"Steinbeck, John - The Pearl" - читать интересную книгу автора (Steinbeck John)

song now, clear and soft, and if he had been able to speak of it, he would have called it the Song of
the Family.
His blanket was over his nose to protect him from the dank air. His eyes flicked to a rustle
beside him. It was Juana arising, almost soundlessly. On her hard bare feet she went to the hanging
box where Coyotito slept, and she leaned over and said a little reassuring word. Coyotito looked up
for a moment and closed his eyes and slept again.
Juana went to the fire pit and uncovered a coal and fanned it alive while she broke little
pieces of brush over it.
Now Kino got up and wrapped his blanket about his head and nose and shoulders. He
slipped his feet into his sandals and went outside to watch the dawn.
Outside the door he squatted down and gathered the blanket ends about his knees. He saw
the specks of Gulf clouds flame high in the air. And a goat came near and sniffed at him and stared
with its cold yellow eyes. Behind him Juana's fire leaped into flame and threw spears of light through
the chinks of the brush-house wall and threw a wavering square of light out the door. A late moth
blustered in to find the fire. The Song of the Family came now from behind Kino. And the rhythm of
the family song was the grinding stone where Juana worked the corn for the morning cakes.
The dawn came quickly now, a wash, a glow, a lightness, and then an explosion of fire as
the sun arose out of the Gulf. Kino looked down to cover his eyes from the glare. He could hear the
pat of the corncakes in the house and the rich smell of them on the cooking plate. The ants were
busy on the ground, big black ones with shiny bodies, and little dusty quick ants. Kino watched with
the detachment of God while a dusty ant frantically tried to escape the sand trap an ant lion had dug
for him. A thin, timid dog came close and, at a soft word from Kino, curled up, arranged its tail
neatly over its feet, and laid its chin delicately on the pile. It was a black dog with yellow-gold spots
where its eyebrows should have been. It was a morning like other mornings and yet perfect among
mornings.



Kino heard the creak of the rope when Juana took Coyotito out of his hanging box and
cleaned him and hammocked him in her shawl in a loop that placed him close to her breast. Kino
could see these things without looking at them. Juana sang softly an ancient song that had only three
notes and yet endless variety of interval. And this was part of the family song too. It was all part.
Sometimes it rose to an aching chord that caught the throat, saying this is safety, this is warmth, this
is the Whole.
Across the brush fence were other brush houses, and the smoke camefrom them too, and
the sound of breakfast, but those were other songs,their pigs were other pigs, their wives were not
Juana. Kino was youngand strong and his black hair hung over his brown forehead. His eyeswere
warm and fierce and bright and his mustache was thin andcoarse. He lowered his blanket from his
nose now, for the darkpoisonous air was gone and the yellow sunlight fell on the house. Nearthe
brush fence two roosters bowed and feinted at each other withsquared wings and neck feathers
ruffed out. It would be a clumsyfight. They were not game chickens. Kino watched them for a
moment,and then his eyes went up to a flight of wild doves twinkling inlandto the hills. The world
was awake now, and Kino arose and went intohis brush house.
As he came through the door Juana stood up from the glowing firepit. She put Coyotito
back in his hanging box and then she combedher black hair and braided it in two braids and tied the
ends withthin green ribbon. Kino squatted by the fire pit and rolled a hotcorncake and dipped it in
sauce and ate it. And he drank a littlepulque and that was breakfast. That was the only breakfast he
had everknown outside of feast days and one incredible fiesta on cookiesthat had nearly killed him.
When Kino had finished, Juana came back tothe fire and ate her breakfast. They had spoken once,
but there is notneed for speech if it is only a habit anyway. Kino sighed withsatisfaction- and that