"Lord Dunsany - Why The Milkman Shudders" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dunsany Lord)

Why the Milkman Shudders
When He Perceives the Dawn

byLord Dunsany



In the Hall of the Ancient Company of Milkmen round the
greatfireplace at the end, when the winter logs are burning
andall the craft are assembled they tell to-day, as their
grandfatherstold before them, why the milkman shudders when
heperceives the dawn.
When dawn comes creeping over the edges of hills, peers
throughthe tree-trunks making wonderful shadows, touches
thetops of tall columns of smoke going up from awakening
cottagesin the valleys, and breaks all golden over Kentish
fields, when going on tip-toe thence it comes to the walls
ofLondonand slips all shyly up those gloomy streets the
milkmanperceives it and shudders.
A man may be a Milkman's Working Apprentice, may know
whatborax is and how to mix it, yet not for that is the
storytold to him. There are five men alone that tell that
story, five men appointed by the Master of the Company, by
whomeach place is filled as it falls vacant, and if you do
nothear it from one of them you hear the story from no one
andso can never know why the milkman shudders when he
perceivesthe dawn.
It is the way of one of these five men, greybeards all
andmilkmen from infancy, to rub his hands by the fire when
thegreat logs burn, and to settle himself more easily in
hischair, perhaps to sip some drink far other than milk,
thento look round to see that none are there to whom it
wouldnot be fitting the tale should be told and, looking
fromface to face and seeing none but the men of the Ancient
Company,and questioning mutely the rest of the five with
hiseyes, if some of the five be there, and receiving their
permission, to cough and to tell the tale. And a great hush
fallsin the Hall of the Ancient Company, and something
aboutthe shape of the roof and the rafters makes the tale
resonantall down the hall so that the youngest hears it far
awayfrom the fire and knows, and dreams of the day when
perhapshe will tell himself why the milkman shudders when
heperceives the dawn.
Not as one tells some casual fact is it told, nor is it
commentedon from man to man, but it is told by that great
fireonly and when the occasion and the stillness of the
roomand the merit of the wine and the profit of all seem to
warrantit in the opinion of the five deputed men: then does
oneof them tell it, as I have said, not heralded by any
masterof ceremonies but as though it arose out of the