The World of Fantasy = Мир фантазии

Н. А. Кулинцева 

THE WORLD OF FANTASY 

(Мир фантазии) 

Учебное пособие    
Издание второе

Москва 
Берлин

2020 

УДК 811.111(075) 
ББК 81.432.1я73 
 К90 

Рецензенты: 
О. Л. Зайцева, канд. филол. наук, проф.,  
зав. каф. западноевропейских языков и культур (ПГЛУ); 
В. С. Аганесов, канд. филол. наук,  
доцент каф. западноевропейских языков и культур (ПГЛУ) 

Кулинцева, Н. А.

К90    The World of Fantasy (Мир фантазии) : 

  учебное пособие / Н. А. Кулинцева. Изд. 2-е.  –    
  Москва ; Берлин : Директ-Медиа, 2020. – 165 с. 

ISBN 978-5-4499-1478-1 

Настоящее издание является учебным пособием по чтению на английском языке для студентов 2, 3 курсов отделения «Литературное творчество». 

УДК 811.111(075) 
ББК 81.432.1я73 

ISBN  978-5-4499-1478-1 
©
        Кулинцева Н. А., текст, 2020
 © Издательство «Директ-Медиа», оформление, 2020 

Текст печатается в авторской редакции. 

Fantasy is a key term both in psychology and in the art and artifice of humanity. The things we make, including our stories, reflect, 
serve, and often shape our needs and desires. We see this everywhere 
from fairy tale to kiddie lit to myth; from «Cinderella» to Alice in 
Wonderland to Superman; from building a fort as a child to building 
ideal, planned cities as whole societies. Fantasy in ways both entertaining and practical serves our persistent needs and desires and illuminates the human mind. Fantasy expresses itself in many ways, from 
the comfort we feel in the godlike powers of a fairy godmother to the 
seductive unease we feel confronting Dracula. From a practical viewpoint, of all the fictional forms that fantasy takes, science fiction, from 
Frankenstein to Avatar, is the most important in our modern world 
because it is the only kind that explicitly recognizes the profound ways 
in which science and technology, those key products of the human 
mind, shape not only our world but our very hopes and fears. This 
book will try to explore Fantasy in general and Science Fiction in 
specific both as art and as insights into ourselves and our world. 

The Grimm Brothers Children's 
and Household Tales 

History Focus 

Children's and Household Tales is a collection of German 
fairy tales first published in 1812 by the Grimm brothers, 
Jacob and Wilhelm. The collection is commonly known in 
the Anglosphere as Grimm's Fairy Tales. 

The first volumes were much criticized because, although they were called «Children's Tales», they were not 
regarded as suitable for children, both for the scholarly information included and the subject matter. Many changes 
through the editions – such as turning the wicked mother 
of the first edition in Snow White and Hansel and Gretel to a 
stepmother, were probably made with an eye to such suitability. They removed sexual references–such as Rapunzel's 
innocently asking why her dress was getting tight around 
her belly, and thus naïvely revealing her pregnancy and the 
prince's visits to her stepmother–but, in many respects, violence, particularly when punishing villains, was increased. 

The Golden Goose 
There was a man who had three sons, the youngest of 
whom was called Dummling, and was despised, mocked, 
and put down on every occasion.  
It happened that the eldest wanted to go into the forest 
to hew wood, and before he went his mother gave him a 
beautiful sweet cake and a bottle of wine in order that he 
might not suffer from hunger or thirst. 
When he entered the forest there met him a little greyhaired old man who bade him good-day, and said, «Do give 
me a piece of cake out of your pocket, and let me have a 
draught of your wine; I am so hungry and thirsty.» But the 
prudent youth answered, «If I give you my cake and wine, 

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I shall have none for myself; be off with you,» and he left 
the little man standing and went on. 
But when he began to hew down a tree, it was not long 
before he made a false stroke, and the axe cut him in the 
arm, so that he had to go home and have it bound up. And 
this was the little grey man’s doing.  
After this the second son went into the forest, and his 
mother gave him, like the eldest, a cake and a bottle of 
wine. The little old grey man met him likewise, and asked 
him for a piece of cake and a drink of wine. But the second 
son, too, said with much reason, «What I give you will be 
taken away from myself; be off!» and he left the little man 
standing and went on. His punishment, however, was not 
delayed; when he had made a few strokes at the tree he 
struck himself in the leg, so that he had to be carried home. 
Then Dummling said, «Father, do let me go and cut 
wood». The father answered, «Your brothers have hurt 
themselves with it, leave it alone, you do not understand 
anything about it». But Dummling begged so long that at 
last he said, «Just go then, you will get wiser by hurting 
yourself». His mother gave him a cake made with water and 
baked in the cinders, and with it a bottle of sour beer. 
When he came to the forest the little old grey man met 
him likewise, and greeting him, said, «Give me a piece of 
your cake and a drink out of your bottle; I am so hungry 
and thirsty». Dummling answered, «I have only cinder-cake 
and sour beer; if that pleases you, we will sit down and eat.» 
So they sat down, and when Dummling pulled out his cinder-cake, it was a fine sweet cake, and the sour beer had 
become good wine. So they ate and drank, and after that 
the little man said, «Since you have a good heart, and are 
willing to divide what you have, I will give you good luck. 
There stands an old tree, cut it down, and you will find 
something at the roots». Then the little man took leave of 
him. 

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Dummling went and cut down the tree, and when it fell 
there was a goose sitting in the roots with feathers of pure 
gold. He lifted her up, and taking her with him, went to an 
inn where he thought he would stay the night. Now the 
host had three daughters, who saw the goose and were curious to know what such a wonderful bird might be, and 
would have liked to have one of its golden feathers. 
The eldest thought, «I shall soon find an opportunity of 
pulling out a feather,» and as soon as Dummling had gone 
out she seized the goose by the wing, but her finger and 
hand remained sticking fast to it. 
The second came soon afterwards, thinking only of 
how she might get a feather for herself, but she had scarcely touched her sister than she was held fast. 
At last the third also came with the like intent, and the 
others screamed out, «Keep away; for goodness’ sake keep 
away!» But she did not understand why she was to keep 
away. «The others are there,» she thought, «I may as well be 
there too,» and ran to them; but as soon as she had touched 
her sister, she remained sticking fast to her. So they had to 
spend the night with the goose. 
The next morning Dummling took the goose under his 
arm and set out, without troubling himself about the three 
girls who were hanging on to it. They were obliged to run 
after him continually, now left, now right, just as he was 
inclined to go. 
In the middle of the fields the parson met them, and 
when he saw the procession he said, «For shame, you goodfor-nothing girls, why are you running across the fields after this young man? is that seemly?» At the same time he 
seized the youngest by the hand in order to pull her away, 
but as soon as he touched her he likewise stuck fast, and 
was himself obliged to run behind. 
Before long the sexton came by and saw his master, the 
parson, running behind three girls. He was astonished at 

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this and called out, «Hi, your reverence, whither away so 
quickly? do not forget that we have a christening to-day!» 
and running after him he took him by the sleeve, but was 
also held fast to it. 
Whilst the five were trotting thus one behind the other, 
two labourers came with their hoes from the fields; the parson called out to them and begged that they would set him 
and the sexton free. But they had scarcely touched the sexton when they were held fast, and now there were seven of 
them running behind Dummling and the goose. 
Soon afterwards he came to a city, where a king ruled 
who had a daughter who was so serious that no one could 
make her laugh. So he had put forth a decree that whosoever should be able to make her laugh should marry her. 
When Dummling heard this, he went with his goose and all 
her train before the King’s daughter, and as soon as she 
saw the seven people running on and on, one behind the 
other, she began to laugh quite loudly, and as if she would 
never leave off. Thereupon Dummling asked to have her 
for his wife, and the wedding was celebrated. After the 
King’s death, Dummling inherited the kingdom and lived a 
long time contentedly with his wife. 
 
Snow-White and Rose-Red 
There was once a poor widow who lived in a lonely cottage. In front of the cottage was a garden wherein stood 
two rose-trees, one of which bore white and the other red 
roses. She had two children who were like the two rosetrees, and one was called Snow-white, and the other Rosered. They were as good and happy, as busy and cheerful as 
ever two children in the world were, only Snow-white was 
more quiet and gentle than Rose-red. Rose-red liked better 
to run about in the meadows and fields seeking flowers and 
catching butterflies; but Snow-white sat at home with her 

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mother, and helped her with her house-work, or read to her 
when there was nothing to do. 
The two children were so fond of each another that 
they always held each other by the hand when they went 
out together, and when Snowwhite said, «We will not leave 
each other,» Rose-red answered, «Never so long as we live,» 
and their mother would add, «What one has she must share 
with the other.» 
They often ran about the forest alone and gathered red 
berries, and no beasts did them any harm, but came close 
to them trustfully. The little hare would eat a cabbage-leaf 
out of their hands, the roe grazed by their side, the stag 
leapt merrily by them, and the birds sat still upon the 
boughs, and sang whatever they knew. 
No mishap overtook them; if they had stayed too late in 
the forest, and night came on, they laid themselves down 
near one another upon the moss, and slept until morning 
came, and their mother knew this and had no distress on 
their account. 
Once when they had spent the night in the wood and 
the dawn had roused them, they saw a beautiful child in a 
shining white dress sitting near their bed. He got up and 
looked quite kindly at them, but said nothing and went 
away into the forest. And when they looked round they 
found that they had been sleeping quite close to a precipice, 
and would certainly have fallen into it in the darkness if 
they had gone only a few paces further. And their mother 
told them that it must have been the angel who watches 
over good children. 
Snow-white and Rose-red kept their mother’s little cottage so neat that it was a pleasure to look inside it. In the 
summer Rose-red took care of the house, and every morning laid a wreath of flowers by her mother’s bed before she 
awoke, in which was a rose from each tree. In the winter 
Snow-white lit the fire and hung the kettle on the wrekin. 

8 

The kettle was of copper and shone like gold, so brightly 
was it polished. In the evening, when the snowflakes fell, 
the mother said, «Go, Snow-white, and bolt the door,» and 
then they sat round the hearth, and the mother took her 
spectacles and read aloud out of a large book, and the two 
girls listened as they sat and span. And close by them lay a 
lamb upon the floor, and behind them upon a perch sat a 
white dove with its head hidden beneath its wings. 
One evening, as they were thus sitting comfortably together, some one knocked at the door as if he wished to be 
let in. The mother said, «Quick, Rose-red, open the door, it 
must be a traveller who is seeking shelter.» Rose-red went 
and pushed back the bolt, thinking that it was a poor man, 
but it was not; it was a bear that stretched his broad, black 
head within the door. 
Rose-red screamed and sprang back, the lamb bleated, 
the dove fluttered, and Snow-white hid herself behind her 
mother’s bed. But the bear began to speak and said, «Do 
not be afraid, I will do you no harm! I am half-frozen, and 
only want to warm myself a little beside you.» 
«Poor bear,» said the mother, «lie down by the fire, only 
take care that you do not burn your coat.» Then she cried, 
«Snow-white, Rose-red, come out, the bear will do you no 
harm, he means well.» So they both came out, and by-andby the lamb and dove came nearer, and were not afraid of 
him. The bear said, «Here, children, knock the snow out of 
my coat a little;» so they brought the broom and swept the 
bear’s hide clean; and he stretched himself by the fire and 
growled contentedly and comfortably. It was not long before they grew quite at home, and played tricks with their 
clumsy guest. They tugged his hair with their hands, put 
their feet upon his back and rolled him about, or they took 
a hazel-switch and beat him, and when he growled they 
laughed. But the bear took it all in good part, only when 

9 

they were too rough he called out, «Leave me alive, children,»  
«Snowy-white, Rosy-red, 
Will you beat your lover dead?» 
When it was bed-time, and the others went to bed, the 
mother said to the bear, «You can lie there by the hearth, 
and then you will be safe from the cold and the bad weather.» As soon as day dawned the two children let him out, 
and he trotted across the snow into the forest. 
Henceforth the bear came every evening at the same 
time, laid himself down by the hearth, and let the children 
amuse themselves with him as much as they liked; and they 
got so used to him that the doors were never fastened until 
their black friend had arrived. 
When spring had come and all outside was green, the 
bear said one morning to Snow-white, «Now I must go 
away, and cannot come back for the whole summer.» 
«Where are you going, then, dear bear?» asked Snow-white. 
«I must go into the forest and guard my treasures from the 
wicked dwarfs. In the winter, when the earth is frozen hard, 
they are obliged to stay below and cannot work their way 
through; but now, when the sun has thawed and warmed 
the earth, they break through it, and come out to pry and 
steal; and what once gets into their hands, and in their 
caves, does not easily see daylight again.» 
Snow-white was quite sorry for his going away, and as 
she unbolted the door for him, and the bear was hurrying 
out, he caught against the bolt and a piece of his hairy coat 
was torn off, and it seemed to Snow-white as if she had 
seen gold shining through it, but she was not sure about it. 
The bear ran away quickly, and was soon out of sight behind the trees. 
A short time afterwards the mother sent her children 
into the forest to get fire-wood. There they found a big tree 
which lay felled on the ground, and close by the trunk 

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