"Roger Zelazny & Robert Sheckley - A Farce To Be Reckoned With" - читать интересную книгу автора (Zelazny Roger)

members of his party.

When Azzie complained about the play's lack of originality, Westfall said, "Indeed, sir, it is not supposed
to be original. It is a story that tells a most edifying message."

"You call that an edifying message?" Azzie demanded. "Be patient and it'll all work out? You know
perfectly well that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and that if you don't complain nothing ever
changes. In the Noah story, God was a tyrant. He should have been opposed! Who says God is right
every time? Is a man to have no judgment of his own? If I were a playwright, I'd come up with
something better than that!"

Westfall thought that Azzie's words were provocative and unorthodox, and it was in his mind to chastise
him. But he noticed that there was a strange and commanding presence about the young fellow, and it
was well known that members of the Court often disguised themselves as ordinary gentlemen, the better
to draw responses from the unwary. So Westfall eased up on his queries, finally pleading the late hour as
an excuse to retire.

After Westfall and the others had departed, Azzie stayed on awhile at the tavern. He wasn't sure what to
do next. Azzie considered following Ylith and again trying his seductive wiles, but he realized it would not
be a good move. He decided instead to travel on to the Continent, as he had originally intended. He was
thinking of staging a play of his own. A play that would run counter to these morality plays with their
insipid messages. An immorality play!

Chapter 3
The idea of staging an immorality play had seized and inflamed Azzie's imagination. He wanted to do
great things, as he had in the past, first in the matter of Prince Charming and then again in the affair of
Johann Faust. Now he wanted to strike again, to amaze the world, both spiritual and material.

A play! An immorality play! One that would create a new legend concerning man's destiny, and would
single- handedly turn the tides of fortune toward Darkness!

He knew it was no small task; he knew he had some strenuous work ahead of him. But he also knew of
the man who could help him create such a play: Pietro Aretino, one day to be eminent among Europe's
Renaissance playwrights and poets. If Aretino could be convinced…

He made up his mind sometime after midnight. Yes, he would do it! Azzie walked through the town of
York and out onto the fields. It was a splendid night, with a great spangling of stars shining from their
fixed sphere. All good God-fearing folk had gone to bed hours ago. Seeing there was no one about,
God-fearing or not, he stripped off his satin coat with the double row of buttons and opened his crimson
waistcoat. He was splendidly muscled; supernatural creatures are able, by paying a modest fee, to keep
their bodies in shape magically, utilizing the Hellish service that advertises "Sound body, evil mind."
Stripped, he unfastened the linen binder that pulled his batlike demon's wings flat to his body in order to
conceal them during his journeys among mankind. How good it felt to stretch his wings again! He used
the linen binder to tie up his clothing to his back, taking care that his change was securely placed. He had
lost money this way before through careless stowage. And then, with three running steps, he was aloft.

He slid forward in time as he went, enjoying its astringent smell. Soon he was over the English Channel,
headed in a southeasterly direction. A brisk little following breeze pushed him along to the French coast
in record time.