"Dunsany, Lord - collection - A Dreamer's Tales- And Other Stories" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dunsany Lord)

"She is more beautiful than the moonrise."
And on another day the King of Arizim bade his daughter forth at dawn, and
they stood again upon the balcony. And the sun came up over a world of
orchards, and the sea-mists went back over Poltarnees to the Sea; little
wild voices arose in all the thickets, the voices of the fountains began to
die, and the song arose, in all the marble temples, of the birds that are
sacred to the Sea. And Hilnaric stood there, still glowing with dreams of
heaven.
"She is more beautiful," said the kings, "than morning."
Yet one more trial they made of Hilnaric's beauty, for they watched her on
the terraces at sunset ere yet the petals of the orchards had fallen, and
all along the edge of neighbouring woods the rhododendron was blooming with
the azalea. And the sun went down under craggy Poltarnees, and the sea-mist
poured over his summit inland. And the marble temples stood up clear in the
evening, but films of twilight were drawn between the mountain and the city.
Then from the Temple ledges and eaves of palaces the bats fell headlong
downwards, then spread their wings and floated up and down through darkening
ways; lights came blinking out in golden windows, men cloaked themselves
against the grey sea-mist, the sound of small songs arose, and the face of
Hilnaric became a resting-place for mysteries and dreams.
"Than all these things," said the kings, "she is more lovely: but who can
say whether she is lovelier than the Sea?"
Prone in a rhododendron thicket at the edge of the palace lawns a hunter had
waited since the sun went down. Near to him was a deep pool where the
hyacinths grew and strange flowers floated upon it with broad leaves; and
there the great bull gariachs came down to drink by starlight; and, waiting
there for the gariachs to come, he saw the white form of the Princess
leaning on her balcony. Before the stars shone out or the bulls came down to
drink he left his lurking-place and moved closer to the palace to see more
nearly the Princess. The palace lawns were full of untrodden dew, and
everything was still when he came across them, holding his great spear. In
the farthest corner of the terraces the three old kings were discussing the
beauty of Hllnaric and the destiny of the Inner Lands. Moving lightly, with
a hunter's tread, the watcher by the pool came very near, even in the still
evening, before the Princess saw him. When he saw her closely he exclaimed
suddenly:
"She must be more beautiful than the Sea."
When the Princess turned and saw his garb and his great spear she knew that
he was a hunter of gariachs.
When the three kings heard the young man exclaime they said softly to one
another:
"This must be the man."
Then they revealed themselves to him, and spoke to him to try him. They
said:
"Sir, you have spoken blasphemy against the Sea."
And the young man muttered:
"She is more beautiful than the Sea."
And the kings said:
"We are older than you and wiser, and know that nothing is more beautiful
than the Sea."