English Fairy Tales / Английские сказки. Elementary

”

“What do you want for that?” says she.

He said, “I’ll give you three guesses every night to guess my name, and if you don’t guess it before the end of the month, you will be mine[9 - you will be mine – ты будешь моею].”

“Well,” she thought, “I’ll guess his name for sure[10 - for sure – наверняка]”. “All right,” says she, “I agree.”

The next day, her husband took her into the room, and there was the flax and her food.

“This is the flax,” says he, “and if you don’t spin it this night, you’ll lose your head.

So the girl heard a knock near the window. She stood up and opened it, and there was the little old impet.

“Where’s the flax?” says he.

“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. But she did not say the right name. By the end of the month, the impet began to look very angrily, and twirled his tail faster and faster.

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.