Английский язык с Марком Твеном. Принц и нищий / Mark Twain. The Prince and the Pauper

Her tired tongue got a chance to rest now; for the king's, inspired by gnawing hunger and the fragrant smells that came from the sputtering pots and pans, turned itself loose and delivered itself up to such an eloquent dissertation upon certain toothsome dishes, that within three minutes the woman said to herself, 'Of a truth I was right- he hath holpen in a kitchen!' Then he broadened his bill of fare, and discussed it with such appreciation and animation, that the goodwife said to herself, 'Good lack! how can he know so many dishes, and so fine ones withal? For these belong only upon the tables of the rich and great. Ah, now I see! ragged outcast as he is, he must have served in the palace before his reason went astray; yes, he must have helped in the very kitchen of the king himself! I will test him.'

Full of eagerness to prove her sagacity, she told the king to mind the cooking a moment — hinting that he might manufacture and add a dish or two, if he chose — then she went out of the room and gave her children a sign to follow after. The king muttered:

'Another English king had a commission like to this, in a bygone time — it is nothing against my dignity to undertake an office which the great Alfred stooped to assume. But I will try to better serve my trust than he; for he let the cakes burn.'

The intent was good, but the performance was not answerable to it; for this king, like the other one, soon fell into deep thinkings concerning his vast affairs, and the same calamity resulted — the cookery got burned. The woman returned in time to save the breakfast from entire destruction; and she promptly brought the king out of his dreams with a brisk and cordial tongue-lashing. Then, seeing how troubled he was over his violated trust, she softened at once and was all goodness and gentleness toward him.