"Mike Resnick - A Little Knowledge" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Mike)

with the exception of one small girl, long since dead, he was by far the
brightest of the children on Kirinyaga. And since we had emigrated to this
world to create a Kikuyu paradise, far from the corrupt imitation of Europe
that Kenya had become, it was imperative that the mundumugu be the wisest of
men, for the mundumugu not only reads omens and casts spells, but is also the
repository for the collected wisdom and culture of his tribe.
Day by day I added to Ndemi's limited storehouse of knowledge. I
taught him how to make medicine from the bark and pods of the acacia tree, I
showed him how to create the ointments that would ease the discomfort of the
aged when the weather turned cold and wet, I made him memorize the hundred
spells that were used to bless the scarecrows in the field. I told him a
thousand parables, for the Kikuyu have a parable for every need and every
occasion, and the wise mundumugu is the one who finds the right parable for
each situation.
And finally, after he had served me faithfully for six long years,
coming up my hill every morning, feeding my chickens and goats, lighting the
fire in my boma, and filling my empty water gourds before his daily lessons
began. I took him into my hut and showed him how my computer worked.
There are only four computers on all of Kirinyaga. The others belong
to Koinnage, the paramount chief of our village, and to two chiefs of distant
clans, but their computers can do nothing but send and receive messages. Only
mine is tied into the data banks of the Eutopian Council, the ruling body that
had given Kirinyaga its charter, for only the mundumugu has the strength and
the vision to be exposed to European culture without becoming corrupted by it.
One of the primary purposes of my computer was to plot the orbital
adjustments that would bring seasonal changes to Kirinyaga, so that the rains
would come on schedule and the crops would flourish and the harvest would be
successful. It was perhaps the mundumugu's most important obligation to his
people, since it assured their survival. I spent many long days teaching
Ndemi all the many intracacies of the computer, until he knew its workings as
well as I myself did, and could speak to it with perfect ease.
The morning that I first noticed the change in him began like any
other. I awoke, wrapped my blanket around my withered shoulders, and walked
painfully out of my hut to sit by my fire until the warming rays of the sun
took the chill from the air. And, as always, there was no fire.
Ndemi came up the path to my hill a few minutes later.
"Jambo, Koriba," he said, greeting me with his usual smile.
"Jambo, Ndemi," I said. "How many times have I explained to you that I
am an old man, and that I must sit by my fire until the air becomes warmer?"
"I am sorry, Koriba," he said. "But as I was leaving my father's
shamba, I saw a hyena stalking one of our goats, and I had to drive it off."
He held his spear up, as if that were proof of his statement.
I could not help but admire his ingenuity. It was perhaps the
thousandth time he had been late, and never had he given the same excuse
twice. Still, the situation was becoming intolerable, and when he finished
his chores and the fire had warmed my bones and eased my pain, I told him to
sit down opposite me.
"What is our lesson for today?" he asked as he squatted down.
"The lesson will come later," I said, finally letting my blanket fall
from my shoulders as the first warm breeze of the day blew a fine cloud of