Антоний Погорельский - Черная курица, или Подземные жители / The Black Hen

Alyosha and Blacky went downstairs. They walked along the corridors and at lastcame into the hall. The knights were on the walls. Alyosha and Blacky came up to the door. At that moment two knights came from the wall and stopped them. But the knights didn't look angry. They looked sleepy.

Blacky became big and tall again. She beat the knights with her wings. And the knights … fell to pieces.Alyosha saw that they were in factbig pieces of metal! The door opened. Alyosha and Blacky entered another corridor. Then they opened a big gold door and came into another hall. It was very large.

"Alyosha! Please stay here," said Blacky. "Today you didn't touch anything. That's good. But you smiled at the dolls, and the knights came from the wall. You didn't wake the old ladies. So the knights were sleepy, and they couldn't fight with me."

After these words Blacky left the hall. Alyosha was alone. The hall was beautiful. There were wonderful pictures on the walls. At the end of the hall the boy saw a gold chair.

"I like it here very much.

Everything is so beautiful, but so small," he thought.

At that moment another gold door opened. A lot of people came into the hall. All the people were little like toys, but they were real. All of them had nice clothes and round hats. The little people didn't see Alyosha. They started walking around the hall and talking loudly. But Alyosha couldn't understand a word. At last he decided to ask somebody a question. Suddenly the big door at the end of the hall opened. Everyone stopped talking. All little people took off their hats.

The small candles became brighter than before. Twenty little knights came into the hall in pairsand stopped near the gold chair. Then a little man in a long green dress and a crown on his head entered the hall. He looked very important. Twenty little boys in red dresses followed the man.

"This must be the king," thought Alyosha.

The King sat down on the gold chair. Then he said something to one of the knights. The knight came up to Alyosha.

"Please, follow me," he said.

Alyosha came up to the King.

"I know all about you," said the King. "You are a good and kind boy. You also did a very good thing. I want to thank you for that. You saved my First Minister."

"When?" asked Alyosha.

"Oh, it was the day before yesterday.It happened in the yard," said the King. "Please, meet my First Minister."

Alyosha looked at a small man in black. There was a little red hat on his head. He smiled at Alyosha.

"I think I know him. But I didn't save any man," thought Alyosha.

"Sir!" he said. "The day before yesterday I saved our little black hen. Not your minister."

"What are you saying?!" said the King angrily. "My minister is not a hen!"

The minister came up to Alyosha. The boy looked at him again.

"Oh! You're my dear Blacky!" he said in a happy voice.

to make me do something silly— заставить меня сделать что-то глупое.

at last— наконец.

fell to pieces— рассыпались на части.

in fact— на самом деле.

I like it here very much. — Мне здесь очень нравится.

in pairs— парами

the day before yesterday— позавчера.

1 Correct the statements.

1) In the first room Alyosha saw two beds and a cage with a parrot.

2) The people and animals in the pictures looked angry.

3) Alyosha stopped to look at the dolls.

4) The dolls jumped off the table and started dancing.

5) The knights came from the wall and smiled at Alyosha and Blacky.

6) Alyosha beat the knights with a picture from the wall.

7) The little people started singing and dancing.

8) The Minister was a man in a green suit.

2 Match the two parts of the sentences.

1) The King

2) Alyosha

3) The knights

4) The little people

5) The dolls

6) Blacky

a) put on his clothes.

b) went back to their places.

c) started walking around the hall.

d) looked sleepy.

e) beat the knights with her wings.

f) sat down on the gold chair.

3 Say why:

1) the people and animals in the pictures looked funny.

2) the knights fell to pieces.

3) the King wanted to thank Alyosha.

4 Fill in the words from the box.

dolls crown clothes metal

1) Alyosha took off his ____ and went to bed.

2) The knights were in fact some pieces of ____.

3) Alyosha wanted to touch the ____.

4) The King had a beautiful ____ on his head.

5 Fill in the prepositions.

1) The people and animals ____ the picture looked funny.

2) The knights fell ____ pieces.

3) Alyosha saved Blacky ____ the cook.

4) The Minister was a man ____ black.

You read in the text about three rooms (the rooms of the Dutch ladies and the King's hall). Draw a picture of any room and describe it. Draw a picture of your room and describe it.

The King looked at Alyosha.

"I want to give you something for your help. What do you want? Tell me," he said.

"Don't be afraid, Alyosha," said the Minister in his ear.

"What do I ask for?"thought Alyosha. He tried to think. But there wasn't any time for it. So he said:

"I want to know my homework without reading it," he said.

"Oh, you're a lazy boy. I didn't know that," said the King.

He said something to a little boy near him. The boy brought a gold plate with a hemp seed.

"Take it," said the King. "It's a magic seed. Now you can always get good marks without studying. But remember one thing. You must never say a word about me or my people. Don't forget that."

Alyosha took the hemp seed and put it in his pocket.

"Thank you for the present, sir. I promise not to tell anyone about your people."

The King smiled at him and said:

"OK. You can stay here longer and see how we live. Good-bye."

Then the King got up and left. The little people came up to Alyosha. They thanked him too:

"You are so brave! You saved our Minister! Thank you!"

The Minister came up to Alyosha.

"What do you want to see? The garden or the King's zoo?" he asked.

"Can we go to the garden and to the zoo?" asked the boy.

"OK. Let'sgo to the garden first," said the Minister and smiled.

The garden was very beautiful. Alyosha saw many bright little stones of all colours on the roads. There were many small lamps on every tree. But the trees looked a little strange. They were red, green, brown, white and blue. Alyosha came up to one of the trees and touched it.

"Oh! These are not real trees," he said. "But they are very nice."

"This is moss," said the Minister. "But it is taller and thicker than in your forests. The King bought this moss far from here. He gave a lot of money for it."

From the garden they went into the King's zoo. Here Alyosha saw wild animals in gold cages.

"Oh, there's a rat in the cage over there! It's funny," thought the boy. But he didn't say that to the Minister.

After the walk Alyosha and his friend came back for supper. In the big hall the boy saw a table with cakes and fruit on gold plates. There were gold bottles and glasses there too.

"Eat what you like," said the Minister, "but you can't take anything with you."

"Thank you, but I'm not hungry," said Alyosha. "Please, tell me about your people," asked Alyosha.

"We live under your school. Nobody knows about us because we don't go out now. Many years ago we often went out. People could see us then. Now we always stay under the ground. Many of your people can't keep a secret. When somebody says a word about us, we go away at once. We go far, far away. It's always a problem to leave our things and go somewhere with all our children and animals. Do you understand me? You saved my life, Alyosha. I asked the King to let me take you here. You know how we live. We don't want to go away from this place. We like it here. So please don't tell anybody about us."

"I promise to keep your secret," said Alyosha. "But tell me, dear Blacky, why are you a hen? And why are you so afraid of the old Dutch ladies?"

Blacky started saying something, but Alyosha's sleepy eyes closed. He woke up in the morning in his bed.

What do I ask for? — Что бы мне попросить?

hemp seed— конопляное семечко.

Let's = Let us— Давай.

over there— вон там.

I'm not hungry— мне не хочется есть.

keep a secret— хранить тайну.

1 Match the two parts of the sentences.

1) Alyosha wanted

2) The King wanted

3) Alyosha asked Blacky

4) Alyosha promised

a) to keep Blacky's secret.

b) to know his homework without learning it.

c) to thank Alyosha for saving his minister.

d) to take him to the garden and to the zoo.

2 Complete the sentences.

1) A little boy brought a gold plate with ___.

a) an apple seed

b) a gold key

c) a hemp seed

2) The Minister and Alyosha went to ___ first.

a) the garden

b) the zoo

c) the library

3) Alyosha saw ___ in a gold cage.

a) a horse

b) two rats

c) a rat

3 Fill in the words.

1) I want to know my ___ without reading it.

2) You can always get good ___ without studying.

3) Thank you for the ___, sir.

4) The King bought this ___ far from here. He gave a lot of ___ for it.

5) Many of your people can't keep a ___.

6) It's always a ___ to leave our things and go somewhere with all our children and animals.

4 Complete the chart.

5 Explain why:

1) the King called Alyosha a lazy boy.

2) Alyosha didn't have anything for supper with Blacky.

3) Blacky asked Alyosha to keep their secret.

6 Imagine that you are Minister Blacky. Say:

a) why you are a hen;

b) why you are afraid of the old Dutch ladies.

Alyosha didn't know what to think. He remembered Blacky and the Minister, the King and the knights, the Dutch ladies and the zoo very well.

"Was it a dream? Did it really happen?" he thought.

Then the boy thought about the hemp seed. He took his coat. The seed was in the pocket.

"Let's see how the King keeps his word," he thought. "Lessons start tomorrow, but I still don't know my History lesson. The headmaster told me to learn four pages from the book."