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

One lovely spring day, a Mother Duck laid on her nest, keeping her eggs warm. She was a little bit bored sitting on her nest all day long. At last one eggshell after another began to crack open. Soon she had eight fluffy little yellow ducklings. All ducks around said how pretty they were! Only one big egg left and she should sit on and wait when it hatched. At last the big egg cracked and the young creature scrambled out. He was a large grey bird! The Ugly Duckling was so different from the others.

The next day was sunny and warm and Mother Duck took her children for a swim on the pond. All the ducklings swam merrily along with her – even the Ugly Duckling. The kind mother noticed how gracefully he swam along. The other ducks on the pond soon started to tease and peck him and even his brothers and sisters tried to chase him away. So the Ugly Duckling kept away from them. When their mother taught them to swim and dive under the water to catch insects, he always lagged behind. He was very unhappy.

When the ducklings could swim well enough, their mother took them to visit the ducks who lived on the other side of the pond. She swam across the water with the nine little ducklings paddling behind her in a long line. As usual the Ugly Duckling was at the very back. When the ducks saw him they started to laugh at him. So the poor creature ran away and hid in some reeds.

Soon it grew dark. The Ugly Duckling wanted his mother but he couldn't understand where to go. Tired, cold and hungry he came to a small hut. Inside was a kind old lady with a cat and a hen. The nice lady was very sorry for a poor creature and let him stay with them.

The cold days came and passed. Soon the sun shone and the birds started to sing. It was spring again!

One day he saw some swans flying in the blue sky They were so beautiful with their great white wings.

The Ugly Duckling felt a little sad because he could never be so beautiful. He looked down into the water and saw a beautiful white swan just like the others. What a miracle! He was no longer a clumsy duckling but a graceful swan.

Once upon a time there was a woman whose dearest wish was to have a child of her own. One day she decided to ask an old witch for help.

The witch gave her a magic seed and explained that it would grow into a flower. One day the flower opened and there was a little girl not bigger than her thumb. The happy woman decided to call her Thumbelina.

She was a very happy little girl. All day long she played on her mother's table. At night she slept in a tiny bed. This bed was made from a polished walnut shell but one night a terrible thing happened. An old ugly toad kidnapped her and imprisoned her on a lily pad in the middle of a river. The toad wanted a beautiful wife for her ugly son. A kind fish took pity on Thumbelina and bit through the lily stem. The lily pad floated freely down the stream away from the terrible toad.

Suddenly a big beetle saw the tiny Thumbelina and decided to fly off with her. He was very proud of Thumbelina and decided to show his pretty prize to his friends. They didn't like her and said that she was ugly because she didn't have any feelers. At once the beetle lost interest in her and pushed her away. Thumbelina lived alone in the great wood. She ate berries and drank the dew on the leaves. In winter she was cold, hungry and without shelter.

A kind old mouse found Thumbelina and invited her to stay in her house. She was sure that Thumbelina would be a good wife for her old friend Mr. Mole. One day Thumbelina found a dead swallow in one of the dark passages of the mouse's house. Suddenly she noticed that the swallow was still breathing. She brought some water for the bird and started to look after him.

In spring the swallow recovered and was well enough to fly away.

Time passed and the mouse told Thumbelina that she should marry Mr. Mole. Thumbelina was very sad because she didn't want to spend the rest of her life underground.

The next day the swallow came to say goodbye to Thumbelina.

He was going to fly away for winter. The grateful swallow invited Thumbelina to come to Africa with him. Thumbelina didn't hesitate and happily climbed on his back.

The swallow spread his wings and they lifted high into the sky to begin their journey. They journeyed for several days and nights over beautiful countryside and finally arrived at a land full of tiny people just like Thumbelina.

It wasn't long before a handsome prince met Thumbelina and asked her to marry him.

They all lived happily ever after!

Once upon a time there was an Emperor who was fond of clothes. It was terrible but he was ready to spend all his money on different suits. He didn't care about his friends, his kingdom or his family. He liked clothes so much that he changed them every hour of the day

One day two con men arrived in the capital of his kingdom. They told people that they were weavers and promised to make beautiful clothes. They weren't ordinary dressmakers. They claimed that their clothes were invisible to everyone that was stupid or foolish.

One of the emperor's ministers heard this news and told the Emperor about these marvellous clothes. The Emperor couldn't resist trying on these clothes. He was ready to pay a lot of money to the weavers. The weavers pretended to work on the clothes but their looms had nothing on them.

Some time passed and the minister came to look at these mysterious clothes but he couldn't see them. Of course, it was impossible for him to admit to the Emperor that he could not see anything. Soon the Emperor wanted to see the new clothes for himself. He invited the weavers to bring the new clothes to the palace.

The weavers held the clothes up before him but he couldn't see anything. The Emperor didn't wish to seem stupid in front of his people so he pretended he could see the clothes.

The weavers asked the Emperor if he would like to try the new clothes on.

He didn't have any choice but to put these mysterious clothes on.

His ministers complimented him on how lovely and colourful the clothes looked. They didn't want to admit that they couldn't see anything.

It was time to introduce his new suit to the people of his kingdom.

A great procession went along the streets of the capital to show off his new clothes. The proud Emperor walked at the head of this strange procession feeling very proud of his new clothes.