"Walter Jon Williams - Daddy's World" - читать интересную книгу автора (Williams Walter John)

he was about to stop this group of rampaging demons from destroying the land, and planted himself
directly in the path of the oncoming chariots. Jamie shouted along with the crowd for the Don to
get out of the way before he got killed.
Fortunately Quixote's horse had more sense than he did, because the spindly animal saw the
chariots coming and bolted, throwing its rider. One of the chariots rode right over poor Quixote,
and there was a horrible clanging noise, but after the chariot passed, Quixote sat up, apparently
unharmed. His armor had saved him.
Jamie jumped from his seat and was about to run down to help Don Quixote off the course, but
Becky grabbed his arm. "Hang on," she said, "Someone else will look after him, and I have an
idea."
She explained that Don Quixote would make a perfect man for Princess Gigunda.
"But he's in love with Dulcinea!"


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Becky looked at him patiently. "Has anyone ever seen Dulcinea? All we have to do is convince
Don Quixote that Princess Gigunda is Dulcinea."
After the races, they found that Don Quixote had been arrested by the lictors and sent to the
Lautumiae, which was the Roman jail. They weren't allowed to see the prisoner, so they went in
search of Cicero, who was a lawyer and was able to get Quixote out of the Lautumiae on the promise
that he would never visit Rome again.
"I regret to the depths of my soul that my parole does not enable me to destroy those
demons," Quixote said as he left Rome's town limits.
"Let's not get into that," Becky said. "What we wanted to tell you was that we've found
Dulcinea."
The old man's eyes widened in joy. He clutched at his armor-clad heart. "Mi amor! Where is
she? I must run to her at once!"
"Not just yet," Becky said. "You should know that she's been changed. She doesn't look like
she used to."
"Has some evil sorcerer done this?" Quixote demanded.
"Yes!" Jamie interrupted. He was annoyed that Becky had taken charge of everything, and he
wanted to add his contribution to the scheme. "The sorcerer was just a head!" he shouted. "A
floating head, and a pair of hands! And he wore dark glasses and had no body!"
A shiver of fear passed through him as he remembered the eerie floating head, but the memory
of his old terror did not stop his words from spilling out.
Becky gave him a strange look. "Yeah," she said. "That's right."
"He crashed the interface!" Jamie shouted, the words coming to him out of memory.
Don Quixote paid no attention to this, but Becky gave him another look.
"You're not as dumb as you look, Digit," she said.
"I do not care about Dulcinea's appearance," Don Quixote declared, "I love only the goodness
that dwells in her corazón."
"She's Princess Gigunda!" Jamie shouted, jumping up and down in enthusiasm. "She's been
Princess Gigunda all along!"
And so, the children following, Don Quixote ran clanking to where Princess Gigunda waited
near Jamie's house, fell down to one knee, and began to kiss and weep over the Princess’ hand. The
Princess seemed a little surprised by this until Becky told her that she was really the long-lost
Dulcinea, changed into a giant by an evil magician, although she probably didn't remember it
because that was part of the spell, too.