4) The King bought this ___ far from here. He gave a lot of ___ for it.
5) Many of your people can't keep a ___.
6) It's always a ___ to leave our things and go somewhere with all our children and animals.
4 Complete the chart.
5 Explain why:
1) the King called Alyosha a lazy boy.
2) Alyosha didn't have anything for supper with Blacky.
3) Blacky asked Alyosha to keep their secret.
6 Imagine that you are Minister Blacky. Say:
a) why you are a hen;
b) why you are afraid of the old Dutch ladies.
Chapter 6
Alyosha didn't know what to think. He remembered Blacky and the Minister, the King and the knights, the Dutch ladies and the zoo very well.
"Was it a dream? Did it really happen?" he thought.
Then the boy thought about the hemp seed. He took his coat. The seed was in the pocket.
"Let's see how the King keeps his word," he thought. "Lessons start tomorrow, but I still don't know my History lesson. The headmaster told me to learn four pages from the book."
The boys came back to school after the holidays. The second lesson that day was History. It was the headmaster's lesson. Alyosha was afraid to look at the headmaster. He put his hand in his pocket. The hemp seed was there. At last the headmaster said:
"Now we're going to listen to Alyosha. Alyosha, please say your lesson."
Alyosha came up to the headmaster and opened his mouth. He didn't know his homework. But at that moment he started talking. He said his lesson without any mistakes.
"Very well," said the headmaster.
But Alyosha was not happy.
"I didn't learn that," he thought. "I don't like it at all."
Alyosha became the best pupil at once. He got only very good marks. He always knew his homework without studying. He never made any mistakes in his tests. All this time Alyosha didn't see Blacky. At first he called her in the evening. But she didn't come to see him.
"I know she is busy. She's the minister," he thought.
Then he remembered her only from time to time.
Soon all St. Petersburg knew about a very clever boy. The inspector of schools came to Alyosha's school four times to listen to him. The headmaster was happy. His school was famous now. Many mothers and fathers asked him to take their children.
