Черная курица, или Подземные жители / The Black Hen

"O! Hello, Blacky!" he cried. "Are you OK?"

"Yes," said the hen. "But I could be dead because of you."

"What do you mean?" asked Alyosha.

"You're a good boy," said Blacky, "but you didn't listen to me yesterday. It's bad. I told you not to touch anything. But you talked to the cat. The cat woke the parrot. The parrot woke the old ladies. The old ladies woke the knights. The knights started fighting with me."

"I'm sorry, dear Blacky," said Alyosha. "I promise to listen to you.

Always! Please, take me with you again."

"OK," said the hen.

Helpful Words & Notes

She flapped her wings— Она захлопала крыльями.

because he fainted— потому что он потерял сознание.

because of you— из-за тебя.

Exercises

1 Answer the questions.

1) Where did Blacky take Alyosha?

2) What did the cat do?

3) Who started fighting with Blacky? Why?

4) When did Alyosha see Blacky again?

5) What did Alyosha promise her?

2 Put the sentences in the right order.

1) Alyosha and Blacky went to the rooms of the Dutch ladies.

2) In the second room the boy saw a beautiful gold cage with a parrot and a cat.

3) Alyosha didn't see the end of the fight because he fainted.

4) The old ladies opened their eyes and sat up in bed.

5) Two knights jumped off the wall and started fighting with Blacky.

6) In the first room Alyosha saw beautiful old chairs and tables.

7) The cat started mewing loudly.

3 Choose right.

1) Blacky flapped her wings, and the door closed / opened.

2) Alyosha put on / took offhis clothes and went upstairs to have breakfast.

3) Alyosha touched / talked tothe cat.

4) The old ladies woke / woke upthe knights.

4 Complete the sentences.

1) "The door is closed, and I haven't got the ____," said Alyosha.

2) There was a big ____ in the cage.

3) "I'm afraid the ____ are not sleeping now," said Blacky.

4) "Was it real? Or was it a ____?" thought Alyosha.

5) "We never get ____ from the black hen," said the headmaster's wife.

5 Fill in the prepositions.

1) The hen said something ____ a strange voice.

2) Alyosha didn't listen ____ to Blacky and talked to the cat.

3) Alyosha saw many portraits of the knights ____ the walls.

4) It was time to go ____ bed.

5) Blacky could be dead ____ Alyosha.

6 Say why:

1) Alyosha and Blacky didn't need a candle in dark rooms and corridors.

2) The headmaster's wife wanted to eat the black hen for dinner.

3) Blacky took the boy with him again.

Chapter 4

The black hen said some words. There were small candles everywhere again. Alyosha put on his clothes and followed Blacky. They went to the rooms of the old ladies again.

In the first room Alyosha saw the old tables and chairs again. There were many pictures on the walls too. But the people and animals in the pictures looked very strange.

"Their faces are so funny! Why are they doing it?" thought Alyosha. "I see. They're trying to make me do something silly."The boy turned away from them. In the second room he saw the old Dutch ladies again. They were in bed. The parrot and the cat looked at the boy, but Alyosha didn't stop. Then he saw two beautiful dolls on a table. He wanted to touch them. He remembered Blacky's words. So he didn't stop, but he smiled. The dolls jumped off the table at once and ran after him. Blacky turned and looked at Alyosha. She was angry. The boy ran up to the hen. The dolls followed them to the doors. Then they went back to their places.

Alyosha and Blacky went downstairs. They walked along the corridors and at lastcame into the hall. The knights were on the walls. Alyosha and Blacky came up to the door. At that moment two knights came from the wall and stopped them. But the knights didn't look angry. They looked sleepy.

Blacky became big and tall again. She beat the knights with her wings. And the knights … fell to pieces.Alyosha saw that they were in factbig pieces of metal! The door opened. Alyosha and Blacky entered another corridor. Then they opened a big gold door and came into another hall. It was very large.

"Alyosha! Please stay here," said Blacky. "Today you didn't touch anything. That's good. But you smiled at the dolls, and the knights came from the wall. You didn't wake the old ladies. So the knights were sleepy, and they couldn't fight with me."

After these words Blacky left the hall. Alyosha was alone. The hall was beautiful. There were wonderful pictures on the walls. At the end of the hall the boy saw a gold chair.

"I like it here very much.

Everything is so beautiful, but so small," he thought.

At that moment another gold door opened. A lot of people came into the hall. All the people were little like toys, but they were real. All of them had nice clothes and round hats. The little people didn't see Alyosha. They started walking around the hall and talking loudly. But Alyosha couldn't understand a word. At last he decided to ask somebody a question. Suddenly the big door at the end of the hall opened. Everyone stopped talking. All little people took off their hats.

The small candles became brighter than before. Twenty little knights came into the hall in pairsand stopped near the gold chair. Then a little man in a long green dress and a crown on his head entered the hall. He looked very important. Twenty little boys in red dresses followed the man.