Elizabeth Mead Smith. Elizabeth Mid-Smith - seven young girls, or a house upside down

Once upon a time there lived a girl who was lazy and not keen on spinning; and no matter what her mother told her, she couldn’t get her to work.

Finally, the mother lost patience, she became angry and beat her daughter, and she began to cry with all her might. And just at that time the queen was passing by; She heard crying, ordered the carriage to stop, entered the house and asked the mother why she beat her daughter so that the scream could be heard even on the street.

The woman was ashamed to tell her that her daughter was so lazy, and she said:

But I just can’t tear her away from the spinning wheel, she always wants to spin and spin, but because of my poverty, where can I get so much flax?

And the queen said:

There is nothing more pleasant for me than to hear when they are spinning, and there is nothing sweeter to me when the spindles hum. Give me your daughter to the castle, I have enough flax, and let her spin as much as she pleases.

The mother was happy about this, and the queen took the girl with her. When they arrived at the castle, the queen took her upstairs and showed her three lamps, and they were filled from top to bottom with the finest linen.

You can re-spun this flax for me,” she said. If you complete this job, I will marry you to my eldest son. I will not look at the fact that you are a poor girl, your diligence will be instead of a dowry.

The girl was frightened: after all, she could not spin so much flax, even if she sat over the yarn every day from morning to evening for three hundred years.

She was left alone and began to cry and sat there with folded hands for three whole days. And on the third day the queen came and, seeing that the girl did not strain anything, was surprised, but she explained to her that she could not start working, missing her mother’s home. The queen was satisfied with this explanation, but, leaving, said:

Well, look, tomorrow, get to work.

And the girl was left alone again, and, not knowing what to start, what to come up with, she approached the window in grief. She saw that three women were walking: and one of them had a wide foot, and the other had such a thick lower lip that it hung straight down to her chin, and the third had a wide thumb.

They stopped at the window, looked up and asked the girl what she was missing. She began to complain about her grief; and so they offered to help her and said:

If you invite us to a wedding and you won’t be ashamed of us, but call us your aunts and seat us at your table, then we will spin all the flax for you, and we will do it quickly.

“I will be very glad,” she replied, “come in and get to work quickly.”

She let in three strange women and made room for them in the first light. They sat down and began to spin. One pulled the thread and spun the wheel, the other wet it, and the third twisted it and tapped it with her finger on the table - and a heap of yarn fell to the ground, and there was yarn of the finest work. The girl hid these three spinners from the queen, and when she came, she showed her a whole heap of finished yarn, and there was no end to the queen’s praise. When there was no longer enough flax in the first room, they moved to the second, finally to the third, and soon there was no more flax in this room either.

Then the three women said goodbye and reminded the girl:

Look, don’t forget what you promised us; and you will be happy!

The girl showed the queen empty rooms and a large pile of yarn, and she began to prepare her wedding; and the groom rejoiced that he was marrying such a skillful and diligent girl, and praised her in every possible way.

“I have three aunts,” said the girl, “they did me a lot of good, and I would not want to forget about them in my happiness, - so, allow me to invite them to the wedding and seat them next to me at the table.”

The queen and the groom answered:

Well, of course we allow it!

And so, when the wedding feast began, three women in strange attire entered the palace, and the bride said to them:

Welcome, dear aunties!

“Oh,” says the groom, “how can you be friends with such nasty women?” - And he approached the one who had a wide foot and asked:

Why are your feet so wide?

From working on a spinning wheel,” she answered, “from working on a spinning wheel.”

Then the groom approaches the second and asks:

Why is your lip so saggy?

Because she wetted the flax,” she answered, “because she wetted the flax!”

He asked the third:

Why is your finger so wide?

Because she twisted the threads,” she answered, “because she twisted the threads!”

Then the prince was frightened and said:

From now on, my dear bride should never come close to the spinning wheel.

So she got rid of the yarn she hated.

Information for parents: The Three Spinners is a fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm about a girl who was too lazy to spin, and one day the queen took her to her castle, where she had to spin a large pile of flax. How did she get out of this situation...? The tale “The Three Spinners” will be of interest to children aged 6 to 9 years.

Read the fairy tale The Three Spinners

Once upon a time there lived a lazy girl who was not a hunter of spinning, and no matter how much her mother forced her to do so, she could not force her to spin.

Finally, it got to such a point that the mother couldn’t stand it one day, got angry and beat her daughter, and she began to cry loudly.

Just at that time the queen was riding past, and when she heard crying, she ordered the horses to stop, entered the house and asked the mother why she beat her daughter so much that her screams could be heard even on the street.

The mother was ashamed to discover her daughter’s laziness, and therefore she said: “But there’s no way to get her away from yarn - she still wants to spin and spin, but I’m poor and I can’t always have flax ready for her.”

Then the queen answered: “I love spinning most of all and am most pleased when the spinning wheels rustle around me: let your daughter go with me to my castle - I have plenty of flax there, she can spin as much as her heart desires.”

The mother was very happy, and the queen took her daughter with her. Upon arrival at the castle, the queen took the girl upstairs and showed her three rooms, full of the most wonderful linen from top to bottom. “Here, re-spun all this flax for me,” said the queen, “and when you have re-spun it, I will give you in marriage to my eldest son; I won’t even look at the fact that you are poor - your tireless efforts will replace your dowry.”

The poor girl was frightened: she could not even think of re-spinning flax with such strength, even if she had sat on it for three hundred years and worked tirelessly from morning to evening.

Left alone, she began to cry and sat there for three days without lifting a finger.

On the third day the queen came and was very surprised to see that nothing had been strained yet; but the girl apologized by saying that she still missed her mother’s house very much and therefore had not yet started working. The queen listened to her, but leaving her, said: “From tomorrow you must start working.”

When the girl was left alone again, she absolutely did not know what to do, and in grief she went to the window.

Suddenly he sees three women enter the yard: one has a wide leg - very wide and flattened, another has a lower lip so large that it hangs down to her chin, and the third has a huge thumb on her hand!

They stopped in front of the window, looked up and asked the girl what was she grieving about? She began to complain to them about her misfortune, and then they offered her their help and said: “If you invite us to your wedding, you will not be ashamed of us and call us your aunts and seat us at the table with the guests, then we will spin your flax for you and, moreover, in the shortest possible time." “I will be glad to see you from the bottom of my heart,” answered the girl, “come in quickly and get to work now.”

Then she let these three strange women in and in the first room with the flax she made a hole for them, in which they sat down and began to spin. One pulled the thread from the tow and spun the wheel, the other wetted the thread, the third twisted the thread and tapped her finger on the table, and no matter how she tapped, a certain amount of yarn, and the thinnest one at that, fell to the ground.

She hid her three spinners from the queen, and when she came, she only pointed out a pile of yarn, so that she did not know how to praise it. When the first room was empty, they began to work on the second, and then on the third - and they quickly emptied that one.

Then the three spinning women said goodbye to the girl and told her: “Just don’t forget what you promised us - that’s your happiness.”

When the girl showed the queen the empty rooms and the huge pile of yarn, she began to prepare the wedding, and the groom was glad in advance that he would have such a skillful and diligent wife, and he could not praise her enough. “I have three aunts,” the girl said to the queen, “and I have seen a lot of good from them, so I cannot forget about them in happiness; therefore, let me invite them to the wedding and seat them at the same table with us.” The queen and the groom said: “Why don’t we allow it?”

When the celebration began, three aunts entered the hall, dressed very strangely, and the bride, addressing them, said: “You are welcome, dear aunts!” “Oh,” said the groom, “how can you be friends with such freaks?”

Then he approached one of the three spinners, with a wide foot, and asked: “Why is your foot so wide?” “From pressure,” she answered, “from pressure.”

Then the groom went up to another spinner and asked: “Why is your lip so drooping?” “From wetting,” she said, “from wetting.”

Then he turned to the third: “Why do you have such a huge finger?” “From twisting a thread,” she said, “from twisting a thread.”

The prince was frightened and said to himself: “Well, my beautiful wife will not touch the spinning wheel.”

So, she got rid of the need to spin this unbearable linen yarn!

Once upon a time there lived a girl, she was very lazy and did not like to spin. No matter how much her mother forced her to spin - she scolded her and begged her - but she could not do anything.

And then one day the mother got very angry and slapped her hands, and the girl began to cry loudly and loudly.

At this time, the queen was passing by their house. The queen heard crying and ordered the horses to be stopped. She got out of the carriage and went into the house to ask her mother why she beat her daughter so hard; after all, her crying can be heard even on the street. And the mother was ashamed to say that her daughter was such a lazy person, and she said:
- Well, I just can’t tear it away from the yarn - it just keeps spinning and spinning. And I’m a poor woman, I can’t attack her so much.
Then the queen said:
- I myself really like to spin - I like it most when the wheels of spinning wheels rustle around me. Let your daughter go with me. I have a lot of flax in my palace, she can spin as much as she wants.

The mother was very happy and sent her lazy daughter to the royal palace.
In the palace, the queen took the girl upstairs and showed her three rooms, filled from top to bottom with the most beautiful linen.

Spin all this flax for me,” said the queen, “and then I will marry you to my eldest son.” Although you a poor girl, but your efforts will replace any wealth.

Here the girl was very scared. It was impossible to spin so much flax in three hundred years, even if you worked all the time and didn’t go to sleep at all.
She was left alone in the room and began to cry. For three whole days she sat and cried. And she didn’t even touch the flax with her finger.
On the third day the queen came and, when she saw that the work had not even begun, she was very surprised and angry.
“Oh, forgive me,” said the girl, “I’ve been missing home and my beloved mother a lot these days.”
“Okay,” says the queen, “this time I forgive you.” But starting tomorrow you must get to work.

Elizabeth Mead-Smith

Girl's world (the story of one school)

L. T. Meade A World of Girls

© G. N. Khondkarian.

Literary processing, 2009 © A. Yu. Vlasova.

Illustrations, 2009 © JSC Publishing House NC ENAS, 2009

Preface from the publisher

English writer Elizabeth Thomasina Mead-Smith was born in 1844 in Ireland, in the family of a Protestant minister. The girl's mother died early, and when her father married for the second time, Elizabeth went to London. She worked hard at reading room British Museum and independently prepared myself for writing career. Elizabeth's first works appeared in 1861, when she was 17 years old.

Her most famous novels are for girls and women, especially “A Girl’s World,” published in 1886 under the pseudonym L. T. Mead, the enormous popularity of which actually gave rise to such a type of literature as “ school novels" Nevertheless, she continued to experiment in other genres: she wrote historical, adventure and detective novels and stories. During her lifetime, Elizabeth Mead-Smith published approximately 300 works, including short stories and articles in magazines. In their best years she wrote up to 10 novels a year.

The novel “The Girl’s World,” which we offer today to our readers (or rather, female readers), was translated by M. A. Lyalina into Russian in 1900. And since then we have not had a reprint.

The novel takes place in English school for girls, where after the death of her mother, her father sends twelve-year-old Esther. The rebellious girl will have to get used to the strict school rules, meet new friends and go through many tests - in order to learn to manage her emotions, realize the consequences of her actions, value friendship and devotion.

Chapter I

Goodbye old life!

“Nan wants to go to Etty,” sang a thin childish voice.

– Today you can’t, Miss Nancy; You can't, my joy.

“Nan wants to go to Etty,” the girl repeated even more insistently. And since there was no answer, she glanced slyly at the nanny and quietly slipped out the half-open door.

Running across the hall, Nancy found herself in her sister's room. There was complete chaos here: the bed was not made, things were scattered; but Etty herself was not in the room.

Returning to the hall, the little girl called:

- Etty! Etty!

She glanced at the nursery door, expecting a chase. But the nanny did not appear. Then the girl, realizing that her sister was probably below, bravely began to descend the stairs.

Having overcome this difficult obstacle, Nancy called her sister again. One of the doors opened, and a girl of about twelve in deep mourning appeared on the threshold.

“You found me yourself, my treasure!” How smart you are! Go, my dear, I'll give you something to eat.

- Nan wants a cracker.

While her plump arms hugged her sister’s neck, her quick eyes looked around the table, looking for something tasty.

- Here are two crackers for you. Sit on my lap, Nan, and look me in the eyes. Do you love me?

- Nan loves Etty.

- And Etty is leaving. For a long, long time I will not see you, my gold; but my soul will be with you. I will think about you day and night. I love you more than anything in this world, Nancy. Won't you forget me?

“Nan won’t forget.” Nan wants a cracker, Etty.

- I'll give you, I'll give you; and I'll give you some sugar. Hold me tighter, even tighter. Here are two pieces for you. Even though sugar is bad for you, let today be your holiday. After all, we won’t stay together for long, and I want to give you everything you want.

Nancy's tenacious fingers mercilessly crushed the crepe frill of her sister's mourning dress. Her mouth full of sugar did not stop the girl from repeating:

- Sahal, sahal, Nan loved sahal.

The nanny appeared and put an end to the treat.

- Oh, little cheat! I finally found the way. Why are you giving her sugar, Miss Etty? After all, you know that he is harmful to her. Wow, Miss Nancy, what dirty hands you have. Look, miss, she has completely wrinkled your dress.

- Nothing, nanny. I only gave her two or three pieces. I so wanted her to caress me. Now go to the nanny, Nancy. Take her, nanny. I'm afraid I'll cry if she stays here.

The nanny took the baby in her arms.

- Goodbye, miss. Try to be smart at school. Believe me, it's not as bad there as it seems.

- Goodbye, nanny. Ah, dad is calling me. Now!

And, grabbing her gloves, Etty ran to the door. Sir Thornton, a tall, stern-looking man, was waiting for her in the hallway, buttoning his coat. The crew stood at the entrance. A minute later he was driving Esther and her father to the railway station. When the alley was behind and darling an old house out of sight, Esther leaned back on the pillows and closed her eyes. Everything that was dear to her was left in the past. A strange world and strange people awaited her ahead.

The girl's heart sank. She looked at her father, who was calmly reading the newspaper.

Finally they reached the station. Sir Thornton put his daughter in the first-class ladies' compartment and handed her a ticket and a Sunday newspaper.

“The conductor will take care of you, Esther,” he said. – At each station he will come in and bring from the buffet everything you need. The train will take you straight to Sefton, where Mrs. Willis will meet you or send someone to fetch you. Goodbye my girl. Try to be smart, tame your temper...

Before he could finish speaking, Esther threw her arms around her father’s neck. Hot tears wet his face.

- That's it, Etty. You know, I don’t like tenderness, especially in front of strangers.

And Sir Thornton hastily wiped his wet cheeks.

Chapter II

Travel companions

The train was quickly rolling along the rails, and the little traveler was quietly crying in the corner under her crepe veil. Her heart was filled with sadness and indignation. School life, with its strict restrictions and possible punishments, was disgusting to her. It seemed to the girl that the train was carrying her from her former free life to a real prison, and she hated this prison with all her soul.

Just three months ago there was no happier and more cheerful girl in the world than Esther Thornton. She had a mother who skillfully guided her lively and impressionable daughter, getting from her everything she wanted with love and affection. The Lord called this good angel to Himself. Esther and little Nancy were left orphans.

Between these two girls, the Thorntons had other children, but they died in infancy, only the eldest and the youngest survived.

Esther's father was a completely decent man, but too serious and uncommunicative. Not having the slightest idea about raising children, he was horrified by his antics eldest daughter: Esther climbed trees, tore dresses, rode his frisky horses. The punishments with which the father tried to curb the headstrong girl were of no use. Convinced that his educational measures were not correcting Etty, he decided to place her in one of the first-class boarding houses. That's where Esther was going now.

Her little heart was indignant and indignant; It was especially difficult for her to remember saying goodbye to her father. No, she will not be smart, she will not study diligently, and she will not come home with an award so that she will be looked at as the most ordinary girl. She doesn't want to be well-mannered. She will remain the same eccentric Etty - and when her father sees that the school has not corrected her, he will leave her at home. And at home there will be little Nancy and memories of her late mother.

The impressionable Etty was characterized by strong feelings. After her mother's death, she hardly mentioned her, and when her father spoke about his late wife, Etty would run out of the room. Little Nan was the only person in whose presence she dared to pronounce the name dear to her.

When Nan prayed, Etty taught her to say, instead of the usual “Lord remember,” “Thank you, Lord, for turning my mother into a beautiful angel.” Nan asked what an angel was, and Etty, with tears in her eyes, explained to her as best she could. One day she showed the baby a picture of an angel in snow-white clothes. Nan liked this angel so much that she clapped her hands and shouted:

– Nan Tose will be an angel, like her mother! Yes, Etty?

However, such conversations did not happen often, and in Lately and stopped altogether, because after three months Nan, who was only two and a half years old, completely forgot her mother.

Having cried her fill under the veil, Etty began to examine her fellow travelers. Traveling with her were two thin elderly ladies who carefully wrapped their legs in blankets. They in turn watched Esther. One of them offered Etty a sandwich, which the girl, although hungry, refused - partly out of pride, partly out of shyness.