Parallel translation of the prince and the pauper. Book "The Prince and the Pauper". K. “The Prince and the Pauper” in English - description of the book

Rated the book

My second book, listened to completely in audio format, which I don’t regret. Mark Twain has many small details that I previously missed in my rush to quickly develop a fascinating plot. However, I have an excuse here - last time I read The Prince and the Pauper at a very young age, when I had no interest in satire.

It’s surprising that a true American, Mark Twain, writes a work in the ambience of the English tradition and does not populate it with knights on bicycles and businessmen in chain mail. Although this is understandable. If we talk about freedom and humanism, then it is precisely on the example of a ossified society. For example, one where there are still rulers not by mind and heart, but only by blood. While the blood of all people is absolutely the same, no matter how much you let it out, it will still be fifty shades of red, not blue.

I think that the plot of “The Prince and the Pauper” is already known to everyone, no matter where it has been exaggerated. Two boys who look alike switch places. And if at first it seems funny to them: one can finally eat enough, and the other can play enough, then things don’t go so smoothly at all. Although, whatever one may say, it is easier to be a prince than a mere mortal. And yet, blue-bloods also have a lot of unpleasant moments.

The novel deftly disparages mossy and conservatism in its views on the world, and at the same time spits venom towards empty traditions. Indeed, what kind of regalia is the Great Seal of the Kingdom? What is so holy and great about it? An ignorant person will easily mistake it for an incomprehensible heavy contraption, for example, a paperweight. Or a nut cracker. All its “greatness,” as well as the divine chosenness of monarchs, superstitions and other nonsense, are only in our heads.

One of those very mastridas that everyone would like. And unlike the boring “Connecticut Yankees...” it’s quite cheerful.

Rated the book

If we put aside excessive realism and don’t quibble over some inconsistencies, the story turned out to be very interesting. Well, in the end, this is a fairy tale and the events in the book are fabulous.

One fine day - for one and terrible for the other - two babies were born. Two boys. Only for one, life in this world was desired and long-awaited, but for the other, it was painful and cruel. The first was a prince, the second a beggar.
Years passed, the boys grew up and were surprisingly similar to each other. And then one day this similarity played a cruel joke on them, on the day when they had to switch places...

Mark Twain tells a very fascinating story about the adventures of the two main characters. The prince, of course, suffered a lot, but it was his path that was the most interesting. I liked the ending, I liked Tom’s action, although, to be honest, I expected the opposite from him. Miles Gendon also captivated me with his wisdom and responsiveness, in whose person the prince found a protector.
But still, one detail haunts me - how, well, the people who surrounded the two boys all their lives could not notice the substitution???

Rated the book

The world is poorly structured: kings should from time to time test their laws on themselves and learn mercy.

This quote just stuck with me. It was, is and will be relevant at any time. It concerns not only kings, but also any rulers, any person who has any power over others. And this also applies to those who blindly follow other people’s instructions, not realizing that perhaps tomorrow they will have to experience the consequences of these same instructions.

I underestimated this wonderful book. It seemed to me like a little children's fairy tale, and now, having plunged into the world of King Edward VI and the England of those times, having felt the life of the common people and the chic of royal life on every cell of my body - I know for sure that it was not in vain that it fell into my hands. It is much deeper than the first and main storyline: exchange of clothes between a prince and a pauper. It shows how stupid and blind people can be, but it also says that in a crowd of scoundrels you can always find a helping hand from a brave, kind, honest person. It brings to light the cruelty of some rulers and their “executors.” How easy it is to burn people at the stake, hang them on a rope, cut off their ears and burn a brand on their skin, knowing that nothing will happen to you for it. The accused did not even have the right to acquittal. What disgusting, dimensionless and unnecessary cruelty! For what? I knew all this before, but “The Prince and the Pauper” raised a storm of indignation in my soul.

Great book! It's a must read!

London, mid-16th century. On the same day, two boys are born - Tom, the son of the thief John Canty, who huddles in the stinking cul-de-sac of Garbage Yard, and Edward, the heir of King Henry the Eighth. All of England is waiting for Edward, Tom is not really needed even by his own family, where only his thief father and beggar mother have something like a bed; at the disposal of the rest - the evil grandmother and the twin sisters - only a few armfuls of straw and scraps of two or three blankets.

In the same slum, among all sorts of rabble, lives an old priest who teaches Tom Canty to read and write and even the rudiments of Latin, but most delightful are the old man’s legends about wizards and kings. Tom does not beg very hard, and the laws against beggars are extremely harsh. Beaten for negligence by his father and grandmother, hungry (unless his intimidated mother secretly puts in a stale crust), lying on the straw, he draws sweet pictures from the life of pampered princes. Other boys from the Court of Garbage are also drawn into his game: Tom is the prince, they are the court; everything is done according to strict ceremony. One day, hungry and beaten, Tom wanders into the royal palace and gazes with such abandon through the lattice gates at the dazzling Prince of Wales that the sentry throws him back into the crowd. The little prince angrily stands up for him and brings him to his chambers. He asks Tom about his life in the Garbage Court, and unsupervised plebeian amusements seem so delicious to him that he invites Tom to exchange clothes with him. A prince in disguise is completely indistinguishable from a beggar! Noticing a bruise on Tom's arm, he runs to give the sentry a beating - and gets a slap on the wrist. The crowd, hooting, chases the “crazy ragamuffin” along the road. After much ordeal, a huge drunkard grabs him by the shoulder - this is John Canty.

Meanwhile, there is alarm in the palace: the prince has gone crazy, he still remembers English letters, but does not even recognize the king, a terrible tyrant, but a gentle father. Henry, with a stern order, prohibits any mention of the heir’s illness and hastens to confirm him in this rank. To do this, you need to quickly execute Marshal Norfolk, suspected of treason, and appoint a new one. Tom is filled with horror and pity.

He is taught to hide his illness, but misunderstandings pour in, at dinner he tries to drink water to wash his hands and does not know whether he has the right to scratch his nose without the help of servants. Meanwhile, Norfolk's execution is postponed due to the disappearance of the great seal of state given to the Prince of Wales. But Tom, of course, cannot even remember what she looks like, which, however, does not prevent him from becoming the central figure of a luxurious celebration on the river.

The enraged John Canty swings his club at the unfortunate prince; the old priest who intervened falls dead under his blow. Tom's mother sobs at the sight of her distraught son, but then arranges a test: she suddenly wakes him up, holding a candle in front of his eyes, but the prince does not cover his eyes with his palm outward, as Tom always did. The mother doesn't know what to think. John Canty learns of the priest's death and flees with his entire family. In the turmoil of the above-mentioned celebration, the prince disappears. And he understands that London is honoring the impostor. His indignant protests cause new mockery. But he is repulsed from the mob by Miles Hendon, a stately warrior in smart but shabby clothes, sword in hand.

A messenger bursts into Tom’s feast: “The king is dead!” - and the whole hall bursts into shouts: “Long live the king!” And the new ruler of England orders Norfolk to be pardoned - the reign of blood is over! And Edward, mourning his father, proudly begins to call himself not a prince, but a king. In a poor tavern, Miles Hendon serves the king, although he is not even allowed to sit down. From Miles's story, the young king learns that after many years of adventures he is returning to his home, where he has a rich old father, influenced by his treacherous favorite younger son Hugh, another brother Arthur, as well as his beloved (and loving) cousin Edith. The king will also find shelter in Hendon Hall. Miles asks for one thing - the right for him and his descendants to sit in the presence of the king.

John Canty tricks the king away from Miles' wing, and the king ends up in a gang of thieves. He manages to escape and ends up in the hut of a mad hermit, who almost kills him because his father ruined the monasteries by introducing Protestantism in England. This time Edward is saved by John Canty. While the imaginary king carries out justice, surprising the nobles with his common wisdom, the true king, among thieves and scoundrels, meets honest people who have become victims of English laws. The king's courage eventually helps him gain respect even among the vagabonds.

The young swindler Hugo, whom the king beat with a stick according to all the rules of fencing, throws him a stolen pig, so that the king almost ends up on the gallows, but is saved thanks to the resourcefulness of Miles Hendon, who appeared, as always, on time. But a blow awaits them in Hendon Hall: their father and brother Arthur died, and Hugh, on the basis of a forged letter about Miles’ death, took possession of the inheritance and married Edith. Hugh declares Miles an impostor, Edith also renounces him, frightened by Hugh's threat to kill Miles otherwise. Hugh is so influential that no one in the area dares to identify the rightful heir,

Miles and the king end up in prison, where the king again sees the fierce English laws in action. In the end, Miles, sitting in the stocks in the pillory, also takes upon himself the lashes that the king incurs with his insolence. Then Miles and the king go to London to find the truth. And in London, during the coronation procession, Tom Canty's mother recognizes him by a characteristic gesture, but he pretends that he does not know her. The triumph fades from shame for him. At that moment, when the Archbishop of Canterbury is ready to place the crown on his head, the true king appears. With Tom's generous help, he proves his royal heritage by remembering where he hid the missing woman. state seal. The stunned Miles Gendon, who had difficulty getting an appointment with the king, defiantly sits down in his presence to make sure that his eyesight is correct. Miles is rewarded with a large fortune and the title of peerage of England along with the title of Earl of Kent. Disgraced, Hugh dies in a foreign land, and Miles marries Edith. Tom Canty lives to a ripe old age, enjoying special honor for having “sat on the throne.”

And King Edward the Sixth leaves a memory of himself with a reign that was unusually merciful for the cruel times of that time. When some gilded dignitary reproached him for being too soft, the king answered in a voice full of compassion: “What do you know about oppression and torment? I know about this, my people know about it, but not you.”

See also in this section: Tales of Mother Goose, or Stories and tales of bygone times with teachings (Contes de ma mère l "Oye, ou Histoires et contes du temps passé avec des moralités) (Charles Perrault)

Mark Twain / Mark Twain

The Prince and the Pauper / The Prince and the Pauper. Book to read on English

To Those good-mannered and agreeable children Susie and Clara Clemens this book is affectionately inscribed by their father.

The quality of mercy… is twice blessed;

It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes; 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown.

The Merchant of Venice

Comments and dictionary by E. G. Tigonen

© KARO, 2016

I will set down a tale as it was told to me by one who had it of his father, which the latter had it of HIS father, this last having in like manner had it of HIS father – and so on, back and still back, three hundred years and more, the fathers transmitting it to the sons and so preserving it. It may be history, it may be only a legend, a tradition. It may have happened, it may not have happened: but it COULD have happened. It may be that the wise and the learned believed it in the old days; it may be that only the unlearned and the simple loved it and credited it.

The Birth of the Prince and the Pauper

In the ancient city of London, on a certain autumn day in the second quarter of the sixteenth century, a boy was born to a poor family of the name of Canty, who did not want him. On the same day another English child was born to a rich family of the name of Tudor, who did want him. All England wanted him too. England had so longed for him, and hoped for him, and prayed God for him, that, now that he was really come, the people went nearly mad for joy. Mere acquaintances hugged and kissed each other and cried. Everybody took a holiday, and high and low, rich and poor, feasted and danced and sang, and got very mellow; and they kept this up for days and nights together. By day, London was a sight to see, with gay banners waving from every balcony and housetop, and splendid pageants marching along. By night, it was again a sight to see, with its great bonfires at every corner, and its troops of revellers making merry around them. There was no talk in all England but of the new baby, Edward Tudor, Prince of Wales, who lay lapped in silks and satins, unconscious of all this fuss, and not knowing that great lords and ladies were tending to him and watching over him – and not caring, either. But there was no talk about the other baby, Tom Canty, lapped in his poor rags, except among the family of paupers whom he had just come to trouble with his presence.

Tom's Early Life

Let us skip a number of years.

London was fifteen hundred years old, and was a great town – for that day. It had a hundred thousand inhabitants – some think double as many. The streets were very narrow, and crooked, and dirty, especially in the part where Tom Canty lived, which was not far from London Bridge. The houses were of wood, with the second story projecting over the first, and the third sticking its elbows out beyond the second. The higher the houses grew, the broader they grew. They were skeletons of strong criss-cross beams, with solid material between, coated with plaster. The beams were painted red or blue or black, according to the owner’s taste, and this gave the houses a very picturesque look. The windows were small, glazed with little diamond-shaped panes, and they opened outward, on hinges, like doors.

The house which Tom’s father lived in was up a foul little pocket called Offal Court, out of Pudding Lane. It was small, decayed, and rickety, but it was packed full of wretchedly poor families. Canty’s tribe occupied a room on the third floor. The mother and father had a sort of bedstead in the corner; but Tom, his grandmother, and his two sisters, Bet and Nan, were not restricted – they had all the floor to themselves, and might sleep where they chose. There were the remains of a blanket or two, and some bundles of ancient and dirty straw, but these could not rightly be called beds, for they were not organized; they were kicked into a general pile, mornings, and selections made from the mass at night, for service.

Bet and Nan were fifteen years old – twins. They were good-hearted girls, unclean, clothed in rags, and profoundly ignorant. Their mother was like them. But the father and the grandmother were a couple of fiends. They got drunk whenever they could; then they fought each other or anybody else who came in the way; they cursed and swore always, drunk or sober; John Canty was a thief, and his mother a beggar. They made beggars of the children, but failed to make thieves of them. Among, but not of, the dreadful rabble that inhabited the house, was a good old priest whom the King had turned out of house and home with a pension of a few farthings, and he used to get the children aside and teach them right ways secretly Father Andrew also taught Tom a little Latin, and how to read and write; and would have done the same with the girls, but they were afraid of the jeers of their friends, who could not have endured such a queer achievement in them.

All Offal Court was just such another hive as Canty’s house. Drunkenness, riot and brawling were the order, there, every night and nearly all night long. Broken heads were as common as hunger in that place. Yet little Tom was not unhappy. He had a hard time of it, but did not know it. It was the sort of time that all the Offal Court boys had, therefore he supposed it was the correct and comfortable thing. When he came home empty-handed at night, he knew his father would curse him and thrash him first, and that when he was done the awful grandmother would do it all over again and improve on it; and that away in the night his starving mother would slip to him stealthily with any scrap miserable or crust she had been able to save for him by going hungry herself, notwithstanding she was often caught in that sort of treason and soundly beaten for it by her husband.

No, Tom’s life went along well enough, especially in summer. He only begged just enough to save himself, for the laws against mendicancy were stringent, and the penalties heavy; so he put in a good deal of his time listening to good Father Andrew’s charming old tales and legends about giants and fairies, dwarfs and genii, and enchanted castles, and gorgeous kings and princes. His head grew to be full of these wonderful things, and many a night as he lay in the dark on his scant and offensive straw, tired, hungry, and smarting from a thrashing, he unleashed his imagination and soon forgot his aches and pains in delicious picturings to himself of the charmed life of a petted prince in a regal palace. One desire came in time to haunt him day and night: it was to see a real prince, with his own eyes. He spoke of it once to some of his Offal Court comrades; but they jeered him and scoffed him so unmercifully that he was glad to keep his dream to himself after that.

He often read the priest’s old books and got him to explain and enlarge upon them. His dreams and readings worked out certain changes in him, by-and-by. His dream-people were so fine that he grew to lament his shabby clothing and his dirt, and to wish to be clean and better clad. He went on playing in the mud just the same, and enjoying it, too; but, instead of splashing around in the Thames solely for the fun of it, he began to find an added value in it because of the washings and cleansings it afforded.

The book The Prince and the Pauper in English involves readers in the life of medieval England, telling the story of two boys - a beggar and a prince. The manual with parallel translation is intended for self-study foreign language schoolchildren in grades 10-11 in schools, gymnasiums and lyceums.

The book is based on the story of the famous children's writer Mark Twain "The Prince and the Pauper". This is the story of two boys who, by chance, changed places and plunged into a life completely unknown to each of them. The text is adapted for learning English, improving reading and grammar skills, oral speech. The manual features convenient parallel translation, which makes learning more efficient and allows you to immediately learn the meaning of new words and expressions.

The book is intended for independent summer reading and foreign language learning by schoolchildren in grades 10-11. Adaptation of the text by G. K. Magidson-Stepanova, tasks and exercises by A. E. Khabenskaya.

Book "The Prince and the Pauper". K. “The Prince and the Pauper” in English - description of the book

Series " English club» offers new book“The Prince and the Pauper” for learning a foreign language and consolidating the acquired knowledge. This is an adaptation of the famous story by Mark Twain, which tells about the adventures of two English boys - a beggar and a prince, who decided to switch places. By chance, a beggar in expensive clothes remains in the palace, and a prince, dressed in rags, ends up on the streets of medieval London with the simplest Englishmen. The boy meets the most different people- beggar mother, street beggars, wise priest.

The book in English is adapted for learning a foreign language in grades 10-11 in schools or gymnasiums. The text features convenient parallel translation and commentary, which makes it easier to understand. The British translation of the texts corresponds to the Russian; at the end of each chapter there are tasks and exercises that reinforce the skills of grammar, reading and studying lexical material. At the end, the book is supplied with a detailed dictionary with new vocabularies and expressions.

The manual is based on the method of I. Frank, which facilitates language learning and makes it more exciting for the student. The story is interesting not only for children, but also for students of faculties where English is studied, but is not priority direction. The book can be downloaded for students aged 12-15 who already have basic knowledge and need to develop and deepen it. To test your knowledge, at the end of the book there are answers to tasks and exercises that are also used for self-control.

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