"Rachel Pollack - Immortal Snake" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pollack Rachel)

sister.тАЭ He waved a hand to the slaves, who rushed forward with chairs and
cushions. тАЬPlease,тАЭ the Snake said. тАЬCome sit with us. Would you like
some roast pork? My cooks have stuffed it with dates and fennel.тАЭ

тАЬForgive us, Lord,тАЭ the head Reader said. тАЬOur time is limited. The
stars have already begun to show themselves, and the planets to move
among them. When the moon rises we must go with it.тАЭ
 тАЬOf course,тАЭ Immortal Snake said.

тАЬSo if we leave before the end of the story, you will understand that
we are only following our duty.тАЭ

Immortal Snake noticed that his sister had abandoned demureness
and was now smiling warmly at their guests. A strange excitement stirred
his spine. He said, тАЬWe understand.тАЭ He turned to his slave companion.
тАЬYou had better begin if our guests will have to leave early.тАЭ

Tribute of Angels said, тАЬYour wish creates my voice.тАЭ

That night Tribute of Angels told a story of the first people. In the
beginning there was only mud and stones, and the bright sky, and trees as
thick as houses, and flowers in colors no one remembers. Then there were
lions, and spiders, and squirrels, and nightingales, but no people. One
morning a leopard came home from hunting all night to discover that an
eagle had killed his wife. The leopard had no idea why the eagle would do
this, only that his wifeтАЩs body lay in pieces on the dirt. He roared and wept
and begged her to come back to him but it was no use. After a day of
sorrow he flung his wifeтАЩs remains on his back and left the open fields and
woods that had been their home.

The leopard walked for nine days and nights, frightened to sleep lest
crows and jackals and ants take away more pieces of his wife. Finally he
came to a desert, and a dream of an oasis. There was nothing there, really,
but if the leopard closed his eyes he saw bright trees, and a waterfall, and
herds of antelope who had never heard of leopards. He set down his wifeтАЩs
body alongside what he imagined was a pool and lay down next to her.
Then he wept and wept until there was nothing left of him but spotted skin
over a pool of tears. The tears changed the dirt to salty mud, and out of this
mud the first people stood up, naked and frightened, with no idea of how
they would live.

For generations people traveled from desert to forest, from islands to
mountains, frightened, stealing whatever food they could from the animals,
hiding in caves or the tops of trees. They traveled from the north to the
south, from the east to the west, and everywhere they were hungry and
helpless and hunted.

One night a woman with three sons hid in a muddy hole in the Earth, a
place not much different from any other except that the walls flickered with
black and yellow light. Though she did not know it, she had found her way