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

joy of flying; sometimes he would overthrow young pines with
his claws as he passed, just to see them fall. He considered

himself a match for almost anyone, especially his cousin. But
his grandmother continued to warn him, looking at him as if
there were yet more behind her words.

And sometimes her words were more puzzling still. She
would mutter herself to sleep with ' "Turtles and toads; turtles
and toads," in tones of such distaste that it seemed there
could be no forms of life lower than these.

CHAPTER II

T URTLES, TOADS,
AND BUTTERFLIES

13

NONESUCH ALWAYS BECAME
UNCOMFORTABLE WHEN

his grandmother spoke so slightingly of
turtles and toads, though he certainly did
not contradict her. Her words reminded him
of an unimportant event in his childhood,
one that he had never thought it worth while
to mention to anyone. Whenever he remem-
bered this incident, he told himself that it
was foolish even to think about it, let alone
bring it into his elders' important conver-
sation.

He had just turned ten and was rejoicing
in his ability to fly, to travel great distances,
to look down on all the petty earth-bound
creatures. One day, soaring above a wide
beech forest, he saw a wink of blue far
below. Circling, he realized it was a small,
perfectly round pool shaded among the
smooth boles of the beech trees. Nonesuch
was still childish enough to be curious at a
new, pretty thing, though he was trying to
overcome this. He glided down into the
forest. This took skill as well as courage,
since his wingspan was already greater
than the distance between many of the trees.
He had to twist and bank to avoid the trunks
and slip between the branches. As he de-