"Ursula K. LeGuin - The Royals of Hegn" - читать интересную книгу автора (Le Guin Ursula K)

say without exaggeration, the
centerpiece of every Hegnish household.
Indeed it is the only book anybody
ever reads. Most people know
the sections dealing with their own
family by heart. Publication
 of the annual Addition and
Supplements to the Book of the Blood is awaited as the great event of
the year. It furnishes the staple
of conversation for months, as people
discuss the sad extinction
of the Levigian House with the death
of old Prince Levigvig, the
exciting possibility of an heir to the
Swads arising from the
eminently suitable marriage of Endol
IV and the Duchess of Mabuber,
the unexpected succession of Viscount
Lagn to the crown of East
Fob due to the untimely deaths of his
great-uncle, his uncle,
and his cousin all in the same year,
or the re-legitimization
(by decree of the Board of Editors-
Royal) of the great-grandson
of the Bastard of Egmorg.

There
are eight hundred and seventeen kings in Hegn. Each has
title to certain lands, or palaces, or
at least parts of palaces;
but actual rule or dominion over a
region isn’t what makes a king
a king. What matters is having the
crown and wearing it on certain
occasions, such as the coronation of
another king, and having
one’s lineage recorded
unquestionably in the Book of the Blood, and edging the sod at the first
game of the local sutpot season,
and being present at the annual
Blessing of the Fish, and knowing
that one’s wife is the queen and
one’s eldest son is the crown
prince and one’s brother is the
prince royal and one’s sister
is the princess royal and all
one’s relations and all their children
are of the blood royal.

To
maintain an aristocracy it is necessary that persons of exalted