Сказки о петербургских сфинксах (на английском языке), сочиненные юными петербуржцами
творческая работа учащихся по английскому языку (5, 6 класс) по теме

                                             Saint Petersburg Story

By Kseniya Lavrova, form 5, school 490, Saint Petersburg

    It was getting dark. Lights in the streets and buildings went down. Soon everybody in the city

fell asleep. Only one little boy was not able to sleep. He was standing at the window and looking

 in the darkness. He felt that something unusual and wonderful could happen at the night.

     Meanwhile the two sphinxes that were brought to Saint Petersburg from Egypt decided to walk

around the city.

They had lived in Petersburg for almost 100 years. The citizens loved and respected the mysterious

stone creatures for their wideness and kindness.

    They jumped down from their pedestals, waved their long and fluffy tails and headed to the

bridge across the Neva River. (You are surprised because you have never see the sphinxes tails.

They didn’t want children to pull the tails. That’s why they usually hid them at the daytime.) While

they were walking along Nevsky Prospect they noticed the light in a window on the ground floor

of an old building and saw a little boy.

    At first the boy was frightened but then he recognized the sphinxes and was glad to meet them.

They made friends and began to play. The boy rode the stone creatures. When their little friend

was tired sphinxes told him some exciting stories about their life and adventures in the Ancient

 Egypt. The new friends had a wonderful time. It was the best night in the boy’s light. At the dawn

the sphinxes turned back to Vasilevsky Island.

    Since then the proud sphinxes often visited the boy. He also came to University embankment to

see his true and devoted friends.

                               My Friends Ancient Egyptian Sphinxes

By Victoria Orlova, form 5, school 490, Saint Petersburg

     Once there were two sphinxes in Egypt. Believe or not believe it but they did not know how old they are. It is not surprising because they were made by ancient sculptors about two 2,500 years ago. The stone animals loved hot weather, sunshine and the sandy desert in their home country.  

    About 170 years ago their life changed dramatically. The stone animals were brought to Saint Petersburg and put on an embankment of the Neva River. Soon the proud sphinxes got used to the northern country, cold winters and snowfalls. They loved long White Nights but best of all the stone animals loved summer and sunshine because they could not forget their home country.  

    At nights they often walked around the city and met their old friends, the monuments to Peter the First called the Bronze Horseman and Katherine the Second. The tsar usually shook their huge paws and the tsarina bowed them.

    An early frosty morning I was walking along University Embankment where the sphinxes lived. I got acquainted with them and they told me a lot of interesting about Ancient Egypt and the nineteenth century Petersburg. They asked me to visit them next night.

    I came at the midnight. The magnificent stone creatures climbed down the pedestals. I rode the left sphinx and some seconds later we were in Egypt near the Great Pyramid. Next time I will tell you what I saw and what adventures I had there with my new friends, sphinxes, and how I came back to my home city.

                                           Ancient Egyptian Sculptor, his Girlfriend and Sphinx

By   Darya Chetverus, form 5, school 490, Saint Petersburg

Many years ago in Ancient Egypt there lived a talented young sculptor. He often enjoyed

 walking around the capital city Memphis. Saint Petersburg. One day he met a very beautiful girl

near the pharaoh’s palace. He was fascinated with her beauty and immediately fall in love with

her.

                 He had been looking the girl for a long time but could not find her. He did not know her

name and he did not asked her where she lived. He never met her again.

                   He could not forget her amazing face and made a sculpture with her beautiful face and

a lioness’s body. He named the sculptor sphinx. The sculpture was placed on the main square near

the biggest Egyptian temple.

Girls bring bunches of lotuses and put them at the pedestal of the sculptor. They considered the

 sphinx to be the sculptor of beautiful Hathor, the Egyptian goddess of beauty, love, joy and music

               Every morning the sculptor came to the sphinx to greet it. One early summer morning he

 saw the beautiful sphinx’s face to be badly damaged by vandals. The young man worked hard

all day and all night and restored its amazing face.

              A wise and kind magician an astronomer from Babylon, a wonderful city on the banks of

the great river Euphrates, got to know that sad story. One night he put a spell on the sphinx. Since

then every night the sphinx came to life and had a talk to his creator about their love.

                   Then the sculptor grew old and died. The sphinx felt alone. But the citizens loved the

sphinx. They gathered on the square to sing, dance and celebrated festivals. Girls bring bunches

 of lotuses and put them at the pedestal of the sculptor. They considered the sphinx to be the

sculptor of Hathor, the Egyptian goddess of beauty, love, joy and music. The pharaoh ordered one

of the most talented and respected Egyptian sculptors to make a copy of the sphinx. It was put on

the same square.

                     About two thousand years passed. The ancient Egyptian cities were left by the people.

Their magnificent temples, palaces, buildings and obelisks were in ruins and covered with yellow

sand. People forgot the old Egyptian gods and sphinxes.

         About two hundred years ago archeologists discovered the sphinxes. They were

brought by sea to Saint Petersburg and placed on the granite embankment of the Neva River. Since

then the citizens and guests of the city have admired with their beauty.

            At dark nights the sphinx came alive and walked along the river. It remembers the sculptor,

its creator, temples, pharaohs, the Nile, hot sun and yellow sand of its home country Egypt. The

residents of Vasilyevsky Island can hear some strange sounds, steps of the granite monument. But

nobody knows the mystery of the ancient Egyptian creature.