The Picnic Mystery

Once there lived 4 children: Big Masha, Yulia, Matvae and Little Masha.  They loved to play together in the summer. They loved to pick dandelions and give them to their grand- mothers. They loved to watch butterflies sit on the dandelions.  Most of all, they loved to have picnics with lots and lots and LOTS of yummy food!

One sunny day they decided to have a picnic by the river at the edge of the village. It was a perfect day for a picnic. The sun was shining, the weather was warm, but not too hot, the birds were singing and there were no mosquitoes!
     First they put a big blanket on the ground.  Then they carefully put four cups and plates in the middle of the blanket, along with cucumbers, tomatoes, cheese and bread. They all sat down on the blanket to eat when Big Masha said, "Oh, we forgot the lemonade!"  
     Then Little Masha said, "And we forgot the strawberries!" 

Yulia said, "And we forgot our ice cream bars! We'll have to run home and get them."
     But Matvae said, "I didn't forget anything! I'm not going to run home! YOU all run home and I will wait here."
     Big Masha, Little Masha, and Yulia were not very happy with Matvae because they thought he should help too.  But they needed someone to guard the food so they told him to wait and guard everything.  "But don't eat anything until we get back!" said Big Masha.
     So Big Masha, Yulia and Little Masha ran off to Grandma Tanya's house to get the things they forgot.  While they were gone, Matvae had an idea.  He said, "Why don't I give them a surprise?!"  So Matvae quickly got up with a very big smile on his face.
     Fifteen minutes later Big Masha, Yulia and Little Masha returned to the river. Little Masha was the first to let out a scream, "Oh, look!  All our food is gone!"  Then Yulia said, "And Matvae is gone too."  Finally, Big Masha said, "I bet Matvae ate all our food and is hiding somewhere! Let's go find him and throw him in the river!"

But Yulia said, "I think it was that grey and white dog.  He ate our food. I don't like him. He ran after me yesterday. He's a bad dog."
     Little Masha said, "I'm hungry! Let's eat our strawberries and ice cream and then go find who ate our food!"
     So the 3 friends sat down to eat their strawberries and ice cream.  While they were eating, Little Masha said, "I think those 2 new boys in village took our food."    
     Yulia answered, "Why would they take our food? I'm sure it was the grey and white dog."
     Little Masha thought a minute. She was trying to remember a new word. Then she said, "I'm sure it was them. I heard Grandpa say their family hasn't adjusted to village life. It means they take things."
     Yulia quickly answered, "Masha, 'adjusted' doesn't mean 'take things'. It means they are still learning how to live in a village."
     Then Big Masha said, "No, I'm sure it was Matvae. He's always hungry!"
     Of course, they didn't really know who took their food. They were just guessing. 
     Who do you think took the food?  The dog? The neighbor boys? Matvae?  Someone else???

* * *   End of Part One   * * *

     Just then Matvae came running back with his surprise. He had a big smile on his face. But when he got to the picnic blanket, he let out a scream (вопль)!  His smile turned into a sad face.  "You ate all the food!" he said.  "You didn't save any for me!"     
     The 3 girls looked at each other and then at Matvae.  Big Masha said, "Matvae, we thought YOU ate all the food. You didn't eat our food?"
     "NO!  YOU ate all the food! Now I'm not going to share my surprise with you. You are all very mean (жестокий)."
     "No, no, Matvae," said Yulia.  "We are not mean, really (честно). We thought you ate all the food because it was gone when we got back!"
     "Then WHO ate our food?" asked Little Masha.
     Matvae said, "I think YOU all ate the food!" He wanted to cry because he was really sad and hungry. But he didn't want the girls to see him cry so he ran home.
     Now the girls were sad.  Little Masha said, "It was wrong to blame (обвинять), Matvae.  We should think of something nice to do for him."
     "Why don't we make him some macaroni and cheese?  He loves macaroni and cheese," said Big Masha.
     "That's a good idea," said Yulia. And so the girls ran off to Grandma Tanya's house to make macaroni and cheese.

By this time, Matvae was half way home and was still very sad.  "Why does everyone  blame me for bad things," he said to a goose walking by.  Just then, he looked up and saw some- thing run behind the woodpile (охапка дров) Grandpa Misha stacked (накапливать) by the barn.  So Matvae ran behind the woodpile to see what it was.  Suddenly his eyes got very big!  He could not believe what he was seeing behind the woodpile. It was the most special thing he had ever seen. So he quickly ran off to find the girls and tell them.

When Matvae got to Grandma Tanya's house, the macaroni and cheese was almost ready.  He ran into the kitchen and smelled it. A big smile came on his face.  He said to the girls, "Guess what!  I know who took our food!"
     "You do?!" said Big Masha.
     "Hurray!"  said Little Masha. "The mystery is solved."
     "Well, tell us!" said Yulia impatiently.

"It was a mother fox (лиса). She is very beautiful and she has 2 babies. She took the food for her babies."
     Yulia quickly said, "Matvae, don't lie! There are no foxes in Vetoshkino!"
     "Yes there are!" said Matvae. "I saw them! And they have our food."
     "Matvae, don't lie. Yulia is right. There are no foxes in Vetoshkino.  You are just saying that because you did take our food!"
     This time Matvae started to cry and ran out of the house. He didn't stop running until he got home.
     "Maybe Matvae is telling the truth," said Little Masha. "Maybe the 2 new neighbor boys brought the fox with them. Maybe she's their pet."
     "Don't be silly," said the big girls.
     "What a sad day," answered Little Masha.
     What do you think?  Did Matvae take the food?  Is he lying?  Or did a fox take the food?

* * *   End of Part Two   * * *

It was supposed to be a happy day but EVERYTHING was going wrong! The girls didn't even want to eat the macaroni and cheese they made because they were too sad.   
     Then Big Masha looked out the window and saw Big Sasha in the field.  Big Sasha took care of the sheep and cows in the village. Big Masha said, "Let's give the macaroni and cheese to Big Sasha.  He works hard all day.  I'm sure he's hungry."

     Yulia said, "That's a great idea!"

     So the girls took the hot pot of macaroni and cheese and a big spoon out to Sasha.  They even remembered to take him some lemonade.
     When Big Sasha saw them he said, "Hello! What do you have there?"
     "It's a pot of macaroni and cheese for you," said Big Masha.

     Big Sasha laughed and said, "What a good day this is!  I'm very hungry!  Thank you!"

     "No it's not a good day," said little Masha. "It's a terrible day."  

     "A terrible day, little one?  Why do you say that?"

     Then the girls told him everything that happened.  When they finished their story, Big Sasha started to laugh very hard!
     "Why are you laughing at us?" asked Yulia.  "Our story is very sad."

     "I'm laughing because you don't know what really happened."

     "Do you what happened?" asked little Masha.

     "Yes!  I know.  I was watching my sheep and I looked over by the river and saw lots of good food for a picnic, but no one was there!  I said to myself, I better hide this food up in a tree or the mother fox will come and get it for her babies.  So I put all your food up in a tree."

     "You mean, NO ONE ATE our food?!" asked Big Masha very shocked.

     "Go see for yourself," laughed Big Sasha.

     So the girls ran off to the river.  When they got there, they looked up into the big oak tree and saw all their food.  "But how are we going to get it?" asked Little Masha.

     "I'll go get Matvae," said Big Masha.  "He can climb trees well.  I'll tell him he can eat all he wants if he will get the food for us."
     Soon Big Masha came back with Matvae.  He climbed the tree and got all the food.  They put it on the picnic blanket and told Matvae he could eat first and eat all he wanted.  

     Just then Big Sasha came with the pot of macaroni and cheese and 4 more spoons.  He said, "Come on!  There is enough for everyone!"

    So Big Sasha, Big Masha, Yulia, Matvae and Little Masha shared all the food.  Everyone one was very happy.  When they finished eating, there was still a little bread and cheese left.  So Big Sasha said, "Let's give it to the mother fox and her babies."

     Everyone thought that was a good idea.

     When they got to the woodpile, the 2 neighbor boys came out of their house.

     "Hello," they said. 

     "Hello!" said everyone.  "We brought some food for your pet fox!"

     "WOW!  Thank you. Do you want to make friends with us?" asked the boys.

     So the children fed the pet fox and her babies and made friends with the 2 new neighbor boys. Suddenly, Matvae began to smile. "I think this was a good day, after all.  So I have a surprise for everyone."

    Then Matvae reached into his pockets and took out candy for everyone. "This is candy my grandfather gave me.  Thanks to this candy we had a BIG adventure today."
     Do you know why Matvae's candy was the cause of their adventure???