"J.R.R. Tolkien - Farmer Giles of Ham" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tolkien J.R.R)

`Well, I can't start today, and that's a fact,' said he. `I've a
lot on hand with my cowman sick and all. I'll see about it'

They went away; but in the evening it was rumoured that
the dragon had moved even nearer, so they all came back.

`We look to you, Master Aegidius,' they said.

`Well,' said he, `it's very awkward for me just now. My
mare has gone lame, and the lambing has started. I'll see
about it as soon as may be.'

So they went away once more, not without some
grumbling and whispering. The miller was sniggering. The
parson stayed behind, and could not be got rid of. He
invited himself to supper, and made some pointed remarks.
He even asked what had become of the sword and insisted
on seeing it.
It was lying in a cupboard on a shelf hardly long enough
for it, and as soon as Farmer Giles brought it out in a flash
it leaped from the sheath, which the farmer dropped as if it
had been hot. The parson sprang to his feet, upsetting his
beer. He picked the sword up carefully and tried to put it
back in the sheath; but it would not go so much as a foot
in, and it jumped clean out again, as soon as he took his
hand off the hilt.

`Dear me! This is very peculiar!' said the parson, and he
took a good look at both scabbard and blade. He was a
lettered man, but the farmer could only spell out large
uncials with difficulty, and was none too sure of the
reading even of his own name. That is why he had never
given any heed to the strange letters that could dimly be
seen on sheath and sword. As for the King's armourer, he
was so accustomed to runes, names, and other signs of
power and significance upon swords and scabbards that
he had not bothered his head about them; he, thought them
out of date, anyway.

But the parson looked long, and he frowned. He had
expected to find some lettering on the sword or on the
scabbard, and that was indeed the idea that had come to
him the day before; but now he was surprised at what he
saw, for letters and signs there were, to be sure, but he
could not make head or tail of them.

`There is an inscription on this sheath, and some, ah,
aphical signs are visible also upon the sword,' he said.