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Scene 1 · Intermediate
Mama vitregă cea rea
The wicked stepmother
Romanian
Departe, în țara spre care zboară rândunelele iarna, trăia un rege cu unsprezece fii și o fiică, Eliza. Prinții mergeau la școală purtând câte o stea pe piept și o sabie la șold. Scriau cu creioane de diamant pe tăblițe de aur și învățau atât de repede, încât oricine ar fi recunoscut în ei niște copii de rege.
English translation
Far away, in the land where swallows fly in winter, there lived a king with eleven sons and a daughter, Eliza. The princes went to school with a star on each chest and a sword at each hip. They wrote with diamond pencils on gold tablets and learned so quickly that anyone would have recognized them as the king’s children.
Romanian
Eliza stătea pe un scăunel de sticlă groasă și răsfoia o carte cu ilustrații care costase cât jumătate de regat.
English translation
Eliza sat on a stool made of thick glass and leafed through a picture book that had cost half a kingdom.
Romanian
Copiii erau fericiți, însă fericirea lor nu avea să dureze. Tatăl lor s-a căsătorit cu o regină rea, care nu-i iubea deloc. Și-au dat seama de asta chiar a doua zi după nuntă. În timp ce la palat se țineau petreceri, ei se jucau de-a primit musafiri.
English translation
The children were happy, but their happiness would not last. Their father married a wicked queen who did not love them at all. They realized this the very day after the wedding. While parties were being held at the palace, they played at having guests.
Romanian
De obicei primeau prăjiturile și merele rămase de la masă, dar noua regină le-a dat doar puțin nisip într-o ceașcă.
English translation
They usually got the leftover cakes and apples from the table, but the new queen gave them only a little sand in a cup.
Romanian
— Prefaceți-vă că este prăjitură, le-a spus ea.
English translation
“Pretend it’s cake,” she told them.
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