So she did - and the sausages fell off the end of her nose. But their three wishes had all gone. And all they had left were the sausages. The wife said: “Let’s cook the sausages and eat them.”
And that is what they did.
10 - THE STORY OF THE THREE SILLIES
(Sillies: a colloquial expression meaning “silly people”. It is not used very often these days.)
This is a story about a young man called John, who wanted to marry a girl called Mary. Every evening, John would come to the farmhouse where Mary lived and have supper with Mary and her mother and father. And every evening, Mary would go down to the cellar to get some beer for them to drink with their supper. One evening she went down to the cellar as usual, and saw an axe stuck into the ceiling.
“Look at that axe!”, she said. She began to imagine what would happen if the axe fell down. She said: “Suppose John and I get married, and suppose we have a son, and suppose he grows up, and suppose he comes down here to get some beer, and suppose the axe falls on his head and kills him, wouldn’t that be a terrible thing?” And she sat down and started to cry.
Then Mary’s mother came down to the cellar to look for her. Mary told her mother about the axe and her mother started to cry too. Then Mary’s father came down to the cellar to look for them, and they told him about the axe, and he started to cry too. John began to wonder what had happened the family. “What are they doing?” he said. “I wonder why they’re taking so long.”
John went down to the cellar and found Mary and her mother and father all crying. When he found out why they were crying, he said: “How silly!” And he reached up and pulled the axe out of the ceiling. “I’m going to set out on my travels again,” he said, “and when I can find three people sillier than you three, then I’ll come back and marry Mary.”
So John set off on his travels. He found a woman trying to make a cow climb up a ladder, a man trying to jump into his trousers, and some people trying to fish the moon out of a pond. John had found three silly people (in fact, more than three), so he went back home and married Mary, and they lived happily ever after.
11 - THE STORY OF SILLY WILLIAM
This is the story about a boy called William. He lived with his mother in a little house in the country. He was so lazy that he didn’t do anything at all, and his mother got very tired of this. One Monday, she said: “William, I’ve had enough of this. If you don’t do some work, I won’t give you any dinner - or lunch - or breakfast.” So William decided that he had better do some work.
The next day - Tuesday - he went to a nearby farm. He said to the farmer: “Can I work for you today?” And the farmer said, “Yes”. So William worked all day and at the end of the day the farmer gave William his wages and William took the money and set off for home, but on the way home he lost the money. His mother was very annoyed and said to him: “You silly boy! You should have put it in your pocket.” And William said: “I’ll do that next time.”
The next day - Wednesday - William went to see a dairy farmer who owned a lot of cows. At the end of the day the farmer said to William: “Here’s a jug of milk for you.” William put the jug of milk in his pocket and set off for home, but by the time he got home all the milk was spilt. His mother said: “You shouldn’t have put the milk in your pocket. You should have carried it on your head.”
On Thursday, William went to work for another farmer. At the end of the day the farmer said to him: “Here’s some butter for you.” William carried the butter home on his head - and it melted. His mother said: “You should have carried it very carefully in your hands.”
On Friday a baker gave William a cat. He carried it carefully in his hands but it scratched him and ran away. William’ mother said: “You should have put a collar and lead on it and let it follow along behind you.”
Уважаемый посетитель!
Чтобы распечатать файл, скачайте его (в формате Word).
Ссылка на скачивание - внизу страницы.