Recently I read with my daughter a poem translated from English by Marshak, “Old Woman, Close the Door!” And I decided to find the original. My surprise knew no bounds when I carefully read the text in English. Marshak changed quite a lot and brought it into his version.
So, a brief summary of the poem in Russian.
The old woman is preparing dinner, suddenly the front door swung open due to the wind, and neither the old woman nor the old man wants to close it. They agreed to play a game of silence, and the loser would have to close the door. At night, thieves entered the open door. Neither the old woman nor the old man said a word while the thieves took the things. But the old woman could not stand it when the thieves said that her pie was raw, and she had to close the door.
Poem text
Old woman, close the door!
(Translation by S.Ya. Marshak)
On holiday, on Sunday,
Before going to bed for the night,
The hostess began to fry,
Boil, stew and bake.
It was autumn in the yard,
And the wind was blowing damp.
The old man says to the old woman:
- Old woman, close the door!
- I just have to close the door,
There is nothing else to do.
For me, let her stand
Open for a hundred years!
So endlessly between each other
The couple had an argument,
Until the old man suggested
The old woman's agreement:
- Come on, old woman, let's keep quiet.
Who will open his mouth?
And the first one will say a word,
That door and the ban!
An hour passes, followed by another.
The owners are silent.
The fire in the stove went out a long time ago.
The clock is knocking in the corner.
The clock strikes twelve times,
And the door is not locked.
Two strangers enter the house
And the house is dark.
“Come on,” the guests say, “
Who lives in the house? —
The old woman and the old man are silent,
They took some water into their mouth.
Night guests from the oven
They take a pie each
And offal, and a rooster, -
The hostess doesn't mind.
We found tobacco from an old man.
- Good tobacco! —
They drank beer from the barrel.
The owners are silent.
The guests took everything they could
And they walked out the door.
They walk through the yard and say:
- Their pie is raw!
And after them the old woman: - No!
My pie is not raw! —
An old man answered her from the corner:
- Old woman, close the door!
But how do the events unfold in the English version of “Get Up and Bar the Door”?
Firstly, we are not talking about an old woman with an old man, but about a master and mistress. My wife made sausage (white pudding - liver sausage, black pudding - blood sausage), not pies. But the most interesting thing began with the arrival of thieves. Their sausage tasted quite good, but they decided to shave the owner’s beard with a knife, use hot sausage gravy instead of water, and kiss the owner. Here, of course, the husband could not stand it and began to object. And the wife says to him: “Husband, you said the first word, now get up and close the door.”
Click on the plus sign and read the full text of the poem.
Poem text
Get up and Bar the Door
IT fell about the Martinmas* time,
And a gay time it was then,
When our goodwife got puddings to make,
And she’s boil’d them in the pan.
The wind sae cauld blew south and north,
And blew into the floor;
Quoth our goodman to our goodwife,
‘Gae out and bar the door.’-
‘My hand is in my hussyfskap,
Goodman, as ye may see;
An’ it shou’dna be barr’d this hundred year,
It’s no be barr’d for me.’
They made a action 'tween them twa,
They made it firm and sure,
That the first word whae'er shou'd speak,
Shou'd rise and bar the door.
Then by there came two gentlemen,
At twelve o'clock at night,
And they could neither see house nor hall,
Nor coal nor candle-light.
‘Now whether this is a rich man’s house,
Or is it a poor?’
But ne’er a word wad ane o’ them speak,
For barring of the door.
And first they ate the white puddings,
And then they ate the black.
Tho’ muckle thought the goodwife to hersel’
Yet ne’er a word she spake.
Then said the one to the other,
On holiday, on Sunday,
Before going to bed for the night,
The hostess began to fry,
Boil, stew and bake.
It was autumn in the yard,
And the wind was blowing damp.
The old man says to the old woman:
- Old woman, close the door!
- I just have to close the door.
There is nothing else to do.
For me, let her stand
Open for a hundred years!
So endlessly between each other
The couple had an argument,
Until my husband suggested
An agreement for the wife:
- Come on, old woman, let's keep quiet.
Who will open his mouth?
And the first one will say a word,
He will lock the door! -
An hour passes, and then another.
The owners are silent.
The fire in the stove went out a long time ago.
The clock is knocking in the corner.
The clock strikes twelve times,
And the door is not locked.
Two strangers enter the house
And the house is dark.
- Come on, - the guests say, -
Who lives in the house? -
The old woman and the old man are silent,
They took some water into their mouth.
Night guests from the oven
They take a pie each
And offal, and a rooster, -
The hostess - not a word. 
We found tobacco from an old man.
- Good tobacco! -
They drank beer from the barrel.
The owners are silent.
The guests took everything they could,
And they walked out the door.
They walk through the yard and say:
- Their pie is raw!
And after them the old woman: - No!
My pie is not raw! -
An old man answered her from the corner:
- Old woman, close the door!
folk tale adapted by S. Marshak. Illustrations by A. Tambovkin
Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak (1887-1964) - Russian Soviet poet, playwright, translator, literary critic. Winner of the Lenin and four Stalin Prizes.
They begin to read Marshak's poems and fairy tales from the very first days in kindergarten, then they are performed at matinees, and in the lower grades they are taught by heart. In the bustle, the author himself is forgotten, but in vain, because Marshak’s life was full of events that radically changed his worldview. Perhaps this is why his works are so deep in meaning and truly immortal.
Old woman, close the door.
On holiday, on Sunday,
Before going to bed for the night,
The hostess began to fry,
Boil, stew and bake.
It was autumn in the yard,
And the wind was blowing damp.
The old man says to the old woman:
- Old woman, close the door!
I just have to close the door,
There is nothing else to do.
For me, let her stand
Open for a hundred years!
So endlessly between each other
The couple had an argument,
Until the old man suggested
The old woman's agreement:
Come on, old woman, let's keep quiet.
Who will open his mouth?
And the first one will say a word,
That door and the ban!
An hour passes, followed by another.
The owners are silent.
The fire in the stove went out a long time ago.
The clock is knocking in the corner.
The clock strikes twelve times,
And the door is not locked.
Two strangers enter the house
And the house is dark.
Come on, - the guests say, -
Who lives in the house? -
The old woman and the old man are silent,
They took some water into their mouth.
Night guests from the oven
They take a pie each
And offal, and a rooster, -
The hostess - not a word.
We found tobacco from an old man.
- Good tobacco! -
They drank beer from the barrel.
The owners are silent.
The guests took everything they could
And they walked out the door.
They walk through the yard and say:
- Their pie is raw!
And after them the old woman: - No!
My pie is not raw! -
An old man answered her from the corner:
- Old woman, close the door!
Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak (1887-1964) - Russian Soviet poet, playwright, translator, literary critic. Winner of the Lenin and four Stalin Prizes.
He started writing poetry early. In 1902, V.V. Stasov drew attention to the talented boy, who introduced him to M. Gorky. In 1904-1906, Marshak lived in the family of M. Gorky in Yalta. Began publishing in 1907. In 1912-1914 he attended lectures at the Faculty of Art of the University of London. In 1915-1917, the first translations of Marshak from English poetry were published in Russian magazines. In 1920, he lived in Krasnodar (formerly Yekaterinodar), organized one of the country's first theaters for children here, and wrote fairy tale plays for it. In 1923, the first poetry books for little ones were published: “The House That Jack Built”, “Children in a Cage”, “The Tale of a Stupid Mouse”. In 1923-1925 he headed the magazine "New Robinson", which became a collector of young Soviet children's literature. For a number of years, Marshak led the Leningrad edition of Detgiz. Gorky more than once involved Marshak as his closest assistant in developing plans for “great literature for little ones.” The role of Marshak, a poet for children, was accurately described by A. A. Fadeev, emphasizing that Marshak was able to talk to a child in his poems about the most complex concepts of great social content, about labor valor and about working people without any didactics, in a lively, cheerful, in a fun and understandable way for children, in the form of a children's game. These are the distinctive features of Marshak’s works for children, starting from his early books “Fire”, “Mail”, “War with the Dnieper”, later - the satirical pamphlet “Mr. Twister” (1933) and the romantic poem “The Tale of an Unknown Hero” (1938) right up to the works of the war and post-war years - “Military Post” (1944), “Fairy Tale” (1947), “All Year Round” (1948) and many others. Marshak left excellent examples of children's fairy tales, songs, riddles, plays for children's theaters ("Twelve Months", "Fear Grief - No Happiness", "Smart Things", etc.).
Marshak the translator enriched Russian Soviet poetry with classical translations of sonnets by W. Shakespeare, songs and ballads of R. Burns, W. Blake, W. Wordsworth, J. Keats, R. Kipling, E. Lear, A. Milne, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Lithuanian , Armenian and other poets. Marshak the lyric poet is known for his book of lyrics ("Selected Lyrics", 1962; Lenin Prize, 1963) and a collection of lyrical epigrams. Marshak the prose writer, Marshak the critic - the author of the autobiographical story "At the Beginning of Life" (1960), articles and notes on poetic craft (the book "Education with Words", 1961). During the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, Marshak’s talent as a satirist developed. His satirical poems, which regularly appeared in Pravda, and battle posters (in collaboration with Kukryniksy) were extremely popular at the front and in the rear.
B. E. Galanov.
Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak (1887-1964) - Russian Soviet poet, playwright, translator, literary critic. Winner of the Lenin and four Stalin Prizes.
They begin to read Marshak's poems and fairy tales from the very first days in kindergarten, then they are performed at matinees, and in the lower grades they are taught by heart. In the bustle, the author himself is forgotten, but in vain, because Marshak’s life was full of events that radically changed his worldview. Perhaps this is why his works are so deep in meaning and truly immortal.
Old woman, close the door.
On holiday, on Sunday,
Before going to bed for the night,
The hostess began to fry,
Boil, stew and bake.
It was autumn in the yard,
And the wind was blowing damp.
The old man says to the old woman:
- Old woman, close the door!
I just have to close the door,
There is nothing else to do.
For me, let her stand
Open for a hundred years!
So endlessly between each other
The couple had an argument,
Until the old man suggested
The old woman's agreement:
Come on, old woman, let's keep quiet.
Who will open his mouth?
And the first one will say a word,
That door and the ban!
An hour passes, followed by another.
The owners are silent.
The fire in the stove went out a long time ago.
The clock is knocking in the corner.
The clock strikes twelve times,
And the door is not locked.
Two strangers enter the house
And the house is dark.
Come on, - the guests say, -
Who lives in the house? -
The old woman and the old man are silent,
They took some water into their mouth.
Night guests from the oven
They take a pie each
And offal, and a rooster, -
The hostess - not a word.
We found tobacco from an old man.
- Good tobacco! -
They drank beer from the barrel.
The owners are silent.
The guests took everything they could
And they walked out the door.
They walk through the yard and say:
- Their pie is raw!
And after them the old woman: - No!
My pie is not raw! -
An old man answered her from the corner:
- Old woman, close the door!
Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak (1887-1964) - Russian Soviet poet, playwright, translator, literary critic. Winner of the Lenin and four Stalin Prizes.
He started writing poetry early. In 1902, V.V. Stasov drew attention to the talented boy, who introduced him to M. Gorky. In 1904-1906, Marshak lived in the family of M. Gorky in Yalta. Began publishing in 1907. In 1912-1914 he attended lectures at the Faculty of Art of the University of London. In 1915-1917, the first translations of Marshak from English poetry were published in Russian magazines. In 1920, he lived in Krasnodar (formerly Yekaterinodar), organized one of the country's first theaters for children here, and wrote fairy tale plays for it. In 1923, the first poetry books for little ones were published: “The House That Jack Built”, “Children in a Cage”, “The Tale of a Stupid Mouse”. In 1923-1925 he headed the magazine "New Robinson", which became a collector of young Soviet children's literature. For a number of years, Marshak led the Leningrad edition of Detgiz. Gorky more than once involved Marshak as his closest assistant in developing plans for “great literature for little ones.” The role of Marshak, a poet for children, was accurately described by A. A. Fadeev, emphasizing that Marshak was able to talk to a child in his poems about the most complex concepts of great social content, about labor valor and about working people without any didactics, in a lively, cheerful, in a fun and understandable way for children, in the form of a children's game. These are the distinctive features of Marshak’s works for children, starting from his early books “Fire”, “Mail”, “War with the Dnieper”, later - the satirical pamphlet “Mr. Twister” (1933) and the romantic poem “The Tale of an Unknown Hero” (1938) right up to the works of the war and post-war years - “Military Post” (1944), “Fairy Tale” (1947), “All Year Round” (1948) and many others. Marshak left excellent examples of children's fairy tales, songs, riddles, plays for children's theaters ("Twelve Months", "Fear Grief - No Happiness", "Smart Things", etc.).
Marshak the translator enriched Russian Soviet poetry with classical translations of sonnets by W. Shakespeare, songs and ballads of R. Burns, W. Blake, W. Wordsworth, J. Keats, R. Kipling, E. Lear, A. Milne, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Lithuanian , Armenian and other poets. Marshak the lyric poet is known for his book of lyrics ("Selected Lyrics", 1962; Lenin Prize, 1963) and a collection of lyrical epigrams. Marshak the prose writer, Marshak the critic - the author of the autobiographical story "At the Beginning of Life" (1960), articles and notes on poetic craft (the book "Education with Words", 1961). During the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, Marshak’s talent as a satirist developed. His satirical poems, which regularly appeared in Pravda, and battle posters (in collaboration with Kukryniksy) were extremely popular at the front and in the rear.
B. E. Galanov.
Http://www.c-cafe.ru/days/bio/10/067.php
