Самые лучшие английские легенды / The Best English Legends

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Once upon a time there lived a young farmer. He worked very hard, and yet he was quite poor. One day he ploughed his field. Suddenly a strange woman appeared before him. And this is what she said to him:

“Why are you working so hard, and all for nothing?[2] Listen to me. Go straight on for two days until you come to a great oak. This oak stands by itself[3] and is higher than all the other trees. Fell it, and your fortune is made.[4]” And she disappeared as suddenly as she appeared.

The farmer took his axe and started on his way. He went straight on for two days. At the end of the two days he came to a place where he saw a great oak which stood by itself and was higher than the other trees.

“Now I see that the woman told me the truth,” said the farmer to himself. “I must do what she said.” And he began to fell the tree at once.

When the tree came down, a bird’s nest fell on the ground. Two little eggs in the nest were broken. From one of them came a gold ring, from the other a wonderful bird. The bird grew and grew until it was very large. It became so large that the farmer was frightened. But the wonderful bird spoke to him in a very kind voice.

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