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

profuse politeness.

In this way, Abdullah was quite often able to buy best-quality carpets
before anyone else saw them, and sell them at a profit, too. In between
buying and selling he could sit in his booth and continue with his
daydream, which suited him very well. In fact, almost the only trouble
in his life came from his father's first wife's relations, who would
keep visiting him once a month in order to point out his failings.

"But you're not saving any of your profits!" cried Abdullah's father's
first wife's brother's son, Hakim (whom Abdullah detested), one fateful
day.

Abdullah explained that when he made a profit, his custom was to use
that money to buy a better carpet. Thus, although all his money was
bound up in his stock, it was getting to be better and better stock. He
had enough to live on. And as he told his father's relatives, he had no
need of more since he was not married.

"Well, you should be married!" cried Abdullah's father's first wife's
sister, Fatima (whom Abdullah detested even more than Hakim). "I've said
it once, and I'll say it again-a young man like

3

you should have at least two wives by now!" And not content with simply
saying so, Fatima declared that this time she was going to look out for
some wives for him-an offer which made Abdullah shake in his shoes.

"And the more valuable your stock gets, the more likely you are to be
robbed, or the more you'll lose if your booth catches fire. Have you
thought of that?" nagged Abdullah's father's first wife's uncle's son,
Assif (a man whom Abdullah hated more than the first two put together).

He assured Assif that he always slept in the booth and was very careful
of the lamps. At that all three of his father's first wife's relatives
shook their heads, rut-tutted, and went away. This usually meant they
would leave him in peace for another month. Abdullah sighed with relief
and plunged straight back into his daydream.

The daydream was enormously detailed by now. In it, Abdullah was the son
of a mighty prince who lived so far to the east that his country was
unknown in Zanzib. But Abdullah had been kidnapped at the age of two by
a villainous bandit called Kabul Aqba. Kabul Aqba had a hooked nose like
the beak of a vulture and wore a gold ring clipped into one of his
nostrils. He carried a pistol with a silver- mounted stock with which he
menaced Abdullah, and there was a bloodstone in his turban which seemed
to give him more than human power. Abdullah was so frightened that he
ran away into the desert, where he was found by the man he called his
father now. The daydream took no account of the fact that Abdullah's