Once upon a time there lived in the North Country a poor man and his wife, who had thirteen children. Twelve of these children were called by names common in the North Country—Hardhead, Stiffneck, Tightfingers, and the like; but when the thirteenth came to be named, the poor man and his wife could remember no other name but Merrymind, which the neighbors thought a strange name. Their thirteen children grew taller and stronger. When the youngest was old enough, there was the great fair, which happened only once in seven years.
Merchants and dealers of all sorts crowded to that fair from far and near. There was nothing known in the North Country that could not be bought or sold in it. The poor man could afford his family little to spend in such ways; but as the fair happened only once in seven years, he would not show a poor spirit, so he gave every one of the thirteen a silver penny.
The boys and girls had never before owned so much pocket-money, so they dressed themselves in their holiday clothes, and set out with their father and mother to the fair. The day wore away in seeing wonders, and in chatting with old friends. It was surprising how far silver pennies went in those days - one bought a pair of brass buckles, another a crimson riband, a third green garters; the father bought a tobacco-pipe, the mother a horn snuffbox. But Merrymind did not spend his silver penny because he had set his heart upon a fiddle. There were enough fiddles in the fair but there was not one that came within the compass of a silver penny.
Можно и покороче:
Once upon a time there lived in the North Country a poor man and his wife, who had thirteen children. Twelve of these children were called by names common in the North Country but when the thirteenth came to be named, there was no other name but Merrymind, which sounded strange. Their thirteen children grew taller and stronger. There was the great fair, which happened only once in seven years.
Merchants and dealers of all sorts crowded to that fair from far and near. The poor man would not show a poor spirit, so he gave every one of the thirteen a silver penny.
The boys and girls had never before owned so much pocket-money, so they dressed themselves in their holiday clothes, and set out to the fair. It was surprising how far silver pennies went in those days - one bought a pair of brass buckles, another a crimson riband, a third green garters; the father bought a tobacco-pipe, the mother a horn snuffbox. But Merrymind did not spend his silver penny because he had set his heart upon a fiddle. There were enough fiddles in the fair but there was not one that came within the compass of a silver penny.
