"Michael Ende - Momo" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ende Michael)

chairs out of some packing cases. As for the womenfolk, they brought along a decrepit iron bedstead
adorned with curlicues, a mattress with only a few rents in it, and a couple of blankets. The stone cell
beneath the stage of the ruined amphitheater became a snug little room. The bricklayer, who fancied
himself as an artist, added the finishing touch by painting a pretty flower picture on the wall. He even
painted a pretend frame around it and a pretend nail as well.



Last of all, the people's children came along with whatever food they could spare. One brought a
morsel of cheese, another a hunk of bread, another some fruit, and so on. And because so many children
came, the occasion turned into a regular housewarming party. Momo's installation in the old amphitheater
was celebrated as zestfully as only the poor of this world know how.
And that was the beginning of her friendship with the people of the neighbourhood.


TWO
Listening

Momo was comfortably off from now on, at least in her own estimation. She always had
something to eat, sometimes more and sometimes less, depending on circumstances and on what people
could spare. She had a roof over her head, she had a bed to sleep in, and she could make herself a fire
when it was cold. Most important of all, she had acquired a host of good friends.
You may think that Momo had simply been fortunate to come across such friendly people. This
was precisely what Momo herself thought, but it soon dawned on her neighbours that they had been no
less fortunate. She became so important to them that they wondered how they had ever managed without
her in the past. And the longer she stayed with them, the more indispensable she became -- so
indispensable, in fact, that their one fear was that she might some day move on.
The result was that Momo received a stream of visitors. She was almost always to be seen with
someone sitting beside her, talking earnestly, and those who needed her but couldn't come themselves
would send for her instead. As for those who needed her but hadn't yet realized it, the others used to tell
them, "Why not go and see Momo?"
In time, these words became a stock phrase with the local inhabitants. Just as they said, "All the
best!" or "So long!" or "Heaven only knows!", so they took to saying, on all sorts of occasions, "Why not
go and see Momo?"
Was Momo so incredibly bright that she always gave good advice, or found the right words to
console people in need of consolation, or delivered fair and far-sighted opinions on their problems?
No, she was no more capable of that than anyone else of her age.
So could she do things that put people in a good mood? Could she sing like a bird or play an
instrument? Given that she lived in a kind of circus, could she dance or do acrobatics?
No, it wasn't any of these either.
Was she a witch, then? Did she know some magic spell that would drive away troubles and
cares? Could she read a person's palm or foretell the future in some other way?
No, what Momo was better at than anyone else was listening.
Anyone can listen, you may say -- what's so special about that? -- but you'd be wrong. Very few
people know how to listen properly, and Momo's way of listening was quite unique.
She listened in a way that made slow-witted people have flashes of inspiration. It wasn't that she
actually said anything or asked questions that put such ideas into their heads. She simply sat there and
listened with the utmost attention and sympathy, fixing them with her big, dark eyes, and they suddenly
became aware of ideas whose existence they had never suspected.
Momo could listen in such a way that worried and indecisive people knew their own minds from