"Tarr,.Judith.-.Alamut" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tarr Judith)

I ^^

AQ(JA BELLA

The sun was gentle in the first hour of its rising. It lay lightly
upon the hills of Jerusalem; it washed with gold the walls of
Aqua Bella castle, and the village huddled beneath them, and
the green that was the great wealth of the demesne: the oaks
that were holy, the olives that were more than holy, and the
glorious tangle that traced the track, of the stream. Women
were washing in it, singing sweet and high, with here and there
a ripple of laughter.

He came by the road that led to the sea, riding all alone, all
his armor and his weapons borne on a dove-grey mule. His
destrier was a fine blood bay, and he a fine high-spirited crea-
ture himself, his grey cloak flung back from a flame of scarlet,
and gold about his brows, and a ruby in the pommel of his
sword. He sang as he rode, setting the charger's pace.

ChevaUer, mult estes guariz,
Quant Dieu a vusjkitsa clamw ,,
Des Tun e des Amomviz,
Ks It untjait tels aeshenors, . . .

The women's singing faltered and died. Safe in their veils of
greenery, they stared out at the wonder: a knight in gold and
splendor, unguarded, unattended. He was a mad one, surely,
or one of God's protected.

His voice was both deep and clear, free and glad and fearless,
calling the air to arms for a battle thirty years won,

AJ ore wot oa Lewis
}a Mar a'enftm avrat pww,
Char sWffu en urt en poms
Od Us angles nostre Segnor.

No fear of hell had ever troubled him, nor any fear of mortal
steel. His stallion danced, shying from the flutter of a veil; he
laughed and bowed to the eyes scaring wide or shy or brightly

4 Judith Tarr

fascinated from the thicket, and never lost the rhythm of his
song.

Alum cmquere Moises,
Ktjffst el munt de Sinai;