"Craig Shaw Gardner - Arabian 1 - The Other Sindbad" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gardner Craig Shaw)

down them without impediment.

There, I have mentioned the colors, and what colors! For within the
city's walls you will see every hue witnessed by man, from the soft
pigments deep beneath the sea to the brilliance of the sky and sand,
with all the countless shades in between, from the eternal green of
summer grasses to that mysterious brown you might glimpse only in a
woman's eyes.

By now, you must surely know the place of which I speak. Let me tell
you, then, about Baghdad.

I see by the look on your face that it all becomes clear. Now you know
I speak of the city of wonders, where exquisite goods from the far ends
of the earth are traded every market day, where perfumed gardens
stand but a wall away from the dusty streets, and where magic often
waits within the shadows to benefit the fortunate or to destroy the
unworthy. Baghdad, a place of wealth beyond the imaginings of all but
Allah, but a place that holds more than wealth; indeed, a place where
you will find a bit of everything. The great city of Baghdad holds every
sort of man and woman, from the richest to the poorest, the holiest to
the most profane; a place where wealthy merchants and princes may
walk side by side with common laborers and the lowest of slaves.
And what of me? I know the poorer quarters of Baghdad with an
embarrassing familiarity, for when my story begins, I am but a poor
porter, carrying goods from one quarter of our magnificent city to
another for whatever coin or barter might be had. And my name? It is
Sinbad. No, not the famous sailor, though he figures prominently in my
story as well. No, I am the other Sinbad.

My story begins on this particular day, in this particular quarter of the
city. Perhaps you have heard another version of the tale, but know that
this is the only true version, and I will spare no detail or marvel,
whether that fact brings great glory or causes tremendous humiliation, in
recounting the first seven voyages, and why they caused the far more
important, and even more dangerous, eighth voyage to occur.

You have not heard of the eighth voyage? Well, perhaps my story will
be a new one to you, after all.

I trust you are comfortable. Come, come. No fidgeting, now.

Are you quite prepared?
 Chapter the First,
in which we attend a feast, and our hero detects a difficulty.

The day, at first, was not unusual. It began for me like many others, and
I was contracted to carry an especially weighty burden from one
particular quarter of the great city to another. Still, the day was warm,
and the way was long, and I found my burden pressing heavy down