"Brian Jacques - Redwall 01 - Redwall" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jacques Brian)

BOOK ONE

The Wall

Matthias cut a comical little figure as he wobbled his way along the
cloisters, with his large sandals flip-flopping and his tail peeping from
beneath the baggy folds of an oversized novice's habit. He paused to gaze
upwards at the cloudless blue sky and tripped over the enormous sandals.
Hazelnuts scattered out upon the grass from the rush basket he was carrying.
Unable to stop, he went tumbling cowl over tail.

Bump!

The young mouse squeaked in dismay. He rubbed tenderly at his damp snub nose
while slowly taking stock of where he had landed: directly at the feet of
Abbot Mortimer!

Immediately Matthias scrambled about on all fours, hastily trying to stuff
nuts back into the basket as he muttered clumsy apologies, avoiding the stern
gaze of his elder.

"Er, sorry, Father Abbot. I tripped, y'see. Trod on my Abbot, Father Habit. Oh
dear, I mean. ..."

The Father Abbot blinked solemnly over the top of his glasses. Matthias again.
What a young buffoon of a mouse. Only the other day he had singed old Brother
Methuselah's whiskers while lighting candles.

The elder's stern expression softened. He watched the little novice rolling
about on the grass, grappling with large armfuls of the smooth hazelnuts which
constantly seemed to escape his grasp. Shaking his old grey head, yet trying
to hide a smile, Abbot Mortimer bent and helped to gather up the fallen nuts.

"Oh Matthias, Matthias, my son," he said wearily. "When will you learn to take
life a little slower, to walk with dignity and humility? How can you ever hope
to be accepted as a mouse of Red wall, when you are always dashing about
grinning from whisker to tail like a mad rabbit?"

Matthias tossed the last of the hazelnuts into the basket and stood awkwardly
shuffling his large sandals in the grass. How could he say aloud what was in
his heart?

The Abbot put his paw around the young mouse's shoulder, sensing his secret
yearnings, for he had ruled Red-wall wisely over a great number of years and
gained much experience of mouselife. He smiled down at his young charge and
spoke kindly to him. "Come with me, Matthias. It is time we talked together."

A curious thrush perching in a gnarled pear tree watched the two figures make
their way at a sedate pace in the direction of Great Hall, one clad in the