"Dunsany, Lord - Plays of Gods and Men" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dunsany Lord)

learned the way of him.

King:
Is it then Time that has mocked our futile prayers? Is
he then greater than God that he has laughed at our
praying?

Eznarza:
We may not say that he is greater than God. Yet we
prayed that our own year might not pass away. God
could not save it.

King:
Yes, yes. We prayed that prayer. All men would laugh
at it.

Eznarza:
The prayer was not laughable. Only he that is lord of
the years is obdurate. If a man prayed for life to a
furious, merciless Sultan well might the Sultan's
slaves laugh. Yet it is not laughable to pray for
life.

King:
Yes, we are slaves of Time. To-morrow brings the
princess who comes from Tharba. We must bow our heads.

Eznarza:
My people say that Time lives in the desert. He lies
there in the sun.

King:
No, no, not in the desert. Nothing alters there.

Eznarza:
My people say that the desert is his country. He
smites not his own country, my people say. But he
overwhelms all other lands of the world.

King:
Yes, the desert is always the same, ev'n the littlest
rocks of it.

Eznarza:
They say that he loves the Sphinx and does not harm
her. They say that he does not dare to harm the
Sphinx. She has borne him many gods whom the infidels
worship.

King: