Сборник лучших английских сказок. Уровень 1. Группа авторов

coachman did not want to be laughed at, and he said nothing. So after a while, the footman[61] comes to her and said: ‘I have been with my master for years and have saved up[62] a good bit, and you have been three years here, and must have saved up as well. Let us put it together, and make us a home or else stay on at service as you wish.’ Well, she got him to bring the savings to her as the others had, and then she pretended she was faint, and said to him: ‘James, I don’t feel well, run down for me and fetch me up a drop of brandy.’ Now no sooner had he started than she said: ‘By power of my three feathers may there be slashing and spilling, and James neither be able to pour the brandy straight nor take his hand from it until morning.’

      And so it was. James could not get his glass filled, and there was slashing and spilling, and also down came the master to know what it meant! So James told him he could not make it out, but he could not get the drop of brandy the laundry-maid had asked for, and his hand would shake and spill everything.

      When the master got back to his wife he said: ‘What has come over[63] the men, they were all right until that laundry-maid came. Something is up now. They have all drawn out[64] their pay, and yet they don’t leave, and what can it be anyway?’

      But his wife said she could not hear of the laundry-maid being blamed, for she was the best servant she had and worth all the rest put together.

      So it went on until one day as the girl stood in the hall door, the coachman happened to say to the footman: ‘Do you know how that girl served me, James?’ And then William told about the clothes. The butler put in, ‘That was nothing to what she served me,’ and he told of the shutters clapping all night.

      Just then the master came through the hall, and the girl said: ‘By power of my three feathers may there be slashing and striving[65] between master and men, and may all get splashed in the pond.’

      And so it was, the men argued which had suffered the most by her, and when the master came up all would be heard at once and none listened to him, and they had shoved[66] one another into the pond.

      When the girl thought they had had enough she took the spell off, and the master asked her what had begun the fight, for he had not heard in the confusion[67].

      And the girl said: ‘They were ready to fall on[68] anyone; they’d have beat me if you had not come by.’

      So it went on, and through her feathers she made the best laundress ever known. But to make a long story short, when the seven years and a day were up, the bird-husband, who had known her doings all along, came after her, restored to his own shape again. And he told her mistress he had come to take her from being a servant, and that she should have servants under her. But he did not tell of the feathers.

      And then he bade[69] her give the men back their savings.

      ‘That was a rare game you had with them,’ said he, ‘but now you are going where there is plenty, leave them each their own.’ So she did; and they went to their castle, where they lived happy ever after.

EXERCISES

      1) True or false?

      1. The girl’s husband had a deformity.

      2. After the girl saw her husband, he changed into a bird.

      3. The girl had to work for ten years as a laundry-maid.

      4. The girl’s husband gave her three magic feathers.

      5. The butler, the coachman and the cook wanted to marry the girl.

      2) Fill in the gaps using words in brackets.

      1. The girl… (to think) that was funny, and all her friends… (to tell) her there must be something wrong with her husband.

      2. One night when he… (to come) home she suddenly… (to lit) a candle and… (to see) him.

      3. And the girl… (to tell) him to bring her the money, and he… (to ask) his master for it, and… (to bring) it to her.

      4. The men… (to argue) which… (to suffer) the most by her.

      5. When the girl… (to think) they… (to have) enough she… (to take) the spell off.

      6. The bird-husband… (to come) after her and… (to restore) to his own shape again.

      7. They… (to go) to their castle, where they… (to live) happy ever after.

      3) Translate the following sentences using ‘neither… nor…’ construction:

      1. Дворецкий не мог ни оставить жалюзи, ни сделать так, чтобы они не открывались.

      2. Пусть Уильям не сможет ни оторвать руки от одежды, ни подобрать её.

      3. Пусть Джеймс не сможет ни налить бренди, ни убрать руку с бутылки.

      4. Я не могу ни прочесть этот текст, ни перевести его.

      4) Translate the following sentences:

      1. Что бы прачка ни загадала на перья, всё исполнялось.

      2. Прачка попросила дворецкого закрепить жалюзи.

      3. Она положила в фартук деньги, которые она получила от кучера.

      4. Лакей скопил десять фунтов.

      5. Дворецкий, лакей и кучер стали бороться и столкнули друг друга в пруд.

      6. Господин закричал: «Что на вас нашло?»

      7. В этой неразберихе они были готовы наброситься на кого угодно.

      5) Retell the fairy-tale.

      The Three Cows

      There was a farmer, and he had three cows, fine fat cows. One was called Facey, the other Diamond, and the third Beauty. One morning he went into his cowshed[70], and there he found Facey so thin that the wind would have blown her away. Her skin hung loose[71] about her, all her flesh was gone, and she stared out of her great eyes as though she’d seen a ghost; and what was more, the fireplace in the kitchen was one great pile of wood-ash. Well, he was bothered with it; he could not see how all this could happen.

      Next morning his wife went out to the shed, and saw that Diamond became as thin as Facey – nothing but a bag of bones, all the flesh gone, and half a rick[72] of wood was gone, too; but the fireplace was full of white wood ashes. The farmer decided to watch the third night; so he hid in a closet next to the kitchen, and he left the door slightly open, that he might see what happened.

      Tick, tick, went the clock, and the farmer was nearly tired of waiting; he had to bite his little finger to keep himself awake, when suddenly the

61

footman – лакей

62

save up – скопить

63

come over – найти (на кого-либо)

64

draw out – вытягивать

65

strive – состязаться, бороться

66

shove – пихать, толкать

67

confusion – зд. неразбериха

68

fall on – наброситься

69

bid – предложить

70

cowshed – хлев

71

loose – свободный

72

rick – зд. поленница