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Illustration for The Wild Swans

Dutch · Intermediate

De wilde zwanen

Adapted from The Wild Swans

By Hans Christian Andersen

A princess works in silence to free her brothers from an enchantment that turns them into swans.

Read and listen in Dutch, with English alongside.

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Intermediate sample in Dutch

Scene 1

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Illustration for the scene “The wicked stepmother”

Scene 1 · Intermediate

De boze stiefmoeder

The wicked stepmother

Dutch

Ver weg, in het land waar de zwaluwen in de winter naartoe vliegen, woonde een koning met elf zonen en één dochter, Elisa. De prinsen gingen naar school met een ster op hun borst en een zwaard aan hun zij. Ze schreven met diamanten schrijfstiften op gouden schrijfplankjes.

English translation

Far away, in the land where the swallows fly for the winter, there lived a king with eleven sons and one daughter, Elisa. The princes went to school with a star on their chests and a sword at their sides. They wrote with diamond pens on golden writing tablets.

Dutch

Ze leerden zo snel en lazen zo gemakkelijk dat iedereen kon zien dat het prinsen waren. Elisa zat op een krukje van spiegelglas en keek in een prentenboek dat evenveel had gekost als een half koninkrijk.

English translation

They learned so quickly and read so easily that everyone could tell they were princes. Elisa sat on a mirrored-glass stool and looked at a picture book that had cost as much as half a kingdom.

Dutch

De kinderen waren gelukkig, maar daar kwam verandering in toen hun vader opnieuw trouwde. Hun stiefmoeder was een boze koningin die helemaal niet van hen hield. Dat merkten ze al op de eerste dag na de bruiloft. Terwijl er in het paleis feest werd gevierd, speelden de kinderen dat ze bezoek ontvingen.

English translation

The children were happy, but that changed when their father married again. Their stepmother was a wicked queen who did not love them at all. They realized this on the very first day after the wedding. While a celebration was taking place in the palace, the children played at having visitors.

Dutch

Gewoonlijk kregen ze dan de overgebleven gebakjes en appels. Nu gaf de koningin hun alleen wat zand in een theekopje. Ze moesten maar doen alsof het gebak was.

English translation

Usually, they would get the leftover pastries and apples. This time, the queen gave them nothing but some sand in a teacup. They would just have to pretend it was cake.

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