"William Morris - The Wood Beyond the World" - читать интересную книгу автора (Morris William)

The dwarf yelled at him: “Art thou dainty, alien? Wouldst thou have flesh? Well, give me thy
bow and an arrow or two, since thou art lazy-sick, and I will get thee a coney or a hare, or a quail
maybe. Ah, I forgot; thou art dainty, and wilt not eat flesh as I do, blood and all together, but
must needs half burn it in the fire, or mar it with hot water; as they say my Lady does: or as the
Wretch, the Thing does; I know that, for I have seen It eating.”


“Nay,” said Walter, “this sufficeth;” and he fell to eating the bread, which was sweet between his
teeth. Then when he had eaten a while, for hunger compelled him, he said to the dwarf: “But
what meanest thou by the Wretch and the Thing? And what Lady is thy Lady?”


The creature let out another wordless roar as of furious anger; and then the words came: “It hath
a face white and red, like to thine; and hands white as thine, yea, but whiter; and the like it is
underneath its raiment, only whiter still: for I have seen It—yes, I have seen It; ah yes and yes
and yes.”


And therewith his words ran into gibber and yelling, and he rolled about and smote at the grass:
but in a while he grew quiet again and sat still, and then fell to laughing horribly again, and then

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said: “But thou, fool, wilt think It fair if thou fallest into Its hands, and wilt repent it thereafter, as
I did. Oh, the mocking and gibes of It, and the tears and shrieks of It; and the knife! What! sayest
thou of my Lady?—What Lady? O alien, what other Lady is there? And what shall I tell thee of
her? it is like that she made me, as she made the Bear men. But she made not the Wretch, the
Thing; and she hateth It sorely, as I do. And some day to come—”


Thereat he brake off and fell to wordless yelling a long while, and thereafter spake all panting:
“Now I have told thee overmuch, and O if my Lady come to hear thereof. Now I will go.”


And therewith he took out two more loaves from his wallet, and tossed them to Walter, and so
turned and went his ways; whiles walking upright, as Walter had seen his image on the quay of
Langton; whiles bounding and rolling like a ball thrown by a lad; whiles scuttling along on all-
fours like an evil beast, and ever and anon giving forth that harsh and evil cry.


Walter sat a while after he was out of sight, so stricken with horror and loathing and a fear of he
knew not what, that he might not move. Then he plucked up a heart, and looked to his weapons
and put the other loaves into his scrip.


Then he arose and went his ways wondering, yea and dreading, what kind of creature he should
next fall in with. For soothly it seemed to him that it would be worse than death if they were all
such as this one; and that if it were so, he must needs slay and be slain.