Danko is one of those people, a young, handsome man. Beautiful-always bold. And so he says to them, to his comrades: "Do not turn a stone out of the way with your mind. He who does nothing will not be harmed. That we waste our energy on thinking and longing? Get up, let's go to the forest and walk through it, because it has an end — everything in the world has an end! Come on! Well! Gay!.. They looked at him and saw that he was the best of all, for in his eyes shone much power and a living fire.
"You lead us!" — they said. Then he led... [...]
Danko led them. Together, everyone followed him — they believed in him. It was a difficult journey! It was dark, and at every step the swamp opened its greedy, rotten mouth, swallowing people, and the trees blocked the road with a mighty wall. Their branches intertwined with each other; like snakes, the roots stretched everywhere, and each step cost a lot of sweat and blood to those people. They walked for a long time… The forest was getting thicker and thicker, and there were less and less forces! And so they began to grumble at Danko, saying that it was in vain that he, young and inexperienced, had led them somewhere. And he walked ahead of them, and was cheerful and clear.
But once a thunderstorm broke over the forest, the trees whispered in a dull, menacing voice. And then it became so dark in the forest, as if all the nights had gathered in it at once, as many as there had been in the world since he was born. Little people walked among the big trees and in the terrible noise of the lightning, they walked, and, swaying, the giant trees creaked and hummed angry songs, and the lightning, flying over the tops of the forest, lit it for a moment with blue, cold fire and disappeared as quickly as it appeared, frightening people. And the trees, lit by the cold fire of the lightning, seemed alive, stretching out their gnarled, long arms around the people who were escaping from the captivity of the darkness, weaving them into a thick net, trying to stop the people. And out of the darkness of the branches something terrible, dark and cold, looked at them. It was a difficult journey, and the people, weary of it, lost heart. But they were ashamed to admit their impotence, and so they turned in anger and anger on Danko, the man who was walking in front of them. And they began to reproach him for not being able to manage them — that's how!
To be continued..
