Chapter One

THE CYCLONE

Little Dorothy 1 lived on the great Kansas prairie. 2 She lived with Uncle Henry and Aunt Em. Uncle Henry was a farmer. Aunt Em was his wife. Their house was very small. It had only one room. There were not many things in it. There was a table, a cupboard, three or four chairs and the beds.

Near the house there were neither trees nor flowers. On the right and on the left there was only the great grey Kansas prairie. Even the grass was not green but grey.

Uncle Henry and Aunt Em worked all day. They never laughed. They had no time to laugh. They began to work early in the morning and stopped late in the evening. But little Dorothy often laughed. She laughed because she was happy. She was happy because she had a dear friend. It was Toto, 3 a little black dog. Toto had long hair, small black eyes and a funny little nose. Toto and Dorothy ran and played all day long. 4

One afternoon Uncle Henry was at the door of his house. He looked at the sky. The sky was not blue, it was grey. Dorothy was in the yard with Toto in her arms. She looked at the sky too. Dorothy did not like that grey sky.

Suddenly a storm came from the East. The sky was very dark now.

Uncle Henry cried out to Aunt Em who was in the house:

"A cyclone, Em, a cyclone is coming! How terrible!" He ran off to look after the cows and the horses. Aunt Em came to the door and looked at the sky too. She was frightened. 5

"Yes, a cyclone is coming," she cried to Dorothy. "Quick, Dorothy, run into the house and stay there. I must help Uncle Henry!"

And Aunt Em quickly ran off.

Dorothy ran into the house with Toto in her arms. At that moment a strange and terrible thing happened. The cyclone lifted the little house into the air. Then it carried the house very, very far away. Little Dorothy did not know what to do. It was very dark in the house and she was frightened. She wanted to cry.

"What will happen to us?" 6 little Dorothy thought.

Minute after minute passed. Hour after hour passed.

"I must wait and see what will happen," the girl thought. "Now I shall go to bed and sleep." 7

She got up, found her bed and lay down on it. Toto came up and lay down beside the bed.

 

 

1 Dorothy —Дороти

2 Kansas prairie —Канзасская прерия (Канзас—штат в центральной части США)

3 Toto — Тото

4 all day long — весь день

5 was frightened — была испугана

6 What will happen to us? — Что с нами будет?

7 Now I shall go to bed and sleep. — Сейчас я должна лечь спать.