2018-02-14
2080
Three young men were sitting in an inn. They were drinking wine and making merry. Suddenly they heard a noise outside. They looked out of I he window and saw some people carrying1 a coffin.
“Who is dead?” they asked.
The innkeeper told them the name of the dead man. It was the name of their friend, also a young man. The three young men were very much surprised. They could not believe them ears. But the innkeeper said, “Yes, it is true. Your friend is dead Death takes young and old. He takes many people. There is a village not far from here, livery day Death kills somebody in that village. Nearly all the people there are dead. Death lives in that village, I think.”
Our three young friends were drinking wine, so they did not understand quite clearly what the innkeeper said. They thought that Death really lived not far from that place, and they were very angry with Death for killing2 their friend. They said, “Let’s go and kill Death! Let’s do it before night comes.”
“Be careful,” said the innkeeper, “if you meet Death, he will kill you, too.”
“We are not afraid,” answered the young men. “We shall go and look for Death. And we shall be brothers, and we shall defend each other. And when we find Death, we shall kill him.”
With these words they left the inn and went along the road. Soon they met a very old man. They asked him, “Do you know where we can find Death?”
“Oh, yes,” replied the old man, “it is not difficult to find Death. Do you see that wood? Go there and you will find him under an old oak.”
The young men thanked the old man and went into the wood. Soon they saw a very large old oak. When they came up to the oak, they saw a bag full of gold money under it. They were so glad that they forgot all about Death. They thought only about the gold. “Fine!” said one of them. “Now we shall be very rich. Let’s take this gold to the house of one of us and divide it into three parts. Let’s go! Quick!”
“Wait,” said another. ‘‘Listen to me. We cannot carry all this gold money now, In I hr daytime. We shall meet people on the way, and they will ask us questions. They will say, ‘What are you carrying? Whose gold is it? Where did you get so much gold? And if we say that we found the money in this wood, they won’t believe us. No, my friends, we cannot go now. We must stay here till night. At night, when it is dark and people are asleep, we can take the gold home and divide it.”
“You are right,” said the third. “We must stay here till night. Only it’s a long time to wait, and soon we shall be hungry. Let one of us go to town and buy some wine and something to eat.”
So the youngest of them went to town, and the other two remained under the oak with the gold money.
Now you will see what kind of friends these young men were. * When the two of them who stayed there under the oak were sitting and waiting for the third, one of them said, “Look here? I don’t want to divide this gold into three parts, do you? Can’t we divide it into two parts, between you and me?”
“Why not?” said the other. “But how can we do it?”
“Oh, it’s very simple, you fool! Two are stronger than one. When he comes back, we can easily kill him, that’s all,3 and all the gold will be ours!”
The two young men liked the plan very much and they began to wait for their friend.
And what was their friend thinking about at that time? About the gold, of course. He was thinking how good it was to have so much money. “But,” he was saying to himself, “if we divide it into three parts, there won’t be so much! I wish I could have4 all of it for myself.
He thought and thought, and at last he had an idea. “I shall poison them,” he said.
He knew a man in the town who sold poison to kill rats. He went to that man and bought some poison from him. Then he went and bought some bread and meat, and three bottles of wine.
When the young man left the town, he stopped at a place where nobody could see him, put the poison into two of the bottles of wine, and hurried to the old oak to join his friends. He wanted very much to have all the money for himself.
When he reached the oak, the other two were waiting for him with their knives ready, and they killed him at once. They were very glad: the gold was all theirs. They opened the bottles and drank all the wine. Soon they were dead, too.
This is how the three young men found Death.
William Shakespeare
Sonnet 130
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red:
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun1:
If hairs be wires2, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd3, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight4
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks5.
I love to hear her speak, - yet well I know That music hath a far more pleasing sound:
I grant6 I never saw a goddess go7, -
My mistress, when she walks, treads8 on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare9.
GLOSSARY
1. dun: dark
2. wires: long, thin pieces of metal. In Elizabethan poetry the word 'wire' was used to refer to golden, shiny hair
3. damask’d: light red or pink
4. delight: pleasure
5. reeks: has an unpleasant smell
6. grant: admit
7. go: walk
8. treads: walks with a heavy step
9. As any... compare: as any woman who was mistakenly praised for being more beautiful than her
William Shakespeare
Sonnet XVIII
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st.
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Macbeth
'My hands are as red as yours. But my heart is not as white with fear as your heart.’
At the time of this story, Duncan was the King of Scotland. Macbeth was a great lord and the leader of the Scottish army. Banquo was also a lord and an army leader.
Macbeth had won a great battle against an army from Norway. He and Banquo were coming back from the battle, riding over some wild, open land in a storm. In the wildest part they saw three witches sitting around a fire. The witches stopped the two men.
‘Who are you?’ asked Banquo. ‘You look like women, but you have beards.’
‘Speak!’ said Macbeth. ‘What are you?’
‘Greetings, Macbeth, Lord of Glamis,’ the first witch said.
‘Greetings, Macbeth, Lord of Cawdor,’ the second witch said.
‘Greetings, Macbeth. You will be king,’ the third witch said.
Then they turned to Banquo.
‘You will not be king,’ the third witch said. ‘But your children and your grandchildren will become kings.’
Macbeth and Banquo rode away from the witches.
‘I am already Lord of Glamis,’ said Macbeth, ‘but how can I become Lord of Cawdor? The Lord of Cawdor is still alive. And I do not believe that I will be king. They said your children will become kings, Banquo.’
At that moment, messengers from King Duncan came to Macbeth.
‘The Lord of Cawd.or helped the Norwegians,’ one of them said. ‘He fought against the king. Now the king wants you to be the new Lord of Cawdor.’
‘Lord of Glamis and Lord of Cawdor,’ Macbeth said to Banquo with surprise.
‘If you believe the witches, you will become king,’ said Banquo. ‘Perhaps these witches are telling the truth - and perhaps they want to cause trouble and death.’
In Macbeth’s castle, Lady Macbeth read a letter from her husband.
‘The witches say that my husband will be king,’ she thought. ‘But Macbeth is too kind, too gentle. There are things that he must do, but he is afraid to do them. I must speak to him, and make him brave.’
Then Macbeth arrived at the castle. My dearest love, the king is coming here tonight, he said. ‘He wants to honour me.’
‘When will he leave?’
‘He says that he will leave tomorrow.’
‘Oh, no! He must never leave! Macbeth, your face shows your thoughts and feelings. You must hide them. Leave everything to me.’
King Duncan arrived at Macbeth’s castle with his two sons, Malcolm and Donalbain. After dinner, Macbeth came out of the dining hall.
‘If I want to be king, I must kill King Duncan,’ he said to himself. ‘I must kill him quickly. But what will happen if I kill him? An act of this kind could harm me. The king is a guest in my house, so I should guard him against murderers, not kill him. Duncan is a good king and his death will cause great sorrow. No! I will not do it.’
Just then, Lady Macbeth came out of the dining hall. ‘Why did you leave the room?’ she asked.
‘I do not want to kill the king,’ said Macbeth. ‘He is good to me. People like and admire me. I will not throw away their good opinion.’
Lady Macbeth was very angry with her husband. ‘What are you saying?’ she asked. ‘Why are you so afraid? You want to be king. Are you afraid to kill him?’
‘I am a brave man,’ Macbeth replied. ‘I will do everything that a man should do - everything that is right.’
‘You must be strong,’ Lady Macbeth said.
‘But what will happen if we fail?’
‘Then we fail!’ said Lady Macbeth. ‘But if you are brave, we will succeed. Wait until Duncan is asleep. We will make everyone believe that the king’s servants killed him. I will put something in their drink to make them sleep, and we will cover them with the king’s blood.’
‘Yes, we will do it,’ said Macbeth. ‘But we must look kind and happy, so no one knows our plans.’ -
The king and his two sons came out of the dining hall. The king was tired so he went to bed early.
Later that night, Banquo and his son Fleance met Macbeth in the garden of the castle.
‘Here is a beautiful jewel from the king to your wife,’ said Banquo. ‘He has gone to bed.’
Midnight came. Lady Macbeth made the king’s servants drunk, so they knew nothing. She took her dagger and went to the king’s bedroom. Duncan was sleeping deeply after his long journey. His face reminded Lady Macbeth of her father and she could not kill him, so she left.
Macbeth looked at the dagger in his hand. ‘The witches told the truth. I must go into Duncan’s room and kill him,’ he thought.
When he came out of the king’s room, he saw his wife. ‘I have done it,’ he said. ‘Did you hear anything? Did you speak? I thought I heard a voice. “Macbeth has murdered sleep,” it said. “He will never sleep again.’”
‘I heard nothing,’ Lady Macbeth said. ‘You imagined it. Now, get some water and wash the blood from your hands. Why did you bring the dagger here? You must leave it in the king’s bedroom. Take it back and cover the sleeping servants with blood.’ „
‘I cannot go into that room and see the king’s body again,’ Macbeth said. ‘I am afraid.’
‘You are weak,’ said Lady Macbeth. ‘Give me the dagger. I will spread blood on the servants.’
When she came back, she showed her hands to Macbeth. ‘Now look! My hands are as red as yours. But my heart is not as white with fear as your heart.
Put on your night clothes. We want people to think that we are asleep.’
Suddenly there was a loud knock on the great gate of the castle.
‘What is that?’ cried Macbeth. ‘Every noise frightens me.’ He looked at his bloody hands. ‘My hands! All the water in the oceans will not clean the blood from these hands!’
People were still beating on the gate. Macduff and Lennox, two Scottish lords, had arrived. Macbeth came out to greet them.
‘Is the king awake?’ asked Macduff.
‘Not yet, but I will take you to his room.’
Macduff went into the king’s room. A moment later, he ran out with a loud cry.
‘What is the matter?’ Lennox asked.
‘It is too horrible!’ Macduff cried. ‘Quickly, wake Malcolm and Donalbain. Ring the castle bell.’ Banquo came in. ‘Oh, Banquo, Banquo!’ cried Macduff.
‘Our king is dead.’
Malcolm and Donalbain came out of their rooms.
‘What is the matter?’ Donalbain asked.
‘Your father, the king, is dead!’ Lennox said. ‘We think his servants murdered him. They are covered with blood.’
‘We must ask questions and try to find the answers,’ Banquo said. ‘This is a bloody piece of work. What does it mean?’
The king’s two sons were afraid. Who could they trust?
‘I will go to England,’ said Malcolm. ‘Someone in this castle murdered our father. They are only pretending to be sad.’
‘And I will go to Ireland,’ said Donalbain. ‘We will be safer in different countries.’
After that night, strange and frightening things happened in Scotland. There was black fear in everyone’s heart.
Banquo did not trust Macbeth. ‘Now Macbeth has everything,’ he said to himself. ‘The death of Duncan makes him king. King, Cawdor, Glamis - he is everything that the witches promised. But they promised something for me too.
I will be the father of kings. Will that be true?’
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth invited people to a feast.
‘Fleance and I must ride out this afternoon,’ Banquo said. ‘But we will be back for the feast.’
‘Good,’ Macbeth replied. ‘I hear that Duncan’s sons, in England and Ireland, are telling lies about their father’s murderer.’
When the room was empty, Macbeth called a servant. ‘Bring in the two men who are waiting outside the palace gate,’ he said.
‘The witches said that Banquo’s sons would be kings of Scotland,’ he said to himself. ‘I have done this terrible thing for Banquo and his children, not for myself. He must die, and Fleance, his son, must die too.’
The two men came in. They were murderers.
‘Banquo is your enemy,’ Macbeth said. ‘He is my enemy, too. You must kill him. I will tell you where you can wait to catch him and his son.’
Before the feast began, Lady Macbeth talked to her husband.
‘You spend too much time alone,’ she said. ‘Your only friends are your sad thoughts. It is too late to worry. Duncan is dead.’
‘We are still in danger,’ Macbeth replied. ‘We both have terrible dreams every night. I am full of fear while the dead rest in peace.’
‘Don’t let anyone see that you are worried,’ said his wife. ‘Look happy when our guests come here tonight.’
‘Yes, I will,’ Macbeth said. ‘And before night falls, something will happen. When you know what it is, you will say to me, “Well done!’”
‘Macbeth! Be brave! You cannot be hurt by any man who was born from a woman.”
But the two murderers had only carried out half of Macbeth’s plan. They had killed Banquo, but Fleance escaped. One of the murderers returned at dinner time, when the lords and ladies were enjoying the feast.
‘There is blood on your face,’ Macbeth said to him.
‘It is Banquo’s blood,’ the murderer replied. ‘But I have bad news. Fleance is still alive.’
‘Now I am still afraid,’ Macbeth said to himself. He moved away from his guests and stood thinking. !
‘Sit down,’ Lady Macbeth said. ‘These people in the hall will notice your strange behaviour. Be happy among your friends!’
There was one empty seat at the table. Quietly the bloody ghost of the murdered Banquo sat down in it.
Ross, one of the lords, said to Macbeth, ‘Won’t you sit down with us? Here is an empty place.’
But Macbeth saw the ghost of Banquo in the chair. ‘The table is full,’ he said. ‘Who did this?’ His face was white with fear. No one else could see the ghost, so no one understood his words. 'You cannot say that I did it!’ Macbeth cried to the ghost. ‘Don’t shake your bloody hair at me!’
‘My lord is often like this,’ Lady Macbeth said to the guests. ‘It is nothing. He will soon be well.’
In a low voice, Macbeth spoke to his wife. ‘I have seen Banquo!’ he said.
She was angry with him. ‘You are looking at an empty chair!’
But the ghost appeared again to Macbeth.
‘Look! He is there!’ Macbeth cried.
Lady Macbeth could do nothing, so she asked everyone to leave. ‘My husband is getting worse,’ she told her guests.
‘The ghost demands blood,’ said Macbeth. ‘Blood demands blood. Tomorrow I will go and see the three witches. I must know what will happen.’
‘You need sleep,’ said Lady Macbeth. ‘Come, we will sleep.’
In the same wild place, the three witches were singing strange songs and putting mysterious things into a pot over a fire. They were making black magic.
Then they suddenly stopped. ‘He’s coming,’ one of them said.
Macbeth stood there, looking at them. ‘Give me answers to my questions,’ he said.
‘Speak!’ said the first witch.
‘Ask!’ said the second witch.
‘We will answer,’ said the third witch. ‘Do you want to hear the words from our mouths or from the mouths of our masters?’
‘Call your masters!’ Macbeth cried. ‘Let me see them.’
Macbeth began to see strange and unreal things. Ghosts appeared in front of him.
The first ghost was the head of a soldier. It said, ‘Macbeth! Macbeth! Watch Macduff. Watch him and protect yourself from him.’
‘I do not know who you are,’ Macbeth said. ‘But thank you for your good advice.’
The second ghost was a child covered in blood. It said, ‘Macbeth! Be brave! You cannot be hurt by any man who was born from a woman.’
The third ghost was a child wearing a crown. It carried a small tree in its hand. ‘Be brave,’ it said. ‘Be proud, and do not worry. Your enemies will never beat you until Birnam Wood moves to Dunsinane Hill.’
Macbeth felt happier now. ‘I was afraid of Macduff before,’ he thought. ‘Now I will make sure that he does not harm me. And how can the last two things ever happen? I am safe!’
He turned to the witches. ‘Can you tell me if Banquo’s children will be kings of this country?’ he asked.
‘Do not ask us any more questions’ the witches said.
‘Answer me or I will curse you!’ Macbeth cried.
Eight kings appeared, and then a figure like Banquo.
‘Banquo is covered in blood,’ cried Macbeth. ‘He is pointing at them, showing me that they are his sons. I do not want to see any more!’
The witches danced around and then they disappeared.
Later, Macbeth heard that Macduff had run away to England.
‘I know what to do,’ Macbeth thought. ‘I will burn down his castle and kill his wife and all his children.’
