"John Morressy - The Juggler" - читать интересную книгу автора (Morressy John)

INTRODUCTION
The Benevolence of Count Osostro

The count Osostro enjoyed unlimited power in his domain, and he wielded his power with the caprice of a
godling. He could spare a life with one breath and impose death with the next, dispense on one and the
same occasion joy with his left hand and misery with his right. He could smile and be cruel; he could frown
and be kind.
His deeds had become legend. It was said that on the same day he had in the morning taken up an aging
widow found shivering at the gate of his palace, established her in his household, and ordered her marriage
to one of his nobles, and that very afternoon had a beggar bludgeoned to death for crossing his path. The
ways of the count Osostro were indeed unpredictable.
He loved diversions of every kind. He was fond of novelty, and those who provided him with new
de-lights were certain of a generous reward. Those who disappointed him were unfailingly punished in
some ingenious way. His rewards were so extravagant that many were willing to risk his displeasure on the
chance that they might enjoy his bounty. As the years passed, and the count found ever more unusual ways
of expressing his dissatisfaction, the number of those who ventured to offer new amusements diminished,
but never entirely ceased.
One year, in the drab and shrunken days before the onset of winter, the count was beset by boredom. He
had enjoyed no new sport during the summer and fall, and he knew that he could look forward to fewer
visi-tors, perhaps none at all, through the coming months of cold and snow. His mood grew ever darker.
The court and the common people feared that the count might soon seek distraction in ways they would find
disagreeable.
Then the juggler came. He had not been seen on the high road or in any of the outlying villages or
settlements, nor had any of the guards at the out-posts had any word of him. He simply appeared in the city
one chilly day, took his place on a barrel head in a comer of the market square, and, without fan-fare or
announcement or any word at all, began to juggle.
He was a stranger of unprepossessing appearance and uncertain age, tall and slender and hollow
cheeked, with hair the color of old straw and a face lined by long exposure to wind and weather. His
clothing was dusty and frayed, his boots cracked, his lean pack worn and patched. Yet he was someone
new, and within minutes a crowd encircled him, and before long all other activity had ceased. Buyers and
sellers alike forgot their mercantile interests and clustered around, jostling and pushing, to marvel at the
aston-ishing feats of the juggler.
He began simply enough, with three daggers. Before long it was apparent that he was juggling more than
three, but no one had seen him introduce another. Four, five, six daggers, perhaps more, were soon
whirl-ing and flashing above their heads. The juggler caught the eye of a child who stood at the edge of the
crowd, entranced. At a nod from him she tossed him her doll, and immediately it was weaving its way
among the blades. At his silent bidding, a young woman threw him a glove, and a man tossed him an empty
mug. They, too, joined the shower of diverse objects.
All this time, though his lips moved silently, the juggler had said not a word. He did not, as some
moun-tebanks and conjurers do, keep up a lively patter. He did not feign great effort or adopt a look of
intense concentration. His brow was unfurrowed and his pale eyes were fixed before him. Save for a smile
to the little girl, his expression had not varied. Indeed, he might almost have been described as having no
ex-pression at all. He seemed an onlooker to his own deeds, uninvolved and unimpressed, like a workman
performing a difficult task for the thousandth time, out of sheer habit doing it with consummate grace and
skill.
He stopped abruptly, catching the doll, the glove, and the mug in his hands while the daggers, seven of
them, tattooed into the rim of the barrel head in a neat semicircle. The crowd burst into loud applause and
cheering. A few tossed small coins to the makeshift platform and the adjacent ground. The juggler bowed,
returned the items to their owners, and sprang lightly down to gather his reward. Several in the crowd
called for more, but before the appeal spread, or the juggler could respond to it, the onlookers were thrust