English Fairy Tales / Английские сказки. Elementary. Отсутствует

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СКАЧАТЬ come back and marry your daughter.” So he wished them good-bye and went away. The three sillies were all crying because the girl lost her sweetheart.

      Well, he travelled a long way, and at last[55] he came to a woman’s cottage. It had some grass on the roof. And the woman was trying to get her cow to go up a ladder[56] to the grass. So the gentleman asked the woman what she was doing. “Look at all that beautiful grass,” she said, “I’m going to feed my cow with it.” “Oh, you poor silly!” said the gentleman, “you must cut the grass and throw it down[57] to the cow!”

      Well, that was one big silly.

      Then the gentleman came to an inn. In the morning he saw a strange man. He hang his trousers on the knobs of the chest of drawers[58] and ran across the room and tried to jump into them. At last, he stopped and wiped his face with his handkerchief. “Trousers,” he says, “are the most terrible kind of clothes in the world. Who could invent such things?! I usually spend an hour to get into my trousers every morning!” So the gentleman laughed, and showed him how to put the trousers on[59].

      So that was another big silly.

      Then the gentleman came to a village. Outside the village there was a pond, and round the pond was a crowd of people. And they had rakes, and brooms, and pitchforks, and they were piercing the water of the pond. The gentleman asked what was the matter. “Don’t you see[60],” they say, “Moon fell down into the pond, and we can’t catch it!” So the gentleman laughed and told them to look up into the sky and that it was only the shadow in the water. But they didn’t listen to him and abused him.

      And he saw more and more sillies, even more than three. So the gentleman came back home again and married the farmer’s daughter. And if they didn’t live happily, that’s nothing to do with you or me[61].

      The Old Woman and Her Pig

      An old woman was sweeping her house, and she found a sixpence. “What,” said she, “shall I do with this little sixpence? I will go to market and buy a little pig.”

      While she was coming home, she came to a stile, but the pig did not want to go over the stile.

      She went a little further, and she met a dog. So she said to the dog, “Dog! bite the pig; the pig doesn’t go over the stile, and I shan’t get home tonight.” But the dog refused.

      She went a little further, and she met a stick. So she said, “Stick! stick! beat the dog! The dog doesn’t bite the pig, the pig doesn’t get over the stile, and I shan’t get home tonight.” But the stick refused.

      She went a little further, and she met a fire. So she said, “Fire! fire! burn the stick; the stick doesn’t beat the dog, the dog doesn’t bite the pig, the pig doesn’t get over the stile, and I shan’t get home tonight.” But the fire refused.

      She went a little further, and she met some water. So she said, “Water, water! quench the fire; the fire doesn’t burn the stick, the stick doesn’t beat the dog; the dog doesn’t bite the pig; the pig doesn’t get over the stile, and I shan’t get home tonight.” But the water refused.

      She went a little further, and she met an ox. So she said, “Ox! ox! drink the water; the water doesn’t quench the fire, the fire doesn’t burn the stick, the stick doesn’t beat the dog, the dog doesn’t bite the pig, the pig doesn’t get over the stile, and I shan’t get home tonight.” But the ox refused.

      She went a little further, and she met a butcher. So she said, “Butcher! butcher! kill the ox; the ox doesn’t drink the water, the water doesn’t quench the fire, the fire doesn’t burn the stick, the stick doesn’t beat the dog, the dog doesn’t bite the pig, the pig doesn’t get over the stile, and I shan’t get home tonight.” But the butcher refused.

      She went a little further, and she met a rope. So she said, “Rope! rope! hang the butcher, the butcher doesn’t kill the ox, the ox doesn’t drink the water, the water doesn’t quench the fire, the fire doesn’t burn the stick, the stick doesn’t beat the dog, the dog doesn’t bite the pig, the pig doesn’t get over the stile, and I shan’t get home tonight.” But the rope refused.

      She went a little further, and she met a rat. So she said, “Rat! rat! gnaw rope, rope doesn’t hang the butcher, the butcher doesn’t kill the ox, the ox doesn’t drink the water, the water doesn’t quench the fire, the fire doesn’t burn the stick, the stick doesn’t beat the dog, the dog doesn’t bite the pig, the pig doesn’t get over the stile, and I shan’t get home tonight.” But the rat refused.

      She went a little further, and she met a cat. So she said, “Cat! cat! kill the rat, the rat doesn’t gnaw the rope, the rope doesn’t hang the butcher, the butcher doesn’t kill the ox, the ox doesn’t drink the water, the water doesn’t quench the fire, the fire doesn’t burn the stick, the stick doesn’t beat the dog, the dog doesn’t bite the pig, the pig doesn’t get over the stile, and I shan’t get home tonight.” But the cat said to her, “If you go to that cow and fetch me a saucer of milk, I will kill the rat.”

      So the old woman went away to the cow.

      But the cow said to her, “If you go to that haystack and fetch me some hay, I’ll give you the milk.”

      So the old woman went away to the haystack, and she brought the hay to the cow.

      When the cow ate the hay, it gave the old woman the milk, and she went with it in a saucer to the cat.

      When the cat lapped up[62] the milk, the cat began to kill the rat, the rat began to gnaw the rope, the rope began to hang the butcher, the butcher began to kill the ox, the ox began to drink the water, the water began to quench the fire, the fire began to burn the stick, the stick began to beat the dog, the dog began to bite the pig, the little pig in a fright jumped over the stile, and so the old woman got home that night.

      Jack and the Beanstalk

      There was once upon a time a poor widow who had a son named Jack and a cow named Milky-white. Every morning the cow gave the milk which they carried to the market and sold. But one morning Milky-white gave no milk, and they didn’t know what to do.

      “What shall we do, what shall we do?” said the widow.

      “Oh, mother, I’ll go and get work somewhere,” said Jack.

      “We tried that before, and nobody took you,” said his mother. “We must sell Milky-white.”

      “All right, mother,” says Jack. “I’ll sell Milky-white, and then we’ll see what we can do.”

      So he took the cow’s halter in his hand and went to the market. While he was going, he met an old man who said to him: “Good morning, Jack.”

      “Good morning to you,” said Jack and wondered how he knew his name.

      “Jack, where are you going?” said the man.

      “I’m going to the market to sell our cow СКАЧАТЬ