"Simon Hawke - Wizard 7 - The Wizard of Camelot" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hawke Simon)

"Well.. .no, of course not. But then hypnotism isn't magic."

"Really?" Merlin said. "In my time, it was known as a spell of compulsion.''

"Somehow, I don't think that's quite the same thing," I replied, unable to
repress a smile.

"I see," he said. "You mean if I were to claim that I could place you under a
spell and compel you to act in a certain way, you would disbelieve it. Yet, if
I
claimed to be a hypnotist who could use this power of suggestion to
accomplish
the very same thing, you would have no difficulty in believing that?"

I suddenly felt uncertain of my ground.' 'Uh... well, no, if you put it that
way, I suppose I wouldn't. But then everyone knows that hypnotism isn't
magic.
It's merely a technique, a skill that almost anyone can learn."

"One could say the same thing about magic," Merlin said. "In fact, I just
did,
mere moments ago."

I felt confused. "I don't understand. Are you suggesting that hypnotism is
magic?''

"Forget about hypnotism," Merlin said with a dismissive wave of his hand.
"The
word 'magic* is what seems to be troubling you. So tell me, what do you
understand magic to be?"

I took a deep breath and exhaled heavily. "Well, I'm not sure I understand
magic
to be anything," I replied. "What I mean is, I'd always believed that there
was
no such thing, except in fairy tales."

"What is it in these fairy tales, then?" asked Merlin.

I shrugged. "As I said before, it's a supernatural ability"

"To do what?"

"To..." I shook my head, searching for the right way to put it. "To, uh,
influence your environment in some fantastic way To conjure up demons, I
suppose, or turn people into toadstools or something."

"Stop there,'' said Merlin.' 'Never mind the conjuring of demons and turning
people into toadstools. Those are fairly difficult spells, only for advanced