"Lord Dunsany - Idle Days On The Yann (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dunsany Lord)

look on the face of Yann. Then the sailors lighted lanterns
and hung them round the ship, and the light flashed out on a
sudden and dazzled Yann, and the ducks that fed along his
marshy banks all suddenly arose, and made wide circles in
the upper air, and saw the distant reaches of the Yann and
the white mist that softly cloaked the jungle, before they
returned again into their marshes.
And then the sailors knelt on the decks and prayed, not
all together, but five or six at a time. Side by side there
kneeled down together five or six, for there only prayed at
the same time men of different faiths, so that no god should
hear two men praying to him at once. As soon as any one had
finished his prayer, another of the same faith would take
his place. Thus knelt the row of five or six with bended
heads under the fluttering sail, while the central stream of
the River Yann took them on towards the sea, and their
prayers rose up from among the lanterns and went towards the
stars. And behind them in the after end of the ship the
helmsman prayed aloud the helmsman's prayer, which is prayed
by all who follow his trade upon the River Yann, of whatever
faith they be. And the captain prayed to his little lesser
gods, to the gods that bless Belzoond.
And I too felt that I would pray. Yet I liked not to
pray to a jealous God there where the frail affectionate
gods whom the heathen love were being humbly invoked; so I
bethought me, instead, of Sheol Nugganoth, whom the men of
the jungle have long since deserted, who is now unworshipped
and alone; and to him I prayed.
And upon us praying the night came suddenly down, as it
comes upon all men who pray at evening and upon all men who
do not; yet our prayers comforted our own souls when we
thought of the Great Night to come.
And so Yann bore us magnificently onwards, for he was
elate with molten snow that the Poltiades had brought him
from the Hills of Hap, and the Marn and Migris were swollen
with floods; and he bore us in his full might past Kyph and
Pir, and we saw the lights of Goolunza.
Soon we all slept except the helmsman, who kept the ship
in themid-streamofYann .
When the sun rose the helmsman ceased to sing, for by
song he cheered himself in the lonely night. When the song
ceased we suddenly all awoke, and another took the helm, and
the helmsman slept.
We knew that soon we should come to Mandaroon. We made a
meal, and Mandaroon appeared. Then the captain commanded,
and the sailors loosed again the greater sails, and the ship
turned and left the stream of Yann and came into a harbour
beneath the ruddy walls of Mandaroon. Then while the
sailors went and gathered fruits I came alone to the gate of
Mandaroon. A few huts were outside it, in which lived the