"Laurie Marks - Elemental Logic 02 - Earth Logic" - читать интересную книгу автора (Marks Laurie)

woman was trying to shoot a deer to cook for her three daughters, who had big appetites.

Raven flew up ahead of the hunter until he saw the deer, which was lying in the cool shade waiting for
sunset. Raven shouted, тАЬRun away, deer, as fast as you can, for there is a hunterтАЩs arrow aimed at your
heart!тАЭ The deer jumped up and ran into the forest. Then the hunter was very angry and cried, тАЬYou are
an evil bird, for because of you my daughters will go hungry!тАЭ

Raven was ashamed of himself and said, тАЬYou are right to be angry with me. So take your bow and
arrow and shoot me, and take me home for your daughtersтАЩ supper.тАЭ So that is what the hunter did. She
killed the Raven and cooked him in a soup.

Even though the girls ate the soup, they were still hungry, and no matter how much they ate, they stayed
hungry. And the hunter, their mother, who was tired because she had been hunting all day, stayed tired
no matter how much she rested. And their neighbor, who was very old and sick, never died. And the
summer never turned to autumn. And the harvest never ripened. And nothing ever broke, but the things
that already were broken could not be mended.

One day everyone in the world came to visit the tired hunter and her three hungry daughters. тАЬDid Raven
trick you into killing him?тАЭ they asked. The tired hunter told them exactly what had happened. Everyone
became very upset with her and said, тАЬDidnтАЩt you know that Raven is the one who decides everything?
He may be mischievous and hard-hearted, but without him we cannot go forward with our lives. You
should have thought of what you were doing. Now we will never see our children grow up, and whatever
we are now, that is what we will always be, and nothing will ever change.тАЭ

They all thought and thought, and then the hunterтАЩs youngest and hungriest daughter said, тАЬI know where
RavenтАЩs bones are.тАЭ So they dug all RavenтАЩs bones out of the ashes of the fire. The middle daughter took
some string and glue and put all the bones together the way they were supposed to be. Then, the oldest
daughter found all the RavenтАЩs wing and tail feathers and glued them on the bones. Finally, the hunter
took the arrow that had killed the Raven and smeared the bones with the blood that was still wet on the
arrowhead. And then, all the people of the world began to laugh. тАЬHey, Raven,тАЭ they said, тАЬthat was a
pretty good joke!тАЭ Raven, of course, could never resist a good laugh, so began to laugh too. тАЬHa! Ha!тАЭ
he said. тАЬThat was a good joke!тАЭ And then he flew on his bone wings to the river to eat frogs and snails
until he got fat and looked like himself again. The hunter shot a deer and her daughters were no longer
hungry. The harvest ripened, the old neighbor died, and the world continued its journey as it should, from
summer to winter, from life to death, and from foolishness to wisdom.
Chapter One



The woman who was the hope of Shaftal walked in solitude through a snow-muffled woodland.

Dressed in three shirts of threadbare wool and an ancient sheepskin jerkin, she carried an ax in a sling
across her back, and dragged a sledge behind her, in which to pile firewood. She might have been any
woodcutter setting out between storms to replenish the woodpile.

The season of starvation had brought down another deer. It was frozen in a bed of churned-up scarlet
snow, and the torn skin now lay in stiff rags. Rib bones gleamed with frost, the belly was a hollowed
cavern, and a gnawed leg bone lay at a distance. The woodcutter scarcely glanced at this gruesome mess
as she strode past, breaking through the snowтАЩs crust and sinking knee-deep with every step. But the
ravens that followed behind her uttered hoarse shouts of discovery and swooped eagerly down to the