The Prophecy Comes True
English Legend
Read the legend and do the activities at the end.
 Once
upon a time there lived King Edmund. He lived in the beautiful castle in Scotland. The
castle was well defended. The King had many things to do: he organized balls, met his
ministers, went hunting, and sometimes visited neighbouring countries. He had two sons, a
brother and a nephew.
One hot summer day he was sitting in his green room listening to the
sounds of harp. Suddenly the door opened and the King saw a young gypsy girl with
some pretty flowers in her hair.
“What on earth are you doing here?” the King asked her. He was
shocked and wondered how his guard could let her in.
“My precious King”, was the answer, “I’ll tell your fortune.
Please, don’t ask me to go away!”
“Well”, said the King, “if you want to, it’ll be nice for me to
know my future”.
“There are three important things you should know”, started the
gypsy girl, “first, your younger son will be wounded in the forest while hunting.
Second, your elder son will be killed by your nephew. And third, the castle will be
haunted by my soul, so you’ll have to build a new one.”
“Oh, my Lord!” – said the King, “I can’t believe it. Simon
and Edward are such good friends. I’ve never seen a ghost in my life, and it’s
impossible that my darling son Henry will go hunting soon. He is only six.”
“I told you everything, so let your life go on”, the gypsy girl
waved her arm and went out.
The King stood up and addressed the harpist: “Was there a gypsy girl
here talking to me?”
“Yes, Your Majesty, there was”, the harpist answered.
The King asked all his servants and guardsmen, but nobody saw any else
gypsy girl in the castle or near it.
A year passed. It was Henry’s seventh birthday party. David, the
King’s younger brother suggested they should go hunting and take Henry with them so that
the prince would start learning about hunting.
“No, no, – the King said. – you remember the prophecy, I don’t
want it to come true so quickly.”
“Oh, you do believe that nonsense!” – David said laughing.
“Well, I have a bad feeling, David”, was the answer.
But when the hunting started and they rode their horses, the King saw
his son sitting on a horse with his teacher, Mr. McGawin.
“I asked you not to bring Henry with us!” – the King roared like
an angry lion.
“But, your Majesty, the boy, oh, I mean, the prince, insisted on it
so much”, said the pale teacher.
“Well, take care of him. Otherwise I’ll ask you to leave my
service, Mr. McGawin”, warned the King.
They were riding through the forest. Two hunters noticed a deer. They
rode in the opposite direction. Suddenly David approached his nephew’s horse and ordered
Henry’s teacher to return home as quickly as possible. “It’s the King’s order”,
he added. So the horseman galloped away.
The prince saw the deer. “What a nice animal! Why do they kill her?
It is very bad!” – he cried. “It is called a deer, milord”, explained the
teacher.
The first hunter threw an arrow. It wasn’t a good shot. The
frightened deer nearly collided with Henry’s horse and turned onto to a narrow path.
Just at that moment a sharp arrow of the second hunter hit the poor prince in his back.
“Ah-ah-ah!” – was his loud cry...
The king was furious. He even refused to eat his favourite venison.
He invited Mr. McGawin to his cabinet.
“You are no longer welcome here. I’ll find a new teacher for my
poor son! Take this money and go away!” was the King’s decision.
Then the King went to the Queen to ask for her advice. She was a wise
French lady who knew a lot of things. Isabel was sitting in a cosy armchair wearing her
purple dress with diamonds.
“Well, I have got an idea about mоn petit enfant”, she
said. The Queen preferred to speak French, but her next words were in English: “You have
an uncle who lives in Wales. He is kind. We’ll send our Edward to him, but we’ll tell
everybody that he went to visit my darling cousin in Paris”.
“Just a minute... Hmm”, the King hesitated for a moment, but then
agreed to do so. He also told Edward the reason why he would be sent to Wales and warned
him not to tell anybody in the castle. He added that it would be better for his safety.
A year later the King organized a ball. It was the anniversary of their
wedding: he and Isabel had been together for twenty years. A lot of guests came from
different countries.
Suddenly the King noticed that Simon, his nephew, wasn’t present.
When Edmund realized it, he asked his brother David where Simon was.
“Oh, I simply forgot to tell you that he’d gone to our dear uncle
George in Wales. He set off yesterday. And you were so busy with the ball preparations”,
explained David, “that I didn’t want to bother you about it. By the way, did you get
any letters from your son?”
“Oh, hmm”, the King tried not to show disappointment. “I got a
letter from him saying he is all right. So is Isabel’s cousin”, he said.
It was very difficult for King Edmund to be happy during the
ball, but he was dancing with Isabel as if nothing was wrong. Everybody was merry and
happy except for the King.
Just as the ball finished, he told his wife everything. “Let’s pray
for our Edward”, she said.
The following day the King ordered one of his servants to visit Edward
and warn him of danger.
The King’s son was spending a very good time in Wales. He was often
seen in the company of a young princess, Clara. They walked together in the forest.
One day Sir George announced there would be a tournament. Edward used
to take fencing lessons when he lived in his native castle. “The prize
will be a golden cup”, Sir George said.
The day of tournament began. There were crowds of people who arrived to
watch the tournament. First, a few musicians played.
Then Sir George addressed the audience and the tournament started.
Edward saw his rival, who was a young black-haired man who looked like his cousin Simon.
But Simon was blonde and not so tall, though he might have grown up. “Well”, thought
the prince, “it’s not Simon, just a young page”. The rivals were given their epees.
They were not sharp, as in the terms of the tournament. So Edward was calm. A few
minutes later the page’s epee wounded Edward in his heart. It was such a sharp pain that
the prince couldn’t breathe any more. A few minutes later he died.
“What’s your name?” angry Sir George asked the page. “Simon”,
was the answer.
When Simon’s epee was inspected, it turned out to be a real epee,
which was very sharp and dangerous.
The next day was the funeral and the King knew about it very soon.
Simon was asked by the Court of Ministers, but he was found not guilty.
In fact, he was wearing a black wig that day, so nobody recognized him.
“The second prophecy came true”, the King said in tears to his
wife.
“You should be very careful about David”, said Isabel, “there’s
an evil in his eyes, I feel it”. The following day Henry was announced as the heir to
the throne.
...A few months later the King woke up at night. He realized somebody
was walking near his bedroom. He looked around, then stood up, put on his robe and went
out of the room. “I am here. The prophecy comes true”, he heard the woman’s voice.
Then he thought, “Oh, no, it’s that gypsy girl.”
Her soul appeared in the castle. So the King decided to change his
place of living. He told the Queen. “I can’t believe there is somebody else in the
castle. I won’t go to sleep tomorrow and find out who it is,” she said.
The next night the Queen pretended she had just fallen asleep, but she
didn’t. She saw a shadow in the living room, because she didn’t put out the candle
lights. The Queen went there very quickly and to her surprise she saw David. He didn’t
notice her as she had hidden behind the curtain. David said: “Oh, hello, King! I am
here! The prophecy comes true!” His voice was changed. It sounded like a woman’s
voice. Isabel waited until he went away and returned to the bedroom.
The next morning the King summoned all his ministers.
He asked David why he had played such a silly and cruel joke on him.
“Oh, it’s my fault!” – said David. He told his brother everything. He wanted to
become the King so he had a plan. He asked a gypsy girl to come and tell everything. He
ordered Henry’s teacher to take the boy hunting and it was David who threw an arrow into
the prince’s back. The next part of his plan was to kill the heir to the throne. His son
helped him a lot. But his final part was a failure.
The next day David was sent to prison.
So Isabel and Edmund lived happily ever after.
VOCABULARY:
gypsy girl цыганка
venison оленина
mon petit enfant (Fr.) my little child
fencing фехтование
page паж
epee шпага
EXERCISES:
1. Prepare and ask 10–12 questions to the text in pairs.
2. Continue the sentences using the text.
1) The gypsy girl told the King his younger son _____________.
2) She added that his elder son __________________________.
3) The King asked Henry’s teacher why the prince ___________.
4) Henry’s teacher explained that ________________________.
5) Isabel advised her husband to ________________________.
6) Simon wasn’t in the palace because he _________________.
7) The Queen warned her husband to ______________________.
8) The King ordered his bad brother ______________________.
3. What is the moral of the story? Give your ideas.
4. Retell the text as if you are: a) the King; b) Isabel; c) the
gypsy girl; d) Henry; e) Henry’s teacher.
5. Choose the adjectives that describe the characters the best.
Characters: King; King’s brother; Isabel; Simon
Adjectives: greedy; kind; wise; clever; sly; modest;
hard-working; kind-hearted; cruel; tender; good-looking
By Alexander Derbaremdiker,
Polytechnic College No. 8, Moscow
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