Черная курица, или Подземные жители / The Black Hen

b) went back to their places.

c) started walking around the hall.

d) looked sleepy.

e) beat the knights with her wings.

f) sat down on the gold chair.

3 Say why:

1) the people and animals in the pictures looked funny.

2) the knights fell to pieces.

3) the King wanted to thank Alyosha.

4 Fill in the words from the box.

dolls crown clothes metal

1) Alyosha took off his ____ and went to bed.

2) The knights were in fact some pieces of ____.

3) Alyosha wanted to touch the ____.

4) The King had a beautiful ____ on his head.

5 Fill in the prepositions.

1) The people and animals ____ the picture looked funny.

2) The knights fell ____ pieces.

3) Alyosha saved Blacky ____ the cook.

4) The Minister was a man ____ black.

You read in the text about three rooms (the rooms of the Dutch ladies and the King's hall). Draw a picture of any room and describe it. Draw a picture of your room and describe it.

Chapter 5

The King looked at Alyosha.

"I want to give you something for your help. What do you want? Tell me," he said.

"Don't be afraid, Alyosha," said the Minister in his ear.

"What do I ask for?" thought Alyosha. He tried to think. But there wasn't any time for it. So he said:

"I want to know my homework without reading it," he said.

"Oh, you're a lazy boy. I didn't know that," said the King.

He said something to a little boy near him. The boy brought a gold plate with a hemp seed.

"Take it," said the King. "It's a magic seed. Now you can always get good marks without studying. But remember one thing. You must never say a word about me or my people. Don't forget that."

Alyosha took the hemp seed and put it in his pocket.

"Thank you for the present, sir. I promise not to tell anyone about your people."

The King smiled at him and said:

"OK. You can stay here longer and see how we live. Good-bye."

Then the King got up and left. The little people came up to Alyosha. They thanked him too:

"You are so brave! You saved our Minister! Thank you!"

The Minister came up to Alyosha.

"What do you want to see? The garden or the King's zoo?" he asked.

"Can we go to the garden and to the zoo?" asked the boy.

"OK. Let's go to the garden first," said the Minister and smiled.

The garden was very beautiful. Alyosha saw many bright little stones of all colours on the roads. There were many small lamps on every tree. But the trees looked a little strange. They were red, green, brown, white and blue. Alyosha came up to one of the trees and touched it.

"Oh! These are not real trees," he said. "But they are very nice."

"This is moss," said the Minister. "But it is taller and thicker than in your forests. The King bought this moss far from here. He gave a lot of money for it."

From the garden they went into the King's zoo. Here Alyosha saw wild animals in gold cages.

"Oh, there's a rat in the cage over there! It's funny," thought the boy. But he didn't say that to the Minister.

After the walk Alyosha and his friend came back for supper. In the big hall the boy saw a table with cakes and fruit on gold plates. There were gold bottles and glasses there too.

"Eat what you like," said the Minister, "but you can't take anything with you."

"Thank you, but I'm not hungry," said Alyosha. "Please, tell me about your people," asked Alyosha.

"We live under your school. Nobody knows about us because we don't go out now. Many years ago we often went out. People could see us then. Now we always stay under the ground. Many of your people can't keep a secret. When somebody says a word about us, we go away at once. We go far, far away. It's always a problem to leave our things and go somewhere with all our children and animals. Do you understand me? You saved my life, Alyosha. I asked the King to let me take you here. You know how we live. We don't want to go away from this place. We like it here. So please don't tell anybody about us."

"I promise to keep your secret," said Alyosha. "But tell me, dear Blacky, why are you a hen? And why are you so afraid of the old Dutch ladies?"

Blacky started saying something, but Alyosha's sleepy eyes closed. He woke up in the morning in his bed.

Helpful Words & Notes

What do I ask for? — Что бы мне попросить?

hemp seed — конопляное семечко.

Let's = Let us — Давай.

over there — вон там.

I'm not hungry — мне не хочется есть.

keep a secret — хранить тайну.

Exercises

1 Match the two parts of the sentences.

1) Alyosha wanted

2) The King wanted

3) Alyosha asked Blacky

4) Alyosha promised

a) to keep Blacky's secret.

b) to know his homework without learning it.

c) to thank Alyosha for saving his minister.