"T. H. White - The Once and Future King" - читать интересную книгу автора (White T.H)

"How amusing they are, Sir Grummore," she said. "Well, my doves, you must run along and ask for
your milk."
"But, Mammy..."
"Yes, yes," she said in a low voice. "Another time."
And the Queen passed on with the puzzled knight of the Forest Sauvage, electrical and quiet. She had
not noticed that her children's clothes were ruined: had not even scolded them about that. When she
found out about the unicorn later in the evening she had them whipped for it, for she had spent an
unsuccessful day with the English knights.


8
The plain of Bedegraine was a forest of pavilions. They looked like old-fashioned bathing tents, and

file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Incipit%20Liber%20Secundus.html (44 of 89)14-10-2007 15:44:53
 file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Incipit%20Liber%20Secundus.html


were every colour of the rainbow. Some of them were even striped like bathing tents, but the most part
were in plain colours, yellow and green and so on. There were heraldic devices worked or stamped on
the sidesтАФenormous black eagles with two heads perhaps, or wyverns, or lances, or oak trees, or
punning signs which referred to the names of the owners. For instance, Sir Kay had a black key on his
tent, and Sir Ulbawes, in the opposing camp, had a couple of elbows in flowing sleeves. The proper
name for them would be manchets. Then there were pennons floating from the tops of the tents, and
sheaves of spears leaning against them. The more sporting barons had shields or huge copper basins
outside their front doors, and all you had to do was to give a thump on one of these with the butt-end of
your spear for the baron to come out like an angry bee and have a fight with you, almost before the
resounding boom had died away. Sir Dinadan, who was a cheerful man, had hung a chamber-pot outside
his. Then there were the people thelmselves. All round and about among the tents there were cooks
quarrelling with dogs who had eaten the mutton, and small pages writing insults on each other's backs
when they were not looking, and elegant minstrels with lutes singing tunes similar to "Greensleeves,"
with soulful expressions, and squires with a world of innocence in their eyes, trying to sell each other
spavined horses, and hurdy-gurdy men trying to earn a groat by playing on the vielle, and gipsies telling
your fortune for the battle, and enormous knights with their heads wrapped in untidy turbans playing
chess, and vivandieres sitting on the knees of some of them, andтАФas for entertainmentтАФthere were
joculators, gleemen, tumblers, harpers, troubadours, jesters, minstrels, tregetours, bear-dancers, egg-
dancers, ladder-dancers, ballette-dancers, mountebanks, fire-eaters and balancers. In a way, it was like
Derby Day. The tremendous forest of Sherwood stretched round the tent-forest further than the eye
could seeтАФand this was full of wild boars, warrantable stags, outlaws, dragons, and Purple Emperors.
There was also an ambush in the forest but nobody was supposed to know about that.
King Arthur paid no attention to the coming battle. He sat invisible in his pavilion, at the hub of the
excitement, and talked to Sir Ector or Kay or Merlyn day after day. The smaller captains were delighted
to think that their King was having so many councils of war, for they could see the lamp burning inside
the silk tent until all hours, and they felt sure that he was inventing a splendid plan of campaign.
Actually the conversation was about different things. "There will be a lot of jealousy," said Kay. "You
will have all these knights in this order of yours saying that they are the best one, and wanting to sit at
the top of the table."
"Then we must have a round table, with no top."
"But, Arthur, you could never sit a hundred and fifty knights at a round table. Let me seeтАФ-" Merlyn,
who hardly ever interfered in the arguments now, but sat with his hands folded on his stomach and
beamed, helped Kay out of the difficulty.