A Little Spoon, an Oil Lamp, and Evening Rains

The book was written in 1993 and is the author’s first prose work. Somehow it brings to mind, in mood, Exupéry’s “The Little Prince.” Its heroes Mishka and Zayka suddenly find themselves in a parallel world full of absurd conventions. They are scared and uneasy; they don’t know what to do. Questions remain unanswered even after they return home—to an extraordinary planet the size of Jupiter, hidden in the folds of a blanket. This planet is inhabited by mishka-zaykas and other forest creatures. All of them are some ideal, cute beings.
In the fairy tale “The Little Spoon, the Lampette, and Evening Rains,” Kriager’s poignant, sad aphorisms are remembered:
“Who doesn’t thirst for retribution, doesn’t know punishment either. Our punishment is like deaf men’s insults—thrown at us as profanity, and we trudge on as if nothing happened.”
“Earth is a very strange abode—there is always a desire to cry on it.”
The book raises such problems as the meaning of time in people’s lives, life priorities, values, the ideas behind unconditional love, selfless kindness, and friendship.