Olya and Natalka Lepsky, 11 years old

About the White Paper

In one man’s house a little white paper was living. And he was a coward. He thought this way: if I will be written on all the time, there will be no place left soon – and I’ll be thrown away! And he asked the Pen not to write on him.

The owner came, began working – but nothing appeared on the paper. He gave the paper to his son, who made a ship out of it and put it into the dirty water. The paper was thinking, while soaking in the water, “Better if I had something good written on me…” But that was too late!

Olya and Natalka Lepsky, 11 years old

Why do Shadows Always Hide From Light

There was not enough light on one planet, because Sun was getting up too late and had no time to go high in the sky. Also there were no shadows on this planet, because it was very smooth – and there was no object that could cast shadows.

One day Sun woke up early because it got a message that it’s Granny will arrive soon. Like all grannies, Sun’s Granny was very thrifty and very kind. She brought with her some stars as a present, and also a table and a samovar for treating her dear grandson. And while she was getting in her flying saucer – into her baggage crawled the unwelcome guests – the Shadows. And now they went out and spread everywhere. Sun tried to chase them away, but they were hiding behind the table and the samovar. From that time it goes so that shadows always hide from the sun.

Translated by Victoria Popova