"02 - An Excess of Enchantments" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gardner Craig Shaw)

I began to introduce myself in turn when I was interrupted by the very loud noise of Hubert emerging from the lake.

"But you haven't had a chance to see our act!" the dragon called to Mother Duck. "Now, however, that you have dealt with that untimely interruption, it's time to begin!" The trees shook as Hubert tap-danced his way into our midst.

Mother Duck stared at no one in particular. "What have I done to deserve this?"

"I've asked myself the same question a thousand times," Snarks confided in the old woman.

"Shall we tell them about our new dance craze?" Alea piped up.

"That'll wow them!" the dragon agreed. "Ah-one and ah-two--"

Alea jumped from the dragon's back, careful to sweep her incredibly long hair aside so that it wouldn't get in her way. The two began to sing:

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"Don't you act so nonchalant, Let's both go where the dancing's hot! Cause you can go wherever you want When you're doing the Dragon Trot!"

Mother Duck regarded the performers, all the color drained from her face. "All I want to do is create," she moaned. "And now this."

Damsel and Dragon continued:

"First you fling your right foot, fast and free; You might crush a bush, you might crush a tree. Then you kick your left foot, what a romp; And if they don't like it-- Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!"

Damsel and Dragon crushed a large amount of underbrush under foot for emphasis before they launched once again into the chorus:

"Don't you act so nonchalant, Let's both go where the dancing's hot! Cause you can go--"

"Twenty-three years," Mother Duck went on. "I've been doing this for twenty-three years, and never, ever . . ." Her voice died before she could finish the sentence. Alea began to dance between the dragon's toes, as, high above her, Hubert performed selected birdsong imitations.

Mother Duck shook her head. "My dear mother always told me I should go into another line of work. You'll never go hungry if you become a General Witch Practitioner, she'd always say. And love potions! You can get rich with love" potions! But no. I had to follow my own muse and get involved with characters like this."

Damsel and Dragon launched into yet another verse:

"Next you take your tail and swish it around; Be sure to flatten everything down to the ground; -- What you can't stomp down you can certainly push. Say, hey, you're a dragon so crush! Crush! Crush!"

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Guxx Unfufadoo began to sneeze.

Mother Duck looked about her entreatingly, as if, somewhere in her Eastern Kingdoms, there might be something that would enable everything to make sense. It was an amazing transformation. This once strong woman, the mistress of all she surveyed, suddenly looked like a tourist lost without her guidebook. A moment ago, she had flicked Guxx Unfufadoo away as if the demon lord were some insignificant gnat. Now, Damsel and Dragon seemed to have totally undone her.

Not that I hadn't seen it happen before. As the demon Snarks might say, when you watched Damsel and Dragon perform, it was like giving a whole new definition to the word "entertainment." Faced with an act of Damsel and Dragon's character, Mother Duck didn't have a chance.

Still, it was an amazing transformation. Perhaps this would be a good time to make my proposal.

"Indeed," I began as the duo launched into another chorus. "I was wondering--"

"Where have I gone wrong?" Mother Duck asked, turning to face me. "I'll be honest with you, I've never felt quite comfortable with the whole thing from the very beginning. Even my name--Mother Duck. Oh, it's not a bad name, mind you, but it doesn't have quite the snap I was looking for. If your fairy tales are going to be remembered throughout history, your name should have some snap. Don't you agree?"