Áåëûé åäèíîðîã. White Unicorn A Novel for Students

   Áåëûé åäèíîðîã. White Unicorn. A Teaching Novel for English Learners

      Prologue

               1. A  MYTHICAL CREATURE

     Once upon a time there lived  Íunter, a simple kind man.
He lived in a small village at the edge of  a virgin forest. The man used to be a hunter. Three years ago he laid aside his gun: hunter’s fortune turned off him, so he gave up hunting for good. He began breeding cattle for sale.   
     The rumours stated that there lived a white unicorn in the forest. Nobody had ever seen or heard him. But everyone knew the unicorn was in there. Everyone knew for certain he was white and handsome, young and strong.  Of course he was a mythical creature, so he was said to be an invisible host of the forest - all-seeing, mighty and severe. Old  hunters talked as if (ÿêîáû, áóäòî áû) he had settled over there to keep the forest in safety and order.
     Somehow or other, the game (äè÷ü) became unavailable in the forest since then, and the  hunters would return home with empty hands. It became impossible to live on hunting any longer. The people were afraid of the unicorn’s power. Of all human beings only wild bandits and forest witches dared wander in the thicket. Farmers avoided to even enter the bewitched (çàêîëäîâàííûé) forest.
    At the same time the wolves stopped raiding on the village and robbing peasants’ cattle farms. The wild beasts ceased to attack  lonely farmers  and hunters. The village people’s wealth grew, but they did not seem to be happy. What was (the) worst, their best men were occasionally gone in the forest forever. As a rule, they were youngest and less experienced hunters, but all of them were  strong, masculine and brave. Thus, all local residents  hated the white unicorn, hiding in the depth of the thicket. He was considered to be the real king of the forest.
  The only one, who (had) never believed in the unicorn’s existence, was that man, ex-hunter. 
 
           TASK 1. OPEN THE BRACKETS:  White Unicorn(1)         

                1. A  MYTHICAL CREATURE

     Once upon a time there (1.live  ) a simple kind man. He (2.live  ) in a small village at the edge of  a virgin forest. The man (3.use  ) (4.   be) a hunter. Three years ago he (5.lay  ) aside his gun: hunter’s fortune (6.turn  ) off him, so he (7. give  ) up (8. hunt    )  for good. He (9. begin ) (10. breed    ) cattle.   
     The rumours (11. state) that there (12. live) a white unicorn in the forest. Nobody ever (13. see ) or (14.  hear  ) him. But everyone (15. know) the unicorn (16. be ) in there. Everyone (17. know) for certain he (18. be  ) white and handsome, young and strong. Of course he (19. be  ) a mythical creature, but he  (20.       say)  (21.   be) an invisible host of the forest - all- (22. –see   ), mighty and severe. Old  hunters (23. talk  ) as if (ÿêîáû, áóäòî áû) he (24. settle ) over there (25.   keep) the forest in safety and order.
     Somehow or other, the game (äè÷ü)(26. become) unavailable in the forest since then, and the  hunters (27. âûáðàòü: would/had/should/use)  (28. return) home with empty hands. It (29. become) impossible  (30.  live) on (31. hunt  ) any longer. The people (32.be   ) afraid of the unicorn’s power. Of all human beings only wild bandits and forest witches (33. dare  ) (34. wander  ) in the thicket. Farmers (35. avoid  )  even (36.   enter   ) the (37. bewitch   ) (çàêîëäîâàííûé) forest.
    At the same time the wolves (38. stop   ) (39. raid   ) on the village and (40. rob    ) peasants’ cattle farms. The wild beasts (41. cease  ) (42.   attack)  lonely farmers  and hunters. The village people’s wealth (43. grow), but they  (44.   not seem) (45.   be ) happy. What (46. be  ) the (47. bad   ), their (48. good      ) men (49. be   ) occasionally (50. go   ) in the forest forever. As a rule, they (51. be   ) youngest and (52. little    ) (53. experience  ) hunters, but all of them (54. be   )  strong, masculine and brave. Thus, all local residents  (55. hate  ) the white unicorn, (56. hide    ) in the depth of the thicket. He (57. be   )(58. consider  ) (59.    be) the real king of the forest.
  The only one, who (60.    believe  ) never in the unicorn’s existence, (61. be   ) that man, ex-hunter. 
               
                2. BREAKFAST IN THE GARDEN

   One lovely Sunday morning the man (sit) at his breakfast nook in the garden of his own. There (be) his honestly (earn) weekend’s breakfast (serve), (consist) of  (scramble) eggs with some thin slices of  home-(make) bacon.

   Suddenly he (look) up from his big flat plate (to see) a white unicorn quietly (crop) roses in his garden. He (be) huge and strong and there (shine) a straight long horn on his forehead. The man (notice) him (crop) only white roses while scarlet, pink and yellow ones (be, leave) untouched. The host of the garden (look) more than (irritate).

   ‘Hey, you there, white cattle!’ (shout) the man angrily. ‘What  you (lose) in my garden? It’s my private property!’ And the man (seize) his gun, (aim) at his unsolicited guest.

   ‘Oh! Let me (introduce) myself,’ (answer) the creature politely in a human voice. ‘White Unicorn,’ he (bow) a little awkwardly. ‘How do you do, kind man.’
 
  ‘How do you do, White Unicorn’, the man (greet) him already softer. ‘Listen: I am (please) (meet) you, but, whether you (like) it or (not), I (be, suppose) to shoot you’.

   The unicorn (not reply), (look) humble and (amaze).
   The man (keep) (hold) his gun.

  ‘Though, frankly (speak), I (not fee)l like (do) it’, he (add) in a low voice.
  ‘So why (shall) you (do) what you (not like) to?’ asked the unicorn in surprise
  ‘Our people (hate) you so much!  And I (be) only one of them, the hunters’.
  ‘Why  they (hate) me, man?’ asked the unicorn in extreme amazement, (stare) at the host with his wide-(open) sapphire eyes.
  ‘You (deprive) them of hunting’, answered the man dryly.
  ‘I (be) just the king of the forest’, said the unicorn, half proud and half sad.
  ‘And I (be) the king of my garden!’ exclaimed the man without (put) down his gun. ‘Look, you even (not  let)  our people (to come) close to the forest, (do) you?’
  ‘No’, confirmed the unicorn. ‘It (be) my duty  (keep) the forest virgin’, replied the guest, (shake) with his hair of red gold’s shade.

                3. THE GIRL

   ‘Supposing that’s true. But why should I let you in to my private territory, ah?  So, why are you here, destroying my roses, White Unicorn?’ asked the man almost peacefully.
   ‘I just love them’, answered the unicorn simply.
   ‘So do I. I love them very much,’ said the man. ‘As well as my poor sick wife does. As much as my beloved daughter did’.
   ‘Did she?’ asked the unicorn.
   ‘Yes, she used to love her roses... Until she was gone in the wild forest three years ago’.
   ‘Oh’, murmured the unicorn. ‘I am sorry to hear about that’.
   ‘Yes’, said the man. ‘It was our girl who had planted those roses  along with her mother’.
   ‘Oh, now I see’, said the unicorn. He looked confused and sad.
   ‘Yes. And she used to look after them’.
   ‘Oh! These roses look so beautiful. They smell so fragrant and fresh.’
   ‘Yes, of course they do. My daughter  used to sing while watering them. She loved gardening, you know.  And she used to make happy all the people around with her only smile’.
   ‘Oh, indeed?’ said the unicorn half-questioning.
   ‘Yes’, confirmed the man. ‘She also loved to walk in the forest and plait crowns of wild flowers’.
   ‘Crowns? Of those white dog’s roses that grew near the lake?’ asked the unicorn in amazement.
   ‘Maybe’, said the man, hesitating. ‘I don’t know where they grew. I haven’t been to the poisoned lake for a long time. And my daughter… Oh! She used to wear a white  silk ribbon in her long blond locks’.
   ‘Did she? Are you sure it was white?’ exclaimed the unicorn. ‘The ribbon, I mean. Wasn’t it golden?’
   ‘White or golden, what’s the difference?’ exclaimed the man. ‘We lost our little girl! She was only fourteen when she left us’.
   ‘What a pity’, said the unicorn. He did not know what to say to console the grieving father.
   ‘Exactly three years have passed by today since she was gone’ added the man.
   ‘What a loss’, said the unicorn. ‘ I just don’t know what to say to console you’.
   ‘No, it was not white’, suddenly said the man after thinking for a while.    
   ‘I mean her ribbon. The day she was gone in the thicket of the forest she was wearing a golden,- oh, yes, I am sure it was a golden ribbon in her locks,’ said the man with confidence. ‘ But what’s the difference? Does it matter anything now?’

                4. SHE KNEW WHAT SHE WANTED

    ‘Who knows’, said the unicorn quietly. ‘But  tell me, man. Confidentially between us. Why did you let the young girl walk alone in the forest?’
    ‘Why? I did not let her at all! Her mother didn’t let her walk there, either. Nobody let her! But she was always doing what she chose’, answered the man bitterly.
     ‘So… She knew what she wanted, I suppose’, suggested the unicorn.
     ‘Yes, she did. It’s quite definite. On that unlucky day she went out to search for her friend, a young brave hunter, who had gone hunting a week before and never returned’.
     ‘It must be dangerous in the forest,’ remarked White Unicorn cautiously (îñòîðîæíî).
     ‘Yes, very dangerous’, agreed the man. ‘Anyway, these roses is the only thing left after her. And you!  You’ve been cropping them, so unmercifully’.
     ‘I am so sorry, man!’ exclaimed the unicorn, heartily. ‘I was being far too hungry. There wasn’t any fence around the garden. I didn’t notice it was some one’s real estate’.
     ‘But yes, it is’, assured him the man. ‘All right, then. If you say you are so hungry... Why don’t you join me?’ offered the man hospitably. ‘Help yourself to my modest breakfast. It’s a modest but hearty meal’.
     ‘You are too kind to me’, replied the unicorn in confusion. ‘But I cannot bear human food, thanks’.
     ‘Some hey?’ suggested the man.
     ‘Again, it’s too kind of you. But I am none of the domestic cattle  you might think of. I am a mythical creature, as you must know’.
     ‘I see. But look, Unicorn. Why are you choosing only white roses? Are you on diet?’
     ‘Not really’, answered the unicorn. ‘Actually, I don’t know myself... Why?’
     ‘Because you chose namely those white roses which had been planted by my daughter. Exactly they had grown up without any thorns. Can’t you see?’
     The unicorn looked a little puzzled. ‘Oh! I didn’t notice. Had they, really?’ he asked.

                5. A BUNCH FOR SOMEONE SPECIAL

   ‘Yes, they had. Unlike the roses of other colours planted by my wife those ones are thornless.  Just mere breeding mutation, I guess’, explained the man to the creature.
   ‘May be yes and may  be not’, said the unicorn thoughtfully. ‘But you must be right, man. We unicorns need only white roses of special breed to live on. The snow-whitest roses. You see, those wild white dog’s roses in my forest had already blossomed over in August, that is why I felt so hungry’.
   ‘If so, help yourself to some more roses’, said the man.
   ‘I am already fine, thanks’, said the unicorn. ‘I have only one request to you, man. May I ask you for something?’
   ‘You are welcome’, said the man politely.
   ‘Would you let me have a nice bunch of your roses for ... someone special in the forest
   ‘For who?’ the man was surprised.
   ‘Well… For someone who’d I like to please tonight?’ the unicorn avoided a direct answer.
‘OK’, said the man after thinking for a while. ‘Though the flowers is the only memory of my daughter. But if she were with us I am sure she wouldn’t  mind’.
   ‘I hope so’, said the unicorn.
   ‘Believe you or not, her white roses  grow up every morning on their own. They keep blossoming all year round. Without any looking after, without being watered or fed up. Summer or winter. Chilly or hot. Rain or shine’.
   ‘Incredible’, said the unicorn.
   ‘Well, yes. So, you want to have a nice bunch for your she-unicorn friend?’ asked the man.
   ‘Oh, no! objected the guest. There are no female unicorns in the forest’, objected the unicorn sadly. ‘There exist only male unicorns like me’.
   ‘Strange’, murmured the man. ‘There should be babies unicorns’.
   ‘Should be’, agreed the unicorn, ‘but there are not. I wish there were. There are only few, very few unicorns surviving in the world. And we  all feel very lonely’.
   ‘Unbelievable!’ exclaimed the man. ‘There should be unicorn females. I am a farmer and I know something about breeding cattle’.
   ‘I’m telling you: unicorns are not the cattle!’ exclaimed the animal.
   ‘OK, no kettle’, agreed the man to calm down his guest. ‘But tell me, where did all of your mares leave?’
   ‘Oh, answered the unicorn sadly. ‘They are gone. Gone forever’.
   ‘Which way?’ wondered the man.



(to be continued)

See a Russian Version (auto-translated retelling): http://www.proza.ru/2016/02/01/2504