Chapter 1

Matthew Cuthbert, wearing his white suit, at half past three was riding out of Avonlea. The horse wasn’t the best, so he was riding not so fast. Matthew didn’t come out of home in Green Gables very often, so this was unusual. But where was he going?

His sister Marilla sent him off to get an orphan¹ boy.

Matthew and Marilla were a brother and a sister, they were in their fifties. Marilla was a tall and thin woman, she had dark hair with some grey parts. Matthew had grey hair and a beard². He was afraid of women and thought they laughed³ at him.

They thought about adopting⁴ a boy all winter. Matthew was not so young anymore, he couldn’t work as hard as he used to.⁵ A boy would be such a help. They wanted a boy of ten or eleven years old: old enough to help and young enough to teach him everything.

Marilla’s friend Mrs. Rachel told her that adopting a child is a very foolish⁶ thing to do. Marilla wanted to bring a strange child home not knowing his parents and not knowing the boy’s personality⁷. She also told her some stories she heard about orphan children and awful⁸ things they did.

“Well, I hope everything will be all right,” said Marilla to her friend.

Exercise: What are these words?

orphan

to laugh

enough

adopt

personality

Chapter 2

Matthew Cuthbert and his slow horse were going down the road to the train station. He needed to pick a boy from there.

He came to the station but there was no train. He thought he came too early. He looked around and tried to find a sign⁹ of any boy. However, there was a girl. She sat there waiting for something or somebody. Matthew walked past her to the officer.

“Excuse me, when is the five-thirty train going to arrive?” asked Matthew.

“The five-thirty train was here and went away half an hour ago,” the officer answered. “But there is a passenger for you from the train – a little girl.”

“But I came here for a boy,” said Matthew.

“But I came here for a boy,” said Matthew.

The officer whistled¹⁰. “A mistake. Mrs. Spencer came off the train with that girl and said you and sister were adopting¹¹ her from a children’s home.”

A girl was about eleven years old, she was wearing an ugly yellow dress and a grey hat. Under the hat she had two thick braids¹² of red hair. Her face was small and white, she also had freckles¹³. Her eyes were green or grey in different moods¹⁴.

Matthew came to her.

“Are you Mr. Matthew Cuthbert of Green Gables?” the girl asked. “I was afraid you wouldn’t come. I imagined¹⁵ all the bad things that could happen to you. I was going to climb the cherry¹⁶ tree and sleep there.”

Matthew took her thin¹⁷ hand. He couldn’t tell the child that there was a mistake and that he didn’t come for a girl. He decided to take her home and let Marilla tell her everything.

“I am sorry I was late,” he said shyly¹⁸. “Come along. The horse is over there. Give me your bag.”

“Oh, I can carry¹⁹ it,” said the girl cheerfully²⁰. “It isn’t heavy²¹. I’ve got all my belongings²² in here.”

The girl really liked to talk.

“I like imagining²³ things about people,” she said. “But there’s not much place for imagination²⁴ in a children’s home. Now I am wearing this ugly yellow dress, but I imagine I’m wearing a beautiful blue dress instead, and a wonderful hat with flowers. Oh, you see this plum²⁵ trees?” the girl asked. “What do they make you think of?”

“Well, I dunno²⁶,” said Matthew.

“Of white dresses and weddings²⁷ of course!” said the girl. “And you see these red flowers alongside the road? Why are they red?”

“Well, I dunno.”

“We will need to find this out one day,” said the girl. “There are so many things in the world I want to know about, but people can’t know everything. There won’t be place for imagination then.”

Matthew liked the girl already. He liked when people loved talking and didn’t expect²⁸ him to talk too.

“I’m afraid I talk too much,” said the girl “Mrs. Spencer always told me I talked too much.”

“Oh, you can talk as much as you like,” said Matthew.

“What would you like to be, if you could choose? Beautiful as an angel, very clever or to be the kindest person?” she asked Matthew.

“Well, I… I don’t know.”

“I can’t choose either²⁹,” said the girl.

“We are almost here. That’s Green Gables over that hill,” said Matthew.

The girl took her old bag and went to the house after Matthew.

Exercise: What are these words?

to answer

to whistle

cheerfully

imagination

freckles

Chapter 3

Marilla opened the door and then her eyes fell onto the little girl.

“Matthew, who’s that? Where’s the boy?” she asked.

“There wasn’t a boy,” answered Metthew.

“No boy! But there had to be a boy. We asked Mrs. Spencer to bring a boy!”

“Well, she brought her.”

The girl stood there, looking how they argue³⁰. “You don’t want me!” she cried. “You don’t want me because I’m not a boy!”

She sat on the chair and cried. Marilla and Matthew looked at each other, they didn’t know what to say.

“Well, well, there’s no need to cry about it,” Marilla said.

“Yes, there is need to cry about it!”

“Well, don’t cry anymore. We are not going to let you out at night. You’ll stay here until we ask Mrs. Spencer about this mistake. What’s your name?”

“Can you please call me Cordelia?” she asked.

“Call you Cordelia? Is that your name?”

“No, but I want to be called Cordelia.”

“Tell me your real name.”

“Anne Shirley, but please call me Cordelia, it’s such a romantic name.” she said.

“No, Anne is a good name. Now, Anne, tell me about this mistake. Weren’t there any boys?”

“No, there were many of them, but Mrs. Spencer said you wanted a girl.”

“It’s all because of my hair. But would you keep me if I had brown hair and not red?” asked Anne.

“We need a boy to help Matthew on the farm.”

Marilla gave the girl some food, but she didn’t want to eat.

“I’m very sad. I can’t eat when I’m sad.”

Night came and Marilla put the girl in bed. She told her to change her clothes and went away. Then she came, took the candle and said ‘goodnight’.

“How can you say GOOD night when it’s the worst night?” said the girl. Marilla didn’t know what to say and went away.

“We need to send this girl back,” she said to Matthew.

“Do we really? She seems³¹ nice.”

“Matthew Cuthbert you don’t think we should keep her?!” said Marilla angrily.

Matthew never had much of a voice³². “Well, I don’t know, but she’s nice and interesting,” he said.

“Well, I’m not going to keep her,” said Marilla.

“As you say, Marilla. I’m going to sleep.”

Exercise: What are these words?

to argue

voice

to seem

candle

answer

Chapter 4

Anne woke and sat up in bed. For a moment she couldn’t understand where she was. It was a nice June morning, the sun was shining. She went to open the window and saw a beautiful cherry³³ tree next to the house. There were also many other trees in the garden.

Marilla came into the room and told her to dress up. “Breakfast is waiting for you, so get dressed, wash your face, comb³⁴ your hair and come downstairs,” she told.

Anne did all that and went into the kitchen. “I’m so glad the sun is shining,” she said. “The world doesn’t seem³⁵ so grey as yesterday evening. But I also like rainy mornings. All mornings are interesting, don’t you think?”

“Hold your tongue³⁶. Why do you talk so much?” asked Marilla.

The girl stopped talking and didn’t say a word while eating. That was strange. The room was silent³⁷.

“Can you wash the dishes?” asked Marilla.

“I can. I’m better at looking after³⁸ children, but I can wash dishes too.”

She washed the dishes. Then Marilla took Anne and they both went to Mrs. Spencer. Marilla needed to give the girl back. As they went away, Matthew stood there and watched them sadly.

Exercise: What are these words?

to comb

to seem

tongue

silent

look after

Exercise: Choose the right word.

1. Marilla’s friend Mrs. Rachel told her that adopting/imagining a child is a very foolish thing to do.

2. Marilla wanted to bring a strange child home not knowing his parents and not knowing the boy’s whistle/personality.

3. Her face was small and white, she also had candle/freckles.

Chapter 5

“Do you know,” said Anne, “I’ve decided to enjoy this ride. I’m not going to think about returning to the children’s home, I’ll just think about the road. Oh, look, there’s a wild rose. Don’t you think it’s nice to be a rose? Wouldn’t it be nice, if flowers talked? Do you know any girl whose hair was black and then turned another color when she grew up?”

“No, I don’t. And I think your hair won’t turn another color either,” said Marilla.

Anne sighed³⁹.

“If you like talking so much, you can tell me what you know about yourself,” said Marilla.

“What I know is not interesting.