– Again, I have to rebuild everything!!! What did I do to deserve this! But I'll manage, I'm strong! I'll build thick, sturdy walls, a fortress! And no rain will wash it away! – exclaimed Oscar, – but I need a lot, a lot of bricks, – he couldn't calm down on the way to grandpa's.

Grandpa welcomed Mickey and Oscar with joy and love. He had two houses on a large plot of land with a fruit orchard. One small house stood near the forest next to the lake, and a little further away was his second, large guest house. This house had a large beautiful living room with a huge warm fireplace and many rooms for his numerous friends and relatives. For himself, Grandpa had his small, but cozy and warm house by the lake.

– Oh, my beloved children! – greeted Grandpa his dear guests, – I'll give you food and drink now, so you'll have plenty of energy! Tell me, while I prepare tea with jam.

– My dear Grandpa, we need urgent help! – pleaded Oscar and told him about the recent bad weather and his destroyed house, about his insatiable desire to make things happen and to build a big and beautiful house as soon as possible.

– Your desire to make things happen and take action is very commendable, – said Grandpa and continued, – and what do you enjoy doing most, my children, at the fair of life?

– I, you see, – began Mickey, – took on a challenge yesterday – «always tell the truth», as well as «smile at passersby and help them find their way».

– But what kind of challenges are those? – laughed Oscar, – they only give you a couple of bricks each. Yesterday, I took on the challenge of «misleading passersby and showing them the wrong way», and I immediately got 20 bricks!

– Oh, Oscar, – replied Mickey with regret, – how can you take on such challenges and do them at the fair? I don't understand… I don't like it.

– Oh, come on! It's fun, and I'll build my own house to live in faster! – Oscar laughed in response.

– Oh, my children, – Grandpa said kindly, pouring everyone tea, – I was young and hot-headed like you, and always in a rush, wanting to earn my bricks quickly at the fair of life, build my house, and show off to my friends! Oh, I suffered so much with it. Just a little rain or wind, and the walls crumbled like sand. I couldn't sleep at night, it was so noisy from the cracks, as if someone was crying, and water dripped from the ceiling like someone's tears. And in the morning, I would run again to the fair of challenges and deeds to earn my bricks and rebuild my house of life… I have a lot to tell you about, how to avoid my mistakes and failures. And most importantly, what I want to tell you now – of course, there is a way to earn a lot of bricks quickly at the fair of life, and at the same time, your house will always be strong and warm.

– Yes, grandpa, please tell us, don't keep us waiting! We want to hear the secret as soon as possible! – exclaimed Oscar eagerly.

– Alright, my dear children, – continued grandpa, – tomorrow morning, go to Sun Street. There's a magical factory there that produces bricks and distributes them to merchants at the fair of deeds and actions. The merchants will give you these bricks in exchange for completing various tasks and actions. They receive their share of the sold bricks. Come back to me afterwards, and we'll continue our conversation. I'll tell you many more interesting things about what you can and cannot do, my dear children.

– Wow, so it turns out that you don't have to work yourself, but can sell deeds and actions to other souls at the fair of life and receive bricks for it? – asked Oscar with excitement and amazement.

– Yes, but there are many merchants and not many willing to work. There are also subtleties and wisdom to it. We'll discuss it all tomorrow, – replied grandpa.

– Okay, grandpa! – said Oscar happily and enthusiastically. The rest of the evening, Mickey and Oscar relaxed and had fun with grandpa, telling each other stories and sipping tea with delicious jam made from berries from grandpa's huge garden.

Waking up early in the morning, the friends flew to the small factory on Sunny Street. There, they were greeted with kindness and smiles, and everyone told and showed them everything. They were given a list of tasks and deeds, as well as how many bricks were sold to the buyer and how many to the seller. After saying goodbye, the friends left the

factory, but suddenly a big and scary snake crawled out of the bushes and said to them:

– My dear and beloved children, did you like the factory? – he hissed.

– Yes, everything is good, – they replied, frightened.

– And did you like the prices? – the snake continued, circling and coiling around the friends.

– Yes, – said Mickey, but Oscar interrupted him:

– It's not enough, not nearly enough! What's the point of only giving two or three bricks for a deed, and the reward for the seller is nothing!

– You're right, it's nothing, – the satisfied snake slowly hissed, – but I know where they give much more bricks to the sellers, my dear children…

– Where? – Oscar eagerly and interestedly asked.

– I will show you and tell you everything, – the snake hissed, – Follow me, my children! – and they flew to another street with a scary name, Cave Street. There was a cave in the ground, and they had to go down somewhere far. Mickey was scared:

– It's wet and cold down there! I'm afraid, and Grandpa didn't tell us anything about this place, it's some kind of bad!

– Don't be afraid! Everything will be okay, – said Oscar, and together with the snake, they flew down into the cave.

Mickey, frightened, didn't fly with them and instead waited outside, basking in the sun. As it turned out, they weren't the only guests here. Many flew into the cave and flew out, and the stream of visitors was constant, unlike the factory on Sun Street. But it was somewhat gloomy, and there was no joy around.

Soon Oscar returned, cold but satisfied, with a huge bag of gifts, jars of preserves, and dried fruits sticking out of his pockets.

– Now this is what I call service! They fed us, watered us, and gave us stuff to take with us, and the prices are just amazing! – Oscar exclaimed, overcome with emotion, – hooray, I found what I was looking for! Listen to this, I'm reading it: «for the deed of 'not forgiving an offense», they give 100 bricks to the performer, and as a seller, I'll get 50 bricks. I'm reading further – «for the deed of 'protest and impatience», 50 bricks, and I'll get 25!

– So many bricks? – Mickey was surprised, – for what? I don't like the sound of this business.

– What difference does it make what kind of business it is? I'm reading further, – and Oscar continued to read the list of deeds and actions from the cave, – for the deed of «disobeying adults» – 100 bricks, and I'll get 50! «Gloating over someone else's misfortune»– 150 bricks! «Deception for the sake of a joke» – 150 bricks! There's such a huge list here, many times larger than what they gave us on Sun Street!!! I haven't even seen many of these deeds and actions at our fair! This is a gold mine! That's it, now I'm going to open my own shop at the fair and sell these deeds, and I'll become rich and famous!

Mickey had nothing to say to his friend. He looked at the list of deeds and actions and felt sickened. For many of these deeds and actions, he hadn't even read or heard of them before. His head began to ache and he decided that he needed to leave this cave as soon as possible.

– How can you sell things like this? – Mickey asked on his way back, – I sometimes see similar things being sold at our fair, but I wouldn't even think of doing such deeds and actions, let alone receiving bricks for them!