E-Book, Englisch, 416 Seiten
Dragt The Goldsmith and the Master Thief
1. Auflage 2019
ISBN: 978-1-78269-247-8
Verlag: Pushkin Children's Books
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark
E-Book, Englisch, 416 Seiten
ISBN: 978-1-78269-247-8
Verlag: Pushkin Children's Books
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark
Tonke Dragt writes and illustrates books of adventure, fantasy and fairy tales. She was born in 1930 in Jakarta. When she was twelve, she was imprisoned in a Japanese camp, where she wrote her very first book using begged and borrowed paper. After the war, she moved to the Netherlands with her family, and eventually became an art teacher. She published her first book in 1961, and a year later this was followed by her most famous story, The Letter for the King, which won the Children's Book of the Year Award and has been translated into sixteen languages. She was awarded the State Prize for Youth Literature in 1976 and was knighted in 2001.
Weitere Infos & Material
THE SECOND TALE
To School
“You look exactly the same as me, as you wear the same clothes, and the same animals follow the two of us, both you and me.”
grimm: ‘The Two Brothers’
The twin brothers led a free and happy life until one day their father called them to him and said: “Boys, you’re nearly seven years old now, and it’s time for you to learn something. I cannot give you wealth, but I can make sure that you learn to read, write and do sums. That is a wealth that you will never waste or lose. So tomorrow the two of you are starting school at the Brown Monastery.”
Laurenzo and Jiacomo stared at him. School? Did that mean they would no longer be free to wander the streets and play all day long? Some of their friends had recently started school. They spent all day inside, sitting on hard wooden benches, locked up like birds in a cage.
“Oh, Father, please don’t send us there!” they both cried.
The cobbler looked at his sons seriously. “You’re big boys now,” he said, “big enough to understand that school is good for you. When you grow up, you’ll be happy to have learnt something – and to know more than I know myself.”
“We’re going to be cobblers, like you,” said Laurenzo. “So we don’t need to go to school.”
“But maybe later you’ll want to be something different from your father,” replied the cobbler. “And just think how nice it will be when you can read letters from people and write letters back to them too.”
“And our pigeons can deliver them for us,” said Jiacomo.
“Exactly. Do your best, and you’ll soon be clever boys who will make me and your mother proud.”
The boys did not reply. They really did want to please their parents, but…
“And you’ll have Sundays off,” said their father, as if he had guessed what they were thinking. “But anyway I’m sure you’ll enjoy school.”
So it was settled. But that night, in bed, the brothers lay awake for a long time, talking. They both agreed that school sounded like a very bad thing indeed.
“And it’s every day too!” said Laurenzo with a sigh.
“If it was just the morning, or just the afternoon!” said Jiacomo.
“I’ve heard that the teacher sometimes makes you write the same word out a hundred times,” said Laurenzo. “What’s the point of that?”
“I have an idea!” cried Jiacomo suddenly.
“Sssh!” whispered Laurenzo. “You’ll wake Mother and Father.”
“We won’t go to school every day,” Jiacomo whispered back. “We’ll go one day and not the next – that’ll be enough.”
“But we can’t do that,” said Laurenzo. “You get punished if you miss a day.”
“Ah, but we can do it completely differently,” said Jiacomo and he began to whisper his plan.
“Will it work?” wondered Laurenzo.
“Of course it will!”
Then they heard their mother’s voice. “Boys, are you still awake?”
Then there was silence.
The next morning, their mother took a long look at the two of them. “Good. You both look nice and neat,” she said. She gave them each a bag of sandwiches. “That’s for lunchtime,” she said. “And here’s an apple for each of you.”
Their father patted them both on the shoulders before heading to his workshop. “Do your best – and work hard,” he said.
Then their mother got ready to take them to school.
“Oh no, there’s no need to come with us, thanks,” said Laurenzo. “We already know the way.”
“Just this first time,” their mother said.
“All of the other boys walk to school by themselves,” said Jiacomo. “We can go with Antonio from the tavern. He’s been at school for a while now.”
Their mother smiled. “Oh, the two of you are getting so big,” she said, a little sadly. “Fine then, if you’d rather go on your own. No, Jiacomo, the animals have to stay at home.”
“You mean the dogs can’t come with us?” asked Laurenzo.
“No,” their mother said firmly. “Dogs don’t belong in a classroom.”
And so the two boys went on their way. Their mother stood in the doorway and waved them off. At the end of the street, Antonio joined them. And as they reached the next street, their dogs came running after them. They had slipped out when the boys’ mother was not watching. The twins told them to go back home, but the animals did not listen.
“They’ll just have to come with us,” said Laurenzo. “Do you think that’s allowed?” he asked Antonio.
Antonio looked doubtful. “The monks might not mind one dog,” he said, “but I think two might be a problem.”
“But only one of the dogs is going to school,” said Jiacomo.
“Why? Are you sending your dog home?” asked Antonio.
“No,” said Jiacomo and he started to tell Antonio his plan. “You have to help us,” he said, as he finished. “And you mustn’t tell anybody about it. Not a soul.”
Antonio gazed at the brothers in awe. “I wish I had a twin brother too,” he said with a sigh.
A quarter of an hour later, school began. The teacher of the younger pupils, a big monk in a brown habit, stood at the door, smiling and welcoming all the children.
“Aha,” he said, “I see we have a new student.” Leaning over to a young boy with a dog, he asked, “What’s your name, lad?”
“I… I’m Lau… Laucomo. Laucomo, the son of Ferdinand, the cobbler.”
“Welcome, Laucomo,” said the monk cheerfully. “Are you a friend of Antonio’s?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Can he bring his dog, Brother Thomas?” asked Antonio.
“His dog? Well, I suppose so, if it’s well behaved. But, Laucomo, I thought you were coming with your brother. Ferdinand mentioned two sons.”
“I… I don’t have a brother,” said Laucomo, his face turning red.
“Oh,” said Brother Thomas, scratching his head, “then I must be mistaken.”
“Yes, sir,” said Laucomo.
“That’s right, Brother Thomas,” said Antonio. “He doesn’t have any brothers.”
“Go on inside,” said the monk. “You can sit next to Antonio, Laucomo.”
When the boys were in their seats, Antonio whispered to his neighbour: “It worked!”
Laurenzo, because that, of course, is who it was, did not reply. He felt a little uneasy. He was missing his brother too. Antonio was nice enough, but it should have been Jiacomo sitting beside him.
Meanwhile, Jiacomo was walking across the market square with his dog, singing a happy song. He was very pleased with his plan. He and Laurenzo were going to take it in turns to go to school. That way they would learn just enough and they could have plenty of time to play outside too. At school, everyone would think there was just one boy, Laucomo. Yes, he certainly had come up with an excellent plan! He thought about what he was going to do today. He could play anywhere, as long as it was not too close to home or to school. But how was Laurenzo doing? Jiacomo missed him – until today the two brothers had always played together.
A week later, Brother Thomas said to Brother Augustine, who taught the older students: “That Laucomo is a nice boy, but I don’t know quite what to make of him. One day he behaves completely differently from the next. And he can be so forgetful! Sometimes he can’t even remember what I told him just the day before.”
Which goes to show that the big monk was an observant man.
So far everything had gone as planned. The only problem was that the twin brothers often spent a long time talking in bed at night, and so their father sometimes became angry with them. But how else were they supposed to tell each other what they had been up to all day?
“We learnt a song today,” said Jiacomo one night, “about riding on a horse.” He sang it quietly to his...
