"Errold's Journey" - читать интересную книгу автора (McMullen Catherine S)

"That is obvious. I was sent to watch your camp for three nights, then report to the rest of the pack. You puzzled us: you do not hunt, yet you do not graze either. You are soft and defenseless, like grazers, yet bright and cunning..."

"Like hunters."

"Yes. We would have attacked your camp already, otherwise."

"That would have been very, very silly. Our weapons are not claws and teeth, but they are still deadly."

"Now I know that your species is truly sentient, not like the mrran."

"Mrran? What is that?" I asked

"A mrran is the animal that you have adopted into your herd—or should I say pack? It puzzled me greatly when you did not kill and eat the mrran. The others could hardly believe me when I told them."

"We have other uses for the mrran. It provides wool to cover us. Unlike you, we have little fur of our own. Do you understand that?"

"Yes. In a way I pity you for not having a naturally warm, glossy, thick coat." At this it preened a bit. "What are the other reasons?"

"Do you remember what happened a couple of days ago?"

"Vaguely. There was a storm...and before the storm I was something else. As smart as the mrran, perhaps. Maybe even less smart. During the storm, I changed. All those of my pack changed."

"In a way, the storm created us as well," I explained. "We make our own food, we are neither hunters nor hunted. But we are very, very dangerous. Spread the message to your pack: leave us alone. Soon we shall stop and make a thing called a village. Stay away from it. You are most dangerous when you pounce, but we are even more deadly when we stop moving."

"I have seen that."

I slipped the knots on its bonds and it shook itself free in a moment. It stood and looked at me. After a moment it spoke.

"Something in me says I shouldn't respect anything without fur. But I respect your kind if they are all as smart as you. Is this the right thing to feel, I wonder?"

"I respect your kind." I replied. "But I do not fear them."

"Then we are equal. And because we are equal, I don't think that our peoples should be enemies."

"Spoken like a true and intelligent predator. If my villagers and your pack can stay friendly, then when one of you is sick or injured and needs care, I can help."

"Help the injured? Why?"

"Because it benefits everyone. Are you intelligent enough to see that?"

If cats could frown, it did.

"Fighting would bring the pack no benefit," it said eventually. "I assume that you need clear land and nearby water for your village?"

"Yes, we do. That is why we have not settled down yet. There are too many trees."

"If you continue on for about a day, and then turn east, you will come to the edge of the forest, where the grasslands begin. There is a stream running close by. We don't like water or open land. You are welcome to it."

"Thank you, I think we shall like it a lot."