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Scene 1 · Intermediate
La méchante marâtre
The wicked stepmother
French
Dans un lointain pays, celui où les hirondelles passent l'hiver, un roi avait onze fils et une fille nommée Élisa. Les princes étudiaient avec une étoile sur la poitrine et une épée au côté. Sur leurs ardoises d'or, ils écrivaient au crayon de diamant.
English translation
In a faraway land, where swallows spend the winter, a king had eleven sons and a daughter named Elisa. The princes studied with a star on their chests and a sword at their sides. They wrote on their golden slates with diamond pencils.
French
Élisa, assise sur un tabouret de verre poli, possédait un livre d'images aussi précieux que la moitié d'un royaume.
English translation
Elisa, sitting on a polished glass stool, had a picture book as precious as half a kingdom.
French
Leur bonheur a pris fin lorsque leur père a épousé une reine qui détestait les enfants. Dès le lendemain des noces, elle l'a montré : alors qu'ils jouaient à recevoir des invités pendant les fêtes, elle a remplacé les gâteaux et les pommes habituels par une tasse de sable. Ils n'avaient qu'à faire comme si c'était du gâteau.
English translation
Their happiness ended when their father married a queen who hated children. The very next day after the wedding, she showed it: while they were playing at having guests for a celebration, she replaced the usual cakes and apples with a cup of sand. They had to pretend it was cake.
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