Dutch · Intermediate
Adapted from The Red Shoes
A girl’s beautiful red shoes lead her into a troubling chain of events.
Read and listen in Dutch, with English alongside.
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Scene 1 · Intermediate
Er was eens een mooi, tenger meisje dat Karen heette. Ze was zo arm dat ze in de zomer op blote voeten liep. In de winter droeg ze grote klompen, die de bovenkant van haar kleine voeten helemaal rood maakten.
Once upon a time there was a pretty, slender girl named Karen. She was so poor that she went barefoot in summer. In winter she wore large wooden clogs, which made the tops of her little feet completely red.
Een oude schoenmakersvrouw uit het dorp wilde haar helpen. Van oude stukken rode stof maakte ze zo goed als ze kon een paar schoentjes. Ze zagen er wat onhandig uit, maar ze waren met goede bedoelingen voor Karen gemaakt.
An old woman who was a shoemaker in the village wanted to help her. From old pieces of red cloth, she made a pair of little shoes as best she could. They looked a little clumsy, but she had made them for Karen with good intentions.
Karen droeg de rode schoenen voor het eerst op de dag dat haar moeder werd begraven. Voor een begrafenis waren zulke schoenen eigenlijk niet gepast, maar ze had geen andere. Ze stak haar blote voeten erin en liep achter de eenvoudige doodskist aan.
Karen wore the red shoes for the first time on the day her mother was buried. Shoes like those were not really suitable for a funeral, but she had no others. She slipped her bare feet into them and walked behind the plain coffin.
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