Любимые английские сказки / My Favourite English Fairy Tales

‘With the right eye to be sure^[12],’ said she, as proud as can be to find him out.

‘The ointment! The ointment!’ cried the old pixy thief. ‘Don’t meddle^[13] with what don’t concern you: you shall see me no more.’ And with that he struck her on the right eye, and she couldn’t see him any more; and, what was worse, she was blind on the right side from that hour till the day of her death.

Exercises

1) True of false?

1. Dame Goody was a doctor.

2. A strange old fellow came to Dame Goody at midnight.

3. The mother gave Dame Goody a box of ointment.

4. Dame Goody stroked baby‘s nose with ointment.

5. Dame Goody knew that she was in a house of pixies.

6. Next day Dame Goody stayed at home.

7. Dame Goody was blind on the left side.

2) Fill in the gaps with the following words:

hold on like grim death; make faces at; look after; and so on; to be sure

1. He stayed a little longer to .................................................................... children.

2. She always drives the bike and I sit behind her, trying to ..............................................................................................................................

3. This is not his best book, ........................................................ , but it is still good.

4. My little brothers always .............................................................. at each other when mom doesn’t look.

5. He took some fruit from one stall, some eggs from another, some bread from the third and ..................

3) Fill in the gaps using words in brackets.

1. One night she ..................... (to be) woke up at midnight, and when she .............................. (to go) downstairs, she ........................... (to see) a strange old fellow.

2. They ............ (to ride) till at last they .............. (to stop) before a cottage door.

3. So she ................. (to take) the box of ointment and ................ (to stroke) its two eyelids with it.

4. The cottage ....................... (to become) elegantly furnished.

4) Translate the following sentences:

1. Мать была красивой леди, одетой в белый шёлк.

2. Но она ничего никому не сказала.

3. Она поплелась на рынок, чтобы купить нужные вещи.

4. Он ходил от прилавка к прилавку, забирая что-нибудь с каждого.

5. Вот тебе за то, что суёшь нос в не своё дело!

5) Retell the fairy-tale.

II. The Pied^[14] Piper^[15]

Newtown is a sleepy little town that was once noisy enough, and what made the noise was – rats. They ate their way into every barn^[16], storeroom^[17] and a cupboard. Even beer in the barrels was not safe from them.

Why didn’t the good people of the town have cats? Well, they did, and there was a fair fight, but in the end the rats were too many, and the pussies were defeated. Poison, I hear you say? They poisoned so many that it nearly caused a plague. Ratcatchers? Many of them tried their luck but there seemed to be more rats than ever.

The Mayor^[18] and the town council were desperate. As they were sitting one day in the town hall trying to figure up what to do, the town messenger run in. ‘Please your Honour^[19],’ he said, ‘here is one fellow come to town. I don’t know what to think of him.’ ‘Show him in^[20],’ said the Mayor, and he stepped in. He was tall and thin, and had piercing eyes^[21]. His clothes was painted in all colours of the rainbow.

‘I’m called the Pied Piper,’ he said. ‘What will you pay me if I free your town of every single rat?’

Fifty pounds^[22] were promised him (and it meant a lot of money in those days) as soon as not a rat was left in Newtown.

The Piper laid his pipe to his lips and started playing it. Every rat came out from its hole and followed the sound of his pipe.

The Piper went through town to the harbour^[23], and when he was at the water’s edge he stepped into a boat, and all of the rats followed him. On and on he played and played until each rat sank.