"Diana Wynne Jones - Castle In The Air (txt)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jones Diana Wynne)

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1

In which

Abdullah buys

a carpet

Far to the south of the land of Ingary, in the Sultanates of Rashpuht, a
young carpet merchant called Abdullah lived in the city of Zanzib. As
merchants go, he was not rich. His father had been disappointed in him,
and when he died, he had only left Abdullah just enough money to buy and
stock a modest booth in the northwest corner of the Bazaar. The rest of
his father's money, and the large carpet emporium in the center of the
Bazaar, had all gone to the relatives of his father's first wife.

Abdullah had never been told why his father was disappointed in him. A
prophecy made at Abdullah's birth had something to do with it. But
Abdullah had never bothered to find out more. Instead, from a very early
age, he had simply made up daydreams about it. In his daydreams, he was
really the long-lost son of a great prince, which meant, of course, that
his father was not really his father. It was a complete castle in the
air, and Abdullah knew it was. Everyone told him he inherited his
father's looks. When he looked in a mirror, he saw a decidedly handsome
young man, in a thin, hawk- faced way, and knew he looked very like the
portrait of his father as a young man, always allowing for the fact that
his father wore a

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flourishing mustache, whereas Abdullah was still scraping together the
six hairs on his upper lip and hoping they would multiply soon.

Unfortunately, as everyone also agreed, Abdullah had inherited his
character from his mother-his father's second wife-who had been a dreamy
and timorous woman and a great disappointment to everyone. This did not
bother Abdullah particularly. The life of a carpet merchant holds few
opportunities for bravery, and he was, on the whole, content with it.
The booth he had bought, though small, turned out to be rather well
placed. It was not far from the West Quarter, where the rich people
lived in their big houses surrounded by beautiful gardens. Better still,
it was the first part of the Bazaar the carpet makers came to when they
came into Zanzib from the desert to the north. Both the rich people and
the carpet makers were usually seeking the bigger shops in the center of
the Bazaar, but a surprisingly large number of them were ready to pause
at the booth of a young carpet merchant when that young merchant rushed
out into their paths and offered them bargains and discounts with most