"Dunsany, Lord - Poltarnees, Beholder of Ocean" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dunsany Lord)

And on another day the King of Arizim bade his daughter
forth at dawn, and they stood again upon the balcony. And
the sun came up over a world of orchards, and the sea-mists
went back over Poltarnees to the Sea; little wild voices
arose in all the thickets, the voices of the fountains began
to die, and the song arose, in all the marble temples, of
the birds that are sacred to the Sea. And Hilnaric stood
there, still glowing with dreams of heaven.
"She is more beautiful," said the kings, "than morning."
Yet one more trial they made of Hilnaric's beauty, for
they watched her on the terraces at sunset ere the petals of
the orchards had fallen, and all along the edge of
neighbouring woods the rhododendron was blooming with the
azalea. And the sun went down under craggy Poltarnees, and
the sea-mist poured over his summit inland. And the marble
temples stood up clear in the evening, but films of twilight
were drawn between the mountain and the city. Then from the
Temple ledges and eaves of palaces the bats fell headlong
downwards, then spread their wings and floated up and down
through darkening ways; lights came blinking out in golden
windows, men cloaked themselves against the grey sea-mist,
the sound of small songs arose, and the face of Hilnaric
became a resting-place for mysteries and dreams.
"Than all these things," said the kings, "she is more
lovely: but who can say whether she is lovelier than the
Sea?"
Prone in a rhododendron thicket at the edge of the palace
lawns a hunter had waited since the sun went down. Near to
him was a deep pool in where the hyacinths grew and strange
flowers floated upon it with broad leaves, and there the
great bull gariachs came down to drink by starlight, and,
waiting there for the gariachs to come, he saw the white
form of the Princess leaning on her balcony. Before the
stars shone out or the bulls came down to drink he left his
lurking-place and moved closer to the palace to see more
nearly the Princess. The palace lawns were full of
untrodden dew, and everything was still when he came across
them, holding his great spear. In the farthest corner of
the terraces the three old kings were discussing the beauty
of Hilnaric and the destiny of the Inner Lands. Moving
lightly, with a hunter's tread, the watcher by the pool came
very near, even in the still evening, before the Princess
saw him. When he saw her closely he exclaimed suddenly:
"She must be more beautiful than the Sea."
When the Princess turned and saw his garb and his great
spear she knew that he was a hunter of gariachs.
When the three kings heard the young man exclaim they
said softly to one another:
"This must be the man."
Then they revealed themselves to him, and spoke to try