Марина Гацкевич - The World of Fairy Tales. The Scarlet Book/ Мир волшебных сказок. Алая книга. Книга для чтения на английском языке

You can't imagine how happy all the citizens were to see our wonderful kids.

They lived happily and never cried again.

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.

There was once a brave soldier who was coming home from the war. On the way home, he met an ugly witch with a hooked nose and heavy lips. He didn't know that she was a wicked witch and greeted her very politely.

The ugly witch pretended very unhappy and asked the soldier for help. She needed her tinderbox which had fallen into the well. The kind soldier agreed to help at once and climbed into the bucket. The witch warned him to talk gentle to three dogs, which he would meet, and they wouldn't do any harm to him. After these words of warning she let him down.

So the brave soldier found himself in a huge, shadowy cave where there were three angry dogs staring at him. They guarded the treasures and were ready to tear our soldier into pieces. Remembering the witch's warning he kindly saluted each dog and took so many copper, silver and gold coins as he was able to carry. Of course the grateful soldier picked up the tinderbox lying on the floor and was ready to climb up. He got into the bucket and shouted the witch to pull it out. The bucket was practically near the top when the cunning witch demanded to pass her tinderbox. Many times suddenly suspicious soldier promised to give her tinderbox but first she should take him out. It didn't work. The furious witch threw the rope and the bucket with a soldier flew down into the dark.

Luckily, the soldier had the tinderbox and could have some light. So he struck the tinderbox and a huge dog appeared in front of him ready to realise all the master's wishes. The hungry and cold soldier wished only two things, a tasty dinner and a comfortable bed. In a flash he found himself in the inn sitting at the table and eating a delicious meal. The bags with copper, silver and gold coins were just near his soft big bed.

Since this day his life was completely different. He could afford to visit a theatre, buy everything what he preferred. Frankly speaking, the soldier wasted his money. But the kind soldier never forgot poor people and always gave them alms.

One day he heard about a beautiful princess who was imprisoned in a copper castle somewhere in the kingdom. When she was born, the magician predicted that she would marry a mere soldier. That's why the king ordered to lock his daughter and not to allow to visit her.

One day our generous soldier had only two pennies and nothing to eat. But he suddenly remembered the tinderbox from the dark well. This time he asked the ugly dog to give him some money and to bring a princess to his room.

Everything was done immediately and the stunning princess appeared in front of him. You can believe or not but this girl was not only beautiful but a very clever. So the young people were able to talk and laugh for hours every day and very soon they fell in love.