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

buythings and go back to my loneliness, "is Eban, son of Egan the Hunter."
And as she said it she looked me full in the face, a smile lighting her lips.

Those who had not been selected began to pick up their buythings.
When they had gone, Strabo sighed and stood forward.
 "And now, as is the custom, the new woman will be given her chance to
choose."

It was breath-holding time again, for two things could happen. First,
Yuree could make a choice and it was all over. Secondly, she could refuse
to make a choice and then it was in the hands of the gods of man.

"May I look first?" Yuree asked, with a charming smile directed at her
father.

"Yes, my daughter," Strabo said proudly, pleased that she was wise
enough to examine the offerings before making a choice. Many prewomen
let their hearts rule and choose without regard for the future or for the
ability of their pairmates to provide for them.

Yuree started at the end of the line, with the pile of buythings offered
by Yorerie the Butcher, made delighted sounds, pawed through, leaving
the pile untidy, and moved on. It was several minutes before she came to
my pile, and then I stood as if frozen, afraid to look down, as she knelt and
pulled my pile apart.

"Such lovely bearskins," she cooed, and I flushed, hoping, for the first
time, that she would choose me immediately. "But," she went on, "Logan's
offerings are beautiful, as are those of Cree and Teetom. It is so difficult."

"It is difficult," Strabas agreed, kneeling beside Logan's pile of
buythings, "but consider this," she said, holding up a lovely beaded skirt of
deerskin.

"There is no need for haste," Strabo said.

Yuree stood, smoothing the tight little skirt of grass over her shapely
rump. "It is sooooo difficult."

I knew that she was not going to pick. It was going into the hands of the
gods of man. So be it, I said to myself.

"Can you not choose?" Strabas asked, holding up the deerskin skirt.

"No, Mother, I cannot. I am too honored by the offerings of the finest
premen of our family," Yuree said.
 "She will not choose," Seer of Things Unseen had told me, not a half
moon past. "She will extract the last measure of it, sending it into the
hands of the gods of man."