\u23f1 ~4 min reading<\/p>\n\n\n
Marinka was walking home from kindergarten with her mother when she saw a big dog in the neighboring yard. Not like the little Sharyk at her grandmother's \u2014 the one the size of a sofa cushion. But a real big one. Black and white. With paws like an adult's palms, with ears that drooped, and with a tail that slowly waggled back and forth.<\/p>\n\n
The dog stood on the path and looked at Marinka.<\/p>\n\n
Marinka froze. She squeezed her mother's hand tightly.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Mom.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 I see, daughter.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 I want to run away.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 No need to run away.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Why?<\/p>\n\n
Mom sat down next to her. Marinka could see her mother's earrings\u2014small silver drops that swayed slightly.<\/p>\n\n
"Because when you run away, the dog thinks they're playing with him. And he runs after you. That's how dogs do it.".<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 What to do?<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Stand still. Look calmly. Don't wave your arms. Like a tree.<\/p>\n\n
Marinka thought. A tree. Like a tree. Trees are not afraid, even though all kinds of dogs run past them.<\/p>\n\n
At that moment, a man in a sweater emerged from the neighboring yard. Tall, kind, with a slightly gray beard. He held a leash in his hand\u2014blue, soft.<\/p>\n\n
"Don't be afraid," the man said. "It's Lord. He's good. Just great.".<\/p>\n\n
The lord heard his name and turned his head. He approached the man. The man fastened the leash to the collar.<\/p>\n\n
"Can I..." Marinka began in a thin voice.<\/p>\n\n
Mom looked questioningly.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Can I\u2026 take a look?<\/p>\n\n
The man smiled.<\/p>\n\n
"You can. Come up slowly. Hold out your hand. Not on top of the head\u2014dogs don't like that\u2014but from the side, towards the nose. Let him sniff.".<\/p>\n\n
Marinka took a step. A small one. Then another. Her heart was beating loudly\u2014Marinka thought Lord could hear it. But Lord didn't move. He stood still, only wagging his tail\u2014here and there.<\/p>\n\n
Marinka held out her hand. A small one, with pink polish on one nail \u2014 it was Grandma's joke yesterday.<\/p>\n\n
The Lord tilted his head. A wet black nose touched Marin's palm. Once. Then again. Then a hot pink tongue licked her hand.<\/p>\n\n
Licked! Like a true friend!<\/p>\n\n
Marinka laughed \u2014 unexpectedly for herself.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 He licked me!<\/p>\n\n
\u00abBecause he liked you,\u00bb the man said. \u201cThat\u2019s how the Lord says \u2018hello.\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n\n
Marinka gently stroked Lord's neck. The fur was soft as a rug. Lord closed one eye, content.<\/p>\n\n
"Why did I think he was angry?"<\/p>\n\n
"Because it's big," the man explained. "Big doesn't mean bad. Big is just big. And bad or good is a different matter.".<\/p>\n\n
Marinka nodded. It seemed important to her - and she remembered it.<\/p>\n\n
On the way home, Marinka walked next to her mother and thought. She thought about Lord. About the wet nose. About the pink tongue.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Mom.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 What, daughter?<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 I almost ran away.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Yes.<\/p>\n\n
"And if I had run away, Lord wouldn't have licked me. And I wouldn't have known that he was good.".<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Yes, my daughter.<\/p>\n\n
"So running away is worse than standing still?"<\/p>\n\n
Mom thought.<\/p>\n\n
"Not always. Sometimes we have to run away\u2014if something is really dangerous. But often, often\u2014what we fear is actually good. And when we stand still\u2014it shows itself to us.".<\/p>\n\n
Marinka nodded.<\/p>\n\n
At home, Marinka drew a picture of Lord. Black and white, with hanging ears, and a pink tongue. She drew herself next to him, small, with her hand outstretched. In the picture, Lord was kind\u2014it was clear from his smiling mouth and cheerful eyes.<\/p>\n\n
Mom hung the picture on the refrigerator, next to a magnet in the shape of a ladybug.<\/p>\n\n
From then on, whenever Marinka met dogs in the yard \u2014 even big ones \u2014 she would stop. She would look at the owner. She would ask: \u00abCan I?\u00bb And if she could \u2014 she would hold out her hand, as she was taught. Because she knew: calm is also courage. And also \u2014 calm opens the door to new friends.<\/p>\n\n\n
\ud83d\udca1 Calmness is also courage.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n
A big dog appeared in the yard. At first, Marinka wanted to run away. But she stood still, stretched out her hand \u2014 and the dog turned out to be a true gentle friend.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":3335,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","rank_math_description":"","rank_math_title":"","rank_math_focus_keyword":""},"class_list":["post-2438","istoriya","type-istoriya","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/istoriya\/2438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/istoriya"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/istoriya"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}