Nikolay Nosov - diary of Kolya Sinitsyn. Nikolai Nosov story "Koli Sinitsyn's diary" Nosov Kolya Sinitsyn's diary main characters

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Diary of Kolya Sinitsyn

Nikolay Nosov

Today is a very happy day for me: school is over and I moved to the next grade with only straight A’s.

Vacations start tomorrow. I decided to keep a diary during the holidays. Mom said that she would give me an eternal pen if I kept a diary carefully. I bought a thick general notebook with a blue cover and decided to carefully write down various interesting incidents in this notebook.

As soon as something interesting happens, I'll write it down right away.

In addition, I will write down my thoughts. I will think about different things and as soon as a good thought comes to my mind, I will write it down too.

Nothing interesting has happened today yet. There were no thoughts yet either.

Nothing interesting has happened today either.

There were no thoughts either. This is probably because I spent all my free time playing in the yard with the guys and had no time to think.

That is OK. I'll wait until tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow there will be something interesting.

Today again nothing interesting happened. For some reason there were no thoughts either. I really don’t know what to write about! Maybe I should just come up with something and write something? But it’s not good to write fiction in a diary. Since it’s a diary, it means everything needs to be true.

Today we had a team meeting. Our leader Yura Kuskov said:

- Guys, summer has already begun, and we were released for the holidays. Some of you may think that you don’t need to do anything in the summer, just go for a walk, but this is not correct. The pioneers do not stop their work even in the summer so that time is not wasted. Let's come up with some interesting work for the summer and do everything together.

We all thought about it and began to come up with work for the summer. At first no one could come up with anything, then Vitya Almazov said:

- Guys, we have an experimental vegetable garden at school. Maybe we should work in the garden? Yura says:

- We were late: the second link had already taken over this work. They have already planted cucumbers, tomatoes, and pumpkins.

“Then let’s plant trees in the school garden,” Zhenya Shemyakin suggested.

- I caught it! - says Yura. – Trees should be planted in early spring. And besides, all our trees have already been planted. There is nowhere else to plant.

“Let’s collect postage stamps as a team,” said Fedya Ovsyannikov. – I really like collecting stamps.

“Everyone can collect stamps individually, but this is not work for the team,” Yura answered.

“And then there is another job: collecting candy papers,” said Grisha Yakushkin.

- Whatever else you can think of! – answered Pavlik Grachev. – You will also say – collect matchboxes! What's the use of this? We need to do this kind of work to make it useful.

We began to think hard again, but nothing useful came to anyone’s mind. Yura said that we should think it over carefully at home, and then we will get together and discuss what proposals everyone will have.

At home, I didn’t immediately start thinking. First I walked in the yard with the guys, then had lunch, then walked a little more, then had dinner and walked a little more. Then he returned home and began writing a diary.

Then my mother said that it was time to go to bed, and only then did I remember that I needed to think about work for the summer. I decided that thinking doesn't have to be done while sitting. You can think while lying down. Now I will undress, go to bed and start thinking.

Yesterday I lay in bed and began to think. But instead of thinking about work, for some reason I began to think about the seas and oceans: about what kind of whales and sharks are found in the seas; why whales are so big, and what would happen if whales lived on land and walked the streets, and where would we live if some whale destroyed our house.

Then I noticed that I was thinking about the wrong thing, and immediately I forgot what I should be thinking about, and for some reason I began to think about horses and donkeys: why horses are big and donkeys are small, and that maybe horses are the same like donkeys, only big ones; why horses and donkeys have four legs, but people only have two, and what would happen if a person had four legs like a donkey - would he then be a man or would he already be a donkey; why the donkey is small, but his tail is big, and the elephant is big, but his tail is not so big; how many horses or at least donkeys can be made from one elephant, and why an elephant has a trunk and a person does not, and what would happen if a person had a trunk.

Then I noticed again that I was again thinking about the wrong thing, and no matter how much I tried to think about the matter, only nonsense came into my head. It turns out that I have some kind of stubborn head: when I need to think about one thing, it always thinks about another. I decided that with such a head it was better not to think at all, and quickly fell asleep.

Hooray! Mom gave me an eternal pen! Now I will write with this pen. The only problem is: I have a pen, but nothing to write! I spent an hour thinking about what to write about and came up with nothing.

But it’s not my fault that there were no interesting adventures.

This morning I went outside and saw Grisha Yakushkin walking. I ask him:

- Where are you going?

He says:

– I’m going to school for a youth club class. I speak:

- Take me with you too. He says:

- Let's go to.

We went together and on the way we met Yura Kuskov. He also went to classes at the youth club. When all the youth gathered, our teacher Nina Sergeevna, who leads the youth circle, took us into the garden and began to show us how the flowers of plants are arranged. It turns out that a flower contains stamens with pollen, and if this pollen falls from flower to flower, then a fruit will be formed from such a pollinated flower, and if the pollen does not fall on the flower, then no fruit will come from it. Various insects land on flowers, pollen sticks to them, and they transfer it from flower to flower. This means that insects help increase the harvest, because if they did not tolerate pollen, then the fruits would not be produced.

Bees increase the harvest the most, as they collect honey from flowers and fly from flower to flower for whole days. Therefore, it is necessary to establish apiaries everywhere.

After the lesson of the young nat circle, Yura assembled a team and began to ask who came up with what. It turned out that none of the guys came up with anything. Yura ordered us to think carefully, and was about to close the gathering of the unit, but then Grisha Yakushkin said:

- Let's make a hive and breed bees. We were all happy. We liked this offer.

“I think this is a good thing,” Yura said. – Bees bring great benefits - they not only make honey, but also help increase the harvest.

“Guys,” shouted Pavlik Grachev, “we will become famous throughout the school!” Let's put a beehive in the garden, and we will have an apiary at the school. Our entire unit will be glorified!

“Wait,” said Yura, “first you need to make a beehive, and then you can think about becoming famous!”

- How to make a beehive? - everyone began to ask. – We don’t know how it works.

– We need to ask Nina Sergeevna. “She probably knows,” Yura answered.

We ran to school, saw Nina Sergeevna and began asking her about the hive.

– Why are you interested in the hive? – asked Nina Sergeevna.

We said we wanted to raise bees

-Where will you get bees?

“We’ll catch it,” said Seryozha.

- How did you catch it?

- With your hands. How else?

Nina Sergeevna began to laugh:

– If you start catching bees one at a time, then they will not live with you, because bees live only in large families, and each bee will fly away from your hive back to its family.

– How do they do it if someone wants to keep bees? – we asked.

“We need to buy a whole bee family, or a swarm, at once,” said Nina Sergeevna.

-Where are they sold?

- You can write it by mail.

- How - by mail? – we were surprised.

– You need to write to some beekeeping farm, and from there they can send bees in a parcel.

– Where is such a beekeeping farm?

“I don’t know this,” said Nina Sergeevna. “But I’ll try to find out and tell you.”

Nina Sergeevna told us how the hive works. It turned out that the hive is a very simple thing. It's like a big wooden box or box with a hole. If you put bees in such a box, the bees will live in it, build honeycombs out of wax and bring honey. Only they will sculpt the honeycombs directly to the walls of the box, and it will be difficult to get honey from there. To make honey easy to get, beekeepers came up with the idea of placing wooden frames with foundation, that is, thin sheets of wax, in the hive. Bees build honeycombs on this foundation, and when honey needs to be obtained, the beekeeper takes out frames with ready-made honeycombs.

We decided to start building a hive starting tomorrow. Tolya Pesotsky said that he could work in his barn.

Yura said that each of us should bring what tools we have. Then I went home and started thinking about bees. What an interesting thing! It turns out that bees can be sent by mail. What people can’t think of!

In the morning, our entire unit gathered at Tolya Pesotsky’s barn. Vitya Almazov brought a saw, Grisha Yakushkin - an axe, Yura Kuskov - a chisel, pliers and a hammer, Pavlik Grachev - a plane and a hammer, and I also brought a hammer, so we ended up with three hammers at once.

– What is a hive made from? – asked Seryozha. Then we all remembered that we didn’t have boards.

- What a problem! - Yura said. - We need to look for boards.

– Where to look for them? - we say.

“Well, we’ll have to see, maybe there’s some in someone’s barn.”

We all went looking for boards. We searched all the sheds and attics, but couldn’t find it anywhere.

Yura says:

- Let's go to Gala. Maybe she can help us. We went to our senior pioneer leader Gala and told her about everything. Galya said:

- I'll ask the school principal. Maybe he will allow us to take those boards that were left after the repair.

She talked to the director and he allowed us to take four large boards for the hive. We dragged them into the barn, and then our work began. Some sawed, some planed, some hammered in nails. And Tolya gave orders and shouted at everyone. He imagines that if we work in his barn, he can shout at everyone. I even almost quarreled with him because of this. He needed a hammer, so he started shouting:

-Where is the hammer? I just had a hammer in my hands, and now it’s gone somewhere!

“Wait,” says Yura, “I was just hammering a nail.”

-Where did you put the hammer?

- I didn’t put it anywhere!

- Look now!

- And you look.

They started looking for the hammer, but it was nowhere to be found. Then all the guys quit work and started looking for a hammer. Finally they found it in my hands.

- Why are you standing here like a scarecrow! - Tolya attacked me. “Don’t you see that we’re looking for a hammer?”

- How do I know that you are looking for this hammer? I think we have three hammers.

- “Three hammers”! “Three Hammers”! Just try to find them when you can’t find one here!

- Well, there’s no point in shouting here! - I say. “I also have the right to hammer nails.” Everyone wants to work.

Today we haven’t had time to make a hive yet, because the day is over and it’s dark in the barn.

Hooray! The hive is ready! Here it is - I deliberately drew it here as a keepsake. The hive itself is drawn below, and the roof is above. A hole was made in the bottom front wall of the hive so that the bees could crawl out. This hole is called the entrance because the bees fly out of the hive through it. There is another small entrance on top so that if any bee wants to climb out from above, it can get out. A board is nailed near the lower entrance. It is called the arrival board. The bees land on it when they arrive. The roof is made separately so that it can be removed from the hive when the frames need to be removed. In addition to the hive, we made twelve frames.

Yura went to Nina Sergeevna to ask about the bees, but Nina Sergeevna didn’t find out anything yet because she was very busy. What if Nina Sergeevna never knows where to get bees, what should she do then?

Today I asked everyone if anyone knows where to get bees, but no one knows. I was bored all morning. Then I returned home, and Uncle Alyosha came to us.

- Why are you so boring? - Uncle Alyosha asks. I speak:

“I’m boring because I don’t know where to get bees.”

– Why do you need bees? I said that our team decided to set up an apiary, but we don’t know where to get bees. Uncle Alyosha said:

– When I lived in the village, I had a beekeeper friend who caught bees in the forest with a trap.

– What trap?

- He will make a box with a hole out of plywood, like a birdhouse, put some honey in it and hang it on a tree in the forest. Bees are attracted to the smell of honey. If a swarm flies out from somewhere, it can settle in such a box, and the beekeeper will take the box, take it to his apiary and plant the bees in the hive. Make a trap like this, and when you go to the dacha with your mother, hang it in the forest, maybe a swarm will fall into the trap.

I started asking my mother when we were going to the dacha.

“Not soon,” says mom, “I’ll have a vacation at the end of July or maybe in August.”

Then I went straight to Seryozha and told him about the trap.

Seryozha says:

- Let's make a trap and catch bees in our dacha. We have a nice forest and a river there.

-Where is your dacha?

- In Shishigin, five kilometers from here.

– Will they allow us to live there?

- They'll allow it. There's a whole house there empty. Aunt Polya lives alone.

I immediately returned home and began to ask my mother to go to Seryozha’s dacha.

- What are you, what are you! - says mom. - How will you go there? You'll still get hit by a train.

– You don’t have to go there by train at all. It is not far. We'll get there on foot. Just five kilometers.

“Well, it doesn’t matter,” says mom. - How will you live there alone? One pampering!

“And there’s no pampering,” I say. “And we won’t live alone: Aunt Polya is there.”

- Well, Aunt Polya! - says mom. “Will you listen to Aunt Polya?”

- Of course we will.

- No no! - says mom. “When I have a vacation, we’ll go together, otherwise you’ll drown in the river and get lost in the forest, and I don’t know what will happen.”

I said that we wouldn’t swim at all, we wouldn’t even go close to the river, and we wouldn’t go into the forest, but my mother didn’t even want to hear anything about it. Until the evening I begged and whined. Mom threatened to complain about me to dad. Then I stopped asking, but at dinner I didn’t want to eat anything. So I'll go to bed hungry. Well, let!

In the morning I woke up early and again began to drag out yesterday's rigmarole. Mom told me not to bother her, but I kept annoying her until she left for work. Then I went to Seryozha, and he said that he had already agreed with Pavlik and tomorrow the two of them would go to the dacha if I couldn’t get time off. I became jealous that Seryozha and Pavlik would go without me. I spent the whole day bored, and as soon as my mother returned, I began to ask with redoubled force. Mom got angry and again said that she would complain to dad, but I didn’t let up, because now I didn’t care anymore. Finally dad came and mom complained to him. Dad said:

- What's wrong with that? Let him go. The guy is already big. It is useful for him to learn to live independently.

Then mom said that dad always prevents her from raising her child correctly (that is me), and dad said that mom herself is not raising me correctly, and they almost quarreled because of this, and then they made up, and then mom went to Seryozha’s mother, and they immediately agreed on everything. Serezha’s mother said that we wouldn’t disturb anyone at the dacha, that Aunt Polya would look after us and cook dinner for us. We just need to take some food with us. Mom calmed down and said that she would let me go for three days, and if I behaved well, she would let me go again. I said I would behave.

All the guys were very happy when they found out that we were going to catch bees at the dacha. Yura gave us his compass so that we wouldn’t get lost in the forest; Tolya gave him a pocket knife; Fedya brought us a camp pot in case we wanted to cook our own lunch over the fire. Then we took out some plywood and started making a bee trap.

The trap turned out well. We made a hole in the front and a door to close it when the bees are caught. And the roof was made, like in a hive, separately, so that the trap could be opened and the bees could be taken out.

By evening, my mother bought various products - cereals, flour, butter, sugar, rolls, canned food - and put it all in a backpack, so my backpack turned out to be heavy. Serezha also got a big backpack. But Pavlik has the biggest backpack. He put a pot and a flask in it, and I still don’t know what he stuffed there. In a word, we have everything ready. Now evening would come quickly, and tomorrow we would wake up and immediately go on a hike to Shishigino.

Hooray! We are already in Shishigin. I thought, what kind of dacha is there, but it turns out it’s just a wooden house, and there are trees all around, there’s not even a fence, only pillars dug in. They probably didn't have time to do it. The house was locked and there was no one in it. Aunt Polya has gone somewhere. We waited and waited for her, and then decided, so as not to waste time, to go into the forest and hang a trap. We went into the forest, put honey in a trap and hung it on a tree. Then we went to the river to swim. The water in the river was cold. We swam and swam until we were blue in the face from the cold. Then we felt hungry.

We climbed out of the water, lit a fire on the shore and began to cook dinner from canned food. After lunch we returned to the dacha, but Aunt Polya had not arrived yet. Pavlik said:

- What if we find a hollow with bees in the forest? We would immediately catch a whole bee family.

- How to find a hollow? - I say.

“Let’s keep an eye on some bee,” Pavlik suggested. - The bee will collect honey and fly into its hollow, and we will run after it and find out where the bee family lives.

We noticed a bee on a flower and began to follow it. The bee flew from flower to flower, and we crawled behind it on all fours and did not let it out of sight.

My arms, legs, back, and neck ached from crawling, but the bee kept working and didn’t think of flying anywhere. Finally Seryozha said:

“The bees will probably fly to their hollow later.” Let's go have another swim, and then we'll watch the bees again.

We went to the river again and started swimming. We swam and swam, and then we saw that the day would soon end. Then we returned to the dacha, and Aunt Polya was still not there.

“Maybe she went somewhere and won’t come back today?” - I say.

“He’ll come back,” says Seryozha. -Where could she have gone?

- What if he doesn’t come back? Let's better go home.

“My legs already hurt,” says Pavlik. - I'm not going anywhere.

-Where will you spend the night?

“You can go to the neighboring dacha and ask to be allowed to spend the night,” said Seryozha,

– Why to the neighboring dacha? - says Pavlik. “We’ll build a hut and spend the night here.”

- Right! – Seryozha was delighted. – It’s even more interesting in the hut. I have never spent the night in a hut before.

We immediately set about building a hut. Pavlik told us to break some green branches, and he himself took four poles, placed them with their tops facing each other so that they stood in a pyramid, and began to cover them with branches around them. When the hut was ready, we dragged dry moss into it, and put backpacks with food under our heads. The hut turned out to be a bit cramped, but very cozy.

We decided not to go anywhere else because we were very tired. Just think how much we walked today: we walked from the city, went into the forest, went to the river, went back from the river to the dacha, then again to the forest, again to the river, again back to the dacha. Then they built another hut. Some normal, simple person doesn’t walk as much in a month as we do in one day!

Now we are sitting on the porch and relaxing. I write a diary with my eternal pen, and Seryozha and Pavlik admire the hut. The evening is so quiet and good! There is no wind. Trees don't wave their branches. Only on the aspen the leaves tremble with small tremors. They look like silver. The sky is clear. The red sun sets behind the forest. The shepherds are already driving the collective farm herd home. Cows slowly walk along the road. There are a lot of them: about fifty, probably. Black, brown, red, piebald and even some pink, or rather flesh-colored, and there are also spotted ones. There are all kinds! The sun is already half hidden. Now we will climb into the hut and sleep. True, it is still light, but it will soon get dark. We can’t sit in the open air until dark if we have our own hut!

Now I will write down what happened at night. Pavlik turned out to be cunning: he was the first to climb into the hut and take a place in the middle, while Seryozha and I got places on the edges. As soon as Seryozha lay down, he fell asleep, but for some reason I couldn’t fall asleep for a long time. At first I was very comfortable, and I was even surprised why people come up with different mattresses and pillows when you can do just fine without them. Then something began to press on the back of my head. I decided to find out what I was lying on, on cereal or on pasta, and began to feel the backpack under my head. But it wasn’t cereal or pasta at all, but a pot.

“Yeah, that means I came across Pavlik’s backpack,” I realized and turned the backpack over to the other side. But now a tin can came under my head, and I couldn’t sleep again. Then I began to turn the backpack in different directions to find a bun or something else, softer...

-What are you looking for there? – asks Pavlik.

- Are you really hungry so soon?

- Not really!

- Why did you need the bun?

“I’ll sleep on it, otherwise it’s very hard.”

- Just think, tenderness! - says Pavlik.

“Try it, sleep on a tin can, then you’ll find out how tender it is,” I say.

I never found the rolls, but I did come across some kind of bag, probably with sugar. I somehow settled down on the sugar and was about to fall asleep, but then my back began to hurt. Apparently, I laid her down. Then I began to roll over on my side.

- It’s spinning like it’s in a frying pan! – Pavlik grumbled.

- What do you want?

- Yes, you push me all the time!

- Big deal, don’t push him!

I turned over on my side, but soon my side also began to hurt. I endured it in silence for a while and tried my best to fall asleep. Finally, I couldn’t stand it anymore and began to roll over onto my stomach.

- Will you finally let me sleep? – Pavlik hissed.

“Wait, you’ll fall asleep now,” I said and... caught my foot on the pole.

The pole collapsed and the entire hut collapsed right on top of us.

- It is for you! Confidence! - Pavlik shouted. Seryozha woke up, leaned out from under the branches and looked around in a daze.

-What kind of joke is this? - he shouted.

- No jokes! - says Pavlik. - This hippopotamus just brought down the hut! Well, get up, let's fix it.

We crawled out from under the rubble of the hut and at dusk began to restore the destroyed building. Night was approaching quickly, and we barely had time to somehow make a hut. As soon as everything was ready, I climbed into it first and lay down in the middle.

- Why did you climb into my place? – Pavlik was surprised.

“The places here are not numbered,” I say. - This is not a theater for you.

He wanted to force me out, but I did not give in. Pavlik lay down on the edge and snorted angrily. He tossed and turned for a long time. Apparently, it was not very comfortable to lie down. I also couldn’t sleep for a long time. Still, by some miracle, I finally fell asleep. I don’t know how long I slept, and I don’t even remember what I dreamed, but suddenly something hit me on the head! I woke up instantly and for a long time could not understand what had happened. Gradually I realized that the hut had collapsed again and I was hit on the head with a pole. It was dark all around. The sky above us was black as soot, only the stars sparkled on it. We again climbed out from under the rubble of the hut.

“Well, we need to fix it again,” says Seryozha.

“You can fix it here when it’s so dark!”

- Need to try. We can't sit in the open air.

We began to crawl in the dark among the branches and look for poles. We immediately found three poles, but the fourth was nowhere to be found. We found it with great effort, but while we were looking, the three poles that had already been found were lost. Finally we found them again. Pavlik wanted to install poles and suddenly said:

- Wait, where is our place?

- What place?

- Well, where are our backpacks?

We began to wander in the dark and look for backpacks, but they were nowhere to be found. Then we decided to build a hut in a new place. Pavlik began setting up poles, and Seryozha and I began to strip bushes and carry branches.

“Listen,” Seryozha suddenly shouted, “come here - there are a lot of broken branches here!”

I walked up and came across a whole bunch of branches that were lying in a heap on the ground. We brought armfuls of Pavlika and returned for the rest of the branches.

“Wait,” says Seryozha, “there’s something else lying here.”

- Here under the branches. Some kind of bag. I bent down and felt for the bag in the dark.

“That’s right,” I say. - A bag filled with something. And another one here.

- Is it true! – Seryozha gasped. - Two full bags!

- Look, another one! - I said.

- Three full bags! - Seryozha shouted. -Who put them here?

“It’s clear who,” I say, “it’s us.”

- Like us?

- Of course we are. These are our backpacks!

- Right! But I didn’t realize it right away!

We called Pavlik and said that we had found the old place.

“And there the hut is already ready,” he says.

- Well, let’s move our things there, and that’s the end of it. We took our backpacks and went to the hut. I hurried first to take a place in the middle and began to wander around the hut, but could not find the entrance.

-Where is the entrance? - I ask.

- Oh, damn you! - says Pavlik. - I forgot to make an entrance, I covered it with branches on all sides!

He began to dismantle the branches and make an entrance. As soon as this was ready, Pavlik slipped into the hut first and took a place in the middle. I was so tired that I didn’t even argue with him. Seryozha and I lay down at the edges without talking. Something hard came under my head again - either a pot or a tin can - but I didn’t even pay attention to it and fell asleep like the dead. That's all.

And now it's morning. I woke up before everyone else and am writing a diary. The sun has already risen high and is starting to get hot. White curly clouds float across the sky. Mooing cows and dogs barking can be heard from the village. Seryozha and Pavlik are still sleeping in the hut. Now I’ll wake them up and we’ll start cooking breakfast.

Same day in the evening

After breakfast we went into the forest to check the trap. The trap was empty. We decided to follow the bees again and crawled after them for about two hours. Finally, Pavlik’s patience ran out. He decided to scare the bee so that it would fly into its hollow, and began shouting at it, waving his arms and stomping his feet. The bee began to circle above him and suddenly stung him in the ear! Pavlik will squeal! His ear turned red and instantly swollen. We began to pull out the bee sting from him.

- May they burn, these bees! - Pavlik swore. – You can tinker with them yourself, but that’s enough for me! The whole ear is on fire!

“Be patient,” we say. - The ear will go away.

- When will it pass! Burns like fire! So what's now?

- Maybe I should tie a scarf? - I say.

- No need for a scarf. I'd rather go to the river and soak my ear in the water.

He went to wet his ear in the river, and Seryozha and I noticed one bee and began to watch it in turn. One watches and the other rests. They watched and watched, and suddenly the bee rose up and flew away. We ran headlong after it, but the bee flew very high, and we lost sight of it.

- What a shame! - said Seryozha. - We'll have to start all over again.

Then Pavlik returned from the river and shouted from afar:

- Hey, look what I have! Now we will cook the fish soup! We ran up. He held his cap in his hands. It was all wet, and live crucian carp were jumping in it.

- Where did you take?

- There, near the river, I caught it in a swamp.

- How did you catch them without a fishing rod?

– It’s very simple: the swamp has dried up, there is very little water left, I caught them with my hands.

We ran to the swamp, caught more crucian carp and began to cook fish soup. Then we caught crucian carp for dinner.

- There are a lot of them! - said Pavlik. - We can eat crucian carp every day.

After lunch we went into the forest again to watch the bees. Seryozha says:

– What if you spray a bee with water? The bee will probably think that it is raining and fly to its nest.

We brought water in a pot, found a bee on a flower and began to splash water on it. The bee got wet, climbed down the stem and hid under a green leaf. So she actually thought it was raining. Then she saw that there was no rain, she crawled out from under the leaf and began to bask in the sun. Gradually she dried out, spread her wings and flew away. We were about to run after her, but the bee immediately sank down, sat on the flower and began collecting honey again. Then Seryozha took more water into his mouth and how it splashed on the bee! The bee got wet again and hid under a leaf, and when it dried, it again began to fly from flower to flower.

- Oh, what a stubborn bee! - said Seryozha and doused the bee with water so that she got wet through and through.

Even her wings shriveled from the water and stuck to her back.

The bee finally saw that the “rain” was not stopping, and when it dried out, it flew away.

We ran after her. The bee first flew low, between the tree trunks, then flew up, and we lost it. Then we began to water the other bees, but they all had the same manner: at first they hid from the “rain” under the leaves, and then flew away, and we could never follow them, because they flew very quickly and at great speed. height. We ran like this until the bees stopped flying.

The day was already coming to an end. We returned to the dacha and began to cook dinner. For some reason, Aunt Polya had not yet returned, and we decided to spend one more night in the hut. I don’t know, maybe it’s not good that we live in a hut? Maybe it's better to return home? I told Seryozha and Pavlik, and they said: “We’ll be back tomorrow anyway.” They decided to repair the hut and dig poles into the ground so that the hut would not fall apart again.

Now they are repairing the hut, and I am writing down our adventures in my diary.

Gray, leaden clouds float across the sky. The air became cooler and there was a breeze. What if it starts to rain at night? We need to cover the hut well with branches so that we don’t get wet at night. Now I’ll finish writing and go help Seryozha and Pavlik.

May 28

Today is a very happy day for me: school is over and I moved to the next grade with only straight A’s.

As soon as something interesting happens, I'll write it down right away.

In addition, I will write down my thoughts. I will think about different things and as soon as a good thought comes to my mind, I will write it down too.

Nothing interesting has happened today yet. There were no thoughts yet either.

May 29

Nothing interesting has happened today either.

There were no thoughts either. This is probably because I spent all my free time playing in the yard with the guys and had no time to think.

That is OK. I'll wait until tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow there will be something interesting.

May 30

May 31

Today we had a team meeting. Our leader Yura Kuskov said:

Guys, summer has already begun, and we have been released for the holidays. Some of you may think that you don’t need to do anything in the summer, just go for a walk, but this is not correct. The pioneers do not stop their work even in the summer so that time is not wasted. Let's come up with some interesting work for the summer and do everything together.

We all thought about it and began to come up with work for the summer. At first no one could come up with anything, then Vitya Almazov said:

Guys, we have an experimental vegetable garden at our school. Maybe we should work in the garden?

Yura says:

We were late: the second link had already taken over this work. They have already planted cucumbers, tomatoes, and pumpkins.

Then let’s plant trees in the school garden,” Zhenya Shemyakin suggested.

I caught myself! - says Yura. - Trees should be planted in early spring. And besides, all our trees have already been planted. There is nowhere else to plant.

“Let’s collect postage stamps as a team,” said Fedya Ovsyannikov. - I really like collecting stamps.

“Everyone can collect stamps individually, but this is not work for the team,” Yura answered.

“And then there is another job: collecting candy papers,” said Grisha Yakushkin.

Whatever else you can think of! - answered Pavlik Grachev. - You will also say - collect matchboxes! What's the use of this? We need to do this kind of work to make it useful.

June 1st

2 June

Hooray! Mom gave me an eternal pen! Now I will write with this pen. The only problem is: I have a pen, but nothing to write! I thought for a whole hour about what to write about, and came up with nothing.

But it’s not my fault that there were no interesting adventures.

June 3

This morning I went outside and saw Grisha Yakushkin walking. I ask him:

Where are you going?

He says:

I'm going to school for a youth club class.

I speak:

Take me with you too.

He says:

We went together and on the way we met Yura Kuskov. He also went to classes in the youth circle. When all the youth gathered, our teacher Nina Sergeevna, who leads the youth circle, took us into the garden and began to show us how the flowers of plants are arranged. It turns out that a flower contains stamens with pollen, and if this pollen falls from flower to flower, then a fruit will form from such a pollinated flower, and if the pollen does not fall on the flower, then no fruit will come from it. Various insects land on flowers, pollen sticks to them, and they transfer it from flower to flower. This means that insects help increase the harvest, because if they did not tolerate pollen, then the fruits would not be produced.

Bees increase the harvest the most, as they collect honey from flowers and fly from flower to flower for whole days. Therefore, it is necessary to establish apiaries everywhere.

Let's make a hive and breed bees. We were all happy. We liked this offer.

“I think this is a good thing,” Yura said. - Bees bring great benefits - they not only make honey, but also help increase the harvest.

“Guys,” shouted Pavlik Grachev, “we will become famous throughout the school!” Let's put a beehive in the garden, and we will have an apiary at the school. Our entire unit will be glorified!

Wait,” said Yura, “first you need to make a beehive, and then you can think about becoming famous!”

How to make a beehive? - everyone began to ask. - We don’t know how it works.

We need to ask Nina Sergeevna. “She probably knows,” Yura answered.

We ran to school, saw Nina Sergeevna and began asking her about the hive.

Why are you interested in the hive? - asked Nina Sergeevna.

We said we wanted to raise bees

Where will you get bees?

“We’ll catch it,” said Seryozha.

How do you catch it?

With your hands. How else?

Nina Sergeevna began to laugh:

If you start catching bees one at a time, they will not live with you, because bees live only in large families, and each bee will fly away from your hive back to its family.

What do they do if someone wants to keep bees? - we asked.

You need to buy a whole bee family, or a swarm, at once,” said Nina Sergeevna.

Where are they sold?

You can write it by mail.

How - by mail? - we were surprised.

You need to write to some beekeeping farm, and from there they can send bees in a parcel.

Where is such a beekeeping farm?

“I don’t know this,” said Nina Sergeevna. - But I will try to find out and tell you.

Nina Sergeevna told us how the hive works. It turned out that the hive is a very simple thing. It's like a big wooden box or box with a hole. If you put bees in such a box, then the bees will live in it, build honeycombs from wax and bring honey. Only they will sculpt the honeycombs directly to the walls of the box, and it will be difficult to get honey from there. To make honey easy to get, beekeepers came up with the idea of placing wooden frames with foundation, that is, thin sheets of wax, in the hive. Bees build honeycombs on this foundation, and when honey needs to be obtained, the beekeeper takes out frames with ready-made honeycombs.

We decided to start building a hive starting tomorrow. Tolya Pesotsky said that he could work in his barn.

June 4

What is a hive made from? - asked Seryozha. Then we all remembered that we didn’t have boards.

What a disaster! - Yura said. - We need to look for boards.

Where to look for them? - we say.

Well, we'll have to see if someone has some in their barn.

We all went looking for boards. We searched all the sheds and attics, but couldn’t find it anywhere.

Yura says:

Let's go to Gala. Maybe she can help us. We went to our senior pioneer leader Gala and told her everything. Galya said:

I'll ask the school principal. Maybe he will allow us to take those boards that were left after the repair.

Where's the hammer? I just had a hammer in my hands, and now it’s gone somewhere!

Wait,” says Yura, “I was just hammering a nail.”

Where did you put the hammer?

I didn’t put it anywhere!

Look now!

And you search.

They started looking for the hammer, but it was nowhere to be found. Then all the guys quit work and started looking for a hammer. Finally they found it in my hands.

Why are you standing here like a scarecrow! - Tolya attacked me. - Don’t you see that we are looking for a hammer?

How do I know that you are looking for this hammer? I think we have three hammers.

- “Three hammers”! "Three Hammers"! Just try to find them when you can’t find one here!

Well, there’s nothing to shout about here! - I say. - I also have the right to hammer nails. Everyone wants to work.

Today we haven’t had time to make a hive yet, because the day is over and it’s dark in the barn.

June 5

Hooray! The hive is ready! Here it is - I deliberately drew it here as a keepsake. The hive itself is drawn below, and the roof is above. A hole was made in the bottom of the front wall of the hive so that the bees could crawl out. This hole is called the entrance because the bees fly out of the hive through it. There is another small entrance on top so that if any bee wants to climb out from above, it can get out. A board is nailed near the lower entrance. It is called the arrival board. The bees land on it when they arrive. The roof is made separately so that it can be removed from the hive when you need to remove the frames. In addition to the hive, we made twelve frames.

Yura went to Nina Sergeevna to ask about bees, but Nina Sergeevna didn’t find out anything yet because she was very busy. What if Nina Sergeevna still doesn’t know where to get bees, what should she do then?

June 6

Today I asked everyone if anyone knows where to get bees, but no one knows. I was bored all morning. Then I returned home, and Uncle Alyosha came to us.

Why are you so boring? - asks Uncle Alyosha. I speak:

I'm boring because I don't know where to get bees.

Why do you need bees? I said that our team decided to set up an apiary, but we don’t know where to get the bees. Uncle Alyosha said:

When I lived in the village, I had a beekeeper friend who caught bees in the forest with a trap.

What trap?

He will make a box with a hole out of plywood, like a birdhouse, put some honey in it and hang it on a tree in the forest. Bees are attracted to the smell of honey. If a swarm flies out from somewhere, it can settle in such a box, and the beekeeper will take the box, take it to his apiary and plant the bees in the hive. Make a trap like this, and when you go to the dacha with your mother, hang it in the forest, maybe a swarm will fall into the trap.

I started asking my mother when we were going to the dacha.

Not soon, says my mother, I will have a vacation at the end of July or maybe in August.

Then I went straight to Seryozha and told him about the trap.

Seryozha says:

Let's make a trap and catch bees in our dacha. We have a nice forest and a river there.

Where is your dacha?

In Shishigin, five kilometers from here.

Will they allow us to live there?

They will allow it. There's a whole house there empty. Only Aunt Polya lives.

I immediately returned home and began to ask my mother to go to Seryozha’s dacha.

What are you, what are you! - says mom. - How will you go there? You'll end up under a train.

You don't have to go there by train at all. It is not far. We'll get there on foot. Just five kilometers.

Well, it doesn’t matter, says mom. - How will you live there alone? One pampering!

And there is no pampering, I say. - And we won’t live alone: Aunt Polya is there.

Well - Aunt Polya! - says mom. - Will you listen to Aunt Polya?

Of course we will.

No no! - says mom. “When I have a vacation, we’ll go together, otherwise you’ll drown in the river and get lost in the forest, and I don’t know what will happen.”

June 7

What's wrong with that? Let him go. The guy is already big. It is useful for him to learn to live independently.

Then mom said that dad always prevents her from raising her child correctly (that is, me), and dad said that mom herself is not raising me correctly, and they almost quarreled because of this, and then they made up, and then mom went to Seryozha’s mother, and they immediately agreed on everything. Seryozha’s mother said that we wouldn’t disturb anyone at the dacha, that Aunt Polya would look after us and cook dinner for us. We just need to take some food with us. Mom calmed down and said that she would let me go for three days, and if I behaved well, she would let me go again. I said I would behave.

All the guys were very happy when they found out that we were going to catch bees at the dacha. Yura gave us his compass so that we wouldn’t get lost in the forest; Tolya gave him a pocket knife; Fedya brought us a camp pot in case we wanted to cook our own dinner over the fire. Then we took out some plywood and started making a trap for the bees.

By evening, my mother bought various products - cereals, flour, butter, sugar, rolls, canned food - and put it all in a backpack, so my backpack turned out to be heavy. Seryozha also got a big backpack. But Pavlik has the biggest backpack. He put a pot and a flask in it, and I still don’t know what he stuffed there. In a word, we have everything ready. Now evening would come quickly, and tomorrow we would wake up and immediately go on a hike to Shishigino.

June 8

We climbed out of the water, lit a fire on the shore and began to cook dinner from canned food. After lunch we returned to the dacha, but Aunt Polya had not arrived yet. Pavlik said:

What if we find a hollow with bees in the forest? We would immediately catch a whole bee family.

How to find a hollow? - I say.

Let’s keep an eye on some bee,” Pavlik suggested. - The bee will collect honey and fly into its hollow, and we will run after it and find out where the bee family lives.

We noticed a bee on a flower and began to follow it. The bee flew from flower to flower, and we crawled behind it on all fours and did not let it out of sight.

My arms, legs, back, and neck ached from crawling, but the bee kept working and didn’t think of flying anywhere. Finally Seryozha said:

The bees will probably fly to their hollow later. Let's go have another swim, and then we'll watch the bees again.

We went to the river again and started swimming. We swam and swam, and then we saw that the day would soon end. Then we returned to the dacha, and Aunt Polya was still not there.

Maybe she went somewhere and won't come back today? - I say.

He’ll come back,” says Seryozha. -Where could she have gone?

What if he doesn’t come back? Let's better go home.

My legs already hurt,” says Pavlik. - I'm not going anywhere.

Where will you spend the night?

You can go to the neighboring dacha and ask to be allowed to spend the night, - said Seryozha,

Why to the neighboring dacha? - says Pavlik. - Let's build a hut and spend the night here.

Right! - Seryozha was delighted. - It’s even more interesting in the hut. I have never spent the night in a hut before.

We immediately set about building a hut. Pavlik told us to break the green branches, and he himself took four poles, placed them with their tops facing each other so that they stood in a pyramid, and began to cover them with branches around them. When the hut was ready, we dragged dry moss into it, and put backpacks with food under our heads. The hut turned out to be a bit cramped, but very cozy.

the 9th of June

Now I will write down what happened at night. Pavlik turned out to be cunning: he was the first to climb into the hut and took a place in the middle, while Seryozha and I got places at the edges. As soon as Seryozha lay down, he fell asleep, but for some reason I couldn’t fall asleep for a long time. At first I was very comfortable, and I was even surprised why people come up with different mattresses and pillows when you can do just fine without them. Then something began to press on the back of my head. I decided to find out what I was lying on, on cereal or on pasta, and began to feel the backpack under my head. But it wasn’t cereal or pasta at all, but a pot.

“Yeah, that means I came across Pavlik’s backpack,” I realized and turned the backpack over to the other side. But now a tin can got under my head, and I couldn’t sleep again. Then I began to turn the backpack in different directions to find a bun or something else, softer...

What are you looking for there? - asks Pavlik.

Are you really hungry that soon?

Why did you need the bun?

I will sleep on it, otherwise it will be very hard.

Just think, tenderness! - says Pavlik.

Try it, sleep on a tin can, and you’ll find out how tender it is,” I say.

It's spinning like it's in a frying pan! - Pavlik grumbled.

What do you want?

Yes, you push me all the time!

Just think, don't push him!

Will you finally let me sleep? - Pavlik hissed.

Wait, you’ll fall asleep now,” I said and... caught my foot on the pole.

The pole collapsed and the entire hut collapsed right on top of us.

It is for you! Confidence! - Pavlik shouted. Seryozha woke up, leaned out from under the branches and looked around in a daze.

What kind of joke is this? - he shouted.

No joke! - says Pavlik. - This hippopotamus just brought down the hut! Well, get up, let's fix it.

Why did you take my place? - Pavlik was surprised.

“The places here are not numbered,” I say. - This is not a theater for you.

He wanted to force me out, but I did not give in. Pavlik lay down on the edge and snorted angrily. He tossed and turned for a long time. Apparently, it was not very comfortable to lie down. I also couldn’t sleep for a long time. Still, by some miracle, I finally fell asleep. I don’t know how long I slept, and I don’t even remember what I dreamed, but suddenly something hit me on the head! I woke up instantly and for a long time could not understand what had happened. Gradually I realized that the hut had collapsed again and I was hit on the head with a pole. It was dark all around. The sky above us turned black like soot, only the stars sparkled on it. We again climbed out from under the rubble of the hut.

Well, we need to fix it again,” says Seryozha.

You can fix it here when it's so dark!

Need to try. We can't sit in the open air.

Wait, where is our place?

What place?

Well, where are our backpacks?

Listen,” Seryozha suddenly shouted, “come here - there are a lot of broken branches here!”

I walked up and came across a whole bunch of branches that were lying in a heap on the ground. We brought armfuls of Pavlika and returned for the rest of the branches.

Stop, says Seryozha, there’s something else lying here.

Here under the branches. Some kind of bag. I bent down and felt for the bag in the dark.

That's right, I say. - A bag filled with something. And another one here.

Is it true! - Seryozha gasped. - Two full bags!

Look, another one! - I said.

Three full bags! - Seryozha shouted. - Who put them here?

It’s clear who, I say, it’s us.

Like us?

Of course we are. These are our backpacks!

Right! But I didn’t realize it right away!

We called Pavlik and said that we had found the old place.

And there the hut is already ready,” he says.

Well, let's move our things there and that's the end of it. We took our backpacks and went to the hut. I hurried first to take a place in the middle and began to wander around the hut, but could not find the entrance.

Where is the entrance? - I ask.

Oh, for you! - says Pavlik. - I forgot to make an entrance, I covered it with branches on all sides!

Same day in the evening

After breakfast we went into the forest to check the trap. The trap was empty. We decided to follow the bees again and crawled after them for two hours. Finally, Pavlik’s patience ran out. He decided to scare the bee so that she would fly into her hollow, and began to shout at her, wave her arms and stomp her feet. The bee began to circle above him and suddenly stung him in the ear! Pavlik will squeal! His ear turned red and instantly swollen. We began to pull out the bee sting from him.

May they burn, these bees! - Pavlik swore. - You can tinker with them yourself, but that’s enough for me! The whole ear is on fire!

Be patient, we say. - The ear will go away.

When will it pass! Burns like fire! So what's now?

Maybe tie a scarf? - I say.

No need for a scarf. I'd rather go to the river and soak my ear in the water.

What a shame! - said Seryozha. - We'll have to start all over again.

Then Pavlik returned from the river and shouted from afar:

Hey, look what I have! Now we will cook the fish soup! We ran up. He held his cap in his hands. It was all wet, and live crucian carp were jumping in it.

Where did you take?

There, near the river, I caught it in a swamp.

How did you catch them without a fishing rod?

It’s very simple: the swamp has dried up, there is very little water left, I caught them with my hands.

We ran to the swamp, caught more crucian carp and began to cook fish soup. Then we caught crucian carp for dinner.

There are a lot of them here! - said Pavlik. - We can eat crucian carp every day.

After lunch we went into the forest again to watch the bees. Seryozha says:

What if you spray a bee with water? The bee will probably think that it is raining and fly to its nest.

Oh, what a stubborn bee! - said Seryozha and doused the bee with water so that she got wet through and through.

Even her wings shriveled from the water and stuck to her back.

The bee finally saw that the “rain” was not stopping, and when it dried out, it flew away.

We ran after her. The bee first flew low, between the tree trunks, then flew up, and we lost it. Then we began to pour water on the other bees, but they all had the same manner: at first they hid from the “rain” under the leaves, and then flew away, and we could never follow them, because they flew very quickly and at great speed. height. We ran like this until the bees stopped flying.

Now they are repairing the hut, and I am writing down our adventures in my diary.

June 10th

There were no adventures at night. This is what it means to make a hut properly! You can sleep with a clear conscience and not be afraid of being hit on the head with a pole. There was no rain either. I woke up early. The birds woke me up. It had only just begun to get light, and they had already woken up and began to chatter, chirp, and squeak in different voices. I crawled out of the hut and saw that the sun had not yet risen. Above, the sky was clear, blue, and below, near the ground, there were white clouds, so light and fluffy, like soap foam. Gradually the clouds grew and swirled like steam, and soared higher and higher until they filled the entire sky. Then they lit up and turned pink, like popsicles. I began to think what would have happened if we had been given so much ice cream; Would we eat it or not? They probably wouldn’t eat it in their entire life. All people wouldn't eat that much ice cream. I was daydreaming and then suddenly I saw a huge red sun roll out from under the ground. Everything shone around and was illuminated with a bright light. The green grass became even greener, and on every blade of grass drops of dew sparkled like diamonds. I quickly began to wake up Seryozha and Pavlik so that they could look at this miracle, but while they were rubbing their eyes, the dew evaporated and such beauty was no longer there.

“Oh, you,” I say, “sleepyheads!” They sleep here like gophers in their hole! If you sleep like this for a long time, you will not see anything good in life!

Pavlik just yawned and immediately began to gut the crucian carp for breakfast, but Seryozha said that first he should go wash himself. We went to the river, washed ourselves, and at the same time took a bath, and then began to prepare breakfast. We fried crucian carp and baked cakes from flour. The flatbreads turned out to be tasteless, but a very good idea came to my mind.

What if you sprinkle flour on a bee? - I say. - The bee will become heavy and will not be able to fly so fast.

We found a bee on a flower and sprinkled flour on it. The bee immediately began to clean itself with its paws. She shook off all the flour and a minute later she was collecting honey again.

“I know what needs to be done,” said Seryozha. - You must first spray the bee with water and then sprinkle it with flour. Then the flour will stick to the bee, and she will not be able to clean it off.

That's what we did. Seryozha took water into his mouth and splashed it on the bee, and Pavlik immediately sprinkled it with flour. The flour became sour and stuck to the bee from all sides. The bee immediately began to clean off the wet flour from itself. She cleaned the head with her front paws and wiped her eyes, then began to clean her abdomen and wings with her hind paws. She cleaned herself very carefully, only leaving a little wet flour on her back. We wanted to sprinkle it again, but then the bee flapped its wings and flew away. We ran after her. The bee flew slowly at first, then flew faster, flew out of the forest and rushed across the field. We rushed after her without seeing the light, jumping over stumps and hummocks, over ditches and ditches. Then there were some beds with cabbage, and suddenly a fence appeared in front of us. The bee flew over it. Without thinking twice, we also jumped over the fence and found ourselves in some kind of garden. Trees grew around, and under them there were some small houses without windows, without doors, like doghouses, only on legs. Near one house stood an old man with a white beard and looked at us in surprise.

Well, what do you say? - asked the old man when he saw that we, like idols, stood motionless and silently looked at him.

“Nothing,” Pavlik muttered and climbed back through the fence.

Why through the fence? “There’s a gate,” said grandfather and shook his head reproachfully.

“I didn’t notice that there was a gate here,” Pavlik answered and jumped off the fence on the other side.

Seryozha and I were left alone. I began to think about how it would be better for us to escape - through the gate or through the fence - and grandfather asked:

Why did you come here?

“We were accidental,” I say.

Our bee flew here, and we followed it,” answered Seryozha.

Your bee? - the old man was surprised. - Can't be. This is probably my bee. - Do you have bees? - I asked.

Certainly. Look how many bees I have.

It was only then that we realized that the small houses that stood under the trees were just beehives. The bees were buzzing around all the time. There was a continuous hum in the air.

Why did you need to run after the bee? - Grandfather asked.

We said that we wanted to follow the bee and find a hollow with wild bees.

You probably wanted to find wild honey? - said the old man.

No, we wanted to find a bee family. We need bees.

Why do you need bees?

We began to explain that we had decided to make a hive as a whole and raise bees. Pavlik saw that grandfather had stopped being angry and was talking peacefully with us. He ran up to the gate and began to look into it, and then he became completely bold and came up to us. We told how we made a bee trap and hung it in the forest. Grandfather listened to us carefully and said:

You've started a good job. Beekeeping is a rewarding activity. But it is very difficult to catch wild bees. There aren't any around here. Is it possible that a swarm of beekeepers will fly off and fall into your trap?

What do we do? - we asked plaintively. Grandfather apparently took pity on us.

Well,” he said, “I’ll give you some bees to breed, since you love this business so much.” Beekeepers must help each other out.

My heart jumped with joy in my chest. I thought that grandfather would give us bees right away, but he said:

Come by the end of the day. I have a swarm coming out of one hive here. So I will give this swarm to you. Just bring some kind of box or box with you to plant the bees.

Can we bring a trap? - I asked.

Can. Don't come too soon. Come back in three or four hours when the heat begins to subside.

We ran into the forest, removed the trap from the tree and are now waiting to go to grandpa. I have nothing to do, and I decided to write about everything in detail, as it should. Still, when you write, time passes more unnoticed. We'll wait a little longer, and then we'll go back to grandpa. Maybe the swarm has already left. And now there is nothing more to write about.

Same day in the evening

Finally we have bees! That's how kind grandpa turned out to be! I thought that all beekeepers are evil because they are often stung by bees, but this beekeeper turned out to be quite good and very kind. He not only promised to give us bees, but also kept his promise. When we arrived at the apiary, the swarm was already sitting in a round wooden box like a sieve. The top of the box was covered with gauze, through which the bees were visible. Fathers, how many bees there were! Just some kind of live mess of bees. Grandfather took off the gauze and poured the bees into our trap, as if he were cereal. We quickly closed the trap and were about to run home, but grandfather detained us and began to teach us how to handle bees.

He told us to pour the bees into the hive directly onto the frames with foundation and put a feeder with sugar syrup in the hive for the first time, until the bees stored honey for themselves. In order to make a feeder, you need to boil syrup from sugar, pour it into a glass jar and tie the neck with a cloth. Then the jar needs to be turned upside down and placed in the hive on the frames. The syrup will seep out of the jar, and the bees will suck it little by little through the cloth. In addition, grandfather taught us to make nets out of gauze to put on our heads when we open the hive, and he also told us to make a smoker to light the bees with smoke. Bees are afraid of smoke. They hide from him in the hive and do not fly away. Grandfather showed us his smoker. It's a round tin with a spout and an accordion on the side. Put rotten things in a tin and light it. When you press the accordion, smoke comes out of the spout.

Beekeeping is a very interesting activity,” said the grandfather. - Whoever starts beekeeping will love bees for the rest of his life and will never give up this business.

Why? - we were surprised.

Yes, without the bees he will be bored.

Finally grandpa let us go and we set off on our way back. We returned home late, when it was already getting dark. Seryozha took the trap with the bees to his home. Pavlik and I ran home for a minute to say that we were already back, and also ran to Seryozha.

Seryozha’s mother began asking us how we lived at the dacha. We were afraid that she would ask about Aunt Polya, because we didn’t know whether to admit to us that we lived in a hut, or better not to admit it. Seryozha deliberately began to talk about his grandfather, a beekeeper. Mom listened and listened, and then asked:

How is Aunt Polya doing?

We saw that we were caught and didn’t know what to say, but then there was a knock on the door. It was Pavlik’s mother who came and told him to go have dinner. We breathed a sigh of relief, began to show her the bees and tell her about her grandfather the beekeeper. Then Seryozha’s mother asked again:

Why didn’t you tell me anything about Aunt Polya? We were confused again, but then someone knocked on the door again. It was my mother who came for me. We were delighted. They began to show her the bees and tell her about her grandfather. My mother also began to ask how we lived at the dacha. I speak:

We lived well. Wow.

Are you tired of Aunt Polya there?

No, I don’t think they’re tired, I say, but I don’t know whether I’m telling the truth or not.

Isn’t Aunt Polya coming to visit us? - asked Seryozha’s mother.

No, says Seryozha, it seems he’s not going to.

Didn't you say anything about this?

No, I didn't.

He, of course, told the truth, because what could Aunt Polya say if we didn’t see her! I don’t know where this conversation would have gone, but then someone knocked again. We breathed a sigh of relief. The door opened and Aunt Polya herself entered the room. We opened our mouths in surprise and remained with our mouths open.

Hello! - said Aunt Polya.

“Hello,” Seryozha’s mother answered. - What destinies come to us?

“Well, there was a car coming from the collective farm to the city, and I came,” said Aunt Polya.

This is where the fun began. Aunt Polya extended her hand to Seryozha:

Hello, Serezhenka! Seryozha turned red like boiled crayfish.

Hello, Aunt Polya.

Wait, how is this - hello? - says Seryozha’s mother. -Didn’t you see each other today?

Where could we see each other? - Aunt Polya was surprised.

As where? In Shishigin.

Yes, I haven’t been to Shishigin for three days. I worked on a collective farm, in Tarasovka.

Where have you been? - asked Seryozha’s mother.

“We are in Shishigin,” says Seryozha.

So the house was closed.

Why do we need a house? We lived in a hut.

In what hut?

Well, they built a hut from branches and lived.

Ah, that's how it is! Who gave you permission to live in a hut? Couldn't you go home?

Then everyone started talking at once - my mother, Pavlika, and Serezhina - and I don’t even know what happened next, because my mother said:

So this is how you obey your mother! Let's go home, my dear! I'll show you how to live in a hut without asking!

I had to sit at home all evening and listen to reproaches. I couldn't even admire the bees.

June 11

This is what happened today. In the morning I went to Pavlik, and together we went to Seryozha. Seryozha was still sleeping. We woke him up. He woke up reluctantly and began to grumble at us, because he had some interesting dream and he wanted to finish watching it.

Okay, we say, you’ll watch it later. We have to get up and put the bees in the hive.

Seryozha says:

You go tell the guys that we have already got the bees, while I get dressed.

Where's the trap? - we ask.

The trap is there on the balcony. Last night I put it on the balcony so that the bees wouldn’t feel stuffy in the room.

We went out onto the balcony. Let's see... Fathers, what's going on! The trap door is open, the bees fly out of it and scatter in different directions.

Oh, you scarecrow! - Pavlik shouted at Seryozha. - He’s sleeping, and then the bees ran away!

Seryozha jumped out onto the balcony.

What are you watching? - he shouted. - The bees fly away, and they watch!

He ran to the trap and quickly closed the door.

Why are you shouting? - says Pavlik. - As if we were to blame! You left the trap open yourself.

How did I not notice yesterday that the door was open? - says Seryozha. - Why did it open?

Opening! - I say.

Am I to blame? It's all Aunt Polya! She gave me a headache here. There was no time for bees at all.

Here you go! And now there probably isn’t a single bee left,” said Pavlik. - Probably everyone scattered.

Maybe there’s at least a little left,” says Seryozha. - We need to look.

I quickly opened the lid of the trap, and the three of us began to look into it. There were many more bees trapped. They started to climb up. Pavlik began waving his hand at them so that they climb back in. One bee flew out and landed on my hand. I got scared, dropped the lid and started shaking my hand to throw off the bee, and how it stung me! I screamed and smacked the bee with my hand and crushed it. Then the rest of the bees began to buzz, began to fly out of the trap and sting us. Pavlik got scared and ran into the room. Seryozha is behind him. One bee stung me on the neck, another grabbed my hair. I also ran into the room and began to pull the bee out of my hair, but it still managed to sting me on the head. Pavlik was stung by two bees on the neck and one on the lip. One bee stung Seryozha on the nose, and another on the back of the head.

We ran to the kitchen and began to soak the bites under the tap. The pain burned like a hot iron. We began to pull out bee stings from each other. They fiddled and fiddled and pulled it out forcibly, but the pain still did not go away.

It's all your fault! - Seryozha shouted at Pavlik, - He waved his hands here! Bees don't like to be waved at.

And keep your screams quiet! - says Pavlik. - Were you the only one who was stung? I was probably stung too, and on the lip too!

And they stung me on the nose. Do you know how painful it is!

Just think, on the nose! What should you do with your nose? But I need to talk with my lip.

You don't have to talk.

They pouted and stopped arguing.

We sat in silence for a long time in the kitchen, soaked handkerchiefs in water and applied them to the bites.

And the trap is open! - Seryozha suddenly said. We ran into the room and began to look out onto the balcony. The trap was open. Several bees circled above her, but they soon flew away. We went out onto the balcony and looked into the trap. It was empty inside.

Everyone scattered! - said Seryozha.

Or maybe they will fly back? - I say.

Wait! - Pavlik answered with annoyance. At this time, Tolya and Yura appeared on the street. They saw us on the balcony and shouted:

Hey! Have you already come back?

We're back.

With bees or without bees?

With bees.

They quickly came up to us:

Where are the bees?

But they are no longer there, we say. - They flew away.

Where did you go?

Well, “where”, “where”! - Pavlik got angry. - As if they told us where!

Why are you angry? Can't you tell me calmly?

We began to talk about everything that happened: how we got the bees from grandfather, and how they flew away.

Maybe we can get more from this grandfather? - says Yura.

What you! - we say. - And we won’t ask anymore. He gave it to us, but we couldn’t even save it. He won't give us more.

What to do?

Let's wait. Maybe they'll fly back.

We began to wait.

Yura and Tolya sat and sat, then they got tired of it. They left and told all the guys what happened.

The guys came one after another and asked us questions. We're even tired of telling everyone. Seryozha’s nose is red, like a cranberry, and swollen on one side. Pavlik’s lip is so swollen that he doesn’t look like himself. And a lump appeared on my head, and my neck was also swollen.

We waited until lunch, but not a single bee came back.

They probably flew to their home, to their grandfather’s apiary,” said Seryozha.

Good riddance! - says Pavlik. - Even if they flew back, I still wouldn’t bother with them.

Do you think I would? - says Seryozha, - I really need them to sting me! I speak:

In my opinion, this is not an interesting thing: you fuss with them, fuss, and they will pity you and fly away. Then Yura came running and shouted:

Guys, come quickly, we’ll write a letter!

Which letter?

Well, a letter to the beekeeping farm. Nina Sergeevna found out the address. We will write a letter and they will send us bees in a parcel.

Pavlik says:

You can write it yourself: we are no longer interested in bees

Why aren't they interested?

We don't want to deal with bees anymore. We decided to quit this business.

How so? - says Yura. “We, as a whole unit, took on this work, but you don’t want to.”

Well, we'll do some other work. Is this the only work in the world?

Yura began to persuade us, but we firmly decided:

We don't want to, that's all

So he failed to persuade us. We are cunning now: we will do whatever we want, and let someone else take care of the bees.

12 June

In the morning I woke up and forcibly got out of bed.

My neck is swollen and hurts so much that I can’t even move my head. If you want to look to the side, you have to turn your whole body. And the lump on my head hurts. And my hand hurts.

I went to Pavlik. He sits at home, and has a cotton wool compress on his neck. The two of us began to scold the bees for pitying us. Then Seryozha came with a swollen nose, and the three of us began to curse the bees. Suddenly Grisha Yakushkin came running:

Guys, let's go make beekeeping equipment.

What kind of equipment is this?

We will make a smoker and nets so that the bees do not sting.

They won’t spare us anyway, we say, we abandoned this matter.

Grisha began to persuade us.

No, we said. - We are already tired of beekeeping. We've already tried it, now you try it yourself.

Well, let's try

And quit too.

We won't give up. We are not like you!

But we'll see.

Grisha was offended and left.

Well, okay.

When the bees sting them, they will stop being brave.

June 13

Today my neck doesn't hurt as much anymore. You can turn your head, but not very quickly. If you twist it quickly, it still hurts a little. Pavlik’s neck also still hurts.

Grisha came and showed what kind of smoker they made. He filled the room with smoke and left. Just think! As if we didn't see the smoke!

June 14

Today my neck doesn't hurt at all. And the bump on my head doesn’t hurt. Yes, and there is no bump. The bump has already passed, and the head is also spinning well. I can even shake my head. But why should I shake my head? I'm not a horse to shake my head. There was nothing else interesting.

June 15

In the morning, Pavlik and I came to Seryozha and began to play checkers. I beat Seryozha twice, and Pavlik only once, and Pavlik beat me three times, and never beat Seryozha, and Seryozha also won me twice. Suddenly Zhenya and Yura came running:

Guys, come quickly! The bees have arrived!

Well, the package has arrived. A whole box, and in it there are bees, apparently and invisible! So they are swarming! And there are also two frames with ready-made honeycombs. Come quickly, we will plant bees in the hive. Very interesting!

We jumped up and wanted to run.

A! - Yura was delighted. - They said that you weren’t interested in bees, but now you’re interested!

And it’s not at all interesting, we say. - As if we didn’t see the bees!

We saw, but not like that. Our bees are good!

Well, kiss them if they are so good!

And we'll kiss. And you will come to us again. Yura and Zhenya left. I speak:

It’s interesting to go see what kind of bees they have there.

No need,” says Pavlik. “Everyone will say that we don’t have any firmness.”

Because now the guys will think that we were afraid of difficulties and gave up, and when others succeeded for us, we also came. Since we have firmly decided to quit, we need to be firm.

That’s right,” says Seryozha. - We will prove to everyone that we have toughness.

In the evening I went home and began to think about bees. Still, bees, in my opinion, are not so bad. They work honestly and bring honey to their hive. And they live very friendly. I have never seen two bees fight each other.

June 16

In the morning we sat at Pavlik's and played checkers. Then I got tired of playing and went home. At home I thought about bees again. Why do they sting: out of anger or just because? In my opinion, it’s still not out of anger.

Bees use their stings to protect themselves from their enemies. If someone attacks the hive, they sting him. They will even sting a bear if he climbs into their hive for honey.

And they will do the right thing. After all, they store honey for themselves, and not for bears. And they sting people, probably by mistake. Bees don’t know that people don’t want to harm them.

How do they know this!

Although people also take honey from bees. But people don’t take all the honey. They take as much as they need, and in return people take care of the bees, make hives for them, and hide them in good winter huts for the winter.

If people didn't care about bees, things would be much worse for bees. They would only live in hollows or some crevices, but now they live in beautiful hives, and when they have nothing to eat, people even feed them sugar syrup.

Therefore, bees do not need to be offended by people, and people do not need to be offended by bees if bees sting them.

To prevent bees from stinging, you need to wear nets and smoke the bees. Everything will be fine!

And we climbed up to the bees without nets, for which we were punished.

June 17

Today Pavlik made a dove out of paper and began flying it around the room. And Seryozha made a dove and released it from the balcony straight into the street. The pigeon somersaulted in the air, somersaulted and fell right in the middle of the pavement. All three of us began making pigeons and releasing them from the balcony. One of my pigeons flew across the street and fell on the roof of the house opposite. And Seryozha’s pigeon fell on a car that was driving down the street and drove off in that car. Then I got bored and went home. For some reason I felt sad at home. So I sit and mope, and I don’t want to do anything.

June 18

Again they made pigeons and let them fly from the balcony, but we quickly got tired of it. We started playing checkers, but we quickly got tired of checkers too. Then we started playing other different games, but we got tired of them too.

Seryozha said that he was bored and went home. I didn’t want to play anymore either. I went home, and sadness attacked me again. I began to think about what melancholy is and where it comes from. Maybe melancholy is boredom? No, in my opinion, melancholy is not boredom. If you are bored, then you can play something, and the boredom will go away, but if a person is bored, then he doesn’t even want to play.

In my opinion, melancholy comes from idleness. When you do something useful, you never feel sad. And when you sit idle all day or do some nonsense, then later it becomes annoying that you wasted your time. In my opinion, melancholy is annoying boredom. This is what it is!

June 19

Pavlik had been moping since the morning and didn’t want to play anything. After lunch he disappeared somewhere. Seryozha and I searched the entire yard, went through all the attics and sheds - we couldn’t find it anywhere. Then we decided that he had gone to one of the guys and stopped looking for him. Then we got bored. Seryozha said:

If we worked together with the guys in the apiary, we wouldn’t be bored. I speak:

Come on, while Pavlik is away, let's go and look at the bees.

Seryozha was delighted:

Let's go quickly before Pavlik returns, otherwise he will say that we did not have enough firmness.

We quickly went to the school garden and saw a beehive from a distance. A figure sat near the hive and stared at the bees. We came closer and saw that this figure was Pavlik.

“Ah,” we shouted, “so that’s how hard you are!” He told us that there is no need to be interested in bees, but you sit here and are interested! Is this what comrades do?

Pavlik felt ashamed.

“I,” he says, “came here by accident.” He walked and walked and came in.

Fairy tales! - we say. - I just wanted to look at the bees!

Honestly, guys! Why should I look at them? No need at all!

Why are you looking if there is no need?

Why did you come?

And we also walked and walked and entered. We see you sitting here, so we came in to look at you.

You're lying! You probably didn’t have enough courage, so you came to look at the bees.

We, we say, have more firmness than you: you came first.

We began to argue about who had more toughness - us or him. Then steps were heard from behind. We turned around and saw Yura. He heard what we were arguing about and said:

You three don't have any toughness,

Because you started working and quit halfway. He who has firmness does not give up work, no matter what difficulties.

But we didn’t give up,” says Pavlik. “We just wanted to rest a little, and now we’ll work again.”

That's good! - says Yura. - Make your own nets and come. You will work with the entire team. Now leave so the bees don’t sting,

“We’ll look a little and leave,” Pavlik said. We slowly sat down near the hive and began to look at the bees. They crawled out one after another from the entrance and flew away for honey. Other bees, on the contrary, flew in from somewhere, sat on the landing board and crawled into the hive. There were bees crowding around the entrance all the time.

Our hive has come to life! It was a joy to look at him. Then we went home, took out gauze and wire and began making nets. We tinkered with this until the evening, and the nets turned out well. And there was no boredom.

June 20

What a happy day today is! Our unit in full force gathered in the apiary in the morning. All the guys brought nets, and Yura brought a smoker. We collected rotten mushrooms from the garden and put them in the smoker. Yura lit them and began to fan them. The smoker worked properly.

We opened the hive and looked inside. Fathers, how many bees there were! They sat close to each other on the frames. Some bees began to climb up onto the frames, but Yura immediately began blowing smoke at them, and they hid back.

Then Tolya took one frame out of the hive. And then we saw how the bees were building honeycombs. They made such long hexagonal tubes from wax and molded them one next to the other, so that they got continuous rows of tubes, or cells.

We quickly put the frame in place so as not to interfere with the bees’ work.

Amazing insects - bees - how cleverly they can build honeycombs! Looking at the honeycombs, I simply can’t believe that they are made by ordinary bees, these honeycombs are so correct and beautiful. Of course, many other animals are also very smart, such as dogs. But no dog could make such a honeycomb!

21st of June

Today Galya came to our apiary and brought a camera. She said she would film us and the hive. All the guys lined up behind the hive, only Seryozha, Pavlik and I didn’t get a place. We stood behind the guys, but we were not visible there. Then we sat down in front of the hive. Galya pointed the device, clicked - and it was done! Interesting photo! They'll snap you, and then into the developer. I once saw how cards were developed. They chat and chat, at first there is nothing, and then - fathers, a man climbs in!

I wonder what kind of card it will turn out to be. Only I’m very afraid that I’ll come out eyeless, because I blinked when Galya clicked the device. I already had such a case: we were filmed as a whole class, and I blinked, so I ended up on the card with my eyes closed, as if I was sleeping while sitting. All the guys scolded me then; “Oh, you sleepy little aunt! I ruined the whole card!”

As if it were my fault!

22nd of June

What a shame! The card is not ready yet! Galya says the film has not dried yet. We started asking if we did well. She says:

I'll make a card tomorrow, we'll see. I am very worried: am I blind or have eyes? And how did I manage to blink at such a time! I wish tomorrow would come!

June 23

The card is ready! All the guys turned out well, but I came out with my mouth open. I don’t understand how I managed to open my mouth! Everything is fine, and the eyes are there, but the mouth is open. The guys scold me again:

Why did you need to open your mouth?

I accidentally.

- “Accidentally”! You should have stuck your tongue out!

What do you care? After all, you did well.

We're fine, but you're ruining the whole look.

How can I spoil it?

Yes, you sit here with your mouth open like a shark! Then I began to ask Galya:

Galya, can I put something on my mouth? Oh please!

What to cover it with? - says Galya, - I think you turned out well. Very similar.

Yes, I say, it looks like it! Am I like that? I am beautiful.

Well, you are very handsome here too.

And not at all beautiful! Here I look kind of stupid.

Not stupid at all. Your mouth is just slightly open because you are smiling and you look normal. Very smart looking.

Galya probably said this on purpose to console me. Or maybe I actually look smart, but it’s just not noticeable to me? I don’t know... But for some reason I always do poorly on cards. In life I’m very handsome, but as soon as I take pictures, I’m definitely not like that. Here it is on this card. The mouth is okay, it’s my own fault, but why is the nose like this? Do I have such a nose? I have a good nose, but here it goes up, like a comma. What about the ears? Do my ears stick out like samovar handles? Well, nothing. Still, I look a little similar. You can find out that it was me who was filmed and not someone else. There are some similarities. The main thing is that the hive came out well. And Seryozha, Pavlik and I are ahead of everyone, in plain sight.

When we went home, Seryozha said:

And why did we come forward? It’s even somehow inconvenient! You might think that we are the most important in this matter.

Yes,” says Pavlik, “they didn’t do the job, they even abandoned it, and when everything worked out without us, we climb forward. Now everyone will think about us that we are braggarts.

At home I thought about showing off. What is boasting? Why do people brag? For example, some people imagine that they are very good and tell everyone how good they are. Why keep repeating this? If you are good, then even without words it is clear that you are good, but if you are bad, then no matter how much you say, they still won’t believe you. And then there are also people who imagine that they are very beautiful and tell everyone about it. Why talk about it if you can already see whether you are handsome or ugly. And then you come across people who imagine that they are terribly smart, and so they chatter, chatter, even talk about things that they themselves do not understand. And this is where everyone can see whether they are smart or stupid. In my opinion, boasting is just stupidity. For some reason, a stupid person always thinks that he is better than others, but a smart person understands that others may still be better than him, which means there is nothing to brag about.

June 24

Today Nina Sergeevna taught us how to make a drinking bowl for bees.

You need to take a barrel, pour water into it and arrange a plug so that the water trickles out drop by drop. You need to place a board at an angle underneath the barrel. The water will spread over the board, and the bees will drink directly from it.

We began to think about where to get the keg. Grisha said that they have an old barrel in the attic. We went to him. He asked his mother for permission to take the barrel. Mom allowed it.

The barrel was heavy. We forcibly pulled her out of the attic and rolled her down the street. Suddenly Fedya comes towards you:

Where are you taking the barrel?

To the apiary. We will make a drinking bowl for the bees.

We're crazy! Where do they need so much water?

“Nothing,” says Yura. - They'll drink.

We dragged the barrel to the apiary and began to carry water into it, but the barrel became dry, and all the water poured out of it as if through a sieve. We already thought that we would have to throw it away, but Galya said:

You need to soak the barrel thoroughly. When the rivets swell, it will stop flowing.

We started carrying water again.

How much water we poured into this barrel! There are a hundred or probably two hundred buckets. At first the water poured out through the cracks, but gradually the barrel swelled and by evening it was already half full of water.

Tomorrow we will carry water again.

June 25

Overnight the barrel swelled and stopped flowing completely. We filled it with water to the top, and then we had to pour all this water out, because the barrel stood on the ground, and it needed to be placed on a stand higher. We poured out the water, drove four posts into the ground, placed a barrel on them and again dragged water into it. Then they made a plug so that the water would drip onto the board. Soon a bee sat on the board and began poking with its proboscis into the water, which was spreading over the board. After some time, other bees discovered that there was a drinking bowl for them. They began to fly in and drink water. And we looked at them and rejoiced.

Then we had a squad meeting. Galya spoke about the work of our team. The entire squad became interested in our work, and the guys from the second link said that they would quit working in the garden and join us.

But this is no good,” said Galya. - Who will work in the experimental garden?

Well, we’ll work in the garden and come to the apiary to study the bees,” the guys said.

This is different! - said Galya. - Please come, just don’t leave your business. Strive for a big harvest.

June 26

Today we watched where our bees fly for honey. It turns out that they are flying to an experimental garden. Cucumbers, zucchini and pumpkins have already bloomed there. All the beds are dotted with yellow flowers. Bees are buzzing around all the time. They fly low above the ground and climb into the cups of flowers.

One bee climbed into a pumpkin flower and rolled around in pollen so much that it turned all yellow. Other bees are flying somewhere across the street, but you can't follow them because they fly high above the houses. They must be flying to the park.

27th of June

Yura brought some honey in a glass and decided to treat the bees. He poured honey onto a glass and placed it near the hive. The bees flew past and did not notice that there was a treat for them on the ground. Then Zhenya caught one bee with a glass and carefully transferred it in the glass directly to the glass with honey. The bee saw the honey and began to eat it. We started keeping an eye on her. The bee ate honey and flew back to the hive. After some time, another bee came out of the hive, flew up to the honey and began to eat. Having eaten, she flew away, and two minutes later the bee flew out of the hive again and flew straight to the glass with honey, as if she knew in advance that honey was prepared there for her. We were surprised: how does she know that there is honey on the glass?

“Probably the bee that Zhenya caught with his glass told her,” I say.

Everyone started laughing at me:

Can bees talk to each other?

Well, do you think the bee herself guessed that there was honey here?

Or maybe she didn’t even guess, she was just flying past and saw honey.

When the bee flew away, Fedya said:

What if you hide the honey?

We quickly took the glass of honey and hid it. Suddenly a bee came out of the entrance and flew straight to the place where the honey had previously been. She saw that the honey had disappeared somewhere, and began to buzz and circle over this place. At this point everyone was convinced that the bee knew about honey. So someone told her! She was spinning for a long time and did not want to fly away anywhere. Then we put the glass of honey in its original place. The bee quickly found honey, ate its fill and flew away. We took a piece of glass, placed it two steps to the side and began to follow. The next bee got out of the hive and flew not to where the piece of glass lay, but to the old place. She even seemed surprised when she didn’t find any honey, but spun around in the air for a long time until she found a piece of glass with honey in a new place. But the next bee flew straight to a new place.

Yeah! - I was happy. - So, she was already informed that the honey was in the new place.

We kept an eye on the bees for the rest of the day. Every time we moved honey to a new place, the bees could not find it right away; if the honey remained in the old place, the bees quickly found it. Eventually it became clear to everyone that the bees were talking to each other.

In the evening I went home and began to think about how bees talk. If they talk like humans, then they must have a tongue in their mouth. But can you really see the tongue in their mouth? They're small after all. And then I thought that if bees talk, then they must have ears, because how can you hear what they are talking about if you are earless?

Tomorrow I will definitely see if the bees have ears.

June 28

Bees don't have ears. I looked at the bee very carefully, but did not notice any ears. In my opinion, bees cannot hear anything at all. I deliberately shouted at the bees, but they did not pay any attention to my screams.

Today Nina Sergeevna came to our apiary. We told her about our experiments with bees. Nina Sergeevna also wanted to watch. We caught a bee and put it on a piece of glass with honey. The bee ate the honey and flew away into the hive, and a few minutes later the bee flew out of the hive again and flew straight to the honey.

You see! - we were happy. - So she learned from the first bee that there was honey here.

“Come on, let’s mark this bee,” said Nina Sergeevna.

We didn't understand how to tag a bee. Nina Sergeevna explained that you need to take a little paint and put a mark on the bee’s back. Tolya quickly ran home and brought paints and a brush.

As soon as the bee flew to the honey, he quickly smeared white paint on its back. The bee was so carried away by the honey that she did not even notice how she was painted. She only flew away when she had eaten enough honey. We began to wait to see what would happen next. Suddenly, we see, the same bee with a white mark comes out of the hive again and flies straight to the honey. We thought that she had not yet eaten properly, and began to watch her eat.

Finally she had enough and flew back to the hive. A few minutes later she arrived again and began to eat honey again.

Where does she eat so much? After all, she will eventually burst from greed!

“She doesn’t eat at all,” explained Nina Sergeevna. - She collects honey in her proboscis, takes it to the hive and puts it in the honeycomb. Bees always do this. If any bee finds honey, she will immediately begin to transfer it to her hive.

We began to follow our bee with a white mark and saw that every now and then she flies up to the piece of glass and, having collected honey, flies away to the hive. Then it became clear to us that yesterday only one bee flew to our glass with honey, and we thought that they were all different.

So bees don't talk to each other at all? - we asked.

Bees, of course, cannot talk like people, said Nina Sergeevna, but bees can still tell each other something. They have their own bee tongue. Just watch them, maybe you will be able to notice how they do it.

June 29

Today we decided to investigate whether a bee will find its way home if it is taken somewhere far from the hive.

I caught one bee with a glass, and slipped a piece of cardboard under the glass so that the bee could not fly away. Now it was necessary to mark the bee with paint and take it somewhere far away. I told the guys that I would take the bee home, mark it there and release it from the balcony.

The guys stayed to wait and watch for the marked bee to fly back to the hive, and I took the bee home. I purposely held the glass higher so that the bee would notice the road. The bottom of the glass was covered with cardboard, so the bee could not escape, and through the glass she could see everything.

Then I came home and began to think about how I could mark the bee so that it would not fly away before I put a mark on its back with paint. Then I decided to feed the bee honey and, while she was eating, mark her. I placed a saucer on the balcony, poured a drop of honey into it and placed the glass with the bee on the saucer. Soon the bee saw the honey and began to eat it. I carefully removed the glass and smeared paint on the bee's back. The bee was not afraid and continued to eat honey. Then she flew away, and I went to the apiary to find out whether the bee flew back or not. I went out onto the street and walked quickly. Suddenly Seryozha comes towards me.

Arrived! - shouts. - Already arrived! We started jumping for joy in the middle of the street. What a bee! Small, but still not lost. I found my way to my native hive! Seryozha says:

Give me a glass, we'll catch another bee and do the experiment again.

I forgot the glass at home. We ran home for a glass. I wanted to remove the saucer from the balcony, and suddenly I saw that a bee had flown in, sat on the saucer and let’s eat the honey. We took a closer look at her, and she had a paint mark on her back.

Yes, it's the same bee! - I guessed. - She came again for honey.

That's how the bee is! - says Seryozha. - She not only found her way home, but even remembered that there was honey here, and flew back again!

Let's wait. Maybe she’ll come again,” I say. We began to wait. Ten minutes later the bee flew in again. Until the evening she flew in twenty times for honey. Amazing insect! Some fly would have eaten honey and flown away, but the bee did not spare the work. She ate it herself and took the honey to her friends. A very good insect! People like bees must be respected.

30 June

We wondered: why, if you put honey far from the hive and put a bee on it, then the bee remembers the place where it found honey and flies again, and if you put honey close to the hive, but do not put bees on it, then the bees themselves do not can find him. Nina Sergeevna said:

Do this experience. Take two pieces of glass and pour honey on them. Place one piece of glass directly on the ground, and place the other on a piece of colored paper and watch which piece of glass the bee lands on first.

That's what we did. One glass of honey was placed directly on the grass, and a piece of blue paper was placed under the other glass. At first the bees flew past and did not notice the honey. Suddenly a bee sat on a piece of glass with blue paper and began to eat honey. We marked the bee with paint. After some time, the same bee flew in again, and then another bee, without a mark, flew onto the same piece of glass with a blue piece of paper. We marked it with paint too. About two hours later, five bees flew to the piece of glass with blue paper, but the bees did not pay any attention to the piece of glass without paper.

Blue paper is more noticeable, so the bees must land on it,” said Vitya.

That’s right,” said Nina Sergeevna. - Now do you understand why plants have beautiful, bright flowers - red, blue, yellow?

For what? - we didn’t understand.

Didn't you guess?.. In order to attract bees and other insects.

Why do plants attract bees? - I say.

So that bees help pollinate. The more bees and other insects fly to flowers, the better the plant is pollinated and reproduces.

Nina Sergeevna said that not all plants are pollinated by insects. There are plants that are pollinated by the wind, such as rye. Rye's flowers are very small, inconspicuous, and don't even look like flowers, because they don't need to attract bees and other insects.

Then I went home and began to think about how amazingly everything in nature works. I used to think: why are flowers so beautiful? And now it turns out that flowers are beautiful not just for beauty's sake. In those plants that are pollinated by insects, large, beautiful flowers are needed so that insects find them faster and help pollinate. This means that beauty is needed not only for beauty, but also for benefit.

July 1

We continue experiments with bees. Today we took two pieces of paper, red and blue, poured honey on them and put a bee on the blue paper, but no bees sat on the red paper. The bee began to fly in and carry honey into the hive from blue paper. Each time she flew in and landed only on blue paper, although the red one was lying nearby and there was honey on it too. Then we swapped both pieces of paper. The bee flew in, saw that instead of blue paper there was red paper, and did not sit on it. She spun around, saw a blue piece of paper and sat down on it. Then we took the blue piece of paper a little further away, but the bee still found it.

We did experiments with different colored pieces of paper and noticed that the bee always flies to the color on which it found honey. This means that bees not only distinguish colors, but even remember the color on which they found honey. It's very good that bees have this ability. She helps them collect more honey.

Tomorrow Grisha and Fedya are leaving for a pioneer camp. Today they said goodbye to all the children and said that tomorrow they would not come to the apiary. Fedya said that he was sorry to part with the bees; he didn’t even want to go to the camp. And we said that the bees could live without it. There is nothing for him to invent!

July 2

The more we look at bees, the more surprised we become. In appearance, bees are like flies. But where do the flies care about the bees? What are flies? Flies are brainless talkers. They just buzz, climb where they are not asked, bother people, and even spread infection. But bees are a completely different people! They always do the right thing, work together, each one works not only for herself, but for everyone. And what don’t they do! Today we come to the apiary and look - what an incomprehensible picture! Several bees sat down in the entrance and flapped their wings with all their might. At first we thought that they were simply stuck to the board and could not take off. We drove them away, but they sat down again near the entrance and started flapping their wings. We ran to Nina Sergeevna and told about it. Nina Sergeevna said:

Today is a very hot day, and the hive has become stuffy, so the bees decided to ventilate the room. They flap their wings and drive fresh air into the hive. This is their ventilation.

These are the bees that even invented ventilation! And I also had joy today: my mom and dad came to the apiary and looked at our bees.

3 July

It's a hot day again. The bees are ventilating the hive again. What's going on at the drinking bowl! The bees, one after another, fly out of the hive and fly to the drinking bowl, and after drinking, they immediately fly back to the hive. It’s like there’s a chain of bees in the air. One chain stretches from the hive to the drinking bowl, the other - from the drinking bowl to the hive.

We looked at them and wondered: why do the bees, after drinking water, not fly for honey, but immediately return to the hive?

Nina Sergeevna told us to mark the bees that come to drink water with paint. Tolya began to paint all the bees that flew to the drinking bowl.

The marked bees flew into the hive, and new bees flew out of the hive and flew to the drinking bowl. Tolya smeared them all one by one. Suddenly we noticed that one marked bee came out of the hive and flew to the drinking bowl, followed by another, a third... Soon we saw that only marked bees were flying to the drinking bowl and there was no one else to mark.

Yes, this is some kind of water brigade! - Fedya shouted. - These bees probably don’t drink, but for some reason carry water into the hive.

This is so,” said Nina Sergeevna. - In hot weather, some of the bees always carry water into the hive for those bees who are busy working inside.

Can't those bees fly out of the hive themselves to drink? - I asked.

Nina Sergeevna explained to us that bees have a division of labor. Young bees, who have not yet learned to look for flowers, work in the hive: they build honeycombs, keep the room clean, ventilate the room, feed the babies, while old bees fly for honey and carry water into the hive when it is very hot.

It’s a pity that you can’t see how the bees work in the hive,” said Zhenya.

Nina Sergeevna said that there are hives with glass walls through which you can observe how the bees work.

We decided that when we have several hives, we will definitely make one with a glass wall.

4th of July

Today Nina Sergeevna said:

The linden tree will bloom soon. We need to get ready for the main honey harvest.

What is the main honey collection? - we asked.

This is the time when many flowers bloom at once: clover or buckwheat blooms in the fields, acacia, or maple, or willow blooms. It is at this time that bees make the largest reserves of honey. This is the main honey collection.

But we don’t have either clover or buckwheat, we say.

But we have a lot of linden. We will have the main honey collection from the linden tree.

Nina Sergeevna taught us how to make an extension for the hive, which is called a store. This store is like the second floor of a beehive. Additional frames are placed in it so that the bees have somewhere to store honey when the large honey harvest begins.

We made an extension for the hive, and Nina Sergeevna told us to watch when the linden tree starts to bloom.

As soon as the linden tree blooms, we will put a superstructure on the hive.

5'th of July

The linden tree has not yet bloomed. I deliberately climbed the tree to check, but the flowers had not yet bloomed.

Galya saw and said:

Why are you climbing trees? Get down now! I speak:

I'm checking the flowers.

To do this, you don’t need to climb trees, and it will be visible.

But I still checked it properly. Suddenly we miss!

July 6

I have long noticed that two or three bees are constantly sitting in the hive entrance.

Other bees fly in and out, but these ones sit and don’t go anywhere. I thought for a long time what kind of bees these were.

And today a bumblebee tried to get into the hive. He was buzzing around the hive, buzzing - probably looking for some hole to climb into the hive and feast on honey. He never found the hole and climbed straight into the entrance. Then these three bees attacked him and began to drive him away.

He started to run away from them, but they caught up with him and began to sting him. And rightly so! Why did he covet someone else's honey? The bees do not collect honey for him. Those who work eat honey, and those who do not work do not need to be given honey.

And then I thought: “Maybe these bees are deliberately sitting in the entrance and keeping watch so that no robbers get to them?” I asked Nina Sergeevna. Nina Sergeevna said that I guessed correctly.

Still, it turns out that my head can figure things out.

Nina Sergeevna said that bees do not spare their lives in protecting their native hive. If even such a large animal as a bear attacks the hive, all the bees rush at it and sting it.

Only if a bee stings someone, it cannot pull out the sting, and without a sting the bee will certainly die.

These are the brave bees!

July 7

What a great scientific achievement! Today Zhenya Shemyakin has invented a way to observe bee life inside a hive. He took the mirror and sent a sunbeam into the entrance. The sunbeam illuminated the inside of the hive, and the bees became visible. But everyone can’t watch at once, because the entrance is small and only one person can watch. All the guys took turns watching, and I couldn’t wait. Vitya Almazov began to look in front of me. I kept asking him to let me in, but he kept saying “wait” and “wait.” I must have watched it for an hour! Then he says:

Here, look.

I took the mirror from him and began to let the bunny into the hive, but the sun had already crossed to the other side, and the bunny did not get into the entrance.

I speak:

Why did you give the mirror when the sun went away?

Is it my fault that it went away?

So talk to him! So greedy! Tomorrow I’ll take a mirror, come before everyone else and grab a place near the hive. Let them ask me then.

At home I read the newspaper. There was an article in the newspaper about honey. It turns out that honey is a medicinal substance. Anyone who has a sick stomach, or heart, or lungs, or nerves, or anything else, everyone should eat honey, and they will quickly recover. And if someone has an abscess or boil, then you need to smear it with honey and tie it with a cloth, and the boil will quickly go away.

July 8

What a shame! Today I deliberately came to the apiary with a mirror, but there was no sun. The sun didn't come out even once all day. I have no luck!

Then we had a squad meeting. All units talked about their work. We talked about our experiments with bees, and second-level manager Shura talked about working in an experimental garden. He said that they would have a very large harvest of cucumbers; much more than last year. This, of course, is because last year there were no bees, but this year our bees collected honey from the cucumber flowers and helped pollination.

July 9

Finally the sun came out! I put a net on my head, pulled mittens on my hands so that the bees would not sting, sat down near the hive and began to let the bunny into the entrance with a mirror. Fathers, what was going on in the hive! Bees swarm around on the honeycombs, climb up and down them, climb into the cells for some reason, then crawl out back. When the sun began to get hot, the bees began to ventilate the hive again. They flapped their wings not only in the entrance, but also inside the hive. Some bees sat directly on the honeycombs and worked their wings with all their might. Each bee is like a small fan. I really wanted to see the baby bees, but no matter how much I looked, I didn’t see a single little bee.

In the evening I told Nina Sergeevna that our bees do not have any children.

What do you think baby bees are like? - asked Nina Sergeevna.

Well, these are such small bees, very, very tiny,” I say.

Nina Sergeevna laughed and said:

No, baby bees are not like that. Tomorrow we will open the hive, I will show you the baby bees.

I told all the kids to come and see the baby bees tomorrow.

July 10

Our entire team gathered in the apiary in the morning. Soon Nina Sergeevna came and began to tell how bees hatch their babies. It turns out that bees build cells from wax not only to store honey reserves in them, but also to raise their young in them. In every bee colony there is one largest bee - the queen. The queen bee does nothing in the hive except lay eggs. The rest of the bees cannot lay eggs, they only work and are therefore called worker bees. A queen bee can lay up to two thousand eggs per day. She lays eggs in empty wax cells. Each cell is like a nest containing an egg.

Nina Sergeevna told us to open the hive and took out one frame from it. We began to look at the honeycombs. At first it seemed to us that the honeycombs were empty, but Nina Sergeevna said that they contained eggs. We looked closely and saw that at the bottom of each cell there was a tiny egg. Each egg is no larger than a poppy seed, only the poppy seed is black, and the egg is white.

* * *

We couldn’t understand how bees come out of such small eggs, but Nina Sergeevna said that it’s not bees that come out of the eggs, but larvae, that is, small worms or caterpillars, only without legs. Nina Sergeevna found cells on the honeycombs in which larvae had already hatched from the eggs, and showed them to us. Some larvae were very small, others were larger. They curled up and lay at the bottom of the cells.

These larvae are the baby bees,” said Nina Sergeevna.

We were surprised. And Tolya said:

What kind of child is this? When they grow up, they will turn out to be some kind of worms or caterpillars. What will the bees do with them?

Nina Sergeevna said:

When the larva grows, it turns into a pupa, and after a few days a real big bee emerges from the pupa.

Nina Sergeevna also said that, in addition to worker bees, young queens and drones are hatched in the cells. Bees make large, spacious cells for young queens. Before the young queen should hatch, some of the bees fly away from the hive along with the old queen, and a swarm is formed. If the swarm is planted in another hive, a new bee colony will form. Drones are slightly larger than worker bees. Worker bees are females and drones are males. Drones do not collect honey, but eat for four. When winter comes, the bees drive all the drones out of the hive so that they do not destroy the honey reserves.

I thought a lot about bees this evening. At first I decided that bees are like birds: birds have wings, and bees have wings; Birds lay eggs, and bees lay eggs too. Only bird eggs immediately hatch chicks, while bees first hatch some larvae or caterpillars. So bees are not birds. What are bees? I thought and thought and decided that bees are the same as butterflies. Butterflies also have wings, butterflies also lay eggs, and from the eggs caterpillars emerge, and from the caterpillars they become pupae, and from the pupae they become butterflies. I know this for sure, because last year I had a large furry caterpillar living in a box, which one fine day turned into a chrysalis. And so this doll lay and lay, and one fine day a large, remarkably beautiful butterfly came out of it. This means that bees are also small butterflies.

July 11

Today was a very nice, sunny day. In the morning I come to the apiary, and Tolya is already sitting near the hive with a small mirror, looking into the upper entrance with one eye and quietly laughing.

Why are you laughing? - I ask.

They are dancing.

Who's dancing?

Crazy, I say, crazy!

See for yourself.

I took the mirror from him and began to look into the entrance.

One bee was skipping around the honeycombs. She turned first one way, then the other, then spun around quickly. Suddenly another bee rushed after her, and they began to spin around together. After the second one, the third bee began to dance.

I couldn't stand it and laughed out loud.

It’s like this all the time,” Tolya said. - I've been following them for a long time.

I let the bunny into the lower entrance and saw a real round dance at the bottom of the hive. One bee ran ahead, and behind it a whole line of bees was skipping along. The first bee spun in different directions, described circles, and the rest of the bees exactly repeated its movements.

After spinning around in place, the first dancer flew to another place and began to dance again. Gradually other bees joined her, and again it turned out to be a bee dance.

The rest of the guys came here. We started showing them how bees dance.

What's going on? - says Vitya. - Maybe they have some kind of bee festival here? Everyone laughed:

Do bees have holidays?

We ran to Nina Sergeevna and began to ask why the bees were dancing. Nina Sergeevna said that when a bee finds a place where many flowers are blooming, she returns to the hive and begins to dance. By doing this, she lets other bees know that they need to fly for honey. During the dance, the rest of the bees sniff the first bee and by the smell they recognize which flowers she took honey from. After this, the bees fly out of the hive and fly to where the smell of these flowers comes from.

Bees especially often dance during the main honey collection,” said Nina Sergeevna. - Check, maybe the linden tree has already bloomed.

We quickly ran to the school. Large old linden trees grew in the yard in front of the school. We looked up and saw that there were a lot of bees flying around the trees and landing on the flowers.

We saw that the linden tree had already bloomed, so we ran to the apiary and placed an extension on the hive. The bees continued to dance in the hive until evening.

One bee danced so much that it jumped out onto the landing board and continued to dance there, and then flew away for honey.

In the evening I went home and began to think about bees. So that's what a bee's tongue is! When the bees need to tell each other that they need to fly for honey, they simply dance. Of course, bees cannot tell where to fly for honey, but only recognize the way by smell. This means they have a good sense of smell, much better than humans. This, of course, is not surprising; dogs are also very good at finding their way by smell, but dogs do not know how to dance. True, a good dog can also be taught to dance, but still no dog will understand that if another dog is dancing, it means that he needs to fly for honey. And bees understand this well.

Then I thought about flowers: why do flowers smell? Do they really smell so that people will enjoy smelling them? No, they probably smell so that bees find them more quickly and help pollinate. After all, it is beneficial for plants to have more bees and other insects flying to the flowers.

And then one more thing: why is there sweet juice in flowers? Maybe also to attract insects? After all, if there were no sweet juice, why would bees fly to flowers?

Tomorrow I’ll ask Nina Sergeevna whether I think correctly or not.

July, 12

I asked Nina Sergeevna, and she said that I had thought of it correctly.

It turns out how smart I am - what I came up with! Now I will always think about different things. Still, I get good results from thinking.

Today we are in full swing at our apiary. The bees are buzzing so much that there is a continuous hum in the air, like in a textile factory, where Galya took us on an excursion the month before last. Bees rush here and there. They seem to be in a hurry to apply more honey while the linden tree is blooming. On the arrival board near the entrance there is a flea market: some bees are climbing out of the hive to quickly fly for honey, others have already arrived and are crawling towards the hive to put away their spoils. And there are so many of them on the trees! Thousands! All the trees were covered. We didn't think we had so many bees.

Nina Sergeevna said that during the main honey flow there are up to eighty thousand worker bees in the hive, and in some very strong families - even up to one hundred thousand.

Just think - a hundred thousand! It's like people in a big city. What is a hive? This is the bee city.

July 13

Work is in full swing! Bees fly around like squadrons of airplanes. There is still a bustle near the entrance. And today there is dancing inside the hive. It's like it's actually a holiday. Or maybe this is a holiday for bees - a honey harvest holiday? Bees should be happy when there is a lot of honey. They will work, but they will have supplies for the winter.

the 14 th of July

What a wonderful miracle! They wrote about our unit in the newspaper! In the morning we came to the apiary, and suddenly we saw Vitya running, and he had a newspaper in his hands.

Guys! - he shouts. - Look, it’s written about us in the newspaper!

We looked, and in the newspaper there was a card on which we were all photographed with a hive, and it was printed how we made a hive and began to breed bees. And all our names are printed. It even says what school we go to.

We quickly ran to the kiosk and began buying newspapers. Everyone bought a newspaper for themselves, and Pavlik and I even bought two. Then we began to think about who wrote this about us. Yura says:

This is probably Galya. After all, she was filming us. It must have been she who sent our photo to the newspaper and wrote the article.

We ran to Gala and asked her. It turned out that it was actually written by Galya. We began to thank her.

Galya says:

What am I grateful for? After all, you made the hive yourself, you worked yourself, and you thank yourself.

Everyone ran to show the newspapers home. Seryozha, Pavlik and I also went. Pavlik said:

But we have nothing to thank ourselves for!

Why should we thank ourselves - we came ready,” says Seryozha. “We need to thank the guys for not giving up.”

Why is it written about us in the newspaper?

Never. We just got there by accident.

What should we be proud of then?

And there is nothing to be proud of! The guys can be proud of this: they didn’t give up.

How so? - says Pavlik. - After all, they will read about us in the newspaper. “Here,” they will say, “are good guys!” Are we really good?

“I’d rather not show the newspaper to anyone,” said Seryozha.

“Me too,” says Pavlik.

I don’t know if they showed anyone the newspaper or not, but I did. And mom, and dad, and Uncle Vasya, and Aunt Nadya. Then I went to show all my neighbors. Everyone praised me and praised me. I even felt ashamed. I returned home and began to think why I was ashamed, and what kind of conscience this was, and why it tormented people. Why is it that when you do something good, your conscience doesn’t torment you, but when you do something bad, it does?

In my opinion, conscience is something like a person inside a person. Only this person is very good and doesn’t like it when people do bad things. When I do something bad, he reproaches me. Of course, it’s only me who thinks so about this person inside a person, because there is no person inside a person... Does anyone else reproach me? This is me reproaching myself. This means that I am my own conscience. This is what conscience is! Conscience is myself. Why do I reproach myself?.. For bragging to my neighbors. Maybe the neighbors thought I was an important bird, but in fact I am a simple person. Next time I won’t brag if there’s nothing to brag about.

July 15

The fame of our hive spread throughout the school. Today, kids from junior classes and even seniors came to us. Everyone asked us about bees, and we showed them our hive and told them how to handle bees. The guys said that they would come to learn beekeeping from us. Then one unfamiliar guy came:

Are you the guys the newspaper writes about?

We, we say.

Do you really have bees?

He sat down near the hive and looked at the bees for a long time. Then he said:

Wow, what an amazing thing!

And he went home.

Here! Even adults are starting to take an interest in our work. And if it hadn’t been written in the newspaper, then no one would have known about us.

July 16

Today two guys from another school came to us. They read about our unit in the newspaper and came to see how the hive was made, so that they could set it up in their school. And then the citizen who came yesterday came again. He again sat near the hive for a long time and talked to us, and then a bee bit him and he left.

July 17th

That's how quickly fame spreads! Today Galya came to the apiary and said:

Go, guys, to school: there you have received a letter.

We were surprised: who could write us a letter? Then they ran to school, took the letter and began to read. That's what was written there. I deliberately decided to copy it into my diary as a keepsake:

“Hello, dear young beekeepers! Please accept our warm student greetings. Students of a vocational school at a furniture factory are writing to you. We read about you in the newspaper and want to get to know you through a letter and establish a connection. We really liked your work, and we were inspired to take up beekeeping too. Please tell us the dimensions of the hive and, if possible, send us a drawing. We are woodworkers, future carpenters and furniture makers. We already know how to make stools, benches, tables, and next year we will start making bent furniture. We think that we will be able to make a beehive well, and we can even make beehives for other guys who want. Also tell me where you can get bees. Once again, please accept our ardent, warm greetings! Don't bother answering. Write as soon as possible. We are looking forward to your answer. Congratulations on your great achievement and we wish you further great success in your work.”

Just on this day we had a squad meeting. Galya read the letter at the meeting, and we all decided to write a response to the guys.

They wrote everything down properly, even drew a hive and gave the address of the beekeeping farm so that the guys knew where to get the bees from.

July 18

And today suddenly another letter arrived again. It was sent by some very young boy. Only he, although small, managed to write a letter well. We all really liked it. I decided to write this letter into my diary. Here's what it said:

“Hello, dear friends, pioneers and schoolchildren! I come to you with a request. Please let me know. Dear friends! Since last year I have been doing beekeeping and trying to raise bees in a box. But no matter how hard I try, nothing comes of it. The bees don’t want to live with me and fly away from me. I put honey and sugar in their box, but they eat the honey and fly out of the box. And yesterday I caught ten bees in the garden, and today they ran away from me. And my dream is to accumulate more bees, so that when I grow up, I can build a hive or at least two, because I decided to become a beekeeper. Tell me, dear friends, what you do to prevent the bees from flying away from you, otherwise I’m still small and maybe I’m doing something wrong. And also, dear friends, tell me if bees bite you. They bite me, but I endure it, like wounded soldiers endure in war. Goodbye, dear friends. Written by Mitya Romashkin. I’m waiting for an answer like a nightingale in summer!”

We read this letter, and we felt very funny, and then we remembered how we ourselves were going to catch the bees one by one, and we stopped laughing and wrote to Mitya Romashkin everything that we ourselves knew about bees and how to treat them so that they live in a hive .

We wrote the answer for a long time, and the letter turned out to be long, and then we went to the apiary.

July 19

That's how things went! A letter every day! Today I received a letter. On the envelope it is written: “Kola Sinitsyn - the famous beekeeper.” My hands even shook when I received this letter. I quickly printed it out and started reading:

“Hello, dear unknown friend Kolya Sinitsyn! You may be surprised that a completely unfamiliar girl is writing to you, someone you don’t know at all, and maybe you’re not interested in knowing, since you are now a famous person, about whom it’s even written in the newspaper. Of course, like others, I learned about you from the newspaper, which printed a card where you were photographed with the whole unit, and it was written about your work.

We read this newspaper at the team meeting and decided to follow your example and do this interesting work.

You may smile when reading these lines of my letter, because some boys are contemptuous of girls and imagine that girls can’t do anything, and boys can do everything. And so we decided to prove to all the boys that girls are no worse than them, and we also want to breed bees. Maybe many of us will find this useful in life, and we will study beekeeping at our school apiary, and when we grow up, we will work as collective farm beekeepers. And so the whole link instructed me to write you a letter and ask how you made a hive and raised bees. And I decided to write to you personally, because I liked your last name, and you are probably a kind boy and will not refuse our request.

And now goodbye.

With pioneer greetings, pioneer Lyusya Abanova.”

At first I didn’t know whether I should write an answer to this girl, but all the guys said that I should write, and Galya also said that I should definitely write, because since the girls want to work, we need to help them, and it would be very bad if I will not reply.

Then I went home and began to write an answer. I spent a whole hour poring over the letter, because I wanted to write better and not lose face, as they say. In the end I wrote everything properly.

It was a very beautiful letter. I even liked it myself. All the guys said that it was not a shame to send such a letter.

July 20

Today the guys came to us again, and then the citizen who was stung by a bee last time came. We were very afraid that the bee might sting him again, and we gave him a net to put on his head. The citizen put a net on his head, and when Nina Sergeevna arrived, he began to ask her:

Please tell me, is this hive just for study or can it be useful?

It will be useful for studying, too,” said Nina Sergeevna.

What, please tell me, is the benefit? Is it possible to keep bees in the city?

Why not? There are a lot of honey plants growing in the city. In parks, in gardens, on boulevards, even just on the streets and in courtyards, honey plants such as maple, linden, acacia, willow, bird cherry and many others grow. In addition, bees can fly very far for prey. They can fly out of the city and collect honey in the surrounding fields. It used to be thought that bees could only be kept in the village, but now even in big cities like Moscow there are beekeepers who keep bees.

Well, if so, then I will also start breeding bees,” said the citizen. - Well, here’s the problem - I have nowhere to put the hives.

Why is there nowhere? - asked Nina Sergeevna. - You can always find a suitable place for hives. If you can’t put it in the yard, then put it on the balcony, or in the attic, or just in the shed.

Ah well? Well, if so, then of course. I didn’t even know that beehives can be placed on the balcony. Tell me please! That's how far science has come!

The citizen thanked Nina Sergeevna, said that he would come again to learn from us, and left with our net on his head. I had to catch up with him and remind him to give me the net.

21 July

Today it was very hot, and for some reason the bees were not working well. They pulled out of the entrance and hung in a whole bunch on the landing board, clinging to each other. The hive looks like it has a beard made of bees. This “beard” hung and hung, and then the bees climbed back into the hive, and the “beard” disappeared. Then they came out again, and again it turned out to be a “beard”. Finally they hid in the hive and sat until evening.

July 22

Seryozha, Pavlik and I came to the apiary in the morning and saw that the bees had again begun to emerge from the entrance. We thought that they again wanted to hang their beards, but the bees flew up in a group and began to circle above the hive. They buzzed loudly, and other bees flew out after them. A general flight began from the hive. We got scared and hid behind a tree, and the bees flew in clouds around the garden and hummed so loudly that we could probably hear them a mile away.

Why are they mad? - says Pavlik.

Why, it's a swarm! - Seryozha guessed.

Right! Where are we going to plant it?

“We need to bring a bucket,” I say.

So run home quickly, and I’ll watch where the swarm lands,” says Pavlik.

Seryozha and I ran out the gate and ran down the street at full speed. I ran home and started looking for a bucket, but couldn’t find it and grabbed a large cardboard box from a radio instead. I run back with the box, look - there is no one near the hive, and Seryozha is running around the garden like crazy with a bucket.

Where is Pavlik? - I ask.

Don't know. I've already searched the whole garden. Nowhere.

Where is the swarm?

And there is no swarm.

We stopped and began to look around. Then Pavlik’s head poked out from behind the fence and said:

Well, why are you standing there? Come here quickly!

We rather climbed over the fence into the neighboring yard. Seryozha caught his foot on the fence and dropped the bucket. It rolled to the ground with a roar.

Quiet! - Pavlik hissed. - You'll scare the swarm!

And where he?

Here, don't you see?

Then we saw a swarm. It hung in a cluster on a tree branch. All the bees stuck together in a dense lump, and only two or three bees flew around, as if they could not fit into the common heap.

Well, let’s quickly get a bucket,” says Pavlik.

Maybe it would be better to put them in a box? - I say. - A box larger than a bucket.

Okay, give me the box.

I carefully brought the box under the swarm. Pavlik shook the branch vigorously, and the entire swarm instantly fell into the box. I immediately closed it with a lid.

Eat! - I say. - Now they won’t fly away anywhere. We climbed back over the fence and saw that the rest of the guys had come to the apiary.

Go watch it soon! - I shouted. - We have a swarm.

Where is the swarm?

And here it is, in the box.

Where did you get it?

Flew out of the hive.

The guys looked into the box and were surprised:

What a miracle! This means we will have a second bee colony! We need to make a new hive as soon as possible.

We brought the tools and quickly began making a new hive. Nina Sergeevna arrived. We showed her the swarm in the box. Nina Sergeevna looked and said:

The swarm flew out at the wrong time,

Why not on time?

Because there is a big honey harvest right now. When bees swarm, they do not work well and collect little honey.

Nothing, we say. - We don’t need a lot of honey. Let there be more bees.

By evening, we made a hive, put several frames with foundation in it and moved one frame with larvae and one frame with honey from the old hive, so that the new bee family would immediately have its own household. Then we shook the whole swarm out of the box directly into the hive on the frames, covered the hive with a roof and went home.

Seryozha, Pavlik and I are very happy, because if it weren’t for us, the swarm would have flown away. This means that we can also be useful.

July 23

Yesterday Nina Sergeevna told us to carefully monitor the new bee family, since the swarm sometimes does not take root in a new place and can fly away to find another home for itself. Today we deliberately came early and began to follow.

And then we saw the first bee fly out of the new hive. She turned in the air with her head towards the entrance, as if she was trying to remember where she had flown from, then she began to spin in the air, as if in order to remember the place where the hive stood, and then she flew away. Then other bees began to fly out. They all first circled around the hive and then flew away. We were very worried whether the bees would find their way to their new home or fly, out of habit, to the old hive, but after a while the bees began to return. We were very happy. This means the bees liked their new home.

July 24

In the morning we came to the apiary again and admired our bees. Work is in full swing in both hives. But in the new hive the bees work more actively. Each bee does not waste time, and as soon as it crawls out of the entrance, it immediately spreads its wings and quickly flies for honey.

Nina Sergeevna said that a swarm in a new hive always shows great energy, because the bees need to have time to build a nest and collect more honey for the winter.

July 25

The wind blows. The sky is frowning. The sun will come out and then hide in the clouds. Sometimes it starts to rain. The bees are sitting in the old hive and don’t want to fly anywhere. But in the new hive the work does not stop. As soon as the sun comes out, the bees begin to fly out for honey. Well done! Let them try.

Fedya and Grisha returned from the camp. That's how quickly time has passed! Well, they were surprised when they saw that we now already have two hives. They thought that we had discharged another bee colony, but we told them that it was a swarm that had flown out. Then we showed them the newspaper with the card and the letters that the guys sent us. They were very happy. Grisha said:

Well, things went well, but we didn’t even know what was going on here!

26 July

Very bad weather. It rained almost all day. Both bee families sat in the hives and did not fly for honey. We were bored without the bees. Galya said that today our whole squad will go to the cinema to watch a new film.

After lunch, Galya bought tickets for everyone, and we went to the movies.

July 27

The main honey collection has ended. The linden tree has already bloomed. Now the bees will have to look for some flowers in different places. You won't get much honey here. We began to fear that the new bee colony would be left without honey for the winter, but Nina Sergeevna said that she could be given some of the honey from the old hive. We checked the honey reserves, and it turned out that there was enough honey for both families.

Only you won’t have to eat your own honey this year,” said Nina Sergeevna.

But we don’t want honey, we say. - It’s better for the bees to stay. After all, they worked themselves, which means this is their honey.

That’s great,” said Nina Sergeevna. - But the bees will have sufficient supplies for the winter. The bees will winter well, and next year they will collect so much honey that there will be some left for you.

Then we will taste our honey! - said Pavlik.

Where will our bees spend the winter? Perhaps we should make a winter shelter for them? - Yura asked.

One or two hives can overwinter in a good dry cellar or just in a dugout,” said Nina Sergeevna. - The bees will be happy underground.

We decided to start building a dugout starting tomorrow so that our bees would have a place to live for the winter.

July 28th

In the morning, all the guys gathered in the apiary, and we started building a dugout. We decided to first dig a hole in the garden, then cover this hole with boards and fill it with earth on top so that the cold would not get inside. We brought shovels and began to dig a hole.

The ground was hard. We fiddled around until the evening, but it turned out to be a good hole. Yura came up with the idea of lighting a fire in the pit so that the walls would dry thoroughly and there would be no dampness in the winter hut. We hauled brushwood and lit a large fire in the pit.

All the guys scattered around the garden, began to collect dry branches and throw them on the fire. It soon got dark. The fire burned out. We climbed into the hole, removed the ash, and then sat down at the bottom and began to dream. Above us the sky was black, and bright stars sparkled on it. The wind rustled in the tree branches, and in our pit it was warm and cozy.

“And I will miss the bees in winter,” said Grisha. “I got very used to them and fell in love with them because they are such good little workers.”

“I, too, will miss the bees in winter,” said Fedya.

Winter is still far away,” Tolya answered. - And in winter we will study, and there will be no time to be bored.

But the beekeeper grandfather told us the truth: “Whoever starts beekeeping will never give up this business,” said Pavlik. - For example, I have already firmly decided: when I grow up, I will definitely become a beekeeper in a collective farm apiary. I will have a lot of hives, a hundred or two hundred. More like two hundred than a hundred!

“It’s good for you,” Fedya answered. - What should I do? After all, I had already decided to become an engineer in order to build bridges, tunnels, canals...

So what? - I say. - Be your own engineer, and you will have hives at home. They won't bother you.

Of course,” says Vitya. - For example, I will be an artist and a beekeeper. Is it not possible to work in two specialties at once?

Good for the artist! - Zhenya answered. - What should I do? I want to be a pilot.

Well, be a pilot, I say. “You’re not going to fly on a plane all day long.” You fly and fly and fly home, look at your bees and fly again to where you need to go.

What if you need to fly somewhere for a few days?

The bees will live without you for several days. They can take care of themselves. They don't need a babysitter

“It’s nothing for the pilot,” Yura said. - I want to be a sailor or captain on a steamship, but the ship will go on a long voyage, almost for the whole year!

“You put the hive on the deck,” I say. - Let him stand for himself. While you are sailing on the sea or ocean, close the entrance so that the bees do not fly away, and when you stop at the shore, release the bees so that they feed on the shore. That will be good.

So we talked, and I proved to everyone that everyone can engage in beekeeping: a pilot, a driver, a machinist, and a miner. And then I went home and began to think about what I should do myself. After all, I have already decided to work in the Arctic, but can bees live in the Arctic? There are no flowers or trees there, just ice and polar bears. And then I thought that, probably, before I grow up, people will plant flowers and trees in the Arctic, so it will be possible to breed bees there too. And if they don’t have time to plant them by then, I’ll plant them myself, and while the flowers grow, I’ll feed the bees sugar syrup.

I will definitely breed bees in the Arctic!

July 29

We thought that we would have no more letters, but today suddenly there is a letter again. We came to the apiary in the morning, but Yura Kuskov did not come. Suddenly, we see Yura running and waving an envelope in his hand. It turns out that he went to school and received a letter. We quickly opened the envelope and began to read the letter out loud. Here's what it said:

“Dear friends, pioneers and schoolchildren! Pioneers from the Leninsky Path collective farm are writing to you. We read about you in the newspaper and decided to write you a letter. Dear guys, we are very ashamed that we, the collective farm pioneers, have not yet set up a school apiary, while you, the city guys, have already begun this work and you already have a beehive. Dear friends, we will correct this mistake of ours and have already agreed with the collective farm, and the collective farm will allocate two hives with bees for our school apiary. So we will have an apiary. But don’t think, dear friends, that we sat idly by all the time and did nothing.

Our collective farm is located far in the steppe. Our nature is harsh: in winter there are unbearable frosts, blizzards blow and there is so much snow that we even go to school on skis. In the summer, strong dry winds blow, so everything dries out and the earth cracks from the heat. To overcome the drought, our collective farmers are planting forests. We also decided to help our native collective farm in this matter and have already collected six bags of selected acorns for planting an oak tree. We fight against agricultural pests - gophers. This year, our pioneer detachment destroyed one and a half thousand gophers and saved fifteen tons of grain from death, since each gopher eats up to ten kilograms of grain over the summer. And we also took patronage over the collective farm calf farm. Each pioneer now has two sponsored calves. We monitor how our sponsored four-legged animals grow and develop. At the school we have a garden and an experimental vegetable garden. We all work in the garden and vegetable garden and strive for a large harvest.

Dear guys, we know that you also work in the city - planting flowers and trees, arranging gardens and parks, and now, it turns out, you’ve even started raising bees. And this is very good, dear friends! Let's work even better, you are there, and we are here, so that our beloved Motherland prospers and is covered with greenery and gardens, so that there is a lot of everything and all our people live well, as our party teaches us.

With this we end our letter. Goodbye, dear friends! Get ready to fight for the cause of the Communist Party!”

We listened to the letter to the end, and everyone answered as one:

Always ready!

And then I went home and began to think about this letter. I thought for a long time and saw that we, the city guys, have done very little and we still need to work a lot to catch up with the collective farm pioneers. I really liked their letter and decided to copy it into my diary as a keepsake. And so I wrote, wrote, wrote everything that was written here, and then I just noticed that my diary was ending and I had nowhere else to write.

The author wrote the story “The Diary of Kolya Sinitsyn” in 1950. Nikolai Nosov published an excerpt from it with the subtitle “From Kolya’s Diary” in 1949 in the almanac “All Year Round.” Below we will get acquainted with the funny story “The Diary of Kolya Sinitsyn.” The summary, we hope, will interest the young reader, and he will read it in full.

How Kolya started a diary

When the school year ended and Kolya had only A’s on his report card, he decided to keep a diary and write down in it everything interesting that happened to him. But bad luck - for the first three days nothing happened, and there was nothing to write about.

Team gathering

The pioneer team gathered to decide what useful work could be done in the summer. Nobody could offer anything. Everyone went home to think about it. Only Kolya didn’t have any useful thoughts in his head. Kolya Sinitsyn’s diary was not updated with interesting and useful information. A summary of his thoughts is just unnecessary nonsense.

Meeting with youth

While walking, Kolya met a young man he knew who was going to their club class. Having nothing better to do, Kolya went with him and learned a lot of interesting things about the life of bees. After that, he came to the team meeting, and it turned out that no one had come up with an interesting and useful thing for everyone. Suddenly Grisha Yakushkin suggested making a beehive. Everyone immediately became interested and went to find out how a hive is made and where the bees come from. It turns out that the hive is not very complicated, and you can make it yourself, but you need to buy a whole swarm of bees and place them in a new home.

All this information ended up in Kolya Sinitsyn’s diary. The summary below will show how the guys got together to make a beehive. Someone brought pliers, someone brought a saw, someone brought nails, someone brought a hammer. The children received boards from the school. Everyone worked actively and harmoniously for two days, and the hive turned out great. Only they didn't have bees.

Searching for a swarm of bees

This turned out to be difficult. A wild swarm, as it turned out, must be looked for in the forest. Kolya’s friend invited him to his dacha in Shishigino with Aunt Polya, where there is a forest, but his mother did not let him go. In the end, Dad allowed the trip. Three boys - Kolya, Seryozha and Pavlik - went to Shishigino. The dacha was closed, Aunt Polly was not there, and the guys made themselves a hut to spend the night in. At night the hut collapsed, and in complete darkness they had to rebuild it.

The bees have not yet entered the trap. On the second day, the guys accidentally, after a series of adventures, ended up in an apiary. All this is recorded in Kolya Sinitsyn’s diary. A brief summary of the further story is that the beekeeper took pity on the pioneers and promised by the evening, when the heat subsided, to give them a young swarm that was about to fly out of the hives. In the evening, the boys received not only a swarm, but also an explanation of how to care for bees, how to collect honey, how to make a smoker so that the bees do not fly away, and much other useful knowledge.

They returned home, and it turned out that they did not live with Aunt Polya, but made themselves a hut in the forest. Each mother scolded her son thoroughly, but the boys forgot about the bees and discovered in the morning that their trap on the balcony was open and the bees had scattered. And in addition, they also bit the guys. These stings hurt so much that the guys lost interest in beekeeping.

The package arrived

The bees arrived in a parcel, but the three boys refused to deal with them. The whole team went to plant the bees in the hive, and they stayed at home to play checkers and release paper pigeons from the balcony. They spent four days like this and became very bored. This idleness was described in Kolya Sinitsyn’s diary.

The author is an active person and a great inventor, he understands how bored the children were alone, and why they still ran to school to look at the bees. Then they returned home and made nets for themselves so that the bees could not sting them, and there was no more boredom.

Feelings about photography

The pioneer leader came to the apiary and took photographs of everyone. Kolya was very worried about how he would turn out, because in life he thought he was beautiful, but in the photo he looked bad. Two days passed in reflection and worry on this topic. Indeed, when he saw himself with his mouth open, he was very upset, and the guys began to reproach him for ruining the card with his stupid look. Only Galya consoled him and explained that Kolya smiles beautifully. Kolya reflected in his diary about beauty, boasting and stupidity. His thoughts calmed him down a little. Adult readers, when they re-read The Diary of Kolya Sinitsyn, give the warmest reviews - they return to childhood.

and experiments with them

The guys, diligently soaking it, made a drinking bowl from an old barrel. Oh, and they poured water into the old barrel until it swelled, probably a hundred buckets. And then they brought some honey on a piece of glass and began to watch the bees fly up and take it into the hive. When they marked the bee with paint, it turned out that the same bee was flying in all the time. But they were told that bees can transmit information to each other.

The guys took the glass of honey and laid them out on multi-colored pieces of paper. Then all kinds of bees began to arrive. Now it has become clear why the flowers have different colors. So that insects notice them and fly to them and pollinate. These experiments took several days. During these days, the guys even learned how bees ventilate the hive on hot days.

More than a month has already passed since the unit began to work on the hive. Everyone learned that since July has come, the bees will work, collecting honey from the linden tree, and in addition, inside the hives there are worker bees and guards who do not let the bumblebees steal the honey. And in order to really get to know the life of these insects, you must have a hive with glass walls.

Bee observations

Teacher Nina Sergeevna took out a frame with honeycombs from the hive and showed everyone what bee eggs looked like, then what a baby looked like, and told that later the babies formed into pupae, and then bees. The old swarm with the queen, who is busy laying eggs, flies out of the hive. Here the beekeepers catch it and plant it in a new hive.

In addition, when shining the light of the mirror into the hive, the guys saw that the bees were dancing. The teacher explained that the dance meant that the bee had found a lot of honey and suggested that they see if the linden tree had bloomed. The work of the bees in the apiary is in full swing. They continuously carried honey and buzzed loudly. All the linden trees were covered with bees. The teacher said that about 100,000 bees can live in a swarm.

Fame

The apiary at the school was published in the newspaper. And then letters began to arrive to young beekeepers asking how to make a hive and how to care for a swarm. The guys wrote detailed answers.

New swarm

And then, like a black beard, a swarm flew out of the hive. The guys rushed to catch him and then make a new hive for him. The captured bees were planted in it. This is how the apiary grew. The bees were diligently collecting honey for the winter, and the children watched with delight. Suddenly the weather turned bad and the bees' work slowed down.

It was the end of July. It was necessary to prepare a place where the hives would stand in winter. It was a deep hole. The guys dug it out and lit a fire in it to thoroughly dry the walls. Then they raked out the ashes and began to dream about how they would grow up and start raising bees. It turned out upon reflection that an engineer, pilot, driver, machinist would find time for this. We read “The Diary of Kolya Sinitsyn” almost to the end. The chapter summaries should be completed with the latest information.

Letter from the collective farm boys

It described what schoolchildren do on the collective farm to help their elders. But they don’t have an apiary. But now they will definitely start it. At this point, Kolya’s notebook-diary was already completely covered, and Nikolai Nosov (the author) finished the story.

“The Diary of Kolya Sinitsyn”: reader reviews

Readers are happy to plunge into a cloudless childhood. “The Diary of Kolya Sinitsyn” (you can find the most enthusiastic reviews of the book) is a kind and naive work in which a common cause strengthens friendship. N. Nosov spoke very interestingly about bees.

The author (“The Diary of Kolya Sinitsyn”) has earned the kindest reviews thanks to his unobtrusive humor and warmth flowing from the pages. Some regret that now our children do not have a similar childhood, with inventions and entertaining activities.

Nikolay Nosov

DIARY OF KOLYA SINITSYNA