Лучшие сказки загадочной Шотландии. Уровень 1 / The Best Tales of Enchanted Scotland

Everyone was very glad to see the Queen. The people crowded in the Great Hall. She spoke to them graciously. She allowed them to kiss her hand. Then she passed, with her husband, to the two thrones. The Royal pair sat down to watch the revels.

Poor Thomas, meanwhile, stood far away at the other end of the Hall. He was fascinated by the extraordinary scene.

All the fine Ladies, and Courtiers, and Knights danced in one part of the Hall. The huntsmen were in another part. They carried in great deer. Then they threw them down in heaps on the floor. Some cooks stood beside the dead animals. They cut the deer up into joints, and took the joints away to the kitchen.

It was a very strange, fantastic scene. Thomas stood and gazed, and gazed. He did not speak a word to anybody. This went on for three long days. Then the Queen rose from her throne. She crossed the Hall to Thomas.

“It is time to go home, Thomas,” she said. “You will see your home again. You are here seven long years.”

Thomas looked at her in amazement.

“You spoke of seven long years, Lady,” he exclaimed, “but I am here three days.”

The Queen smiled.

“Time passes quickly in Fairy-land, my friend,” she replied. “You think that you spent here three days. But we met seven years ago. And now it is time for you to go. I want to stay with you longer, but I dare not. Every seventh year an Evil Spirit comes from the Regions of Darkness. He carries back with him one of our followers. He chooses the follower himself. You are a good fellow. I fear that he will choose you. So I will take you back to your own country this night.”

Once more the grey horse appeared. Thomas and the Queen mounted it. Then they returned to his country.

Thomas asked the Queen to give him something as a gift from her Fairy-land.

“I gave you the Gift of Truth,” she replied. “I will now give you the Gifts of Prophecy and Poetry. You will be able to foretell the future. And you will be able to write wondrous verses. And here is something that mortals can see with their own eyes. Look: this is a Harp from Fairy-land. Good-bye, my friend. Some day, maybe, I will return again.”

With these words the Lady vanished. Thomas was a little sorry to come back to the ordinary world.

After this, he lived for many years in his Castle. The fame of his poetry and of his prophecies spread all over the country. The people named him True Thomas, and Thomas the Rhymer.

I cannot write down for you all the prophecies which Thomas uttered. He foretold some great battles and the Union of England and Scotland. It came true in 1603, when King James became Monarch of both countries.

Упражнения

1. Сколько дорог через пустыню увидел Томас?

1) 2

2) 3

3) 4

4) 5

5) 6

2. Вставьте нужное слово:

Thomas foretold the Union of England and ____________________.

1) Ireland

2) Scotland

3) Wales

4) France

5) Italy

3. Как ещё называли Томаса-рифмача?

1) Thomas the Great

2) Brave Thomas

3) Thomas the King

4) Sly Thomas

5) True Thomas

4. Что такое hunting-horn?

1) ружьё

2) седло для коня

3) охотничий рожок

4) посох

5) шляпа с пером

5. Вставьте нужный предлог:

A wonderful change passed ____________________ Thomas.

1) over

2) about

3) on

4) in

5) at

Ответы:

3, Scotland, True Thomas, охотничий рожок, over