"L. Sprague De Camp - The Unbeheaded King" - читать интересную книгу автора (De Camp L Sprague)

rock the tub and might overset it, despite his endeavors
to fly it on an even keel "

"The tub has no keel," grinned Jonan "But I get his
point "

"Two gentlemen fleeing away
From warfare in doomed Penembel,

Their carriage capsized,

The marsh fertilized,
Their bones molder there to this day'"

"Not your best, my son," said Karadur "We know not
whether Penembel in tact be doomed If that fellow Chui-
vir, whom you nominated king, make good his claim, he
may prove a good to-middlmg monarch Besides, meth-
mks you require a conjunction at the beginning of that
last line "

"That would spoil the meter," said Jonan "The first
foot should always be an iamb, according to Doctor Gwid-
enus "

"Who?"
"The professor who taught me prosody at the Academy
of Othomae Well, how's this7"

THE UNBEHEADED KING

"Two knaves in the royal washbasin
O'er Mom's dank marshes did hasten,

But leaning too far,

They fell with a iar,
And mud their presumption did chasten "

Karadur shook his head "That implies that I, too, am
leaning over the side As you can perceive, I am careful
to keep to the centerline "

"What a literal-minded gaffer you are' All right, let's
see you compose a better'"

"Alas, Jonan, I am no poet, nor is Novanan my native
tongue To compose a verse incorporating the thoughts of
yours in Mulvam, and obeying all sixty-three rules of Mul-
vanian versification, were a task requiring more comfort