Позакласне читання. Англійська народна казка "The Fairy Tulips"

The fairy tulips

An English folk-tale

(retrieved from www.itellyouastory.com)

  Once upon a time there was a good old woman who lived in a little house. She had in her garden a bed of beautiful striped tulips.

 One night she was wakened by the sounds of sweet singing and of babies laughing. She looked out at the window. The sounds seemed to come from the tulip bed, but she could see nothing.

The next morning she walked among her flowers, but there were no signs of any one having been there the night before.

 On the following night she was again wakened by sweet singing and babies laughing. She rose and stole softly through her garden. The moon was shining brightly on the tulip bed, and the flowers were swaying to and fro. The old woman looked closely and she saw, standing by each tulip, a little Fairy mother who was crooning and rocking the flower like a cradle, while in each tulip cup lay a little Fairy baby laughing and playing. The good old woman stole quietly back to her house, and from that time on she never picked a tulip, nor did she allow her neighbors to touch the flowers.

The tulips grew daily brighter in color and larger in size, and they gave out a delicious perfume like that of roses. They began, too, to bloom all the year round. And every night the little Fairy mothers caressed their babies and rocked them to sleep in the flower cups.

  to sway [swei] гойдатися

  to and fro –уперед і назад

caress  [kəˈres]   пестити, приголубити

Read and say “true” or “false”.

1.   An old woman liked flowers.
2.   She was scared of the sounds.

3. The woman saw an amazing thing.

4. She forbade to pick up her flowers.

5. The tulips bloomed only in spring.

              Multiple choice questions.

1. According to the passage, an old lady was…

1.      well-looked’
2.     kind-hearted;
3.      talkative;
4.     honest.

2. On one night, the old lady …

1.      was reading her book;
2.     saw a beautiful sight;
3.      was cooking supper;
4.     was talking on the phone.

3. After the seeing, she forbade to …

1.      bring her the presents;
2.     touch her flowers;
3.      take her newspapers;
4.     come into her house.

Complete the sentences.

Flowers           heard          fairy         picked         fragrance

1. She … singing and laughing.
2. The old woman liked … best of all.
3. She could see a little … mother.
4. The good woman never … the tulip.
5. Her flowers had a great …  .

Unscramble the sentences.

1. a/ house/ old/ little/ an/ woman/ in/ lived.
2. heard/ singing/ she/ a/ sweet.
3. flowers/ swaying/ to/ fro/ the/ were/ and.
4. each/ tulip/ in/ lay/ cup/ baby/ little/ fairy/ a.
5. tulips/ daily/ the/ grew/ larger/ brighter/ and. 

Keys: 1) 1T; 2F; 3T; 4T; 5F;                    2) 1b; 2b; 3b;

           3) 1 heard; 2 flowers; 3 fairy; 4 picked; 5 fragrance.