Just So Stories for Little Children / Просто сказки. Книга для чтения на английском языке

‘It is,’ said the Elephant’s Child, and before he thought what he was doing he schlooped up a schloop of mud from the banks of great grey-green, greasy Limpopo, and slapped it on his head, where it made a cool scoopy-sloshy mud-cap all trickly behind his ears.

‘’Vantage number three!’ said the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake. ‘You couldn’t have done that with a mere-smear nose. Now how do you feel about being spanked again?’

‘’Scuse me,‘ said the Elephant’s Child, ‘but I should not like it at all.’

‘How would you like to spank somebody?’ said the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake.

‘I should like it very much indeed,‘ said the Elephant’s Child.

‘Well,’ said the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake, ‘you will find that new nose of yours very useful to spank people with.’

‘Thank you,‘ said the Elephant’s Child, ‘I’ll remember that; and now I think I’ll go home to all my dear families and try.’

So the Elephant’s Child went home across Africa frisking and whisking his trunk. When he wanted fruit to eat he pulled fruit down from a tree, instead of[121 - instead of – вместо того, чтобы] waiting for it to fall as he used to do. When he wanted grass he plucked grass up from the ground, instead of going on his knees as he used to do[122 - as he used to do – как он, бывало, делал (как он привык делать)]. When the flies bit him he broke off the branch of a tree and used it as a fly-whisk; and he made himself a new, cool, slushy-squishy mud-cap whenever the sun was hot. When he felt lonely walking through Africa he sang to himself down his trunk, and the noise was louder that several brass bands. He went specially out of his way to find a broad Hippopotamus (she was no relation of his), and he spanked her very hard, to make sure[123 - to make sure (of) – убедиться, удостовериться в чем-либо] that the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake had spoken the truth about his new trunk. The rest of the time he picked up the melon-rinds that he had dropped on his way to the Limpopo for he was a Tidy Pachy-derm.

One dark evening he came back to all his dear families, and he coiled up his trunk and said, ‘How do you do?’ They were very glad to see him, and immediately said, ‘Come here and be spanked for your satiable curtiosity.’

‘Pooh,’ said the Elephant’s Child, ‘I don’t think you peoples know anything about spanking; but I do, and I’ll show you.’

Then he uncurled his trunk and knocked two of his dear brothers head over heels.

‘O Bananas!’ said they, ‘where did you learn that trick, and what have you done to your nose?’

‘I got a new one from the Crocodile on the banks of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River,’ said the Elephant’s Child. ‘I asked him what he had for dinner, and he gave me this to keep.’

‘It looks very ugly,’ said his hairy uncle, the Baboon.

‘It does,’ said the Elephant’s Child, ‘But it’s very useful,’ and he picked up his hairy uncle, the Baboon, by one hairy leg, and hove him into a hornets’ nest[124 - hornets’ nest – гнездо шершней].

Then that bad Elephant’s Child spanked all his dear families for a long time, till they were very warm and greatly astonished. He pulled out his tall Ostrich aunt’s tail-feathers; and he caught his tall uncle, the Giraffe, by the hind-leg, and dragged him through a thorn-bush; and he shouted at his broad aunt, the Hippopotamus, and blew bubbles into her ear when she was sleeping in the water after meals; but he never let any one touch Kolokolo Bird.

At last things grew so exciting that his dear families went off one by one in a hurry to the banks of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever-trees, to borrow[125 - to borrow – букв. занимать, заимствовать; to borrow money – взять взаймы (о деньгах)] new noses from the Crocodile. When they came back nobody spanked anybody anymore; and ever since that day, O Best Beloved, all the Elephants you will ever see, besides all those that you won’t, have trunks precisely like the trunk of the ‘satiable Elephant’s Child.

This is just a picture of the Elephant’s Child going to pull bananas off a banana-tree after he had got his fine new long trunk. I don’t think it is a very nice picture; but I couldn’t make any better, because elephants and bananas are hard to draw. The streaky things behind the Elephant’s Child mean squoggy marshy country somewhere in Africa. The Elephant’s Child made most of his mud-cakes out of the mud that he found there. I think it would look better if you painted the banana-tree green and the Elephant’s Child red.

I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
I send them over land and sea,
I send them east and west[126 - I send them east and west. – Я посылаю их на вос-ток и на запад.];
But after they have worked for me,
I give them all a rest.
I let them rest from nine till five,
For I am busy then,
As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea,
For they are hungry men:
But different folk have different views;
I know a person small —
She keeps ten million serving-men,
Who get no rest at all!
She sends ’em abroad on her own affairs[127 - affair – дело, занятие],
From the second she opens her eyes —
One million Hows, two million Wheres,
And seven million Whys!

Questions and tasks

1. What questions did the Elephant’s Child ask the animals? Why?

2. What did the Elephant’s Child want to find out when he set off to the Limpopo River?

3. What question did the Elephant’s Child ask the Crocodile when he saw him for the first time? What did the Crocodile answer?

4. What advantages did the Elephant’s Child get thanks to his curtiosity?

5. Describe how the family met the Elelphant's Child and what happened then.

6. Make up the plan of the story and retell it.

The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo[128 - Kangaroo – кенгуру; перен. шутл. коренной житель]

Not always was the Kangaroo as now we do ehold him[129 - we do behold him – вспомогательный глагол do употребляется в подобных случаях для придания фра-зе большей эмоциональности и, как правило, на рус-ский язык не переводится. При произнесении выделя-ется интонационно.], but a Different Animal with four short legs. He was grey and he was woolly, and his pride was inordinate: he danced on an outcrop in the middle of Australia, and he went to the Little God Nqa.

He went to Nqa at six before breakfast, saying, ‘Make me different from all other animals by five this afternoon.’

Up jumped Nqa from his seat on the sand-flat and shouted, ‘Go away!’

He was grey and he was woolly, and his pride was inordinate; he danced on a rock-ledge in the middle of Australia, and he went to the Middle God Nquing.

He went to Nquing at eight after breakfast saying, ‘Make me different from other animals; make me, also, wonderfully popular by five this afternoon.’

Up jumped Nquing from his burrow in the spinifex[130 - spinifex – заросли колючек; spiny – колючий] and shouted, ‘Go away!’

He was grey and he was woolly, and his pride was inordinate; he danced on a sandbank in the middle of Australia, and he went to the Big God Nqong.

He went to Nqong at ten before dinner-time, saying, ‘Make me different from all other animals; make me popular and wonderfully run after by five this afternoon.’

Up jumped Nqong from his bath in the saltpan and shouted, ‘Yes, I will!’

Nqong called Dingo – Yellow-Dog Dingo – always hungry, dusty in the sunshine, and showed him Kangaroo. Nqong said, ‘Dingo! Wake up, Dingo! Do you see that gentlemen dancing on an ashpit? He wants to be popular and very truly run after. Dingo, make him so!’

This is the picture of Old Man Kangaroo when he was the Different Animal with four short legs. I have drawn him grey and woolly, and you can see that he is very proud because he has a wreath of flowers in his hair. He is dancing on an outcrop (that means a ledge of rock) in the middle of Australia at six o'clock before breakfast. You can see that it is six o'clock because the sun is just getting up. The thing with the ears and the open mouth is Little God Nqa. Nqa is very much surprised, because he has never seen a Kangaroo dance like that before. Little God Nqa is just saying, ‘Go away,’ but the Kangaroo is so busy dancing that he has not heard him yet.

The Kangaroo hasn’t any real name except Boomer[131 - Boomer – букв. самец кенгуру; человек, создаю-щий шумиху вокруг чего-либо]. He lost it because he was so proud.

Up jumped Dingo – Yellow-Dog Dingo – and said, ‘What, that cat-rabbit?’

Off ran Dingo – Yellow-Dog Dingo – always hungry, grinning[132 - to grin – скалить зубы, ухмыляться] like a coal-scuttle, – ran after Kangaroo.