Читать книгу Лучшие сказки мира на английском языке. Уровень 1 / The Best Fairy Tales of the World - Сборник - Страница 2

Once upon a time a woodcutter lived happily with his wife in a pretty little log cabin in the middle of a thick forest. Each morning he set off singing to work, and when he came home in the evening, a plate of hot steaming soup always waited for him. One day he had a strange surprise. He came upon a big fir tree with strange open holes on the trunk. It looked somehow different from the other trees, and as he was about to chop it down, the alarmed face of an elf popped out[1] of a hole. 'What's all this banging?' asked the elf. 'You're not thinking of cutting down the tree, are you? It's my home. I live here!' The woodcutter dropped his axe in astonishment. 'Well, I…' he stammered[2]. 'With all the other trees there are in this forest, you have to pick this one. Lucky I was in, or I would have found myself homeless[3].' Taken aback[4] at these words, the woodcutter quickly recovered, for after all the elf was quite tiny, while he himself was a big strong man, and he boldly replied, 'I'll cut down any tree I like, so…' 'All right! All right!' broke in the elf. 'Shall we put it in this way: if you don't cut down this tree, I give you three wishes. Agree?' The woodcutter scratched his head. 'Three wishes, you say? Yes, I agree.' And he began to hack at another tree. As he worked at his task, the woodcutter kept thinking about the magic wishes. 'I'll see what my wife thinks…' The woodcutter's wife was busy cleaning a pot outside the house when her husband came. He grabbed[5] her round the waist and twirled her in delight[6]. 'Hooray! Hooray! Our luck is in[7]!' The woman could not understand why her husband was so pleased with himself[8]. Later, however, over a glass of fine wine at the table, the woodcutter told his wife of his meeting with the elf, and she too began to picture the wonderful things that the elf's three wishes might give them. The woodcutter's wife took a first sip of wine from her husband's glass. 'Nice', she said, smacking her lips. 'I wish I had sausages to go with it, though…' Instantly she bit her tongue, but too late. Out of the air appeared the sausages, while the woodcutter stuttered with rage. '… what have you done! Sausages… What a stupid waste of a wish! You foolish woman. I wish they sticked up your nose!' No sooner said than done. For the sausages leapt up and stuck fast to the end of the woman's nose. This time, the woodcutter's wife flew into a rage. 'You idiot, what have you done? With all the things we could have wished for…' The mortified woodcutter, who had just repeated his wife's own mistake, exclaimed:'I'd chop…' Luckily he stopped himself in time, realizing with horror that he was on the point of having his tongue chopped off. As his wife complained and blamed him, the poor man burst out laughing, 'If only you knew how funny you look with those sausages on the end of your nose!' Now that really upset the woodcutter's wife. She didn't think of her looks. She tried to tug away the sausages but they did not move. She pulled again and again, but in vain. The sausages were firmly attached to her nose. Terrified, she exclaimed, 'They'll be there for the rest of my life!' Feeling sorry for his wife and wondering how he could ever put up with[9] a woman with such an ugly nose, the woodcutter said, 'I'll try.' Grasping the sausages, he tugged with all his might. But he simply pulled his wife over on top of him. The pair sat on the floor, looking sadly at each other. 'What shall we do now?' they said, each thinking the same thought. 'There's only one thing we can do…' ventured the woodcutter's wife timidly. 'Yes, I'm afraid so…' her husband sighed, remembering their dreams of riches, and he bravely wished the third and last wish, 'I wish the sausages would leave my wife's nose.' And they did. Instantly, husband and wife hugged each other tearfully, saying, 'Maybe we'll be poor, but we'll be happy again!' That evening, the only reminder of the woodcutter's meeting with the elf were the sausages. So the couple fried them, gloomily thinking of what that meal had cost them.