"Zach Hughes - Killbird" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hughes Zach)

spoken, all of you," he said. "You do me and my daughter honor, and the
choice will be difficult. You all know the custom. It is for the mother to
speak first."

Strabas stood forward. She was dressed in her finest, although the
weather was hot for swimmer skins. "It is cruel for me to have but one
choice," she said, smiling at the young premen who waited in expectation.
"I know you all. I have known your fathers and your mothers and, in some
cases, your fathers' fathers. But the custom is the custom, and while I
would choose you all, could I but do so, I must harden my heart and
choose but one. That one, my choice, isтАФ" She paused, but it was not
effective, because we all knew her choice. Even he knew it, for he was
shifting from one foot to the other, a proud smile on his face. "тАФLogan,
son of Logman," she said. The assembled females oohed in agreement.
 "And now I must choose," Strabo said. He looked up at the sun and
made a worship sign. "My pairmate has spoken well, and I, too, regret that
by not saying names I exclude some of the finest young premen of the
family. But the custom is the custom, even for Strabo of the Strongarm. I
choose Young Pallas and Cree the Kite." As father, Strongarm had two
choices.

In actual practice, the custom was not always fulfilled, for if the
daughter coming of age was not desirable or rich there would seldom be
enough premen to fulfill all of the allowed choices. It was considered to be
honorable if two premen applied at a coming of age, shameful if there was
only one, so that in some cases buythings were exchanged merely to have
at least two applicants. Once, when I was very young, I remember Stillas
the Housemaker leading a two-man raid on another family merely to
capture one preman to assure his daughter of having two applicants. After
the choice was madeтАФthe family member, of courseтАФthe captured
preman was released.

And now there was a pause as Yuree, shy and smiling, stood before us.
"My father and mother honor me with their wise choices," she said. "I am
the most honored of prewomen. It is not pride which forces me to choose,
but the custom, for who am I to question the age-old ways of the family?
And so, with humbleness, I choose my three." The way she emphasized the
"three" told me that she did feel a little pride, for not many girls had the
opportunity to choose three.

"My choices," Yuree said, "are TeetomтАж" I found myself holding my
breath. "Yorerie the ButcherтАж" There was an intake of breath, for that
choice was a surprising one. Yorerie the Butcher, preparer of meat, always
smelly, crude, cursed with a bent of tongue which made speech difficult,
was an unlikely choice. But, on the other hand, so was Teetom, the shadow
of Logan. Teetom was a mean-natured preman with a hint of cruelty in his
makeup, as if to make up for his weakness. He had been a sickly child and,
as a result, was stunted, was two hands shorter than Logan.

"And my third choice," Yuree said, as I prepared to pick up my