Сценарий сказки морозко на английском языке

                           СПЕКТАКЛЬ  «МОРОЗКО»

Комната. МУЗЫКА . Мачеха и дочка спят. Маша подметает пол. Отец чинит стул. Кукарекает петух. Просыпаются.

МАЧЕХА: Good morning.

MАША и ОТЕЦ: Good morning

ДОЧКА( недовольно): Brrrrr. Why is it so cold in the house?

МАЧЕХА: Don’t worry, my sweety.    MARY! Go to the forest and bring some wood to make fire. Be quick!!

ОТЕЦ: It is too frosty today. We have enough wood  for our fireplace. Mary can stay at home.

МАЧЕХА: Shut up! Mary, do you hear me?  Put on your jacket and go! NOW!

 МАША: Yes, yes, I am going now. Одевается, остальные уходят

МУЗЫКА(Happy new year) . Маша уходит, появляется елка, Маша выходит с вязанкой дров.

МАША: Oh, I am  so cold. I am so tired. Садится под елку.

МУЗЫКА , появляется Морозко из-за елки.

МОРОЗКО: Who is here?

МАША: I am Mary. And you?

МОРОЗКО: I am a forest keeper. My name is MOROZKO. Do you like my winter forest?

МАША: Yes, your forest is very beautiful. (Дрожит от холода)

МОРОЗКО: But I see , you are very cold. Welcome to my house.

МУЗЫКА, обходят круг вокруг елки.

МОРОЗКО: This is my house.  Come in and have a rest. I ‘ll come back soon.

Морозко уходит.

МАША: Oh, a very nice room. But it’s too dirty here.МУЗЫКА (Happy New year) Берет веник, подметает, протирает пыль.

Появляется Морозко.

МОРОЗКО: Oh, I can’t recognize my room! It is so clean here. I like hardworking people, Mary. And I’d like to thank you. Look, this basket with diamonds is for you.

МАША: Thank you very much for your present. But I must go home now. My family is waiting for wood.

МОРОЗКО: Good bye.

МАША: Good bye. Расходятся.

МУЗЫКА. Появляются мачеха, дочка, отец.

МАЧЕХА:  Where is your lazy daughter?

ОТЕЦ: смотрит в окно, I see, she is coming back. She is carrying some wood  and….. a basket.

Входит Маша, ставит корзинку.

МАША: подает отцу дрова: Some wood for the fireplace.

ДОЧКА: And what is this? A basket! Хватает корзинку. Mum, mum diamonds!

МАША:  It is a present from Morozko.

ДОЧКА: Mum, Mum, I want  presents ,too. Хнычет.

МАЧЕХА: Well, well, my dear, don’t cry. We’ll go to the forest and bring more presents for you.

 МУЗЫКА. Маша и отец уходят. Мачеха и дочка одеваются. Обходят елку, Дочка садится под елку. Мачеха прячется за елкой.

МУЗЫКА МОРОЗКО выходит.

МОРОЗКО: Who is here?

ДОЧКА:  I am GLASHA!  And are you Morozko?

МОРОЗКО: Yes. My winter forest is wonderful, isn’t it?

ДОЧКА: Are you crazy? It is so much snow, it is so frosty here. I am freezing!.

МОРОЗКО:  Why are you here then?

ДОЧКА:  I  am here to get presents from you.

МОРОЗКО:  What presents do you want?

ДОЧКА: Two baskets with diamonds

МАЧЕХА( из-за  елки подсказывает):  Three, three.

ДОЧКА: No, no three baskets with diamonds and….. three baskets with gold

МОРОЗКО: в сторону: I don’t like greedy people.  Обращаясь к дочке :  Well. (ударяет посохом)  Go home, your presents are  there.

Мачеха с дочкой убегают.

МОРОЗКО: Poor girl, she doesn’t know words “thank you “ and ” good bye” . She is greedy and selfish. My presents will teach her a lesson.

На сцену выносят корзинки. Появляются дочка и мачеха. Бросаются к подаркам.  

ДОЧКА: Presents, presents

МАЧЕХА: But what is it? The basket is full of stones and ice. Morozko has played a joke with us but why?

Выходит МОРОЗКО : МУЗЫКА

МОРОЗКО: обращается в зал: Dear children. This Fairy-tale is a lesson for everyone. Only kind , friendly and hardworking people must be rich and happy.

МУЗЫКА все выходят на сцену , поклон.

                           СПЕКТАКЛЬ  «МОРОЗКО»

Комната. МУЗЫКА
. Мачеха и дочка спят. Маша подметает пол. Отец чинит стул. Кукарекает петух. Просыпаются.

МАЧЕХА: Good morning.

MАША и
ОТЕЦ: Good morning

ДОЧКА( недовольно): Brrrrr. Why is it so cold in the house?

МАЧЕХА: Don’t worry, my sweety.    MARY! Go to the forest
and bring some wood to make fire. Be quick!!

ОТЕЦ: It is too frosty today. We have enough wood  for our
fireplace. Mary can stay at home.

МАЧЕХА: Shut up! Mary, do you hear me?  Put on your jacket
and go! NOW!

 МАША: Yes, yes, I
am going now. Одевается,
остальные уходят

МУЗЫКА(Happy new year) . Маша
уходит, появляется елка, Маша выходит с вязанкой дров.

МАША: Oh, I am  so cold. I am so tired. Садится под
елку.

МУЗЫКА , появляется
Морозко из-за елки.

МОРОЗКО: Who is here?

МАША: I am Mary. And you?

МОРОЗКО: I am a forest keeper. My name is MOROZKO. Do you
like my winter forest?

МАША: Yes, your forest is very beautiful. (Дрожит от холода)

МОРОЗКО: But I see , you are very cold. Welcome to my house.

МУЗЫКА, обходят круг
вокруг елки.

МОРОЗКО: This is my house.  Come in and have a rest. I ‘ll
come back soon.

Морозко уходит.

МАША: Oh, a very nice room. But it’s too dirty here.МУЗЫКА (Happy
New year) Берет веник, подметает, протирает пыль.

Появляется Морозко.

МОРОЗКО: Oh, I can’t recognize my room! It is so clean here.
I like hardworking people, Mary. And I’d like to thank you. Look, this basket
with diamonds is for you.

МАША: Thank you very much for your present. But I must go
home now. My family is waiting for wood.

МОРОЗКО: Good bye.

МАША: Good bye.
Расходятся.

МУЗЫКА. Появляются
мачеха, дочка, отец.

МАЧЕХА:  Where is your lazy daughter?

ОТЕЦ: смотрит в окно, I see, she is coming back. She is carrying some wood
 and….. a basket.

Входит Маша, ставит
корзинку.

МАША: подает отцу дрова: Some wood for the fireplace.

ДОЧКА: And what is this? A basket! Хватает корзинку.
Mum, mum diamonds!

МАША:  It is a present from Morozko.

ДОЧКА: Mum, Mum, I want  presents ,too. Хнычет.

МАЧЕХА: Well, well, my dear, don’t cry. We’ll go to the
forest and bring more presents for you.

 МУЗЫКА. Маша и отец уходят. Мачеха и дочка одеваются. Обходят
елку, Дочка садится под елку. Мачеха прячется за елкой.

МУЗЫКА МОРОЗКО
выходит.

МОРОЗКО: Who is here?

ДОЧКА:  I am GLASHA!  And are you Morozko?

МОРОЗКО: Yes. My winter forest is wonderful, isn’t it?

ДОЧКА: Are you crazy? It is so much snow, it is so frosty
here. I am freezing!.

МОРОЗКО:  Why are you here then?

ДОЧКА:  I  am here to get presents from you.

МОРОЗКО:  What presents do you want?

ДОЧКА: Two baskets with diamonds

МАЧЕХА( из—за  елки подсказывает):  Three, three.

ДОЧКА: No, no three baskets with diamonds and….. three
baskets with gold

МОРОЗКО: в сторону: I don’t like greedy people.  Обращаясь
к дочке :  Well. (ударяет посохом)  Go home, your presents are  there.

Мачеха с дочкой убегают.

МОРОЗКО: Poor girl, she doesn’t know words “thank you “ and ”
good bye” . She is greedy and selfish. My presents will teach her a lesson.

На сцену выносят
корзинки. Появляются дочка и мачеха. Бросаются к подаркам.   

ДОЧКА: Presents, presents

МАЧЕХА: But what is it? The basket is full of stones and
ice. Morozko has played a joke with us but why?

Выходит МОРОЗКО :
МУЗЫКА

МОРОЗКО: обращается в
зал: Dear children. This Fairy-tale
is a lesson for everyone. Only kind , friendly and hardworking people must be
rich and happy.

МУЗЫКА все выходят на
сцену , поклон.

Loginova Olga:
Consulting Psychologist specializing in Positive Psychology. Art Therapist,


Trainer of NLP


E-mail: 

psycholog50@mail.ru
  


  call at:
+7(916)555-98-10
 Russia, Moscow

Russian folktale

Morozko

Once there lived an old man and an old woman.
The old man had his own daughter and the old woman- her own. The old woman
pampered her daughter, doted her and made the old man`s daughter do all the
work, scold her for everything, abused her and didn`t give her enough food.

The girl
consented to all work and did all she was ordered. She did everything awesome
possum. People look at her and cannot praise sufficiently.  And about the
old woman daughter they just say:
— Here she is- she cannot weave and spin. Here she is- idle and lazy!

The old woman
became even angrier and more quarrelsome. She ate girls head off. And think of
nothing else but just to kill her.

One day the old
man went to town to the market. And an evil old woman colluded with her
daughter:
— Now we  will do this hateful girl in!

The old woman
called the girl and ordered her:

— Go to the wood
and bring some brushwood!

— We have quite
enough brushwood, -the girl answered.

The old woman
started crying  and  stamping her feet, fell on the girl together with
her daughter and pushed her of the hut.

The girl saw that
there was nothing to be done and she went to the wood. The frost was crackling,
the wind was howling, and there was a heavy snowstorm.

The old woman
with her daughter were in the warm hut and said to each other:

— That hateful
girl will not come back. She will freeze up the wood!

And the girl went
into the forest, stayed under a thick fir tree and did not know- where to go and
what to do…

Suddenly she
heard the noise and crackles: it was Morozko riding through a fir grove, birch
forest and skipping from tree to tree, crunching and clicking. He went down from
the fir tree and said:
— How do you do, fairy maiden! Why have you come to my wood in such a severe
cold?

Morozko have
listened her and said:

— No, fairy
maiden, you were not sent here for brushwood. Well, if you come to my wood, then
show me what a mistress you are!

She was given a
tow and a distaff:

— Spin threads out of this tow.
Weave cloth and sew me а
shirt out of that cloth!

Morozko said that
and left. The girl did not think much and started to work at once.

 Her fingers were
frozen she would breath to warm them and worked on again.  And the whole
night like that. She did not stop working. She thought just about one thing –how
to sew the shirt.

In the morning
she heard the noise and crack near the fir tree again: that` Morozko came. He
looked at the shirt and praised :

— Well, Fairy
maiden, you worked well!

Here brought
Morozko a large forged trunk, put it in front of the girl, and said:

— Like work, like
reward!

After that he put
on a warm fur coat on the girl, tied a patterned kerchief round her head and led
her to the road:

— Good bye, Fairy
maiden! Here you will find good people to help you to get home.

He said that and
disappeared as if he were not there.

At that time the
old man came back home.

— Where is my
daughter? – he asked.

— She went to the
wood for brushwood and did not come back.

The old man was
anxious, did not start  unharnessing the horse and drove to the wood. And
as he glanced  – his daughter was standing near the road, well-dressed and
merry.

The old man
seated her in the sledge, put Morozko`s trunk with presents there in the sledge
and took her home.

An evil old woman
with her daughter were sitting at table, eating pies and said:

— Well, she will
not come back home alive!  The old man is going to bring just her bones!

And the dog was
barking near the stove:

— Bow-wow,
bow-wow! The old man`s daughter is going to bring such expensive presents! And
no one will marry old woman`s daughter!

The old woman
gave pies to the dog and beated her with the poker.

— Shut up, nasty!
Just say: «The old woman`s will be married and old man`s daughter will be
brought dead!»

But the dog
repeated all the time:

— The old man`s
daughter will bring presents! And old woman`s daughter will not be married!

Here the gates
squeaked, the door to the hut was opened and the girl came in well-dressed and
rosy, and people brought a large trunk following her, decorated with frosty
patterns.

The old woman and
her daughter rushed to the trunk, started to take out and examine the costumes,
and put them in the benches and question:

— Who gave you
such an expensive present?

As far as the old
woman knew that Morozko gave that present to the girl, they began to bustle ,
wrap up her daughter warmly, gave her the bundle with pies and told the old man
to take her to the wood:

— She is going to
bring two such trunks!

The old man
brought the old woman`s daughter to the wood and left her under a high fir tree.
She is standing, looking around, scringing and scolding:

— Why that
Morozko do not come for such a long time? Where has he, so-and-so, disappeared?

Here she heard
noise and crackle: Morozko was riding through a  fir grove, birch forest,
and skipping from tree to tree, crunching and clicking. He went down from the
fir tree and asked:        

—
Why have you come to me, Fairy
maiden?

— Don`t you know
yourself? I have come for expensive presents!

Morozko smiled
and said:

-Just show me
first what a mistress you are – knit me the mittens!

He gave her
knitting needle and a ball of wool and left.

The old woman`s
daughter threw the knitting needles into the snow, pushed the ball of wool with
her leg:

— Look at what
that old one came up with? Who ever heard of such thing as to knit in such a
severe cold? So I can get my fingers frostbitten!

In the morning it
cracked and crunches, — Morozko came:

— Well, Fairy
maiden, show me how you coped my work?

The old woman`s
daughter rushed at him:

— What a work,
old noodle? Ae you blind, you can`t see: I am chilled to the bones waiting for
you here and I am more than half dead!

— Well, like
work, like award! –Morozko said.

She shook with
his beard – and snowstorm and blizzard began –all paths, all roads were covered.
And Morozko disappeared, as if he were not there.

The old woman`s
daughter dragged herself along without knowing the road and came to a deep
ravine. There she was covered with snow…

In the morning
the old woman shook the old man very early, woke him up and ordered him to go to
the wood to take his daughter. He she herself started to bake pies. The dog was
sitting under the bench and barking:

— Bow-wow,
bow-wow, bow-wow! The old woman`s daughter is not going to come back from the
wood!

The old woman
threw pies to the dog and stroke her with the poker painfully:

— Shut up, nasty!
Eat the pie and never say such things! Better say: «Old woman`s daughter is
going to bring expensive gifts. And the old man`s daughter will not find a
fiancй!».

The dog eats a
pie and repeats again:

— Bow-wow,
bow-wow, bow-wow! The old man`s daughter will marry and the old woman`s daughter
will not come back from the wood!

The old woman was
startled:

«What if
something`s bad is going to happen with my daughter! What if they lose the
expensive gifts on the road! I will run following the old man!»

She put on the
fur coat and ran to the wood. The snowstorm was howling and whirling even
stronger. The whole road was covered…

The evil woman
lost her way and she was covered with snow…

The old man was
looking for the old woman`s daughter for some time and could not find. She came
back how –there were no old woman. He gathered neighbors. They all started to
look for the old woman and her daughter. They looked for and looked for. They
dug over all snowdrifts and still did not find them.

And the old man
started to live together with his daughter. And when spring came – a fine young
man, a smith from the smithy asked her in marriage.

They celebrated a merry wedding and lived in love and harmony.

And so they
live now.

                                                                     

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©
2005-2015
Loginova Olga: Author’s Project ‘Personality and Psychology’

®
All rights reserved. The materials of the site may be reproduced partially
or in full only stating the full name of the author(s) of the article.

Once there lived an old widower and his daughter. In due time, the man remarried to an older woman who had a daughter herself from a previous marriage. The woman doted on her own daughter, praising her at every opportunity, but she despised her stepdaughter. She found fault with everything the girl did and made her work long and hard all day long. One day the old woman made up her mind to get rid of the stepdaughter once and for all.

She ordered her husband, «Take her somewhere so that my eyes no longer have to see her, so that my ears no longer have to hear her. And don’t take her to some relative’s house. Take her into the biting cold of the forest and leave her there».

The old man grieved and wept but he knew that he could do nothing else; his wife always had her way. So he took the girl into the forest and left her there. He turned back quickly so that he wouldn’t have to see his girl freeze.

Oh, the poor thing, sitting there in the snow, with her body shivering and her teeth chattering! Then Morozko (Old Man Winter), leaping from tree to tree, came upon her.

«Are you warm, my lass?» he asked.

«Welcome, my dear Morozko. Yes, I am quite warm», she said, even though she was cold to the bone.

At first, Morozko had wanted to freeze the life out of her with his icy grip. But he admired the young girl’s stoicism and showed mercy. He gave her a warm fur coat and downy quilts before he left.

In a short while, Morozko returned to check on the girl. «Are you warm, my lass?» he asked.

«Welcome again, my dear Morozko. Yes, I am very warm», she said. And indeed she was warmer. So this time Morozko brought a large box for her to sit on.

A little later, Morozko returned once more to ask how she was doing. She was doing quite well now, and this time Morozko gave her silver and gold jewelry to wear, with enough extra jewels to fill the box on which she was sitting!

Meanwhile, back at her father’s hut, the old woman told her husband to go back into the forest and fetch the body of his daughter. «Bring back what’s left of her», she ordered. The old man did as he was told and went back into the woods. Joy overwhelmed him when he saw his daughter was still alive, wrapped in a sable coat and adorned with silver and gold!

When he arrived home with his daughter and the box of jewels, his wife looked on in amazement.

«Harness the horse, you old goat, and take my own daughter to that same spot in the forest and leave her there,» she said with greed in her eye. The old man did as he was told.

Like the other girl at first, the old woman’s daughter began to shake and shiver. In a short while, Morozko came by and asked her how she was doing.

«Are you blind?» she replied. «Can’t you see that my hands and feet are quite numb? Curse you, you miserable old man!»

Dawn had hardly broken the next day when, back at the old man’s hut, the old woman woke her husband and told him to bring back her daughter, adding, «Be careful with the box of jewels». The old man obeyed and went to get the girl.

A short while later, the gate to the yard creaked. The old woman went outside and saw her husband standing next to the sleigh. She rushed forward and pulled aside the sleigh’s cover. To her horror, she saw the body of her daughter, frozen by an angry Morozko. She began to scream and berate her husband, but it was all in vain.

Later, the old man’s daughter married a neighbor, had children, and lived happily. Her father would visit his grandchildren every now and then, and remind them always to respect Old Man Winter.

Наткнулась на наши сказки совершенно случайно. Чей перевод я, к сожалению, не знаю, но делюсь с вами. Никогда не читала Бабу Ягу на английском языке, но теперь у меня появилась такая возможность. Надеюсь, что вам тоже понравиться. 

ONCE UPON a time there was a widowed old man who lived alone in a hut with his little daughter. Very merry they were together, and they used to smile at each other over a table just piled with bread and jam. Everything went well, until the old man took it into his head to marry again.
Yes, the old man became foolish in the years of his old age, and he took another wife. And so the poor little girl had a stepmother. And after that everything changed. There was no more bread and jam on the table, and no more playing bo-peep, first this side of the samovar and then that, as she sat with her father at tea. It was worse than that, for she never did sit at tea. The stepmother said that every­thing that went wrong was the little girl’s fault. And the old man believed his new wife, and so there were no more kind words for his little daughter. Day after day the stepmother used to say that the lit­tle girl was too naughty to sit at table. And then she would throw her a crust and tell her to get out of the hut and go and eat it somewhere else.

And the poor little girl used to go away by herself into the shed in the yard, and wet the dry crust with her tears, and eat it all alone. Ah me! she often wept for the old days, and she often wept at the thought of the days that were to come.

Mostly she wept because she was all alone, until one day she found a little friend in the shed. She was hunched up in a corner of the shed, eating her crust and crying bitterly, when she heard a little noise. It was like this: scratch—scratch. It was just that, a little gray mouse who lived in a hole.

Out he came, his little pointed nose and his long whiskers, his little round ears and his bright eyes. Out came his little humpy body and his long tail. And then he sat up on his hind legs, and curled his tail twice round himself and looked at the little girl.

The little girl, who had a kind heart, forgot all her sorrows, and took a scrap of her crust and threw it to the little mouse. The mouseykin nibbled and nib­bled, and there, it was gone, and he was looking for another. She gave him another bit, and presently that was gone, and another and another, until there was no crust left for the little girl. Well, she didn’t mind that. You see, she was so happy seeing the lit­tle mouse nibbling and nibbling.

When the crust was done the mouseykin looks up at her with his little bright eyes, and «Thank you,» he says, in a little squeaky voice. «Thank

you,» he says; «you are a kind little girl, and I am only a mouse, and I’ve eaten all your crust. But there is one thing I can do for you, and that is to tell you to take care. The old woman in the hut (and that was the cruel stepmother) is own sister to Baba Yaga, the bony-legged, the witch. So if ever she sends you on a message to your aunt, you come and tell me. For Baba Yaga would eat you soon enough with her iron teeth if you did not know what to do.»

«Oh, thank you,» said the little girl; and just then she heard the stepmother calling to her to come in and clean up the tea things, and tidy the house, and brush out the floor, and clean everybody’s boots. So off she had to go.

When she went in she had a good look at her stepmother, and sure enough she had a long nose, and she was as bony as a fish with all the flesh picked off, and the little girl thought of Baba Yaga and shivered, though she did not feel so bad when she remembered
the mouseykin out there in the shed in the yard.

The very next morning it happened. The old man went off to pay a visit to some friends of his in the next village. And as soon as the old man was out of sight the wicked stepmother called the little girl.

«You are to go to-day to your dear little aunt in the forest,» says she, «and ask her for a needle and thread to mend a shirt.»

«But here is a needle and thread,» says the little girl.

«Hold your tongue,» says the stepmother, and she gnashes her teeth, and they make a noise like clattering tongs. «Hold your tongue,» she says. «Didn’t I tell you you are to go to-day to your dear little aunt to ask for a needle and thread to mend a shirt?»

«How shall 1 find her?» says the little girl, nearly ready to cry, for she knew that her aunt was Baba Yaga, the bony-legged, the witch.

The stepmother took hold of the little girl’s nose and pinched it.

«That is your nose,» she says. «Can you feel it?»

«Yes,» says the poor little girl.

«You must go along the road into the forest till you come to a fallen tree; then you must turn to your left, and then follow your nose and you will find her,» says the stepmother. «Now, be off with you, lazy one. Here is some food for you to eat by the way.» She gave the little girl a bundle wrapped up in a towel.

The little girl wanted to go into the shed to tell the mouseykin she was going to Baba Yaga, and to ask what she should do. But she looked back, and there was the stepmother at the door watching her. So she had to go straight on.

She walked along the road through the forest till she came to the fallen tree. Then she turned to the

left. Her nose was still hurting where the step­mother had pinched it, so she knew she had to go straight ahead. She was just setting out when she heard a little noise under the fallen tree. «Scratch—scratch.»

And out jumped the little mouse, and sat up in the road in front of her.

«0 mouseykin, mouseykin,» says the little girl, «my stepmother has sent me to her sister. And that is Baba Yaga, the bony-legged, the witch, and I do not know what to do.»

«It will not be difficult,» says the little mouse, «because of your kind heart. Take all the things you find in the road, and do with them what you like. Then you will escape from Baba Yaga, and every­thing will be well.» «Are you hungry, mouseykin?» said the little girl. «I could nibble, I think,» says the little mouse. The little girl unfastened the towel, and there was nothing in it but stones. That was what the step­mother had given the little girl to eat by the way.

«Oh, I’m so sorry,» says the little girl. «There’s nothing for you to eat.»

Isn’t there?» said mouseykin, and as she looked at them the little girl saw the stones turn to bread

and jam. The little girl sat down on the fallen tree, and the little mouse sat beside her, and they ate

read and jam until they were not hungry any more. ‘Keep the towel,» says the little mouse; «I think it will be useful. And remember what I said about the things you find on the way. And now good-bye» says he.

«Good-bye,» says the little girl, and runs along.

As she was running along she found a nice new handkerchief lying in the road. She picked it up and took it with her. Then she found a little bottle of oil. She picked it up and took it with her. Then she found some scraps of meat.

«Perhaps I’d better take them too,» she said; and she took them.

Then she found a gay blue ribbon, and she took that. Then she found a little loaf of good bread, and she took that too.

«I daresay somebody will like it,» she said.

And then she came to the hut of Baba Yaga, the bony-legged, the witch. There was a high fence round it with big gates. When she pushed them open they squeaked miserably, as if it hurt them to move. The little girl was sorry for them.

«How lucky,» she says, «that I picked up the bot­tle of oil!» and she poured the oil into the hinges of the gates.

Inside the railing was Baba Yaga’s hut, and it stood on hen’s legs and walked about the yard. And in the yard there was standing Baba Yaga’s servant, and she was crying bitterly because of the task5 Baba Yaga set her to do. She was crying bitterly and wiping her eyes on her petticoat.

«How lucky,» says the little girl, «that I picked up a handkerchief!» And she gave the handkerchief to Baba Yaga’s servant, who wiped her eyes on it and smiled through her tears.

Close by the hut was a huge dog, very thin, gnaw ing a dry crust.

«How lucky,» says the little girl, «that 1 picked ur a loaf!» And she gave the loaf to the dog, and h gobbled it up and licked his lips.

The little girl went bravely up to the hut an knocked on the door.

«Come in,» says Baba Yaga.

The little girl went in, and there was Baba Yaga the bony-legged, the witch, sitting weaving at loom. In a corner of the hut was a thin black ca watching a mouse-hole.

«Good-day to you, auntie,» says the little girl, try ing not to tremble.

«Good-day to you, niece,» says Baba Yaga.

«My stepmother has sent me to you to ask for needle and thread to mend a shirt.»

«Very well,» says Baba Yaga, smiling, and show ing her iron teeth. «You sit down here at the loom and go on with my weaving, while I go and get yo the needle and thread.»

The little girl sat down at the loom and began t weave.

Baba Yaga went out and called to her servan

«Go, make the bath hot and scrub my niece. Scrub her clean. I’ll make a dainty meal of her.»

The servant came in for the jug. The little girl begged her, «Be not too quick in making the fire, and carry the water in a sieve.» The servant smiled, but said nothing, because she was afraid of Baba Yaga. But she took a very long time about getting the bath ready. Baba Yaga came to the window and asked,— «Are you weaving, little niece? Are you weaving, my pretty?» «I am weaving, auntie,» says the little girl. When Baba Yaga went away from the window, the little girl spoke to the thin black cat who was watching the mouse-hole. «What are you doing, thin black cat?» «Watching for a mouse,» says the thin black cat. «I haven’t had any dinner for three days.»

«How lucky,» says the little girl, «that I picked up the scraps of meat!» And she gave them to the thin black cat. The thin black cat gobbled them up, and said to the little girl,— «Little girl, do you want to get out of this?» «Catkin dear,» says the little girl, «I do want to get out of this, for Baba Yaga is going to eat me with her iron teeth.» «Well,» says the cat, «I will help you.» Just then Baba Yaga came to the window.

 «Are you weaving, little niece?» she asked. «Are you weaving, my pretty?»

«I am weaving, auntie,» says the little girl, work­ing away, while the loom went clickety clack, click-ety clack.

Baba Yaga went away.

Says the thin black cat to the little girl: «You have a comb in your hair, and you have a towel. Take them and run for it while Baba Yaga is in the bath­house. When Baba Yaga chases after you, you must listen; and when she is close to you, throw away the towel, and it will turn into a big, wide river. It will take her a little time to get over that. But when she does, you must listen; and as soon as she is close to you throw away the comb, and it will sprout up into such a forest that she will never get through it at all.»

«But she’ll hear the loom stop,» says the littlegirl.

«I’ll see to that,» says the thin black cat.

The cat took the little girl’s place at the loom.

Clickety clack, clickety clack; the loom never stopped for a moment.

The little girl looked to see that Baba Yaga was in the bath-house, and then she jumped down from the little hut on hen’s legs, and ran to the gates as fast as her legs could flicker.

The big dog leapt up to tear her to pieces. Just as he was going to spring on her he saw who she was.

«Why, this is the little girl who gave me the loaf,» says he. «A good journey to you, little girl;» and he lay down again with his head between his paws.

When she came to the gates they opened quietly, quietly, without making any noise at all, because of the oil she had poured into their hinges.

Outside the gates there was a little birch tree that beat her in the eyes so that she could not go by.

«How lucky,» says the little girl, «that I picked up the ribbon!» And she tied up the birch tree with the pretty blue ribbon. And the birch tree was so pleased with the ribbon that it stood still, admiring itself, and let the little girl go by. How she did run!

Meanwhile the thin black cat sat at the loom. Clickety clack, clickety clack, sang the loom: but you never saw such a tangle as the tangle made by the thin black cat. And presently Baba Yaga came to the window. «Are you weaving, little niece?» she asked. «Are you weaving, my pretty?»

«I am weaving, auntie,» says the thin black cat, tangling and tangling, while the loom went clickety clack, clickety clack.
«That’s not the voice of my little dinner,» says Baba Yaga, and she jumped into the hut, gnashing her iron teeth; and there was no little girl, but only the thin black cat, sitting at the loom, tangling and tangling the threads»Grr,» says Baba Yaga, and jumps for the cat, and begins banging it about. «Why didn’t you tear the little girl’s eyes out?»

«In all the years I have served you,» says the cat, «you have only given me one little bone; but the kind little girl gave me scraps of meat.»

Baba Yaga threw the cat into a corner, and went out into the yard.

«Why didn’t you squeak when she opened you?» she asked the gates.

«Why didn’t you tear her to pieces?» she asked the dog.

«Why didn’t you beat her in the face, and not let her go by?» she asked the birch tree.

«Why were you so long in getting the bath ready? If you had been quicker, she never would have got away,» said Baba Yaga to the servant.

And she rushed about the yard, beating them all, and scolding at the top of her voice.

«Ah!» said the gates, «in all the years we have served you, you never even eased us with water; but the kind little girl poured good oil into our hinges.»

«Ah!» said the dog, «in all the years I’ve served you, you never threw me anything but burnt crusts; but the kind little girl gave me a good loaf.»

«Ah!» said the little birch tree, «in all the years I’ve served you, you never tied me up, even with thread; but the kind little girl tied me up with a gay blue ribbon.»

«Ah!» said the servant, «in all the years I’ve served you, you have never given me even a rag; but the kind little girl gave me a pretty handker­chief.»

Baba Yaga gnashed at them with her iron teeth. Then she jumped into the mortar and sat down. She drove it along with the pestle, and swept up her tracks with a besom, and flew off in pursuit of the little girl.

The little girl ran and ran. She put her ear to the ground and listened. Bang, bang, bangety bang! she could hear Baba Yaga beating the mortar with the pestle. Baba Yaga was quite close. There she was, beating with the pestle and sweeping with the besom, coming along the road.

As quickly as she could, the little girl took out the towel and threw it on the ground. And the towel grew bigger and bigger, and wetter and wetter, and there was a deep, broad river between Baba Yaga and the little girl.

The little girl turned and ran on. How she ran!

Baba Yaga came flying up in the mortar. But the mortar could not float in the river with Baba Yaga inside. She drove it in, but only got wet for her trou­ble. Tongs and pokers tumbling down a chimney are nothing to the noise she made as she gnashed her iron teeth. She turned home, and went flying back to the little hut on hen’s legs. Then she got together all her cattle and drove them to the river.

«Drink, drink!» she screamed at them; and the cattle drank up all the river to the last drop. And Baba Yaga, sitting in the mortar, drove it with the pestle, and swept up her tracks with the besom, and flew over the dry bed of the river and on in pur­suit of the little girl.

The little girl put her ear to the ground and lis­tened. Bang, bang, bangety bang! She could hear Baba Yaga beating the mortar with the pestle. Nearer and nearer came the noise, and there was Baba Yaga, beating with the pestle and sweeping with the besom, coming along the road close behind.

The little girl threw down the comb, and it grew bigger and bigger, and its teeth sprouted up into a thick forest—so thick that not even Baba Yaga could force her way through. And Baba Yaga, gnashing her teeth and screaming with rage and disappointment, turned round and drove away home to her little hut on hen’s legs.

The little girl ran on home. She was afraid to go in and see her stepmother, so she ran into the shed.

Scratch, scratch! Out came the little mouse.

«So you got away all right, my dear,» says the lit­tle mouse. «Now run in. Don’t be afraid. Your father is back, and you must tell him all about it.»

The little girl went into the house.

«Where have you been?» says her father; «and why are you so out of breath?»

The stepmother turned yellow when she saw her, and her eyes glowed, and her teeth ground together until they broke.

But the little girl was not afraid, and she went to her father and climbed on his knee, and told him everything just as it had happened. And when the old man knew that the stepmother had sent his lit­tle daughter to be eaten by Baba Yaga, he was so angry that he drove her out of the hut, and ever afterwards lived alone with the little girl. Much bet­ter it was for both of them.

The little mouse came and lived in the hut, and every day it used to sit up on the table and eat crumbs, and warm its paws on the little girl’s glass of tea.

Alenushka and Her Brother 
ONCE UPON a time there were two orphan chil­dren, a little boy and a little girl. Their father and mother were dead, and they were alone. The little boy was called Vanoushka,* and the little girl’s name was Alenoushka.*
They set out together to walk through the whole of the great wide world. It was a long journey they set out on, and they did not think of any end to it, but only of moving on and on, and never stopping long enough in one place to be unhappy there.

They were travelling one day over a broad plain, padding along on their little bare feet. There were no trees on the plain, no bushes; open flat country as far as you could see, and the great sun up in the sky burning the grass and making their throats dry, and the sandy ground so hot that they could scarcely bear to set their feet on it. All day from early morning they had been walking, and the heat grew greater and greater towards noon.

«Oh,» said little Vanoushka, «my throat is so dry. I want a drink. I must have a drink—just a little drink of cool water.»

«We must go on,» said Alenoushka, «till we come to a well. Then we will drink.»

They went on along the track, with their eyes burning and their throats as dry as sand on a stove.

But presently Vanoushka cried out joyfully. He saw a horse’s hoofmark in the ground. And it was full of water, like a little well.

«Sister, sister,» says he, «the horse has made a lit­tle well for me with his great hoof, and now we can have a drink; and oh, but I am thirsty!»

«Not yet, brother,» says Alenoushka. «If you drink from the hoofmark of a horse, you will turn into a little foal, and that would never do.»

«I am so very thirsty,» says Vanoushka; but he did as his sister told him, and they walked on together under the burning sun.

A little farther on Vanoushka saw the hoofmark of a cow, and there was water in it glittering in the sun.

«Sister, sister,» says Vanoushka, «the cow has made a little well for me, and now I can have a drink.»

«Not yet, brother,» says Alenoushka. «If you drink from the hoofmark of a cow, you will turn into a lit­tle calf, and that would never do. We must go on till we come to a well. There we will drink and rest our-selves. There will be trees by the well, and shad­ows, and we will lie down there by the quiet water and cool our hands and feet, and perhaps our eyes will stop burning.»

So they went on farther along the track that scorched the bare soles of their feet, and under the sun that burned their heads and their little bare necks. The sun was high in the sky above them, and it seemed to Vanoushka that they would never come to the well.

But when they had walked on and on, and he was nearly crying with thirst, only that the sun had dried up all his tears and burnt them before they had time to come into his eyes, he saw another footprint. It was quite a tiny footprint, divided in the middle — the footprint of a sheep; and in it was a little drop of clear water, sparkling in the sun. He said nothing to his sister, nothing at all. But he went down on his hands and knees and drank that water, that little drop of clear water, to cool his burning throat. And he had no sooner drunk it than he had turned into a little lamb who ran round and round Alenoushka, frisking and leaping, with its little tail tossing in the air.

Alenoushka looked round for her brother, but could not see him. But there was the little lamb, taping round her, trying to lick her face, and there •n the ground was the print left by the sheep’s foot.

She guessed at once what had happened, and burst into tears. There was a hayrick close by, and under the hayrick Alenoushka sat down and wept. The little lamb, seeing her so sad, stood gravely in front of her; but not for long, for he was a little lamb, and he could not help himself. However sad he felt, he had to leap and frisk in the sun, and toss his little white tail.

Presently a fine gentleman came riding by on his big black horse. He stopped when he came to the hayrick. He was very much surprised at seeing a beautiful little girl sitting there, crying her eyes out, while a white lamb frisked this way and that, and played before her, and now and then ran up to her and licked the tears from her face with its little pink tongue.

«What is your name,» says the fine gentleman, «and why are you in trouble? Perhaps I may be able to help you.»

«My name is Alenoushka, and this is my little brother Vanoushka, whom I love.» And she told him the whole story.

«Well, I can hardly believe all that,» says the fine gentleman. «But come with me, and I will dress you in fine clothes, and set silver ornaments in your hair, and bracelets of gold on your little brown wrists. And as for the lamb, he shall come too, if you love him. Wherever you are there he shall be, and you shall never be parted from him.»

And so Alenoushka took her little brother in her arms, and the fine gentleman lifted them up before him on the big black horse, and galloped home with them across the plain to his big house not far from the river. And when he got home he made a feast and married Alenoushka, and they lived together so happily that good people rejoiced to see them, and bad ones were jealous. And the little lamb lived in the house, and never grew any bigger, but always frisked and played, and followed Ale­noushka wherever she went.

And then one day, when the fine gentleman had ridden far away to the town to buy a new bracelet for Alenoushka, there came an old witch. Ugly she was, with only one tooth in her head, and wicked as ever went about the world doing evil to decent folk. She begged from Alenoushka, and said she was hungry, and Alenoushka begged her to share her dinner. And she put a spell in the wine that Ale­noushka drank, so that Alenoushka fell ill, and before evening, when the fine gentleman came riding back, had become pale, pale as snow, and as thin as an old stick.

«My dear,» says the fine gentleman, «what is the matter with you?»

«Perhaps I shall be better to-morrow,» says Ale­noushka.

Well, the next day the gentleman rode into the fields, and the old hag came again while he was out.

«Would you like me to cure you?» says she. «

know a way to make you as well as ever you were. Plump you will be, and pretty again, before your husband comes riding home.»

«And what must I do?» says Alenoushka, crying to think herself so ugly.

«You must go to the river and bathe this after­noon,» says the old witch. «I will be there and put a spell on the water. Secretly you must go, for if any one knows whither you have gone my spell will not work.»

So Alenoushka wrapped a shawl about her head, and slipped out of the house and went to the river. Only the little lamb, Vanoushka, knew where she had gone. He followed her, leaping about, and toss­ing his little white tail. The old witch was waiting for her. She sprang out of the bushes by the river­side, and seized Alenoushka, and tore off her pretty white dress, and fastened a heavy stone about her neck, and threw her from the bank into a deep place, so that she sank to the bottom of the river. Then the old witch, the wicked hag, put on Ale-noushka’s pretty white dress, and cast a spell, and made herself so like Alenoushka to look at that nobody could tell the difference. Only the little lamb had seen everything that had happened.

The fine gentleman came riding home in the evening, and he rejoiced when he saw his dear Ale­noushka well again, with plump pink cheeks, and a smile on her rosy lips.

But the little lamb knew everything. He was sad and melancholy, and would not eat, and went every morning and every evening to the river, and there wandered about the banks, and cried, «Baa, baa,» and was answered by the sighing of the wind in the long reeds.

The witch saw that the lamb went off by himself every morning and every evening. She watched where he went, and when she knew she began to hate the lamb; and she gave orders for the sticks to be cut, and the iron cauldron to be heated, and the steel knives made sharp. She sent a servant to catch the lamb; and she said to the fine gentleman, who thought all the time that she was Alenoushka, «It is time for the lamb to be killed, and made into a tasty stew.»

The fine gentleman was astonished.

«What,» says he, «you want to have the lamb killed? Why, you called it your brother when first I found you by the hayrick in the plain. You were always giving it caresses and sweet words. You loved it so much that I was sick of the sight of it, and now you give orders for its throat to be cut. Truly,» says he, «the mind of woman is like the wind in summer.»

The lamb ran away when he saw that the servant had come to catch him. He heard the sharpening of the knives, and had seen the cutting of the wood, and the great cauldron taken from its place. He was frightened, and he ran away, and came to the river bank, where the wind was sighing through the tall reeds. And there he sang a farewell song to his sis­ter, thinking he had not long to live. The servant fol­lowed the lamb cunningly, and crept near to catch him, and heard his little song. This is what he sang: —

«Alenoushka, little sister, They are going to slaughter me; They are cutting wooden fagots, They are heating iron cauldrons, They are sharpening knives of steel.»

And Alenoushka, lamenting, answered the lamb from the bottom of the river: —

«O my brother Ivanoushka, A heavy stone is round my throat, Silken grass grows through my fingers, Yellow sand lies on my breast.»

The servant listened, and marvelled at the miracle of the lamb singing, and the sweet voice answering him from the river. He crept away quietly, and came to the fine gentleman, and told him what he had heard; and they set out together to the river, to watch the lamb, and listen, and see what was hap­pening.

The little white lamb stood on the bank of the river weeping, so that his tears fell into the water. And presently he sang again: —

«Alenoushka, little sister, They are going to slaughter me; They are cutting wooden fagots, They are heating iron cauldrons, They are sharpening knives of steel.»

And Alenoushka answered him, lamenting, from the bottom of the river: —

«O my brother Ivanoushka, A heavy stone is round my throat, Silken grass grows through my fingers, Yellow sand lies on my breast.»

The fine gentleman heard, and he was sure that the voice was the voice of his own dear wife, and he remembered how she had loved the lamb. He sent his servant to fetch men, and fishing nets and nets of silk. The men came running, and they dragged the river with fishing nets, and brought their nets empty to land. Then they tried with nets of fine silk, and, as they drew them in, there was Alenoushka lying in the nets as if she were asleep.

They brought her to the bank and untied the stone from her white neck, and washed her in fresh water and clothed her in white clothes. But they had no sooner done all this than she woke up, more beautiful than ever she had been before, though then she was pretty enough, God knows. She woke, and sprang up, and threw her arms round the neck of the little white lamb, who sud­denly became once more her little brother Vanoushka, who had been so thirsty as to drink water from the hoofmark of a sheep. And Vanoushka laughed and shouted in the sunshine, and the fine gentleman wept tears of joy. And they all praised God and kissed each other, and went home together, and began to live as happily as before, even more happily, because Vanoushka was no longer a lamb. But as soon as they got home the fine gentleman turned the old witch out of the house. And she became an ugly old hag, and went away to the deep woods, shrieking as she went.

Vanoushka grew up as handsome as Alenoushka was pretty. And he became a great hunter. And he married the sister of the fine gentleman. And they all lived happily together, and ate honey every day, with white bread and new milk.

Frost
ONCE UPON a time there were an old man and an old woman. Now the old woman was the old man’s second wife. His first wife had died, and had left him with a little daughter: Martha she was called. Then he married again, and God gave him a cross wife, and with her two more daughters, and they were very different from the first.
The old woman loved her own daughters, and gave them red kisel jelly every day, and honey too, as much as they could put into their greedy little mouths. But poor little Martha, the eldest, she got only what the others left. When they were cross they threw away what they left, and then she got nothing at all.

The children grew older, and the stepmother made Martha do all the work of the house. She had to fetch the wood for the stove, and light it and keep it burning. She had to draw the water for her sisters to wash their hands in. She had to make the clothes, and wash them and mend them. She had to

cook the dinner, and clean the dishes after the others had done before having a bite for herself.

For all that the stepmother was never satisfied, and was for ever shouting at her: «Look, the kettle is in the wrong place;» «There is dust on the floor;» «There is a spot on the tablecloth;» or, «The spoons are not clean, you stupid, ugly, idle hussy.» But Mar­tha was not idle. She worked all day long, and got up before the sun, while her sisters never stirred from their beds till it was time for dinner. And she was not stupid. She always had a song on her lips, except when her stepmother had beaten her. And as for being ugly, she was the prettiest little girl in

the village.

Her father saw all this, but he could not do any- ‘] thing, for the old woman was mistress at home, and he was terribly afraid of her. And as for the daugh­ters, they saw how their mother treated Martha, and they did the same. They were always complaining and getting her into trouble. It was a pleasure to them to see the tears on her pretty cheeks.

Well, time went on, and the little girl grew up, and the daughters of the stepmother were as ugly as could be. Their eyes were always cross, and their mouths were always complaining. Their mother saw that no one would want to marry either of them while there was Martha about the house, with her bright eyes and her songs and her kind­ness to everybody.

So she thought of a way to get rid of her step­daughter, and a cruel way it was.

«See here, old man,» says she, «it is high time Martha was married, and I have a bridegroom in mind for her. To-morrow morning you must harness the old mare to the sledge, and put a bit of food together and be ready to start early, as I’d like to see you back before night.»

To Martha she said: «To-morrow you must pack your things in a box, and put on your best dress to show yourself to your betrothed.»

«Who is he?» asked Martha with red cheeks.

«You will know when you see him,» said the step­mother.

All that night Martha hardly slept. She could hardly believe that she was really going to escape from the old woman at last, and have a hut of her own, where there would be no one to scold her. She wondered who the young man was. She hoped he was Fedor Ivanovitch, who had such kind eyes, and such nimble fingers on the balalaika, and such a merry way of flinging out his heels when he danced the Russian dance. But although he always smiled at her when they met, she felt she hardly dared to hope that it was he. Early in the morning she got up and said her prayers to God, put the whole hut in order, and packed her things into a lit-l’e box. That was easy, because she had such few things. It was the other daughters who had new dresses. Any old thing was good enough for Mar­tha. But she put on her best blue dress, and there she was, as pretty a little maid as ever walked under the birch trees in spring.

The old man harnessed the mare to the sledge and brought it to the door. The snow was very deep and fro­zen hard, and the wind peeled the skin from his ears before he covered them with the flaps of his fur hat.

«Sit down at the table and have a bite before you go,» says the old woman.

The old man sat down, and his daughter with him, and drank a glass of tea and ate some black bread. And the old woman put some cabbage soup, left from the day before, in a saucer, and said to Martha, «Eat this, my little pigeon, and get ready fori the road.» But when she said «my little pigeon,» she did not smile with her eyes, but only with her cruel  mouth,  and  Martha was  afraid.  The  old] woman whispered to the old man: «1 have a word for you, old fellow. You will take Martha to herj betrothed, and I’ll tell you the way. You go straight] along, and then take the road to the right into the! forest . . . you know . . . straight to the big fir treq that stands on a hillock, and there you will give] Martha to her betrothed and leave her. He will be waiting for her, and his name is Frost.»

The old man stared, opened his mouth, andj stopped eating. The little maid, who had heard thej last words, began to cry.

«Now, what are you whimpering about?» screamed the old woman. «Frost is a rich bridegroom and a hand­some one. See how much he owns. All the pines and firs are his, and the birch trees. Any one would envy his possessions, and he himself is a very bogatir,* a man of strength and power.»

The old man trembled, and said nothing in reply. And Martha went on crying quietly, though she tried to stop her tears. The old man packed up what was left of the black bread, told Martha to put on her sheepskin coat, set her in the sledge and climbed in, and drove off along the white, frozen road.

The road was long and the country open, and the wind grew colder and colder, while the frozen snow blew up from under the hoofs of the mare and spat­tered the sledge with white patches. The tale is soon told, but it takes time to happen, and the sledge was white all over long before they turned off into the forest.

They came in the end deep into the forest, and left the road, and over the deep snow through the trees to the great fir. There the old man stopped, told his daughter to get out of the sledge, set her lit­tle box under the fir, and said, «Wait here for your bridegroom, and when he comes be sure to receive him with kind words.» Then he turned the mare found and drove home, with the tears running from

. his eyes and freezing on his cheeks before they had had time to reach his beard.

The little maid sat and trembled. Her sheepskin coat was worn through, and in her blue bridal dress she sat, while fits of shivering shook her whole body. She wanted to run away; but she had not strength to move, or even to keep her little white teeth from chattering between her frozen lips.

Suddenly, not far away, she heard Frost crackling among the fir trees. He was leaping from tree to tree, crackling as he came.

He leapt at last into the great fir tree, under which the little maid was sitting. He crackled in the top of the tree, and then called down out of the top­most branches,— «Are you warm, little maid?» «Warm, warm, little Father Frost.» Frost laughed, and came a little lower in the tree and crackled and crackled louder than before. Then he asked,—

«Are you still warm, little maid? Are you warm,

little red cheeks?»

The little maid could hardly speak. She was nearly dead, but she answered,—

«Warm, dear Frost; warm, little father.»

Frost climbed lower in the tree, and crackled louder than ever, and asked,—

«Are you still warm, little maid? Are you warm little red cheeks? Are you warm, little paws?»

The little maid was benumbed all over, but she whispered so that Frost could just hear her,—

«Warm, little pigeon, warm, dear Frost.»

And Frost was sorry for her, leapt down with a tremendous crackle and a scattering of frozen snow, wrapped the little maid up in rich furs, and covered her with warm blankets.

In the morning the old woman said to her husband, «Drive off now to the forest, and wake the young couple.»

The old man wept when he thought of his little daughter, for he was sure that he would find her dead. He harnessed the mare, and drove off through the snow. He came to the tree, and heard his little daughter sing­ing merrily, while Frost crackled and laughed. There she was, alive and warm, with a good fur cloak about her shoulders, a rich veil, costly blankets round her feet, and a box full of splendid presents.

The old man did not say a word. He was too sur­prised. He just sat in the sledge staring, while the little maid lifted her box and the box of presents, set them in the sledge, climbed in, and sat down beside him.

They came home, and the little maid, Martha, fell at the feet of her stepmother. The old woman nearly went off her head with rage when she saw her alive, with her fur cloak and rich veil, and the °ox of splendid presents fit for the daughter of a Prince.

«Ah, you chit,» she cried, «you won’t get round me like that!»

And she would not say another word to the little maid, but went about all day long biting her nails and thinking what to do.

At night she said to the old man,—

«You must take my daughters, too, to that bride­groom in the forest. He will give them better gifts than these.»

Things take time to happen, but the tale is quickly told. Early next morning the old woman woke her daughters, fed them with good food, dressed them like brides, hustled the old man, made him put clean hay in the sledge and warm blankets, and sent them off to the forest.

The old man did as he was bid —drove to the big fir tree, set the boxes under the tree, lifted out the stepdaughters and set them on the boxes side by side, and drove back home.

They were warmly dressed, these two, and well fed, and at first, as they sat there, they did not think about the cold.

«I can’t think what put it into mother’s head to marry us both at once,» said the first, «and to send us here to be married. As if there were not enough young men in the village. Who can tell what sort of fellows we shall meet here!»

Then they began to quarrel.

«Well,» says one of them, «I’m beginning to get the cold shivers. If our fated ones do not come soon, we shall perish of cold.»

«It’s a flat lie to say that bridegrooms get ready early. It’s already dinner-time.»

«What if only one comes?»

«You’ll have to come another time.»

«You think he’ll look at you?»

«Well, he won’t take you, anyhow.»

«Of course he’ll take me.»

«Take you first! It’s enough to make any one laugh!»

They began to fight and scratch each other, so that their cloaks fell open and the cold entered their bosoms.

Frost, crackling among the trees, laughing to himself, froze the hands of the two quarrelling girls, and they hid their hands in the sleeves of their fur coats and shivered, and went on scolding and jeer­ing at each other.

«Oh, you ugly mug, dirty nose! What sort of a housekeeper will you make?»

«And what about you, boasting one? You know nothing but how to gad about and lick your own face. We’ll soon see which of us he’ll take.»

And the two girls went on wrangling and wran­gling till they began to freeze in good earnest. Suddenly they cried out together,—

«Devil take these bridegrooms for being so long in coming! You have turned blue all over.»

And together they replied, shivering,—

«No bluer than yourself, tooth-chatterer.»

And Frost, not so far away, crackled and laughed, and leapt from fir tree to fir tree, crackling as he came.

The girls heard that some one was coming through the forest.

«Listen! there’s some one coming. Yes, and with bells on his sledge!»

«Shut up, you chit! I can’t hear, and the frost is taking the skin off me.»

They began blowing on their fingers.

And Frost came nearer and nearer, crackling, laughing, talking to himself. Nearer and nearer he came, leaping from tree-top to tree-top, till at last he leapt into the great fir under which the two girls were sitting and quarrelling.

He leant down, looking through the branches, and asked,—

«Are you warm, maidens? Are you warm, little red cheeks? Are you warm, little pigeons?»

«Ugh, Frost, the cold is hurting us. We are frozen. We are waiting for our bridegrooms, but the cursed fellows have not turned up.»

Frost came a little lower in the tree, and crackled louder and swifter

«Are you warm, maidens? Are you warm, my little red cheeks?»

«Go to the devil!» they cried out. «Are you blind? Our hands and feet are frozen!»

Frost came still lower in the branches, and cracked and crackled louder than ever.

«Are you warm, maidens?» he asked.

«Into the pit with you, with all the fiends,» the girls screamed at him, «you ugly, wretched fellow!» . . . And as they were cursing at him their bad words died on their lips, for the two girls, the cross children of the cruel stepmother, were frozen stiff where they sat.

Frost hung from the lowest branches of the tree, swaying and crackling while he looked at the anger frozen on their faces. Then he climbed swiftly up again, and crackling and cracking, chuckling to himself, he went off, leaping from fir tree to fir tree, this way and that through the white, frozen forest.

In the morning the old woman says to her husband,—

«Now then, old man, harness the mare to the sledge, and put new hay in the sledge to be warm for my little ones, and lay fresh rushes on the hay to be soft for them; and take warm rugs with you, for maybe they will be cold, even in their furs. And look sharp about it, and don’t keep them waiting. The frost is hard this morning, and it was harder in the night.»

The old man had not time to eat even a mouthful of black bread before she had driven him out into the snow. He put hay and rushes and soft blankets in the sledge, and harnessed the mare, and went off to the forest. He came to the great fir, and found the two girls sitting under it dead, with their anger still to be seen on their frozen, ugly faces.

He picked them up, first one and then the other, and put them in the rushes and the warm hay, covered them with the blankets, and drove home.

The old woman saw him coming, far away, over the  shining  snow.   She  ran  to  meet  him,  and shouted out,— «Where are the little ones?» «In the sledge.»

She snatched off the blankets and pulled aside the rushes, and found the bodies of her two cross daughters.

Instantly she flew at the old man in a storm of rage. «What have you done to my children, my little red cherries, my little pigeons? I will kill you with the oven fork! I will break your head with the poker!»

The old man listened till she was out of breath and could not say another word. That is the only w’se thing to do when somebody is in a scolding rage. And as soon as she had no breath left with which to answer him, he said,—

«My little daughter got riches for soft words, but yours were always rough of the tongue. And it’s not my fault, anyhow, for you yourself sent them into the forest.»

Well, at last the old woman got her breath again, and scolded away till she was tired out. But in the end she made her peace with the old man, and they lived together as quietly as could be expected.

As for Martha, Fedor Ivanovitch sought her in marriage, as he had meant to do all along—yes, and married her; and pretty she looked in the furs that Frost had given her. And she had the prettiest children that ever were seen—yes, and the best behaved. For if ever they thought of being naughty, the old grandfather told them the story of crackling Frost, and how kind words won kindness, and cross words cold treatment.

Вот и сказочке конец

Сценарий новогодней сказки на
английском языке “When Christmas comes”.

A Russian girl is sitting in am armchair and reading a book of fairy-tales.

Her mother calls her.

Mother: Stop reading books, dear, New Year is coming. Help me to lay the table, please.

Russian girl: Just a moment, Mum. It’s my favourite tale. I wish I were there in the
fairy-tale.

Music. Lights go down.

A group of children is singing Christmas carol “Holy night”.

Silent night,
Holy night,
All is calm
All is bright
Round yon virgin mother and child,
Holy infant so tender and mild.
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace.
In the forest. (slide “Winter Forest”)

Russian girl is looking around her with great interest.

Russian girl: Where am I? I can’t believe my eyes. Is it a fairy-tale? Oh, it’s
cold here. Where shall I go?

A white rabbit appears on the stage. He is in a hurry. He is looking at his watch
and taking it in and out of his waistcoat.

Rabbit: Oh, dear, oh dear! I’ll be too late!

Russian girl: What? A rabbit with a pocket and a watch in it? Of course, I’m in a
tale. Who’s ever seen a rabbit with a watch?

Children on the other side of the stage:

1. A cat went to town to buy a hat.
   What? A cat with a hat? A hat for a cat?
   Who’s ever seen a cat in a hat?
2. A cock went to town to buy a clock.
   What? A cock with a clock? A clock for a cock?
   Who’s ever seen a cock with a clock?
3. A bear went to town to buy a chair.
   What? A bear with a chair? A chair for a bear?
   Who’s ever seen a bear with a chair?
4. A dog went to town to buy a log?
   What? A dog with a log? A log for a dog?
   Who’s ever seen a dog with a log?
5. An owl went to town to buy a towel.
   What? An owl with a towel? A towel for an owl?
   Who’s ever seen an owl with a towel?
6. A hen went to town to buy a pen.
   What? A hen with a pen? A pen for a hen?
   Who’s ever seen a hen with a pen?

Russian girl: Mister Rabbit, wait for me, please!

Music.

Lights go down.

Queen’s palace. (slide “Palace”)

The Queen is sitting at the desk. There is a blackboard near the desk. Rabbit comes
through the gates and runs into the palace. The Russian girl enters and hides nearby.

Rabbit: Good evening, Your Majesty! I am on time (bows). Let’s start our lesson. May
I ask you to write down four irregular verbs?

Queen: All right. Dictate!

Rabbit:

Break-broke-broken
Speak-spoke-spoken
Begin-began-begun

Chancellor comes.

Chancellor: Good evening, Your Majesty! May I ask you to put Your signature? To four
edicts only.

Queen: Write! Well! But then I won’t write – begin-began-begun. Give me your
papers!

Chancellor: Thank you very much, Your Majesty!

Queen: And what shall I write?

Chancellor: Either “execute” or “forgiveness”.

Queen (counts): E-xe-cu-te, for-gi-ve-ness. I shall write “execute” – it is
shorter.

Russian girl comes out: Stop it! What have you written?

Queen: Who are you? How dare you speak to me like this? I am your Queen.

Russian girl: You executed a person and didn’t think about him!

Queen: But I can’t write and think at the same time!

Russian girl: It isn’t necessary. First you should think and then you should write.

Queen: If I do that, I shall think and think and think and then I’ll go mad.

Russian girl: Nonsense! And besides, you are not my Queen. I am not from here. I am
from Russia.

Queen: Russia? Where is it? Oh, I know, your people live on the other side of the Earth
and they walk with their heads downward.

Russian girl: Do you study at school? You don’t know Geography at all. (slide “The
map of Russia”)Russia is the largest country in the world with a long and interesting
history and culture. Do you know how Russian people celebrated Christmas traditionally?

A group of children is going around the hall and singing Russian folk songs.

Russian girl: Russian people made up a lot of fairy-tales. One of them we prepared for
you in a modern version. Can you guess the tale?

A group of teachers performs “Turnip” (appendix).

Queen: Why should I know it? Mr. Rabbit knows it well.

Rabbit: It’s Russian folk-tale “The Turnip”. But I hardly guessed it.

Queen: As for me I know Math.

Russian girl (writing at the blackboard): How much is six multiplied by six?

Queen: Six times six is eleven. Mr. Rabbit, is it OK?

Rabbit (sadly): OK, Your Majesty.

Russian girl (writing): Multiply eight by eight, please.

Queen: Three.

Russian girl: Awful!

Queen: And I know Biology very well.

Russian girl: Then answer, when do snowdrops appear in the forest?

Rabbit whispers: In April.

Queen: Snowdrops? Of course, in December, because snow falls in December.

Snowflakes dance.

Russian girl: You are wrong. It’s impossible. Snowdrops blossom in April.

Queen: OK. I want April now. I like snowdrops very much. I have never seen them.

Rabbit: April will come soon. You have to wait only three months or 90 days.

Queen: 90 days! But I can’t wait! Tomorrow we are going to have a New Year’s party.
I want to have snowdrops for this party.

Rabbit (sadly): Your Majesty, you can’t break the law of Nature.

It’s winter now….

Music (winter) (slide “Winter”)

Rabbit: Then comes spring with the first dripping of melted snow and snowdrops…

Music (spring) (slide “Spring”)

Rabbit: After spring comes bright summer….

Music (summer) (slide “Summer”)

Rabbit: And then comes golden autumn with a lot of fruit and vegetables, rains and
winds.

Music (autumn) (slide “Autumn”)

Queen: I’ll promulgate a new law of Nature! Mr. Rabbit! Sit down and write! I’ll
dictate to you. “The grass is green.

The sun is bright.

There are a lot of flowers in our forest. Bring a basket of snowdrops to our palace for
the New Year’s party! “A full basket of gold is awaiting you!” Chancellor!

Chancellor comes.

Queen: Set my seal and proclaim my order!

Chancellor: But Your Majesty…

Queen: This is my order!

Lights go down.

Music.

In the forest. (slide “Winter forest”).

It’s freezing. A giant caterpillar is sitting under the tree covered with snow.

Mr.Rabbit and Russian girl are standing and hesitating in which direction to go.

Rabbit: Let’s go this way. Frosty the famous snowman lives here. I hope he can help
us.

Russian girl: I am so tired. What’s the use of looking for snowdrops in winter. Where
can I sit down?

Russian girl tries to sit down on a giant caterpillar but jumps up and cries.

Russian girl: What is it? Dear me! It’s a snake!

Caterpillar: First of all can’t you be more polite and stop sitting on a delicate
caterpillar?

Russian girl: Caterpillar in winter! It’s incredible!

Caterpillar: Stop talking nonsense. Can’t you see? It’s me. What are you doing here
on Christmas Eve?

A group of children is singing Christmas carol “Away in a manger”.

Away in a manger, no crib for a bed

The little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head.

The stars in the bright sky looked down where he lay

The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay.

Russian girl: We are looking for snowdrops.

Caterpillar: Isn’t it more incredible to look for snowdrops in winter?

Russian girl: Certainly it is. Am I going mad?

Caterpillar: Why haven’t you said before you are going crazy? I am sure only Rudolf
can help you – he is also an extraordinary creature. You have to go that way. (Show them
the way).

Russian girl: Thank you. Bye.

Rabbit: Thank you Miss (kisses her hand). Shall we meet one day?

Carterpillar: Put down my phone number, ducky. (Hugs and kisses him).

Lights go down. Music.

In the forest.

Lights go up. Russian girl and Mr. Rabbit are going through the forest.

Chorus. Song “Rudolf the Red-Nose Reindeer”.

Rudolf, the red-nosed reindeer Had a very shiny nose. And if you ever saw it Used to laugh and call him names. They never let poor Rudolf play in any reindeer games. Then one foggy Christmas Eve Santa came to say, «Rudolf with your nose so bright,

you would even say it glows. All of the other reindeer Won’t you guide my sleigh tonight?» Then how the reindeer loved him, As they shouted out with glee: «Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer, you’ll go down in history!»

Rudolf appears. Russian girl and Mr. Rabbit run to him.

Rabbit: Mr. Rudolf we are so glad to see you. Can you help us to find snowdrops.

Rudolf: Snowdrops? What a strange idea! I can manage to get moss and lichen for you.

Russian girl: But we need snowdrops very much.

Rudolf: You need a real magician, you need Santa.

Russian girl: Where is he? Tell us, please, we are in a hurry.

Rudolf: I can’t tell you. He is very busy now, he is preparing Christmas gifts for
children. That’s why nobody knows where he is. But you can ask Frosty.

Rabbit: Who is Frosty?

Chorus. Song “Frosty, The Snowman”.

Frosty the snowman was a jolly happy soul,
With a corncob pipe and a carrot nose,
And two eyes made of coal.
Frosty the snowman is a fairy tale, they say.
He was made of snow but the children know
How he came to life one day.
There must have been some magic in that
Old silk hat they found,
For they put it on his head
He began to dance around!

O, Frosty the snowman,
Was alive as he could be!
And the children say he could
Laugh and play
Just the same as you and me.
Thumpety thump thump,
Thumpety thump thump
Look at Frosty go!
Thumpety thump thump
Thumprty thump thump
Over the hills of snow…

Frosty (appears): Who called me?

Russian girl: Dear Frosty, can you show us the way to Santa’s house. We need his
help. It’s Christmas Eve now and we’d like to get a basket of snowdrops on Christmas
Day.

Frosty: What strange presents do people want to have on Christmas! OK, if you guess my
riddles, I’ll show you the way.

Russian girl: We’ll try and I think children will help us (to the audience). Will you
help us to guess Frosty’s riddles?

Frosty:

It’s blue by night,
By day it’s white.
It is cold and not dry,
It falls from the sky. (Snow)

Fat and gay, on a winter day,
He came here with us to stay.
But day by day he grew sad and thin,
And so we brought his younger brother in. (A calendar)

In winter and in summer
They stand in one colour. (A fir-tree and a pine)

This is the season
When children ski
And Santa brings
The bright Christmas tree. (Winter)

Frosty: Let’s go that way. I’ll follow you, you can lose yourselves. (They are
going away).

Music. Chorus “I wish I were a snowman”

I wish I were a Snowman,
So tall and big and white.
I’d never have to clean my teeth,
Or go to bed at night.
But maybe Mister Snowman
Is wishing he were me,
For I’ll be here when summer comes,
But where will the Snowman be?

Music. Song “Christmas is coming..”

Christmas is coming
The goose is getting fat
Please, to put a penny
In an old man’s hat
Please to put a penny
In an old man’s hat.
If you have no penny
A half-penny can do
If you have no half-penny
Then God bless you.

Lights go down.

Santa’s house. (slide “Santa’s house”).

Santa Claus is picking up his bag.

Santa: A new nose for Rudolf, a new broom for Frosty, a beautiful hat for the
caterpillar, a basket of snowdrops for the Queen. What else? Ah, they are coming. We’ll
see if they gain their presents.

All: Santa, hello. Help us, please!

Santa: All right! I’ve just learnt a new and very modern dance. If you dance with me
I’ll make all your wishes come true.

Dance. Everybody is dancing.

The clock strikes.

Santa: Christmas has come!

Song “We wish you a Merry Christmas…” (All participants).

We wish you a merry Christmas
We wish you a merry Christmas
We wish you a merry Christmas
And a happy New Year!
Good tidings for you
Wherever you are
Good tidings for Christmas and a happy New Year!

THE END.

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