French · Intermediate
Adapted from The Red Shoes
A girl’s beautiful red shoes lead her into a troubling chain of events.
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Scene 1 · Intermediate
Karen était une petite fille jolie et délicate, mais très pauvre. L'été, elle devait aller pieds nus ; l'hiver, ses lourds sabots de bois lui rougissaient le dessus des pieds.
Karen was a pretty, delicate little girl, but very poor. In summer she had to go barefoot; in winter, her heavy wooden clogs made the tops of her feet red.
Au village, la femme d'un cordonnier lui a confectionné une paire de souliers avec de vieux morceaux d'étoffe rouge. Le résultat était grossier, mais le geste généreux.
In the village, a shoemaker’s wife made her a pair of shoes from old pieces of red fabric. They were crude, but the gesture was generous.
Karen les a portés pour la première fois le jour des funérailles de sa mère. Le rouge convenait mal au deuil ; pourtant, comme elle n'avait aucune autre paire, elle y a glissé ses pieds nus avant de marcher derrière le modeste cercueil.
Karen wore them for the first time on the day of her mother’s funeral. Red was not a fitting color for mourning; yet, since she had no other pair, she slipped her bare feet into them before walking behind the modest coffin.
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