"Diana Wynne Jones - Howl's Moving Castle" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jones Diana Wynne)

know I'm slapdash," he was saying, "but there's no need for you to copy me. Always read it right
through, carefully, first. The shape of it should tell you a lot, whether it's self-fulfilling, or
self-discovering, or simple incantation, or mixed action and speech. When you've decided that, go
through again and decide which bits mean what they say and which bits are put as a puzzle. You're
getting on to more powerful kinds now. You'll find every spell of power has at least one deliberate
mistake or mystery in it to prevent accidents. You have to spot those. Now take this spell..."
Listening to Michael's halting replies to Howl's questions, and watching Howl scribble remarks on the
paper with a strange, everlasting quill pen, Sophie realized that she could learn a lot too. It dawned on
her that if Martha could discover the spell to swap herself and Lettie about at Mrs.Fairfax's, then she
ought to be able to do the same here. With a bit of luck, there might be no need to rely on Calcifer.
When Howl was satisfied that Michael had forgotten all about how much or how little he charged
people in Porthaven, he took him out into the yard to help with the King's spell. Sophie creaked to her
feet and hobbled to the bench. The spell was clear enough, but Howl's scrawled remarks defeated her.
"I've never seen such writing!" she grumbled to the human skull. "Does he use a pen or a poker?" She
sorted eagerly through every scrap of paper on the bench and examined the powders and liquids in the
crooked jars. "Yes, let's admit it," she told the skull. "I snoop. And I have my proper reward. I can find
out how to cure fowl pest and abate whooping cough, raise a wind and remove hairs from the face. If
Martha had found this lot, she'd still be at Mrs. Fairfax's."
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Howl, it seemed to Sophie, went and examined all the things she had moved when he came in from the
yard. But that seemed to be only restlessness. He seemed not to know what to do with himself after that.
Sophie heard him roving up and down during the night. He was only an hour in the bathroom the next
morning. He seemed not to be able to contain himself while Michael put on his best plum velvet suit,
ready to go to the Palace in Kingsbury, and the two of them wrapped the bulky spell up in golden paper.
The spell must have been surprisingly light for its size. Michael could carry it on his own easily, with
both is arms wrapped round it. Howl turned the knob over the door red-down for him and sent him out
into the street among the painted houses.
"They're expecting it," Howl said. "You should only have to wait most of the morning. Tell them a
child could work it. Show them. And when you come back, I'll have a spell of power for you to get to
work on. So long."
He shut the door and roved around the room again. "My feet itch," he said suddenly. "I'm going for a
walk on the hills. Tell Michael the spell I promised him is on the bench. And here's for you to keep
busy with."
Sophie found a gray-and-scarlet suit, as fancy as the blue-and-silver one, dropped into her lap from
nowhere. Howl meanwhile picked up his guitar from its corner, turned the doorknob green-down, and
stepped out among the scudding heather above Market Chipping.
"His feet itch!" grumbled Calcifer. There was a fog down in Porthaven., Calcifer was low among his
logs, moving uneasily this way and that to avoid drips in the chimney. "How does he think I feel, stuck
in a damp grate like this?"
"Then you'll have to give me hint at least about how to break you contract," Sophie said, shaking out he
gray-and-scarlet suit. "Goodness, you're a fine suit, even if you a bit worn! Built to pull in the girls,
aren't you?"
"I have given you hint!" Calcifer fizzed.
"Then you'll have to give it to me again. I didn't catch it," Sophie said as she laid the suit down and
hobbled to the door.
"If I give you a hint and tell you it's a hint, it will be information, and I'm not allowed to give that,"
Calcifer said. "Where are you going?"
"To do something I didn't dare do until they were both out," Sophie said. She twisted the square knob
over the door until the black blob pointed downward. Then she opened the door.