Autumn was approaching with unstoppable steps. The morning was shrouded in a cold, opaque, fluffy mist. The grass was drowning in drops of dew as big as glass balls after a night’s bath. But today was quite different, like painted in summer. The blue sky was high and the sun was sending shimmering hot rays to the people. In short, it turned out to be a beautiful babolet day. In the small village of Drahelčice, not far from the big city of Prague, Anička was playing with dolls in the garden. She just started first grade. She taught the dolls how to sit properly at the school desk, how to prepare notebooks, a pencil case and pay attention to the teacher’s explanation. Neighbor Tomáš was watching her from hiding. A freckled boy with dark piercing eyes, disheveled locks and a perpetually dirty face. He didn’t like school, he didn’t have friends, he only liked himself and hurt others. He was feared and avoided by everyone. Meeting Tomáš always meant some inconvenience. Now Tomáš was watching Anička closely and was already thinking of the worst thing he could do to her.
Meanwhile, in the sky, the heavenly gardener was watering his beloved fragrant roses. He lovingly cared for all the flowers in the open sky. He created images from their multi-colored flowers that delight the human eye when looking at the heavenly beauty. It’s a spectacle, such blushes! With autumn, the roses slowly began to prepare for winter rest, and no matter how hard the gardener tried, the rose flowers began to drop their petals. One by one they descended from heaven to earth to bring joy to the children of earth. What’s more, they had magical powers. Just one such petal landed on Anička’s palm. She raised her head to the sky in disbelief, “Where did you come from? Did you fall from the sky?” She was examining the rose petal. “It’s almost like a star has fallen from the sky. I should make a wish, as they always do when the stars fall.” She closed her eyes and whispered a wish: “I wish we had a doll’s house in the garden. We could all hide there every time it rains.” And wonder of the world, down in the garden, quite in a corner, by the fence, a beautifully painted and decorated with pink flowers appeared a doll’s house. The Drahelčice have never experienced this!
Thomas, crouching behind the fence, could not believe his eyes. “Wish granted, I’d use that!” He rubbed his hands together and hatched a plan to pull off a shenanigan the world had never seen before. “I need a rose petal!” He eagerly watched the sky. It wasn’t long before another petal fell from the sky. Tomas jumped up and caught him between his fingers. He scrunched up his face, grimaced and smiled slyly: “I wish that all the dark fairy-tale creatures would flock here to Drahelčice, let them roam, haunt and harm. This will be fun, everyone will finally see who Tomáš is and what I can do!”
At that moment, dark clouds began to gather in the sky, the whole sky turned gray and instantly turned into steel. And the silence! You could hear a pin drop. A hot day turned into a cold winter. And it started right away! Wizards and witches, melusins, heikals, wild women, kneelings, midges, hags, dragons, goblins and other vermin began to flock from all sides. Tomas crouched behind a bush and was hugged by fear. He didn’t expect this! The creatures were supposed to scare everyone else, not him. Meanwhile, the eerie silence was pierced by shrieks, screams, blows, scraping, squealing, mumbling, all the creatures were going back and forth and back and forth and up and down, spinning in a strange, wild dance. The magicians were preparing spells and lines, the wild girls beckoned Thomas with their sweet voices, the goblins were creating ghosts, and the huge spiders were weaving strong, terrifying webs.
Now Tomáš was narrowly missed by the hot, wild, flame that shot out of the dragon’s mouth. And that’s what Tomáš was really afraid of. His face fell in horror, he covered his eyes with his hands. He curled up in a ball and was already waiting for the wizard to turn him into a mouse, or even worse, dissolve him into water and he would merge with the Radotín Stream. Then he heard nothing, everything went silent. “It’s over with me,” thought Tomáš. Suddenly he felt someone taking his hand, stroking his hair and whispering in his ear: “Don’t worry, I took care of it.” It was Anička. As soon as it got dark, she noticed Tomáš in the bushes and realized that he was up to some kind of trick again. When she saw him huddled behind a bush, frightened, cowering in terror, clutching a rose petal in his hand, she guessed what had happened and knew she had to help him.
She pressed her magical rose petal to her lips and whispered: “Let all mischief disappear,” and by that she also meant that Tomáš would become her friend. And that really happened. They cemented their friendship with the secret of what happened that day. And they named the place where everything took place “Na Malé Růži”. In memory of the magical rose petals.
Author of the story: Jana Handlová
