Читать книгу The World of Fairy Tales. The Scarlet Book/ Мир волшебных сказок. Алая книга. Книга для чтения на английском языке - Группа авторов - Страница 4

In one far away country, there lived a king and a queen with their eleven sons and one daughter, called Elisa. The children lived happily until the day their mother died. Soon the king married again, but he couldn’t imagine that his new wife was a witch. She hated the children and decided to get rid of them. The evil queen sent her stepdaughter to live with peasants in the poorest village. She told terrible things about the sons and as a result the king disinherited them. But this wasn’t enough for her. She turned the princes into eleven handsome wild swans who flew away at once.

When Elisa was fifteen years old, her father wanted to see her again. But the cruel queen stained the girl’s face with walnut juice so terrible that even her father couldn’t recognise Elisa.

The poor girl was very sad and went crying to her village through the forest. On the way home, Elisa didn’t notice how she lost her way and found herself at the seashore. It was a real miracle, eleven wild swans were flying in the sky and looked like a long white ribbon. At once Elisa understood that they were her beloved brothers. As soon as the sun set, they landed and became her handsome brothers. They told her that they lived in a land across the sea and could come back to their homeland only for eight days each year.

The brave princess decided to fly with her brothers to their country. They made a hurdle to carry Elisa and the next day they flew away with their wonderful sister.

During one of the stops when they were resting, Elisa saw a fairy Morgan-le-Fee in her dream. The kind fairy told Elisa how she could save her brothers. The girl should make a coat of armour from nettles for her brothers. There was only one condition, Elisa did not speak until the work was finished or her beloved brothers would die.

Elisa went to work immediately and very soon her hands were badly stung by the nettles. At the same time a young handsome king was passing and saw a very beautiful girl working hard. He asked Elisa what she was doing but there wasn’t any answer. Something said to him that he should take her away to his castle. Soon after, they married and lived happily but Elisa’s eyes were often sad. One day the king had an idea of bringing the coats of armour made from nettles. He hoped that it would please his beloved wife.

So he did it and Elisa could work on the coats of armour. One day, she ran out of nettles and decided to visit the cemetery to pick more. One king’s courtier saw Elisa picking the nettles near the cemetery, where the witches usually caught toads for their magic potions. The suspicious courtier was sure that the mute queen was a witch. It is unbelievable but he could persuade the trustful king that Elisa must be a witch.

So our poor girl was put into the prison and very soon Elisa should be executed as a witch. Luckily, she could continue her work in her prison cell. Even on the day of her execution the brave girl didn't stop her work. You can't imagine how strong she wanted to save her brothers.

Crowds of people came to the stake to see how the witch would be burnt. The silly people demanded to take away the nettle cloth from Elisa's hands. Suddenly, eleven swans flew down and started to fly around Elisa. The hardworking girl threw them all the eleven coats of armour and they immediately turned back into handsome young men.

They hugged their sister and told the king the whole story. At last Elisa could prove her innocence. The king was so delighted to be again with his wife that he couldn't stop kissing her.

All together they went to the castle and had a great celebration which lasted for eleven days and eleven nights.