"Naomi Novik - Temeraire 3 - Black Powder War" - читать интересную книгу автора (Novik Naomi)

man and is not to be found anywhere in the animal world, nor imitated by machinery. However, upon
closer examination, we discover that…these feats we are to accept, upon the scantiest of evidence—the
testimony of the dragon’s captain and his officers, his fond and affectionate companions, affirmed by Sir
Edward Howe only through one examination made personally, over the course of a few hours. This may
 Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html




seem sufficient to some number of my readers, the essay made more plausible by its less-ambitious
forerunners in the field. However, permit me to point out that a similarly fragile body of evidence serves
as the foundation of many of these earlier works as well….

My audience may justly demand to know why such a claim might be pressed, intentionally or no; without
making any accusation, I will for the satisfaction of this demand speculate not upon theactual, but upon
plausible motives, though only considering those which may be called disinterested. I trust that these are
sufficient to allay any suspicion that I mean to suggest any sordid conspiracy, for nothing could be further
from my mind. It is natural that the huntsman should love his hounds and see in their brute devotions a
human affection, that he should read into the tenor of their barks and the gleam of their eyes a deeper
communication; it is the huntsman’s own sensitivity which makes truth of this illusion, and makes him all
the better a custodian of his flock. That the officers of the Aerial Corps have a communication of this sort
with their dragons I do not doubt; but this must be laid to the credit of the men and not the beasts, even if
the men deny the credit of it in all sincerity…. Furthermore, all those who have affection for these noble
creatures must desire the improvement of their condition, and an acknowledgment of, as it were, the
humanity of these beasts, must surely oblige us to deal with them more kindly than heretofore, which
cannot be called anything but a generous motive….

So far I have only endeavored to cast doubt upon the work of others. If positive evidence to the
contrary be desired, however, we need only to contemplate the condition of feral dragons to have this
truth at once illustrated before us. I have spoken at length with those good herdsmen who tend the
breeding-grounds at Pen Y Fan, whose work daily brings them into the circles of the wild dragons, and
who, rough as they themselves are, view these beasts with an unromantic disposition. Left to their own
devices, unharnessed and free, these feral dragons display native cunning and an animal intelligence, but
no more. They make no use of language, save the grunting and hissing common among animals; they form
no society nor civilized relations; they have no art and no industry; they manufacture nothing, neither
shelter nor tools. The same cannot be said of the meanest savage in the most barren part of the earth;
what dragons know of higher things, they have learned only from men, and the impulse is not native to the
species. Surely this is sufficient evidence of distinction between man and dragon, if such evidence be
necessary….

If with these arguments I have failed to convince, I will close with the final assertion that a conclusion so
extravagant, flying in the face of all recorded and Scriptural authority and much observation to the
contrary, must rather be proventrue thanfalse, and if even eligible for consideration ought to endure
challenge greater than what my own small powers have enabled me to offer herein, with however good a
will upon my part, and requires a far more substantial body of evidence, obtained and affirmed by
impartial observers. It is in hopes of provoking wiser men than myself to doubt and to fresh investigations
that I have ventured to make this attempt at refutation, and I most sincerely beg pardon of any man
whom I may have herein offended, whether through my opinions or my lack of skill in expounding upon
them.