"Chelsea Quinn Yarbro - A Baroque Fable" - читать интересную книгу автора (Yarbro Chelsea Quinn)

nettles, but does little more than wave it threateningly in the air. (Above her, one or two bats are changed
into snails; one of them drops onto the table and lands in a box of ground ginger.) She knows better man
to get into a row with Liripoop; he knows it, too.
"Morbidly through the gloom we slosh,
Our thick, icky limbs distorted! Quaking our prey thatтАФ"
As much to save face as anything, Alfreida stomps over to the door and pulls it open. "You! Trolls!
Much more noise out
A BAROQUE FABLE 5
of you and I'll set the cacodemons on you!" She sounds more irritated than she is. If the truth were
known, she actually looks forward to these afternoon tussles with the Trolls.
"тАФichor we plaster our reeking wallsтАФ"
Alfreida slams the door and braces it with her back, the very picture of the chatelaine defending the
castle. She glares at the nearest candle and is satisfied only when the little flame quivers and goes out. It
would be too much to say that she smiles, but she changes enough to be pleased. "A body can't get an
indecent spell done without them caterwauling about how special they are and breaking into one's
concentration. It's a shame they're not so modest as some of us."
Liripoop blinks very thoroughly.
Beyond the door, the song of the Trolls grows rowdier and a bit louder. Alfreida gives up her post and
goes back to the table. "Where did I leave off?"
If this question is directed at Liripoop, he ignores it superbly.
She busies herself with sorting out bottles and at last finds a badly blown bottle with a wax seal across
the top. With an eager cry, she grabs it and breaks the wax off at once. "Oh, yes, what a fine vintage it
is!" she cackles as she pours out the gooey substance into the pot. "This is just what's needed."
Delicately Liripoop gets down from the sill and stalks away toward the hearth where he begins a most
fastidious grooming of his tail.
"Just listen to them. Those Trolls!" Alfreida says sotto voce. She is trying to find just the right wooden
spoon to stir her concoction. "No shame at all, the way they carry on." There is no spoon to be found,
and at last she relents, screeching, "Esmeralda!" (Remember, she has a servant.) She potters over to the
far end of the table, hoping that perhaps she will find what she needs there. "Those Trolls have no sense
of the order of things. What if I should go around trying to be so impressive? Not that I haven't got things
to recommend me."
Liripoop yowls and makes a face that on a human would be a smirk.
"I won't have you entertaining those notions," Alfreida warns him, but with little force. "In my youth, I will
have you know, I was thought to be most remarkable for my appearance. Even Osgood saidтАФthat
wretch!тАФI was very, very
6 Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
unusual." She lifts a spoon and considers it, but apparently it is not what she needs, for she puts it down
once more. "But I'm not like those Trolls, not at all. Esmeralda! I know a bit more about conduct and
courtesy, you may be sure of that."
Liripoop abandons his washing and finds a perfect spot; he gathers all his paws together, drops his chin
on them and drapes his tail over his nose. His mad orange eyes do not quite close.
In her zeal to find the spoon, Alfreida oversets three little boxes. They fall to the floor and spill out three
dissimilar dusts. "Exterpation!" Her hands raise up, gathered as tightly as her twig-fingers will permit. She
is on the verge of a fine tantrum. "Es-mer-al-da!"
Timidly the door is opened and Alfreida's unfortunate servant comes into the hut. In spite of the torn
clothes and smudge of dirt on her cheek, it is clear to anyone with decent vision and half a brain that mis
is one of the loveliest females ever to grace a once-upon-a-time. She is fair and glowing; her complexion
is softer and more delicate than a rose petal; her hair falls in ridiculously perfect flaxen waves; her eyes,
fringed with long, sweeping lashes, are die same deep shade as the best Dutch chocolate. At the moment
she looks on Alfreida with pretty dismay. "Yes?"