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

uncomfortable. It consisted solely of heaps of stonesтАФwhich were handy for throwing down the holeтАФ
together with a few rusty Genoese cross-bows with their bolts and a pile of turfs for the unlit fire. The
four children had no bed. If it had been a square room, they might have had a cupboard bed, but, as it
was, they had to sleep on the floorтАФwhere they covered thelmselves with straw and plaids as best they
could.
The children had erected an amateur tent over their heads, out of the plaids, and under this they were
lying close together, telling a story. They could hear their mother stoking the fire in the room below,
which made them whisper for fear that she could hear. It was not exactly that they were afraid of being
beaten if she came up. They adored her dumbly and uncritically, because her character was stronger than


file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Incipit%20Liber%20Secundus.html (1 of 89)14-10-2007 15:44:53
 file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Incipit%20Liber%20Secundus.html


theirs. Nor had they been forbidden to talk after bedtime. It was more as if she had brought them upтАФ
perhaps through indifference or through laziness or even through some kind of possessive crueltyтАФwith
an imperfect sense of right and wrong. It was as if they could never know when they were being good or
when they were being bad.
They were whispering in Gaelic. Or rather, they were whispering in a strange mixture of Gaelic and of
the Old Language of chivalryтАФwhich had been taught to them because they would need it when they
were grown. They had little English. In later years, when they became famous knights at the court of the
great king, they were to speak English perfectlyтАФall of them except Gawaine, who, as the head of the
clan, was to cling to a Scots accent on purpose, to show that he was not ashamed of his birth.
Gawaine was telling the story, because he was the eldest. They lay together, like thin, strange, secret
frogs, their bodies well-boned and ready to fill out into toughness as soon as they might be given decent
nourishment. They were fair-haired. Gawaine's was bright red and Gareth's whiter than hay. They
ranged from ten years old to fourteen, and Gareth was the youngest of the four. Gaheris was a stolid
child. Agravaine, the next after Gawaine, was the bully of the familyтАФhe was shifty, inclined to cry, and
frightened of pain. It was because he had a good imagination and used his head more than the others.
"Long time past, my heroes," Gawaine was saying, "before ourselves were born or thought of, there was
a beautiful grandmother at us, called Igraine."
"She is the Countess of Cornwall," said Agravaine.
"Our grandmother is the Countess of Cornwall," agreed Gawaine, "and the bloody King of England fell
in love with her."
"His name was Uther Pendragon," said Agravaine.
"Who is at telling this story?" asked Gareth angrily. "Close your mouth."
"King Uther Pendragon," continued Gawaine, "let send for the Earl and Countess of CornwallтАФ"
"Our Grandfather and Granny," said Gaheris.
"тАФand he proclaimed to them that they must stay with him at his house in the Tower of London. Then,
when they were at staying with him therein, he asked our Granny that she would become the wife of
himself, instead of being with our Grandfather at all. But the chaste and beautiful Countess of Cornwall
тАФ"
"Granny," said Gaheris.
Gareth exclaimed: "Sorrow take it, will you give us peace?" There was a muffled argument, punctuated
by squeaks, bumps and complaining remarks.

file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Incipit%20Liber%20Secundus.html (2 of 89)14-10-2007 15:44:53
 file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Incipit%20Liber%20Secundus.html