Волшебник из страны Оз

УДК 
372.8
ББК 
81.2 Англ-93
 
Б 29

ISBN 978-5-9925-0897-0

Баум Л. Ф.
Б 29 Волшебник из страны Оз: Книга для чтения на 
английском языке / Л. Ф. Баум. — СПб.: КАРО, 
2013. — 192 с. (“Classical literature”).

ISBN 978-5-9925-0897-0.

Предлагаем вниманию читателей знаменитую сказку Лаймена Фрэнка Баума (1856–1919) «Волшебник из страны Оз», знакомую читателям во всем мире. По ней неоднократно ставились 
спектакли и снимались фильмы, а ее герои так же любимы читателями, как Винни-Пух и Алиса.
Книга адресована всем любителям англоязычной литературы.

УДК 372.8
ББК 81.2 Англ-93

© КАРО, 2013

ОБ АВТОРЕ

Лаймен Фрэнк Баум, знаменитый американский писатель, создатель волшебной страны Оз, родился 15 мая 
1856 года в семье бондаря, делавшего бочки для нефти — 
те, что назывались баррелями. Вскоре он разбогател и из 
бондаря превратился в нефтяного магната. Мальчик был 
седьмым ребенком в семье, у него обнаружился врожденный порок сердца, и врачи делали неутешительные 
прогнозы. Вообще, родителям будущего писателя не везло с детьми — четверо из них умерли совсем маленькими, пятеро выросли, но до относительной старости дожил лишь Фрэнк.
15 мая 1860 года, когда мальчику исполнилось 4 года, 
отец подарил ему пишущую машинку — большую редкость по тем временам. Вечером того же дня Фрэнк вместе с братиком выпустил семейную газету, которая стала 
выходить регулярно и превратилась в журнал, в котором, 
помимо семейной хроники, была и беллетристика — 
Фрэнк писал сказки для младших братьев.
В 17 лет Баум выпускал вполне «взрослый» журнал. 
Будучи заядлым филателистом, в журнале он рассказывал об истории марок, о различных аукционах, о путешествиях. Кем он только не работал в юности: начал ре

ОБ АВТОРЕ

портером, затем пару лет проучился в военном училище, но бросил его, испытывая отвращение к муштре, 
выращивал домашнюю птицу на ферме и попутно выпускал журнал по птицеводству. Потом коренным образом поменял свою жизнь, переехал в город и занялся театром: выступал на сцене, был продюсером некоторых 
постановок.
В 1882 году он женился на девушке по имени Мод. 
У них родилось четверо детей, для которых отец и стал 
сочинять сказки. В 1899 году вышла в свет первая его 
книга «Сказки дядюшки Гусака», а в 1900-м появился 
знаменитый «Волшебник из страны Оз», рассказ о девочке Дороти, перенесенной торнадо в волшебную страну. Всего об этой стране Баум написал четырнадцать повестей. Возможно, их было бы больше, но помешала внезапная смерть автора от сердечного приступа (1919). 
Однако читательская любовь превратила в этой истории 
точку в многоточие. Издатели поручили молодой журналистке из Филадельфии Рут Пламли Томсон написать 
продолжение, и из-под ее пера книг о стране Оз вышло 
больше, чем написал Фрэнк Баум.
Персонажи книги — Дороти, Страшила, Железный 
Дровосек, Трусливый Лев — по своей популярности могут соперничать с такими любимцами детей и взрослых, 
как Алиса и Винни-Пух, хоббиты и Питер Пэн. По книгам Баума ставились спектакли и снимались фильмы, а 
советские дети узнали историю девочки, унесенной ураганом в волшубную страну, из книги Александра Волкова 
«Волшебник Изумрудного города», которую он написал 
на сюжет Баума.

INTRODUCTION

Folklore, legends, myths and fairy tales have fol lowed 
childhood through the ages, for every healthy youngster 
has a wholesome and instinctive love for stories fantastic, 
marvelous and manifestly unreal. Th e winged fairies of 
Grimm and Andersen have brought more happiness to 
childish hearts than all other human creations.
Yet the old time fairy tale, having served for generations, may now be classed as “historical” in the children’s library; for the time has come for a series of newer 
“wonder tales” in which the stereotyped genie, dwarf 
and fairy are eliminated, together with all the horrible 
and blood-curdling incidents devised by their authors 
to point a fearsome moral to each tale. Modern education 
includes morality; therefore the modern child seeks only 
entertainment in its wonder tales and gladly dispenses 
with all disagreeable incident.
Having this thought in mind, the story of Th e Wonderful Wizard of Oz was written solely to please children of 

INTRODUCTION

today. It aspires to being a modernized fairy tale, in 
which the wonderment and joy are retained and the 
heartaches and nightmares are left  out.

L. Frank Baum
Chicago, April, 1900.

THE WONDERFUL 
WIZARD OF OZ

1. The Cyclone

Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas 
prairies, with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt 
Em, who was the farmer’s wife. Th eir house was small, 
for the lumber to build it had to be carried by wagon 
many miles. Th ere were four walls, a fl oor and a roof, 
which made one room; and this room contained a rustylooking cookstove, a cupboard for the dishes, a table, 
three or four chairs, and the beds. Uncle Henry and Aunt 
Em had a big bed in one corner, and Dorothy a little bed 
in another corner. Th ere was no garret at all, and no 
cellar — except a small hole dug in the ground, called a 
cyclone cellar, where the family could go in case one of 
those great whirlwinds arose, mighty enough to crush 
any building in its path. It was reached by a trap-door 
in the middle of the fl oor, from which a ladder led down 
into the small, dark hole.
When Dorothy stood in the doorway and looked 
around, she could see nothing but the great gray prairie 

THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ

8

on every side. Not a tree nor a house broke the broad 
sweep of fl at country that reached to the edge of the sky 
in all directions. Th e sun had baked the plowed land 
into a gray mass, with little cracks running through it. 
Even the grass was not green, for the sun had burned 
the tops of the long blades until they were the same gray 
color to be seen everywhere. Once the house had been 
painted, but the sun blistered the paint and the rains 
washed it away, and now the house was as dull and gray 
as everything else.
When Aunt Em came there to live she was a young, 
pretty wife. Th e sun and wind had changed her, too. Th ey 
had taken the sparkle from her eyes and left  them a sober 
gray; they had taken the red from her cheeks and lips, and 
they were gray also. She was thin and gaunt, and never 
smiled now. When Dorothy, who was an orphan, fi rst 
came to her, Aunt Em had been so startled by the child’s 
laughter that she would scream and press her hand upon 
her heart whenever Dorothy’s merry voice reached her 
ears; and she still looked at the little girl with wonder that 
she could fi nd anything to laugh at1.
Uncle Henry never laughed. He worked hard from 
morning till night and did not know what joy was. He 
was gray also, from his long beard to his rough boots, 
and he looked stern and solemn, and rarely spoke.

1 she could fi nd anything to laugh at — (разг.) она находит повод для смеха

1. THE CYCLONE

9

It was Toto that made Dorothy laugh, and saved her 
from growing as gray as her other surroundings. Toto 
was not gray; he was a little black dog, with long silky 
hair and small black eyes that twinkled merrily on either 
side of his funny, wee nose. Toto played all day long, and 
Dorothy played with him, and loved him dearly.
Today, however, they were not playing. Uncle Henry 
sat upon the doorstep and looked anxiously at the sky, 
which was even grayer than usual. Dorothy stood in the 
door with Toto in her arms, and looked at the sky too. 
Aunt Em was washing the dishes.
From the far north they heard a low wail of the wind, 
and Uncle Henry and Dorothy could see where the long 
grass bowed in waves before the coming storm. Th ere 
now came a sharp whistling in the air from the south, 
and as they turned their eyes that way they saw ripples 
in the grass coming from that direction also.
Suddenly Uncle Henry stood up.
“Th ere’s a cyclone coming, Em,” he called to his wife. 
“I’ll go look aft er the stock.” Th en he ran toward the 
sheds where the cows and horses were kept.
Aunt Em dropped her work and came to the door. 
One glance told her of the danger close at hand1.
“Quick, Dorothy!” she screamed. “Run for the cellar!”
Toto jumped out of Dorothy’s arms and hid under 
the bed, and the girl started to get him. Aunt Em, badly 

1 the danger close at hand — (разг.) опасность уже близко

THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ

10

frightened, threw open the trap door in the fl oor and 
climbed down the ladder into the small, dark hole. 
Dorothy caught Toto at last and started to follow her 
aunt. When she was halfway across the room there came 
a great shriek from the wind, and the house shook so 
hard that she lost her footing and sat down suddenly 
upon the fl oor.
Th en a strange thing happened.
Th e house whirled around two or three times and 
rose slowly through the air. Dorothy felt as if she were 
going up in a balloon1.
Th e north and south winds met where the house 
stood, and made it the exact center of the cyclone. In 
the middle of a cyclone the air is generally still, but the 
great pressure of the wind on every side of the house 
raised it up higher and higher, until it was at the very 
top of the cyclone; and there it remained and was carried 
miles and miles away as easily as you could carry a feather.
It was very dark, and the wind howled horribly 
around her, but Dorothy found she was riding quite 
easily. Aft er the fi rst few whirls around, and one other 
time when the house tipped badly, she felt as if she were 
being rocked gently, like a baby in a cradle.
Toto did not like it. He ran about the room, now here, 
now there, barking loudly; but Dorothy sat quite still on 
the fl oor and waited to see what would happen.

1 as if she were going up in a balloon — (разг.) как будто 
она поднимается на воздушном шаре