"Brown,.Mary.-.Unicorn's.Ring.2.-.1994.-.Pigs.Don't.Fly" - читать интересную книгу автора (Brown Mary)

combed and dressed her hair and prepared her for her visitors. Once the ashes
were good and hot they were raked aside for the bread, or if it was pies or
patties I would set them on the hearthstone under their iron cover and rake back
the ashes to cover them.
Once Mama was settled in her chair by the fire it was away again for more wood
and water and once I was back there were the hives to check, a watch on the
curdling goat's milk for cheese, digging or sowing or watering in the
vegetable-patch and perhaps mixing straw and mud for any cracks in the fabric of
the cottage. Then
6 Mary Brown
indoors for sewing, mending, washing pots and bowls, followed by any other tasks
Mama thought necessary.
Once the gathering, storing and salting of autumn were over, my outside tasks
during the winter were of a necessity curtailed, although there were still the
wood- and water-chores, even with snow on the ground. There were the stores to
check: jars of our honey, crocks of flour, trays of apples, salted ham, clamps
of root vegetables, strings of onions and garlic, bunches of herbs, dried beans
and pulses. That done, it was time for candle-dipping, spinning, carding wool,
sharpening of knives, re-sturring pillows and cushions, sewing and mending,
mixing of pastes and potions and repairing of shoes.
Then came the time I liked best. While I dampened down the fire and made us a
brew of camomile flowers, Mama would comb her hair and sing some of the old
songs. We would climb into bed and snuggle down behind the drawn hangings for
warmth, and if she felt like it my mother would either tell me a tale of wicked
witches and beautiful princesses or else, which I like even better, would tell
once more of how she had come to be here and of the men she had known.
Especially my father.
I had heard her story many times before, but a good tale loses nothing in the
retefling, and I would close my eyes and see pictures in my mind of the pretty
young girl fleeing home to escape the vile attentions of her stepfather; I would
shiver with sympathy as I followed the flight of the pregnant lass through the
worst of winters and sigh with relief when she reached, by chance, the haven of
our village, and my heart filled with relief when I re-heard how she had been
taken in by the miller and his wife. Once her pregnancy was discovered, however,
there was a meeting of the Council to decide what should be done with her, for
now she was a Burden on the Parish and could be turned away to starve.
"But of course there was no question of that," said Mama complacently. "Once I
had discovered who was what, I had distributed my favors enthusiastically to
those who mattered, and all the important men of the village
PIGS DON'T FLY 7
were well disposed to heed my suggestion for easing their .. . problems, shall
we say? Of course much was tease and promise, for there is nothing more arousing
to a man than the thought of undisclosed delights to come.... Remember that,
daughter. You had better write it down some time. Of course I was far more
beautiful and accomplished than the other girls in the village, though I say it
myself, even though I was four months gone. I still had my figure and my soft,
creamy skin, and of course every man likes a woman with hair as black and smooth
as mine... .You would say, would you not, child, that my skin and hair are still
incomparable?"
"Of course, Mama!" I would answer fervently, though if truth were told her hair