"Charles de Lint - Mulengro" - читать интересную книгу автора (De Lint Charles)

Janfri and Yojo were both Lowara Rom and therefore more attuned to such signs than might the North
American kumpaniyi who were mostly Kalderash. In Europe, where they had both originated and spent
their formative years, the Rom still traveled by horse-drawn wagons in many areas. According to the
Rom, there were four natsiyi or tribes of Gypsies. They were, in order of importance: the Machwaya, or
people of Machwa; the Lowara or Horsedealers who were primarily from Hungary or England; the
Kalderash or Coppersmiths who claimed most of continental Europe and were the first to go perdal l
paya, beyond the waters, to America; and the Churara or Kuneshti who were the Knife-makers. This
didn’t include sedentary tribes such as the Gitanos who lived in Spain, or the Sinti of the Low Countries.
In Rom myth, the Lowara were symbolized by the moon, while the Kalderash, by their very numbers,
were the stars.

“What does Big George say?” Janfri asked. He turned so that he was facing Yojo now. Yojo offered him
his tobacco and, though Janfri didn’t normally smoke, he accepted it and rolled a cigarette. The offer
was meant to show that so far as Yojo was concerned, Janfri was not an outcast. To refuse would have
been an insult—even between brothers.

“He wants to talk with you,” Yojo said.

“Because of the patrin on my wall?”

“And the burning of your tsera.” Strictly speaking, tsera meant tent in Romany, but time had evolved
the word to mean anywhere that a Rom had his household.

The two men finished their cigarettes and ground them into the dirt when they were done.

“Let’s go see what Big George has to say,” Janfri said, collecting his shoes and violin case.

“Bater,” Yojo agreed, seriously. So be it. Then he grinned. “But I claim you as my guest, o Boshbaro.
Keja still has eyes for you.”

Yojo had been trying to marry Janfri to his widowed eldest daughter ever since the one year’s mourning
period for her husband had been over three months ago. “You will need children to support you when
you are old and your fingers don’t work so well anymore, prala,” he insisted whenever the subject arose
—usually at his instigation. Remembering all the arguments Yojo could produce—from claims of grave
insult to outright weeping—Janfri prudently kept silent and merely rolled his eyes. It wasn’t that he
disliked Keja. Rather he couldn’t face the idea of having Yojo for his father-in-law. The big man would
be insufferable.


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 MULENGRO

“She’s still a virgin, you know,” Yojo confided as they started back to his car.

“A married virgin?”

“In her heart, prala, in her heart. As God is my witness.”

Janfri let his shoulders lift and fall despondently. “I’d been thinking very seriously about it, you know,
but now… I have nothing to offer her. I couldn’t even afford the bridal price.”