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

foot then, the turtle was hardly a worthy foe. At this moment
it was looking at him benevolently, and a little sadly: as if it felt
sony for him. It clearly hadn't realized how deeply it had
insulted him. Nonesuch grew angrier. He considered lashing
all the water out of the pond with his tail and thus destroying
the little world of these lowly creatures who were so small and
weak that they had to make up ridiculous tales to give them-
selves some importance. He reared back, then recalled another
of his grandmother's sayings:' 'Don't become angry over little
things: there are enough big ones." He turned and, in silent
dignity, stalked away.

As he rustled through the forest. Nonesuch slashed down
a hawthorn bush with one sweep of his tail, noting triumphantly

21

that the thorns could not hurt him at all. He destroyed a dried
anthill with one mighty sweep of his paw and was first amused,
then ashamed, to see the tiny ants scurry about. He was
delighted at last to find a worthy and edible foe, a wild boar
fully as large as he. The boar fought well, gashing him twice
with his sharp tusks before it gave up the battle and scurried to
cover in a dense thorn thicket where the dragon could not
follow him.

Their battle had left the ground scarred with many furrows
and holes. Nonesuch swept it all level with his tail, so that no
rain puddles could be formed. Then he found a clearing in the
forest wide enough for him to spread his wings and fly away.
He crossed the forest until he saw the pool again, then flew
higher and higher until it almost vanished. Almost, but not
quite. As long as daylight lasted it was still here, fixed in his
sight, a piercing blue dot. He deliberately kept it in view,
hovering and swooping, until the quiet dusk blotted out all the
forest's details. His grandmother scolded him for returning so
late to the cavern, but he never told her where he had been.

CHAPTER III

AMILY MISFORTUNES

25

AS NONESUCH GREW OLDER.
,THE CATASTROPHES THAT

stmck his own family stopped him from
thinking of the very trivial events of his
childhood. Troubles arrived at a gallop, and