"Books - David Eddings - Belgarath the Sorcerer" - читать интересную книгу автора (Eddings David)

"Now, as for your problem. Why don't you just call all your
Clan-Chiefs together and have them draw lots to decide which of them
will be the leader of the Alorns?"

"You mean just leave it all in the hands of pure chance?"

"It is a solution, my Lord, and if you and I both promise not to tamper
in any way, your Clan-Chiefs won't have any cause for complaint, will
they? They'll all have an equal chance at the position, and if you
order them to abide by the way the lot falls, it should put an end to
all this ..." I choked back the word "foolishness."

"My people do like to gamble," he conceded.

"Did you know that we invented dice?"

"No," I said blandly.

"I didn't know that." To my own certain knowledge, every other race
made exactly the same claim.

"Why don't we summon your Clan-Chiefs, my Lord? You can explain the
contest--and the rules--to them, and we can get on with it. We
certainly wouldn't want to keep Torak waiting, would we? He'll miss
you terribly if you're not there when the fighting starts."

He grinned at me. As I've said before, Belar has his faults, but he
was a likable young God.

"Oh, by the way, my Lord," I added, trying to make it sound like an
afterthought, "if it's all right with you, I'll march south with your
people." Somebody had to keep an eye on the Alorns.

"Certainly, Belgarath," he replied.

"Glad to have you."

And so the Alorn Clan-Chiefs drew lots, and regardless of what Polgara
may think, I did not tamper with the outcome. In my view, one
Clan-Chief was almost the same as any other, and I really didn't care
who won--just as long as somebody did. As luck had it, the Clan-Chief
who won was Chaggat, the ultimate great-grandfather of Cherek
Bear-shoulders, the greatest king the Alorns have ever had. Isn't it
odd how those things turn out? I've since discovered that while I
didn't tamper and neither did Belar, something else did. The talkative
friend Garion carries around in his head took a hand in the game. He
was the one who selected Cherek's ancestor to be the first king of the
Alorns. But I'm getting ahead of myself--or had you noticed that?

Once the question of leadership had been settled, the Alorns started