"Books - David Eddings - Polgara the Sorceress" - читать интересную книгу автора (Eddings David)

So I gave up. Since I was destined to be ugly, I saw no point in
paying any attention to my appearance. Bathing was a waste of
time, and combing merely accentuated the contrast between the lock
and the rest of my hair. I fell down frequently because I was
awkward at that age, and my bony knees and elbows were usually
skinned. My habit of picking at the resulting scabs left long streaks
of dried blood on my lower legs and forearms, and I chewed my
fingernails almost continually.
To put it rather simply, I was a mess - and I didn't really care.
I gave vent to my resentment in a number of ways. There were
those tiresome periods when I refused to answer when Beldaran
talked to me, and my infantile practice of waiting until she was
asleep at night and then neatly rolling over in our bed to pull all
the covers off her. That one was always good for at least a half-hour
fight. I discarded it, however, after uncle Beldin threatened to have
Beltira and Belkira build another bed so that he could make us
sleep apart. I was resentful about my sister's preoccupation with
our father, but not that resentful.
As I grew older, my field of exploration expanded. I guess uncle
Beldin had grown tired of trying to find me after I'd escaped from
his tower - either that or the Master had advised him to let me
wander. The growth of my independence was evidently important.



I think I was about six or so when I finally discovered the Tree
which stands in the middle of the Vale. My family has a peculiar
attachment to that Tree. When my father first came to the Vale, it
was the Tree that held him in stasis until the weather turned bad
on him. Ce'Nedra, who is a Dryad, after all, was absolutely
entranced by it, and she spent hours communing with it. Garion
has never spoken of his reaction to the Tree, but Garion had other
things on his mind the first time he saw it. When Eriond was quite
young, he and Horse made a special trip just to visit with it.
It surprised me the first time I saw it. I could not believe that
anything alive could be that huge. I remember the day very well.
It was early spring, and a blustery wind was bending the grass in
long waves atop the knolls in the Vale and scudding dirty grey
clouds across the sky. I felt very good and oddly free. I was quite
some distance from uncle Beldin's tower when I topped a long, grassy rise
and saw the Tree standing in solitary immensity in the
next valley. I'll not cast any unfounded accusations here, but it just
so happened that a break in the clouds permitted a single shaft of
sunlight to fall like a golden column upon the Tree.
That got my immediate attention.
The Tree's trunk was much larger than uncle Beldin's tower, its
branches reached hundreds of feet into the air, and its lateral limbs
shaded whole acres. I stared at it in amazement for a long time, and
then I very clearly heard - or felt - it calling to me.
I somewhat hesitantly descended the hill in response. I was wary