"Lord Dunsany - In Zaccarath (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dunsany Lord)

In Zaccarath

byLord Dunsany



"Come," said the King in sacred Zaccarath, "and let our
prophetsprophesy before us."
A far-seen jewel of light was the holy palace, a wonder
tothe nomads on the plains.
There was the King with all his underlords, and the
lesserkings that did him vassalage, and there were all his
queenswith all their jewels upon them.
Who shall tell of the splendour in which they sat; of the
thousandlights and the answering emeralds; of the dangerous
beautyof that hoard of queens, or the flash of their laden
necks?
There was a necklace there of rose-pink pearls beyond the
artof the dreamer to imagine. Who shall tell of the
amethystchandeliers, where torches, soaked in rare
Bhyrinian oils, burned and gave off a scent of blethany?
(This herb marvellous, which, growing near the summit of
MountZaumnos, scents all the Zaumnian range, and is smelt
farout on the Kepuscran plains, and even, when the wind is
fromthe mountains, in the streets of the city ofOgnoth.
At night it closes its petals and is heard to breathe, and
itsbreath is a swift poison. This it does even by day if
thesnows are disturbed about it. No plant of this has ever
beencaptured alive by a hunter.)
Enough to say that when the dawn came up it appeared by
contrastpallid and unlovely and stripped bare of all its
glory, so that it hid itself with rolling clouds.
"Come," said the King, "let our prophets prophesy."
Then the heralds stepped through the ranks of the King's
silk-cladwarriors who lay oiled and scented upon velvet
cloaks, with a pleasant breeze among them caused by the fans
ofslaves; even their casting-spears were set with jewels;
throughtheir ranks the heralds went with mincing steps, and
cameto the prophets, clad in brown and black, and one of
themthey brought and set him before the King. And the King
lookedat him and said, "Prophesy unto us."
And the prophet lifted his head, so that his beard came
clearfrom his brown cloak, and the fans of the slaves that
fannedthe warriors wafted the tip of it a little awry. And
hespake to the King, and spake thus:
"Woe unto thee, King, and woe unto Zaccarath. Woe unto
thee, and woe unto thy women, for your fall shall be sore
andsoon. Already in Heaven the gods shun thy god: they
knowhis doom and what is written of him: he sees oblivion
beforehim like a mist. Thou hast aroused the hate of the