"Charles De Lint - Spiritwalk" - читать интересную книгу автора (De Lint Charles)

"No. Merlin told me."

"TheMerlin?" her uncle asked with a smile.

Now it was her turn to look surprised.

"What do you meanthe Merlin?" she asked.

Her uncle started to explain, astonished that in all her reading she hadn't come across a reference to
Britain's most famous wizard, but then just gave her a copy of Malory'sLe Morte d' Arthur and, after a
moment's consideration, T. H. White'sThe Sword in the Stone as well.



"Did you ever have an imaginary friend when you were a kid?" Sara asked as she finally turned away
from the window.

Julie shrugged. "My mom says I did, but I can't remember. Apparently he was a hedgehog the size of a
toddler named Whatzit."

"I never did. But I can remember that for a long time I used to wake up in the middle of the night just
terrified and then I wouldn't be able to sleep again for the rest of the night. I used to go into the middle of
the garden the next day and sleep under that big oak that grows by the fountain."

"How pastoral," Julie said.

Sara grinned. "But the thing is, I used to dream that there was a boy living in that tree and his name was
Merlin."
"Go on," Julie scoffed.

"No, really. I mean, I really had these dreams. The boy would just step out of the tree and we'd sit there
and talk away the afternoon."

"What did you talk about?"

"I don't remember," Sara said. "Not the detailsтАФjust the feeling. It was all very magical andтАж healing, I
suppose. Jamie said that my having those night fears was just my unconscious mind's way of dealing with
the trauma of losing my parents and then having to live with my dad's brother who only wanted my
inheritance, not me. I was too young then to know anything about that kind of thing; all I knew was that
when I talked to Merlin, I felt better. The night fears started coming less and less often and then finally
they went away altogether."

"I think Merlin took them away for me."

"What happened to him?"

"Who?"

"The boy in the tree," Julie said. "Your Merlin. When did you stop dreaming about him?"