The Magic Ball

The boys from the Prague district of Vysočany are practising their football since their team S. K. Útok are preparing for a tournament. Their ball is destroyed by an angry gardener after it breaks the glass on his greenhouse. A collection among the boys produces about 43 crowns which they take to a second-hand dealer in the Old Town. The eccentric Chekuchabi sells them an older ball, to be paid for in instalments. He claims that this ball is magic. He tells the young footballers that they must not eat any ice-cream, otherwise the ball will lose its powers, and the money they save has to be handed over to him all the time. The boys train hard and win all their matches. The decisive match, however, goes badly for them. During the interval Mirek confesses that he probably broke the oath because during the night he dreamed that he had stuffed himself with ice-cream. The boys laugh and tell him that the oath doesn't count in dreams. Their team wins the tournament. The gardener, an enthusiastic football fan, gives them money for a new ball. The boys want to pay back their debt with the second-hand dealer but instead they witness his arrest. Chekuchabi was a receiver in stolen goods. The boys still decide to visit him in prison. The kind guard explains to them that they won their tournament because they trained hard. The boys then eagerly run off to the cake shop where they finally indulge in their long-denied ice-cream.