GOOD EYES

Переклад англійською Андрій Євса
Translated by Andrey Yevsa

There was a boy named Arkhip in our neighborhood. We were not permitted to be on friendly terms with him, because he was too thievish and a liar.
Once Arkhip came to his Granny to invite her to be a guest of his family but she was not at home. So he found the key, unlocked the storeroom, found a crock with honey in the chest and ate most of it. The next day Granny met him in the street and asked:
“Arkhip, why did you eat my honey?”
“I did not eat it, I did not eat it!” Ar¬khip swore, his eyes shifted uneasily.
“I wish you would not swear,” Grandmother told him, “look at your sleeves, they are still smeared with honey.”
Arkhip cast a glance at sleeves: they were smeared with honey indeed. He had nothing to say and stood blinking.
“Are you not ashamed to look me straight in the eyes?” Grandmother  reproached him.
The old man Kutuvenko, making the wattle fence near his yard, heard that and said:
“Good eyes can blink at everything.”
Arkhip ran to the square, found his friends there and began to brag:
“I have good eyes. They can blink at everything!”
On hearing that the boys burst out laughing and said:
“You are fool. People say that only about a thief. They laugh at a thief in such a way.”
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