"Scott Mackay - The Sages Of Cassiopeia" - читать интересную книгу автора (Mackay Scott)

"Your Holiness, I mention Kopernik because of the discrepancies he discovered in
Ptolemy's system. Certainly he was misguided to claim the sun resides at the
center of the universe, but perhaps you haven't fully understood my final
calculations," said Tycho. "You'll see that I've explained Kopernik's
inconsistencies while keeping earth in its true and proper place."

"I don't care about your calculations, Lord Brahe," said the bishop. "I care
about your soul. And I sometimes fear the way of science leads directly to the
Devil. Is it not better to behold and worship God's miracles? Everything you
need to know is written here." The bishop tapped the thick Bible on the table.
"Let us not question God's wisdom in putting the earth in the center of the
universe. Let us not question this new star in the sky, for there was once a
star over Bethlehem with the same benign radiance. Let us not question how your
brother has gained reason or how the widow Huitfeldt's Peder has been touched
with intelligence. These are miracles, Lord Brahe, and to pursue them with
scientific study shows ill judgment and a temperament hardly attuned to the
truer course of prayer."

The Brahe brothers walked through the village of Knudstrup, Tycho on his mare,
Magnus leading the horse by a rope. As they neared the canal, the village
bullies emerged from behind the embankment and pelted Magnus with mud and cow
dung, laughing, shrieking with cruel glee.

"Be gone with you, wretched curs," cried Tycho, drawing his sword.

Much to Tycho's surprise, Magnus darted away from the horse. The boys stood
there with terror in their eyes. Magnus grabbed two of the biggest, dragged them
kicking and screaming to the embankment wall, and, using his ox-like strength,
pitched them into the canal. The others scattered like wheat chaff in the wind
while the two wet culprits sputtered for breath and pulled themselves up onto
the muddy bank. Magnus turned to Tycho.

"A chilly immersion for these we'er-do-well knaves," he said, laughing.

"For all the cripples they've stoned and all the idiots they've scoffed."

"Dear brother, are you truly Magnus ?"

"Of Herritzvad Abbey, the simple sibling of the great Tycho. My beloved Tyge,
who knows the secret clockwork of the stars."

"Yes, but not as simple as before. The Holy Father has blessed me, Magnus. I've
found a new star, and I've found a new brother."

They walked past the village common, where the grass had turned brown and the
hoar-frost bearded the brambles in the far thicket. Magnus strode along beside
the horse, a new man, refashioned into the brother Tycho had never had, his eyes
quick, full of purpose, his face rosy in the morning cold. Off to see the widow
Huitfeldt, because she, too, had been blessed by this miracle. Tycho had to see