"Juliet E. McKenna - Einarinn 3 - The Gambler's Fortune" - читать интересную книгу автора (McKenna Juliet E)

The Gambler's Fortune
the third tale of einarinn
Juliet E. McKenna
3S XHTML edition 1.0
click for scan notes and proofing history


contents
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One

Songs of the Common People
Being gathered on travels throughout
the Tormalin Empire in the reigns of
Castan the Gracious and Nemith the Wily,
by Maitresse Dyesse Den Parisot
The House of Den Parisot has dwelt in the Nyme Valley since the days of the
earliest Emperors. As the wisdom of Tormalin advances to embrace ever wider
lands, the men of the House work ceaselessly in the service of their Name and Den
Parisot responsibilities now run from farthest east to the very fringes of the Great
Forest. The bonds of affection between my husband and myself were so sorely
tested when these obligations drew him from home that I resolved to go on the
road in his company. While fulfilling my wifely duties on our travels, I made a
study of the tales and music we heard and present them here for a wider audience.
Music is always a proper occupation for women, from the lullaby that soothes the
fractious babe, to the genteel airs we teach our daughters, to the round songs we
share in good fellowship. In these songs gleaned from the commonalty of the
Empire, I have found beguiling melody, tales to provoke tears and laughter and
no little wisdom. Much of value and beauty has been found across the Empire to
ornament the great Houses of Tormalin and music is but a less tangible wealth to
enrich us.
 I present these songs as an entertainment, and too, as evident proof of all that
unites the Empire, however many leagues might divide its peoples. While we
beseech Drianon's blessing on our fields of wheat, so the people of the boundless
plains commit their mares and foals to her care. I have been welcomed in Ostrin's
name to the leathern tents of cattleherds, just as devoutly as on the threshold of the
Imperial palace. Divine authority pays no heed to bounds of time or distance and
the same is true of music. A song of woodland birds sung to a babe beneath the
leaves of the wildwood will beguile a silk-swathed princeling just as happily.
Stirring adventures from northern mountains will warm the blood of youths in the
cohorts and teach them much of courage and duty besides.
Harmony delights the ear more than the solitary voice. A threefold cord is not so
easily broken as a single strand. Brothers united in common purpose fare better
than those divided by rivalry or suspicion. Such truths are acknowledged the
length and breadth of the Empire. You will find these and more besides in this
collection.
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