illustrated and written by Olesia Sekeresh
Chicken Sofijka
illustrated and written by Olesia Sekeresh
Chicken Sofijka
Dedicated to Sophia and Pavla
Once upon a time there lived a little baby chick whose name was Sophijka and who lived with her wise mother hen. She had six older brothers who were so courageous that each morning they would fly over a tall currant bush to take a peek at a whole wide world outside the yard‌
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Little Sophijka was the only one who couldn’t fly and follow her brothers, because her tiny baby wings were much weaker than everybody else’s. One day a bright green caterpillar with eyes as big as saucers flew over the yard, and brothers decided to play with it. Sophijka wanted to follow them, and she was so desperate to do so that she gathered all the strength her tiny wings had and rose above the fence, but immediately fell in a wicker basket on the other side… This is how her journey began…
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Then all the movement stopped … Silence hung in the air… The little chick decided it was her chance and quickly jumped out of the basket to look around, while someone’s hand brought the wicker vehicle up and took it away…
Squeezed between bright orange carrots Sophijka couldn’t flutter a feather on her tiny wings. She felt that someone picked her basket from the ground and was taking it somewhere. Pitter-patter on the grass – argh! Where are you taking me? All she could see were clouds reflected in a small crystal ball, their quirky shapes constantly changing, from butterfly into a turtle and from the turtle into a watering can…
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Ooh! But this is the rabbits’ place… Sofijka recognized a rabbit she knew very well – a godfather of her older brother Chorik… She came up to the lattice window, greeted the rabbit and asked him, if it was far from her home… The rabbit answered that it would take a long time to get back… Poor Sofijka had no idea where to go, and asked the rabbit to show her the way… Unfortunately Chorik’s godfather couldn’t provide any such help as his house was closed at all times except when the farmer opened it at certain times… There was nothing left for her but try and find the way herself. And Sofijka decided to do exactly that.
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Sofijka started digging around with her tiny beak, and soon a whole lot of bizarre creatures crawled out of the ground. “Who are you?” wondered Sofijka. “We are root warms, we live in the ground,” they answered. “What brought you here, little girl?” “I ’m looking for my home.” “Well, we can show you the way to the oak where a little birdie Know-it-all lives. She can help you because she flies everywhere and knows very much.” The worms lead the way, and Sofijka followed them on her unsteady wiry legs.
As she was walking a bumpy road across beetroot field, she caught a glance of a very strange creature which seemed to be constantly diving to and out of the ground. Interested, Sofijka ran toward the creature, but at seeing her, the creature vanished.
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As they reached a linden tree, though, it started to rain so hard that the ground melted underneath, and the worms hid without as much as a goodbye. Sofijka was very upset and called for Know-It-All. The birdie took pity of a little wet chick. She flew over to Sofijka, asked her to sit on a burdock leaf and saying “Hold tight!� carried Sofijka together with the leaf up into her nest.
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When the sun rose and the rain stopped they set off to look for Sofijka’s home. Sofijka reached the ground on a maple leaf parachute as the birdie fluttered over her. So and so they spent the night in the birdie’s cramped home, crowded with birdie’s squeaking babies.
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Sofijka still couldn’t remember a single bush around when she suddenly saw the caterpillar which was looking for something to eat. Sofijka instantly recognized her, it was the very caterpillar that was to blame for all these misfortunes. Pretentious caterpillar knew the exact road to Sofijka’s home, but had her own plans and agreed to help the little chick only up to the old rock, where “Sofijka could find her home perfectly well.” As they reached the rock, the caterpillar went her own way and Sofijka set out to find hers.
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By and by Sofijka struggled through the thick grass, knowing brothers would be upset and looking for her too. And she was right. Brothers had been looking for her all night‌ and they found her!!! Imagine everyone’s joy!!! As they met, brothers hugged Sofijka tight and promised to never leave her out of their games.
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The children ran home as fast as they could to cheer their mother, who had already stirred up all the neighbors to help find her little girl‌ Sofijka was home at last! And everyone was beside themselves with happiness!
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