"Lord Dunsany - The Bad Old Woman In Black (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dunsany Lord)

befall; and an ominous feeling of gloom came down on the
streetof the ox-butchers. And in the gloom grew fears of
thevery worst. This comfort they only had when they put
theirfear into words -- that the doom that followed her
goingshad never yet been anticipated. One feared that with
magicshe meant to move the moon; and he would have dammed
thehigh tide on theneighbouring coast, knowing that as the
moonattracted the sea the sea must attract the moon, and
hopingby his device to humble her spells. Another would
havefetched iron bars and clamped them across the street,
rememberingthe earthquake there was in the street of the
shearers. Another would havehonoured his household gods,
thelittle cat-faced idols seated above his hearth, gods to
whommagic was no unusual thing, and, having paid their fees
andhonouredthem well, would have put the whole case before
them. His scheme foundfavour with many, and yet at last
wasrejected, for others ran indoors and brought out their
godstoo, to behonoured , till there was a herd of gods all
seatedthere on the pavement; yet would they havehonoured
themand put their case before them but that a fat man ran
uplast of all, carefully holding under a reverent arm his
owntwo hound-faced gods, though he knew well -- as, indeed,
allmen must -- that they were notoriously at war with the
littlecat-faced idols. And although the animosities
naturalto faith had all been lulled by the crisis, yet a
lookof anger had come into the cat-like faces that no one
dareddisregard, and all perceived that if they stayed a
momentlonger there would be flaming around them the
jealousyof the gods; so each man hastily took his idols
home, leaving the fat man insisting that his hound-faced
godsshould behonoured .
Then there were schemes again and voicesraised in
debate, and many new dangers feared and new plans made.
But in the end they made nodefence against danger, for
theyknew not what it would be, but wrote upon parchment as
awarning, and in order that all might know: "*The bad old
womanin black ran down the street of the ox-butchers.*"