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How Robin Hood Escaped from Nottingham Castle

“Good!” said Robin, “but how shall we get out of here?”

“We shall fight,” said Will Scarlet and showed

Robin the knives, swords, bows and arrows. Robin thought a little. “No,” he said, “I have a

better plan.”

And he explained his plan to his friends.

Ten minutes later the soldiers on guard at the gates of the castle saw the same two men. They were coming from the kitchen and were still carrying the deer on the pole. The soldiers looked at them in surprise.

“What’s the matter?” said one of them. “Couldn’t you find the sheriff’s kitchen?”

“No, not that,” said Little John. “We found the kitchen. But Master Cook1 did not like the meat. He said it was bad meat. He said it was not good enough for the sheriff’s table. So we are carrying it back.”

One of the soldiers looked at the deer. “That’s right,” he said, “it certainty looks bad.”

Little John and Will Scarlet walked out of the gates and went back along the road towards the forest. And the soldiers laughed at the two fools who had to carry their meat back.

That evening Robin Hood and his merry men had a very good supper. Robin Hood sat in the middle with a piece of deer meat on the end of his knife.

1 Master Cook — шеф-повар

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Ballads about Robin Hood

“I don’t think,” he said, “that there is a man in England who has such good friends as I have.”

QUESTIONS AND TASKS

1 How did it happen that Robin Hood became a prisoner in Nottingham Castle?

2.What did Will Scarlet say about Nottingham Castle? Did Little John agree with Will Scarlet? Why didn’t he?

3.Describe in detail how Little John and Will Scarlet found Robin Hood in the dungeon of Nottingham Castle.

4.Explain Robin Hood’s plan. Do you agree that it was better than his friends’ plan? Why?

HOW ROBIN HOOD

SAVED WILL SCARLET

I

The sheriff of Nottingham was very angry with Robin Hood. When he understood that he could not catch him, he decided to catch some of his men.

One day, when Robin Hood and Little John were hunting, they saw a man in the forest. He was running towards them. It was one of Robin Hood’s men. Much, the Miller’s son1.

“What’s the matter, Much?” asked Robin. “Will Scarlet is in the sheriff’s hands,” said

Much. “We were walking through the forest

1 Much, the Miller’s son ['mEtS GA'mIlAz'sEn] — Мач, сын Мельника

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How Robin Hood Saved Will Scarlet

together three hours ago and met the sheriff. He had a lot of soldiers with him. We could do nothing against them. Now Will is in a dungeon in Nottingham Castle. Tomorrow they will hang him.” “Let’s get together and think how to save Will,” said Robin. “We shall teach this sheriff a lesson.1” All the merry men gathered near a big oak to make their plan. It was not easy to save Will Scar-

let, and they had to think of a very good plan. “Good Robin,” said Much, “there is a man among

us who helped to build the castle. Let us ask him. Maybe he can help us.”

The man’s name was Hugo2.

“Now, Hugo,” said Robin, “what can you tell us about Nottingham Castle? Is there any way by which a man can get in and out again and nobody will notice him?”

“A man inside can get out by a small gate3 at the back, and nobody will notice him,” answered Hugo. “Through this small gate they take out the bodies of people who die or are killed in the castle.”

“And can anybody get in by that gate?” asked Robin.

“No,” said Hugo, “it is impossible. The gate is very strong.”

“Well,” said Robin, “then I’ll go in by the front gate and come out with Will Scarlet by the gate

1We shall teach this sheriff a lesson. — Мы проучим этого шерифа.

2Hugo ['hju:MAu] — Гуго

3by a small gate — через маленькую калитку

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Ballads about Robin Hood

at the back. Tell me all you know about the castle, Hugo, and early in the morning we shall go there with bows and arrows.”

Hugo took a stick and drew a plan of the castle on the ground. Then all the merry men lay down and went to sleep.

II

When they got up, it was still dark. Robin Hood was already waiting for them. He was holding two great bags tied with a string1. When his men asked him what he had in those bags, he did not tell them. He only said:

“Just a little present from me for the sheriff and his men.”

They started on their way. In four hours2 they saw the castle. Near it they met an old man with a horse and cart. There were a lot of logs in the cart.

“That’s just what I need,” said Robin to his friends and stopped the old man.

“Hey, old man,” he said, “how much will you take for your logs?”

The old man said:

“I can’t sell them, they are for the castle.” “I’ll take them to the castle myself,” said Robin.

“Sell them to me together with your horse and cart. I shall give you a lot of money for them. Only

1tied with a string — завязанные веревкой

2In four hours — Через четыре часа

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How Robin Hood Saved Will Scarlet

you must give me your clothes, too. You can have mine, they are better than yours.”

“All right,” said the old man. He took off his clothes and gave them to Robin. Robin put them on. Then he put his two big bags carefully on the logs.

“Now, Little John,” he said, “I am going to the castle. They are expecting these logs, I think. In an hour shoot your arrows over the wall into the yard.”

And Robin started for the castle.

When he came up to the gates, the guard did not ask him any questions, because everybody in the castle knew the old man’s horse and cart, and Robin imitated the old man very well. Soon Robin was in the middle of the castle yard.

“Stop, old fool!” shouted the sheriff when he saw Robin with his horse and cart. “Where are you going? Stop, I tell you!”

Robin did not answer. He stopped the horse, took one of his bags, untied the strings, and shook the bag. At once a lot of angry bees came out of it, and flew all over the yard.

The sheriff and his men howled and jumped and ran when the bees got under the armour and began to sting them. The men tried to run away, but the angry bees followed them. Then Robin pulled the string of the second bag of bees and shook it too in the direction of the soldiers. Wild with pain, the sheriff and his men ran about the yard and howled. They fell on the ground and

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How Robin Hood Saved Will Scarlet

Charles Dickens

One of the greatest English writers, Charles Dickens1 (1812–1870), was born into the family of a clerk. The family was large, and the father could never make both ends meet2. He had many debts, which he could not pay, and he was put into a debtors’ prison3. His wife and the younger children went to live in the prison with him. In the prison there were many other men who lived there with their families. People were kept in the debtors’ prisons until they paid their debts. Some of them died in prison.

When Charles Dickens was a writer, he described the debtors’ prison in one of his books.

Charles was fond of reading and read very much. He could not go to school when his father was in prison, because he had to work. When Mr. Dickens got a legacy4 and paid his debts, he was set free5, and Charles went to school again.

When Dickens was nineteen, he became a newspaper reporter. Soon he began to write stories and then novels. He wrote wonderful books which are read all over the world to this day. In many of his books Charles Dickens described the hard life of poor children. Oliver Twist6 is one of them.

1Charles Dickens ['tSC:z'dIkInz] — Чарльз Диккенс

2could never make both ends meet — никогда не мог свести концы с концами

3a debtors’ ['detAz] prison [prIzn] — долговая тюрьма

4got a legacy ['leMAsI] — получил наследство

5he was set free — его освободили

6Oliver Twist ['DlIvA'twIst] — «Оливер Твист»

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Charles Dickens

OLIVER TWIST

Part I

(Oliver Twist was an orphan. He was born and spent the first years of his life in a workhouse1. The life of the children in the workhouse was very hard. Nobody loved them. They had bad clothes, they were always hungry and often cold. When Oliver was about nine years old, he was given to a man who wanted a boy to work for him. Oliver’s master was a wicked man. He did not take care of the boy, made him work too much and was very cruel to him. Finally Oliver decided to run away.)

Very early in the morning Oliver got up and opened the door. He went out into the street and closed the door behind him. He did not know where to go. He looked to the right and to the left. Then he remembered that the carts which left the town climbed up the hill. He did the same and soon was out of town. He was afraid of being followed2 and ran all the time. When he was tired, he hid behind the bushes, then he ran again. At about noon he sat down to rest by the side of a milestone and began to think, for the first time, where to go. The inscription on the milestone said that it was just seventy miles to London.

1a workhouse — работный дом (особый приют для бедняков в Англии XVII–XIX вв., условия жизни в кото- ром мало отличались от тюремных)

2He was afraid of being followed — Он боялся, что за ним будет погоня

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Oliver Twist

London! That large place! Nobody could find him there! It was the very place for a homeless boy. He jumped to his feet and walked forward to London.

It took him six days to reach the city. Early on the seventh morning Oliver walked slowly into a little town near London. His feet were sore and his legs were so weak that they shook under him. He was covered with dust. He sat down on a doorstep to rest.

Some time passed and Oliver noticed that a boy was watching him from the opposite side of the street. The boy was about his own age. He was very dirty, but he behaved like a grown-up man. He wore a man’s coat, which reached almost to his feet. The boy crossed the street, walked close up to Oliver and said:

“Hello! What’s the matter?”

“I am very hungry and tired,” replied Oliver with tears in his eyes.

The boy helped Oliver to rise and took him to a shop where he bought some bread and ham. He took the bread and ham under his arm, turned into a small pub and ordered a glass of beer. While Oliver was eating, the boy looked at him with great attention.

“Going to London?1 ” said the strange boy when

Oliver finished eating2. “Yes.”

1Going to London? — Идешь в Лондон?

2finished eating — закончил есть

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Charles Dickens

“Got any place to live?1 “ “No.”

“Money?”

“No.”

The strange boy whistled and put his hands in his pockets.

“Do you live in London?” asked Oliver.

“Yes, I do, when I’m at home,” replied the boy. “I suppose you want some place to sleep in2 tonight, don’t you?”

“I do,” answered Oliver. “I have not slept under a roof for a week.”

“Don’t worry,” said the young gentleman. “I must be in London tonight. I know an old gentleman who lives there. He will give you a place to sleep.”

II

The boy told Oliver that his name was Jack Dawkins3, but his friends called him the Dodger4. He did not want to enter London before evening, so it was almost eleven o’clock when they reached the town. They quickly passed street after street and at last came to a very unpleasant and dirty place.

1Got any place to live? — У тебя есть, где жить?

2you want some place to sleep in — тебе нужно место,

где ты мог бы поспать

3Jack Dawkins ['dZBk'dD:kInz] — Джек Докинз

4Dodger ['dDdZA] — Плут

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