"David Eddings - The Dreamers 01 - The Elder gods" - читать интересную книгу автора (Eddings David)

known, it was sheer coincidence that led to the discovery of the Land of
Dhrall by Captain Sorgan Hook-Beak and the crew of his ship, the
Seagull.
As all the world knows, Sorgan Hook-Beak of the Land of Maag is the
greatest sea-captain of all time. No man yet born can match him in the
prediction of wind, weather, tides, or the probable value of the cargo of
any ship unlucky enough to encounter the Seagull on the high seas.
The men of the Land of Maag are bigger than the men of lands farther
to the south, and they took to the sea early in their history. The mountains
of Maag march down to the sea, and their slopes seem almost to point
seaward, mutely saying, ‘Go there’. Mountains are fine for hunting, but
not too good for farming, so the men of Maag farmed the sea instead, and
her crops were bountiful. Fish-hooks are much easier to hammer out of
iron than plows, and fish-nets harvest bigger crops than scythes. Then
too, the men who harvest the sea aren’t obliged to spend all those tedious
months waiting for their crops to grow. The crops of the sea are always
there, and they can be harvested in any season.
The people of the Land of Maag developed a quaint custom early in
their history. They frequently used descriptions rather than names. Thus
there could be several ‘Big-Foots’ or ‘Buck-Teeth’ in a Maag village,
along with assorted ‘Slim-Wits’, ‘Fats’, and ‘Pigeon-Toes’. More
conventional names came along later, after the Maags had made contact
with the more refined peoples to the south. Sorgan Hook-Beak was proud
of his name, since it suggested that others considered him to be an eagle,
that noblest of all birds.
He went to sea early in his life, and his first captain was the legendary
Dalto Big-Nose, a man whose very name struck terror into the heart of
every Trogite sea-captain who sailed the northern sea.
Now the Trogites are an avaricious race, eager to snatch things that
rightfully belong to others. At some time in the remote past a Trogite
explorer in search of deposits of tin or copper which might prove
profitable had discovered a peculiar region far back in the western
reaches of the Land of Shaan, which stands to the west of the Land of
Maag. The Maags grudgingly conceded that the Trogite explorer was a
courageous fellow, since the natives of the Land of Shaan felt a moral
compulsion to eat everything - or everybody - they killed. Being killed is
one thing, but being eaten is quite another.
The Trogite explorer purchased the friendship of the savages of Shaan
with a few worthless trinkets, and they led him to that region where the
rivers had sandy bottoms. Many rivers have sandy bottoms, but the sand
in the rivers of interior Shaan is comprised mostly of flecks of pure gold.
Word about the gold in the rivers of Shaan soon got out, and adventurers
from all over the known world rushed there to claim their rightful share.
After a few seasons, though, the word got out that adventurers who went
to the Land of Shaan never came back.
The enthusiasm dropped off noticeably.
The source of the Trogite gold was well known; the perils involved in
seeking it were even better known. Gold, however, isn’t worth much
unless the owner can take it someplace where he can spend it. The
Trogites came up with a quick solution to that problem. They started