play for all the waiting people.
And even though the song was very new
(it wasn't to premiere until a week later and
she still needed some practice) everybody
was enchanted. They closed their eyes and
listened in awe.
There was a scuttling in an alley. A scuttling the likes of which
can only come from a many-legged creature. It was the cross
spider who usually is never seen during daylight. Mostly, she
spent nights annoying the tenants of the house by weaving
her threads across their windows and doors and even across
the street to make people trip. But now, to everybody's surprise,
she lowered herself from a drainpipe and listened with
half-closed eyes to the music of the famous Italian violin.
Then she picked up two long, thin sticks and started – her eyes
still halfway closed – knitting.
«What are you knitting? A scarf?» two penguins
called up to the spider from the windows of their car.
«It is still way too hot for a scarf,» replied the spider
in a friendly tone. «I'm not quite sure what it's
gonna be.» The penguins consulted
with each other briefly.
«Make a hammock!» one of them shouted.
«Yes, a hammock!» the other one backed him
up. And both climbed out of their car and
waddled awkwardly up to the spider.
«For the both of us!» they called out.
«So we can put it up over the street and sit
in it! And listen to the violin play and enjoy
the sun!»
And after a little pause one said to the other:
«And maybe we can play some cards.»
«We could play cards!» the other one shouted
to the spider and explained: «You know, we
work at the casino and there we can only
watch other people play. We're just the card
dealers!»
«Croupiers,» the other whispered to him.
«Croupiers!» the first one corrected himself
and then said, facing the spider: «Will you knit a hammock for us?»
The spider smiled a friendly smile.
Because spiders know how to work threads very
well, it wasn't long before the two penguins were
taking off their starched tuxedos and cozying up
in a big hammock, made out of soft spider wool.
While the weather-frog was sitting in the sun, and
while the violin was fiddling, and while the spider
was knitting, and while the penguins were playing
Go Fish and Rummy, at the crosswalk, in the third
row, the door of a red truck opened and a gargoyle
hopped out.
From the outside, gargoyles don't look much different
from average dragons, but instead of fire they
breathe – you guessed it: water.
Because of this special ability they usually work
with the fire department. Therefore, nobody was
surprised to see that this particular gargoyle was
traveling in a fire truck. With a steady hand he
extended the metal ladder that was part of the truck.
«What are you up to?» somebody asked him
– because there didn't appear to be a fire anywhere
nearby or a kitten stuck in a tree.
«I stand on this ladder all the time, but I've never
actually considered for a single moment just
enjoying the beautiful view!» said the gargoyle
with a grin. Then he started his climb.
And when he saw the big city spread out below
him in the warm sunlight, he was so full of joy
that he made a big cloud of shiny bubbles that
floated gently to the ground and burst with a
barely audible POP.
Many hours later, when the little
snail had finally reached the other
side of the street, the twilight of
night was already approaching.
«Good to see you – I've just
arrived, too!» the rabbit greeted.
He had been waiting for the snail
leaning against a light post.
«What should we do? Are you
hungry?»
«And how!» the snail sighed and
its gaze turned all dreamy at the
thought of fresh lettuce.
«I've been traveling for
quite a while…»
The weather frog decided to drive back to the
TV studio once again to make the last weather
forecast of the day. The next day would be sunny,
he knew that. After all, he had been watching
the sky all day. For the first time, he thought,
I have the feeling that I actually know what I'm
talking about.
Everybody else who had been waiting now continued
on their way, filled with happiness from the sun,
the music, and the bubbles. Some were carrying
hammocks or clothes under their arms that the
spider had made for them. The two casino penguins
collected their playing cards, slipped back into their
elegant tuxedos and gave their spot in the hammock
over to the fat cross spider. She made herself cozy
there and – tired from all her new impressions of
the city in the daylight – fell asleep happily.
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