"Kushner,.Donn.-.A.Book.DragonUC" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dragon Stories)

these, besides aB the accidental calamities, we make such
excellent food! They all want to eat us," he said, glancing
with mournful pride at his fat thighs. "Snakes, weasels, fish,
everyone. They prefer the frogs, who have smoother skins.
But if they're hungry enough they'll make do even with my
wrinkles and warts."

The toad sighed again and looked at Nonesuch with soul-
ful brown eyes. "But I recall my glorious past. This lets me
forget my troubles and fears, at least for a time."

'' Your glorious past!'' Nonesuch sputtered, then glared at
the toad, unable to speak. Before he found his tongue, the
toad continued. "Of course, I have no such cosmic origins as
my neighbors here. We are entirely creatures of earth. Some
say the first toad arose from a lump of dried mud. What do I
know of such matters? But I do remember my change of form,''
he explained, with simple, deep pride. "Once I was only a
tadpole, no more than a head, a stomach, and a tail. Then
my legs grew out, and my tail fell off when it was no longer
needed-no offense meant," he added hastily as the dragon
swished his own tail in warning. The toad continued: "And
my bone structure changed too, until I was an unmistakable,
complete toad. And I remember it all!

"Now, you will say, 'What of that? He changed from an
insignificant tadpole to a hardly more significant toad.' But
you also changed, when you were in the egg, and you too."
Here the toad nodded at the turtle, and then at the butterfly.
' 'And you, when you were in the pupa, surrounded by a lovely
silk wrapping. You each changed, in your special way. But
none of you can remember it, except in dreams, /can recall all
my changes. Sometimes it seems to me that if 1 tried hard
enough I could even remember what it was like to be an egg.
This is what we toads think about when we watch the moon,

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which, when it is full, is just the shape of an egg. In the
evenings we sing together, again and again, 'We changed! We
changed! We changed!' "

The turtle and the butterfly listened respectfully to this
ridiculous discourse. Even Nonesuch did not interrupt the small,
ugly creature, but he had especially disliked the reference to
his own life in an egg. This was a subject that dragons never
mentioned: they were ashamed to think that once they had
been so small and weak. He said spitefully to the turtle, "I
suppose you remember all the details of your past life too!"