"Anthony Piers - Incarnations 3 - With a Tangled Skien" - читать интересную книгу автора (Anthony Piers)

their roots and helped fertilize them with their droppings,
and how the hamadryad, or tree nymph, could be
glimpsed if one had the patience to be still and really look
for her. "She dies when her tree dies," she explained.
"That's why she's so sensitive to the sight of anЧ" She
paused, then spelled it, "A-X-E."

"She's real pretty," he agreed. "Almost as pretty as
you. From now on, I'm not cutting noЧnot cutting any
live wood."

Niobe felt a warm wash of pleasure. It was foolish, she
knew, but she liked being reminded she was beautiful,
and nymphs were the standard against which mortals were
measured. Nymphs were eternally youthful and suppleЧ
as long as their trees were healthy. A woodlands specialist
could diagnose the ills of a tree merely by looking at its
nymph.




12 With a Tangled Skein

They went on, getting their feet muddy in the slushy
sections of the path. "Maybe we could drain this bog and

farm this rich soil," Cedric said.

"Drain the bog!" Niobe repeated, shocked. "But it's
vital to the forest! It's a recharge region for water. It
stores excess rainfall and sustains the plants when there's
a drought. Without the wetlands, the land would lose
many of its best trees, and not just those that grow in it.
The water table extends everywhere, and the roots find
itЧbut the wetlands keep the level right."

Then, in her enthusiasm for the wetlands, Niobe burst

into song:

"I want to waltz in the wetlands,
The swamps, the marshes and bogs (oh, the bogs).
Yes, I want to waltz in the wetlands
With the birds and the fish and the frogs."

Cedric watched and listened, openmouthed, until her
conclusion:

"I want to waltz in the wetlands, a place where na-