"David Eddings - Malloreon 5 The Seeress of Kell" - читать интересную книгу автора (Eddings David)

PROLOGUE

Excerpts from The Book of Ages, Book One of THE MALLO-REAN GOSPELS:

Now These are the Ages of Man:

In the First Age was man created, and he awoke in puzzlement and
wonder as he beheid the world about him. And those that had made him
considered him and selected from his number those that pleased them,
and the rest were cast out and driven away. And some went in search
of die Spirit known as UL, and they left us and passed into the west,
and we saw them no more. And some denied the Gods, and they went into
the far north to wrestle with demons. And some turned to worldly
matters, and they went away into the east and built mighty cities
there.

But we despaired, and we sat us down upon the earth in the shadow of
the mountains of Korim, and in bitterness we bewailed our fate that
we had been made and then cast out.

2 SEERESS OP KELL

And it came to pass that in the midst of our grief a woman of our
people was seized by a rapture, and it was as if she had been shaken
by a mighty hand. And she arose from the earth upon which she sat,
and she bound her eyes with a cloth, signifying that she had seen
that which no mortal had seen before, for lo, she was the first
seeress in all the world. And with the touch of her vision still upon
her, she spake unto us, saying:

"Behold! A feast hath been set before Those who made us, and this
feast shall ye call the Feast of Life. And Those who made us have
chosen that which pleased Them, and that which pleased Them not was
not chosen.

"Now we are the Feast of Life, and ye sorrow that no Guest at the
feast hath chosen ye. Despair not, however, for one Guest hath not
yet arrived at the feast. The other Guests have taken their fill, but
this great Feast of Life awaiteth still the Beloved Guest who cometh
late, and I say unto all the people that it is He who will choose us.
Abide therefore against His coming, for it is certain. Put aside thy
grief and turn thy face to the sky and to the earth that thou mayest
read the signs written there, for this I say unto all the people. It
is upon ye that His coming rests. For behold, He may not choose ye
unless ye choose Him. And this is the Fate for which we were made.
Rise up, therefore, and sit no more upon the earth in vain and
foolish lamentation. Take up the task which lies before ye and
prepare the way for Him who will surely come."

Much we marveled at these words, and we considered them most