Самые лучшие английские сказки

“Here it is,” says she. And she gave it to him.

When the evening came, the knock came again to the window. The girl stood up and opened it, and there was the little old impet with five skeins of flax on his arm.

“Here it is,” says he, and he gave it to her.

“Now, what’s my name?” says he.

“Is that Bill?” says she.

“No, it isn’t!” says he, and he twirled his tail.

“Is that Ned?” says she.

“No, it isn’t!” says he, and he twirled his tail.

“Well, is that Mark?” says she.

“No, it isn’t!” says he, and he twirled his tail harder and flew away.

When her husband came in, there were the five skeins ready for him. “Well, I shan’t[11 - shan’t = shall not] kill you tonight, my dear,” says he; “you’ll have your food and your flax in the morning,” says he, and goes away.

Every day he brought the flax and the food, and every day that little black impet came mornings and evenings. And all the day the girl was trying to guess his name in order to[12 - in order to – чтобы] say it when the impet came at night.

Finally the last day came. The impet came at night with the five skeins, and said:

“Do you know my name?”

“Is that Nicodemus?[13 - Nicodemus – Никодим]” says she.

“No, it isn’t,” he says.

“Is that Sammle?[14 - Sammle – Сэммл]” says she.

“No, it isn’t,” he says.

“Is that Methusalem?[15 - Methusalem – Мафусаил]” says she.

“No, no, no!” he says.

Then he looks at her and says: “Woman, there’s only tomorrow night, and then you’ll be mine!” And he flew away.

She was very afraid. But the king came. When he sees the five skeins, he says:

“Well, my dear, if I see the skeins ready tomorrow night, I shan’t kill you. And I’ll have supper here.” So he brought supper, and another stool for him, and they sat down.

Suddenly he stops and begins to laugh.

“What’s up?[16 - What’s up? – В чём дело?]“ says she.

“Oh,” says he, “I was hunting today, and I went very far in the wood. And I heard a song. So I got off[17 - I got off – я слез] my horse, and I went forward. I saw a funny little black man. He had a little spinning-wheel, and he was spinning wonderfully fast, and he was twirling his tail. And he was singing:

“Nimmy nimmy not

My name’s Tom Tit Tot.”

When the girl heard this, she became very happy, but she didn’t say a word.