Kitabı oku: «Страшные сказки / Scary stories», sayfa 11
Then Blue Beard bawled out so loud that he the whole house trembled. The distressed wife came down, and threw herself at his feet, all in tears, with her hair about her shoulders.
“This means nothing”, said Blue Beard. “You must die!”
Then he took her hair with one hand, and lifted up the sword with the other. He prepared to strike off her head. The poor lady turned about to him, and looked at him sorrowfully.
At this instant there was such a loud knocking at the gate that Blue Beard made a sudden stop. The gate was opened, and two horsemen entered. They drew their swords, and ran directly to Blue Beard. He knew them: they were his wife’s brothers, one a dragoon, the other a musketeer. Blue Beard he ran away immediately to save himself; but the two brothers pursued and overtook him. Then they ran their swords through his body and killed him. The poor wife was almost as dead as her husband, and had not strength enough to rise and welcome her brothers.
Blue Beard had no heirs, and so his wife became mistress of all his estate. She gave one part of it to her sister Anne; another partto buy captains’ commissions16 for her brothers, and the rest to marry herself to a very worthy gentleman. She wanted to forget the ill time with Blue Beard.
The Death of the Little Hen
Brothers Grimm
Once upon a time the little hen went with the little cock to thenut-hill17. They made an agreement. Which of them finds a kernel of a nut will share it with the other.
Then the hen found a large, large nut, but said nothing about it. She intended to eat the kernel herself. The kernel, however, was so large that she could not swallow it. So itremained sticking18 in her throat. The hen was alarmed. Then she cried,
“Cock, please run fast and fetch me some water, or I shall choke!”
The little cock ran as fast as he could to the spring, and said,
“Stream, give me some water; the little hen is on the nut-hill. She will choke!”
The well answered,
“First run to the bride, and ask her to give you some red silk”.
The little cock ran to the bride and said,
“Bride, give me some red silk! I want to give red silk to the well, the well will give me some water. I’ll take the water to the little hen who is on the nut-hill. She will choke!”
The bride answered,
“First run and bring me my little wreath which hangs on a willow”.
So the little cock ran to the willow, and drew the wreath from the branch and took it to the bride. The bride gave him some water for it. Then the little cock took the water to the hen. But the hen choked in the meantime, and lay there dead and motionless. Then the cock was so distressed that he cried aloud. Every animal came to lament the little hen. Six mice built a little carriage to carry her to her grave. When the carriage was ready they harnessed themselves to it, and the cock drove. On the way, however, they met the fox, who said,
“Where do you go, little cock?”
“I go to bury my little hen”.
“May I drive with you?”
“Yes, but seat thyself at the back of the carriage, for in the front my little horses could not drag you”.
Then the fox seated himself at the back, and after that the wolf, the bear, the stag, the lion, and all the beasts of the forest did the same. Then the procession went onwards, and they reached the stream.
