"the-beginning-of-the-armadilloes" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kipling Rudyard)

'Well, suppose you say that I said that she said something quite
different, I don't see that it makes any difference; because if she
said what you said I said she said, it's just the same as if I said
what she said she said. On the other hand, if you think she said
that you were to uncoil me with a scoop, instead of pawing me into
drops with a shell, I can't help that, can I?'
'But you said you wanted to be scooped out of your shell with my
paw,' said Painted Jaguar.
'If you'll think again you'll find that I didn't say anything of the
kind. I said that your mother said that you were to scoop me out of my
shell,' said Slow-and-Solid.
{BEGINNING_OF_ARMADILLOES ^paragraph 20}
'What will happen if I do?' said the Jaguar most sniffily and most
cautious.
'I don't know, because I've never been scooped out of my shell
before; but I tell you truly, if you want to see me swim away you've
only got to drop me into the water.'
'I don't believe it,' said Painted Jaguar. 'You've mixed up all
the things my mother told me to do with the things that you asked me
whether I was sure that she didn't say, till I don't know whether
I'm on my head or my painted tail; and now you come and tell me
something I оcanп understand, and it makes me more mixy than before.
My mother told me that I was to drop one of you two into the water,
and as you seem so anxious to be dropped I think you don't want to
be dropped. So jump into the turbid Amazon and be quick about it.'
'I warn you that your Mummy won't be pleased. Don't tell her I
didn't tell you,' said Slow-Solid.
'If you say another word about what my mother said-' the Jaguar
answered, but he had not finished the sentence before Slow-and-Solid
quietly dived into the turbid Amazon, swam under water for a long way,
and came out on the bank where Stickly-Prickly was waiting for him.
{BEGINNING_OF_ARMADILLOES ^paragraph 25}
'That was a very narrow escape,' said Stickly-Prickly. 'I don't like
Painted Jaguar. What did you tell him that you were?'
'I told him truthfully that I was a truthful Tortoise, but he
wouldn't believe it, and he made me jump into the river to see if I
was, and I was, and he is surprised. Now he's gone to tell his
Mummy. Listen to him!'
They could hear Painted Jaguar roaring up and down among the trees
and the bushes by the side of the turbid Amazon, till his Mummy came.
'Son, son!' said his mother ever so many times, graciously waving
her tail, 'what have you been doing that you shouldn't have done?'
'I tried to scoop something that said it wanted to be scooped out of
its shell with my paw, and my paw is full of per-ickles,' said Painted
Jaguar.
{BEGINNING_OF_ARMADILLOES ^paragraph 30}
'Son, son!' said his mother ever so many times, graciously waving
her tail, 'by the prickles in your paddy-paw I see that that must have
been a Hedgehog. You should have dropped him into the water.'
'I did that to the other thing; and he said he was a Tortoise, and I