An African folktale1
The story is told of an African king and his close friend, who had grown up together2. The king’s friend had a habit3 of looking at every situation positively and saying, “This is good!”
One day the king went for hunting4, and he gave his friend the job of loading his guns and handing them to him5. But the friend did something wrong, because one gun misfired6 and blew the king’s thumb off7.
“This is good!” the king’s friend remarked as usual8.
“No, this is not good!” the king replied, and he sent his friend to jail9.
About a year later, the king was hunting in an area that he shouldn’t have ventured into10. Cannibals11 captured12 him and took him to their village. They tied his hands, bound13 him to a stake14 in the ground, and put firewood15 around his feet. However16, just as they were about to fire the wood, they noticed17 that the king was missing18 a thumb. The cannibals had a superstition19 that forbad20 them from eating anyone who was less than whole21, so they untied22 the king and sent him on his way23.
As the king traveled home, he remembered why he was missing his thumb, and he regretted24 that he put his friend to jail. After coming back home he released his friend.
“You were right,” the king said. “It was good that my thumb was blown off.” And he told his friend about his brush with death25. “I am sorry for sending you to jail for so long,” he said. “That was very bad of me!”26
“No,” his friend replied, “this is good!”
“What do you mean, ‘This is good’? How could it be good that I sent my friend to jail for a year?”
“If I had not been in jail,” the king’s friend replied, “I would have been with you. And me I don’t have anything missing. Cannibals would have eaten me!”
- folktale – народная сказка
- had grown up together - выросли вместе
had grown –past perfect tense: (had+ past participle of the verb) for talking about a finished action in the past
Examples: When my children were small I had given all my time to them./ He had written this book long time ago.
- habit – привычка
- hunting (to hunt) – охотиться
- loading his guns and handing them to him – заряжать его оружие и подавать ему
- misfired (to misfire) – выстрелил мимо цели
- blew the king’s thumb off - отстрелил большой палец короля
- remarked as usual – отметил как обычно
- jail – тюрьма
- he shouldn’t have ventured into – не должен был осмелиться пойти
shouldn’t have (should not have) regretting past actions (regretting- сожалеть)
Examples: I shouldn’t have eaten so much!/ They shouldn’t have gone to that party.
- cannibals – людоеды
- captured (to capture) – схватили, взяли в плен
- bound (to bind) – связывали
- stake – кол, столб
- put firewood – разложить костер
- however – однако
- noticed (to notice) – заметили
- missing – не доставало (не было)
- superstition - суеверие
- forbad (to forbid) – запрещала
- less than whole – менее чем целый
- untied (to untie) – развязали
- sent him on his way – отпустили его
- regretted (to regret) - сожалеть
- brush with death – столкновение со смертью
- that was very bad of me – было очень плохо с моей стороны
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ReplyDeleteWhat do you think about king's friends? What if the king was eaten by connibals? What his friends would said then?
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think about king's friends? What if the king was eaten by connibals? What his friends would said then?
ReplyDeleteSasha, here are your questions corrected:
ReplyDelete1. What do you think about the king's friend?
2. What his friend would say then?
It's only one friend in the story ;)