[00:00.00]Wanda, trust me and do just as I tell you."
[00:04.29]Then Matenko explained his plan to her.
[00:08.42]That evening Wanda put on her best clothes,
[00:10.48]and chopped a raw onion so that tears ran down
[00:13.36]her wrinkled cheeks.
[00:14.87]Then she went to the royal palace
[00:16.22]to see the Queen.
[00:17.99]"Your Majesty," she sobbed.
[00:20.67]"My poor Matenko is dead."
[00:24.11]The Queen felt very sorry for the old woman,
[00:25.69]and gave her a purse full of money to pay for
[00:27.85]a funeral and to buy food for herself.
[00:31.25]"We have 50 gold pieces! Hoorah!"
[00:34.19]cried Matenko, and he danced around the little
[00:36.68]cottage as he counted the coins
[00:38.21]in the Queen's purse.
[00:41.62]The next day, Matenko chopped another raw onion
[00:44.18]and went to the palace to see the King.
[00:47.13]"Your Majesty," he sobbed,
[00:49.73]"my poor wife is dead."
[00:52.21]The King felt very sorry for his old favourite
[00:54.46]and gave him a purse before sending him home.
[00:58.04]"Hoorah!" cried Matenko when he reached home.
[01:00.54]"Now we have 100 gold pieces...
[01:03.04]a small fortune!!"
[01:05.10]Then he kissed his wife and told her
[01:06.38]the rest of his plan.
[01:09.59]On the sideboard in their little cottage
[01:11.70]he set two big.lighted funeral candles,
[01:14.47]and beside them he laid the two purses
[01:16.45]with all the gold pieces still in them.
[01:18.70]Then he told Wanda to lie down on the bed.
[01:18.70] |