"Arthur C. Clarke. The fountains of paradise" - читать интересную книгу автора

bejeweled.

"Once, there were more than two hundred figures. But the rains and
winds of centuries have destroyed all except twenty, which were protected by
an over-hanging ledge of rock..."

The image zoomed forward; one by one the last survivors of Kalidasa's
dream came floating out of the darkness, to the hackneyed yet singularly
appropriate music of Anitra's Dance. Defaced though they were by weather,
decay and even vandals, they had lost none of their beauty down the ages.
The colours were still fresh, unfaded by the light of more than half a
million westering suns. Goddesses or women, they had kept alive the legend
of the Rock.

"No one knows who they were, what they represented, and why they were
created with such labour, in so inaccessible a spot. The favourite theory is
that they were celestial beings, and that all Kalidasa's efforts here were
devoted to creating a heaven on earth, with its attendant goddesses. Perhaps
he believed himself a God-King, as the Pharaohs of Egypt had done; perhaps
that is why he borrowed from them the image of the Sphinx, guarding the
entrance to his palace."

Now the scene shifted to a distant view of the Rock, seen reflected in
the small lake at its base. The water trembled, the outlines of Yakkagala
wavered and dissolved. When they had reformed, the Rock was crowned by walls
and battlements and spires, clinging to its entire upper surface. It was
impossible to see them clearly; they remained tantalisingly out of focus,
like the images in a dream.
No man would ever know what Kalidasa's aerial palace had really looked
like, before it was destroyed by those who sought to extirpate his very
name.

"And here he lived, for almost twenty years, awaiting the doom that he
knew would come. His spies must have told him that, with the help of the
kings of southern Hindustan, Malgara was patiently gathering his armies."
"And at last Malgara came. From the summit of the Rock, Kalidasa saw
the invaders marching from the north. Perhaps he believed himself
impregnable; but he did not put it to the test. For he left the safety of
his great fortress, and rode out to meet his brother, in the neutral ground
between the two armies. One would give much to know what words they spoke,
at that last encounter. Some say they embraced before they parted; it may be
true."
"Then the armies met, like the waves of the sea. Kalidasa was fighting
on his own territory, with men who knew the land, and at first it seemed
certain that victory would go to him. But then occurred another of those
accidents that determine the fate of nations."
"Kalidasa's great war elephant, caparisoned with the royal banners,
turned aside to avoid a patch of marshy ground. The defenders thought that
the king was retreating. Their morale broke; they scattered, as the
Chronicles record, like chaff from the winnowing fan."