Бесплатный фрагмент - Voks and the Magical Clock

Book Series: New Thinking

Synopsis

When little mouse Voks received a magical clock as a gift, he was first very happy, but then upset and even cried, as he thought its magic was useless. But it was not long before he was able to truly appreciate them, realizing what even many adults do not understand.

BOOK 1

Voks and the magical clock

Far, far away, on the other side of town or on the next street, or maybe even near your house, lives a little mouse named Voks.

For almost a year now, he has been going to forest school where he like all the other animals learns the wisdom of life. He carries everything he needs for classes in a roomy satchel with two large pockets. In the pockets the mousey keeps his treasures: candy wrappers, bolts and nuts, coloured glass and balloons. Girls like a lot of these things too but Voks is sure the boys need this kind of goodness a lot more.

It’s morning and our baby is fast asleep — he should be, he is so tired… Yesterday, it was his birthday, this most wonderful and long-awaited holiday.

The fun is over, but reminders of it remain. Most of all colourful confetti spread like a carpet all around him.

A morning ray of sunlight slid across the pillow, tickled the whiskers of a grown-up Voks, and woke him up entangled in his eyelashes.

The baby reached up, rubbed his eyes with his fists, and crawled out from under the covers.

He quickly tucked in his crib and looked around the room filled with open gift boxes. Nodding to himself in satisfaction, the mousey began to walk from one gift to another, taking out and examining the toys. A happy smile lit up his contented face brighter and brighter.

Suddenly Voks’ gaze slipped to the bookshelf. There was a small box nestled on it, perfectly intact, a gift from his grandmother.

«How come I didn’t open it?» the mousey wondered. And then he remembered the explosion of the firecracker that had distracted his attention, then his friends who had ridden into the room on a brand-new tricycle shouting «Congratulations!»

Having his curiosity fizzing, the kid hurriedly tore off the wrapping, opened the box, and peeked inside.

On the dark velvet covering the cardboard on the bottom, there was an old shabby watch. Not only was it unattractive, but it had only one hand instead of two.

Vox scratched the back of his head in surprise-«Maybe Grandma got it wrong?» — he thought. «Couldn’t she have given me a broken watch? It must have been packed by mistake.»

Still, yielding to natural curiosity, the mouse decided to try it on.

There was something peculiar, mysterious about that old watch.

As soon as the bracelet was on and clasped, the watch glowed brightly and immediately began to change in size, shape, and color. In the blink of an eye, the watch went from shabby to beautiful. However, still with only one hand on the dial.

— It’s magical! — Voks squeaked with admiration and immediately began to turn the screw of the winding mechanism. He pressed the dial, shook it, rubbed it, generally did whatever he thought would make the next miracle appear.

But no matter how hard he tried, nothing unusual happened anymore.

— What a gift! — The little mousey muttered disappointedly. — Is it really possible that all they can do is turn from old to new?

— The first hand does not turn, the second is not there at all… What kind of miracle is this supposed to be?

Angrily kicking the box with his paw, he noticed that a cardboard box, covered with velvet had fallen out followed by some paper note.

He unfolded the note and read the lines written in his grandmother’s neat handwriting: «This clock is magical! With the use of it you can become the most sensible and the wisest of all. Press the winding button and all living things will stop!»