"Roger Zelazny - Dragons" - читать интересную книгу автора (Zelazny Roger)

"I am Belkis," he roared, "king of the dragons! You are
only a human king, so do not give me orders!"

"But I am sovereign majesty of a mighty kingdom," said the
king, "and my word is law. I order. I really do order. And I am
always obeyed. So please do not go about burning tapestries and
people and things like that."

Belkis laughed again, and the flames danced about the
rafters.

"No one orders Belkis to do or not to do anything. I am
only here for one reason. I want to meet your Royal
Cartographer, Mister Gibberling. Produce him!"

Chapter 6

AND THE KING BACKED AWAY.

"That is Mister Gibberling down at the end of the table
you just broke," he said. "The man with the white beard. The
one still holding a glass in his hand."

"Aha! Mister Gibberling! So we meet at last!" snarled
Belkis. Mister Gibberling, who was indeed an old man, rose
slowly to his feet.

"Uh I don't quite understand . . ." he began.

"You are the one who is giving dragons a bad name," said
Belkis.

"Wh-what do you mean?" asked Mister Gibberling.

"Your maps! Your stupid, nasty little maps!" said Belkis,
burning the edges of Mister Gibberling's beard as he spoke.

"'Here There Be Dragons'! That is absurd! That is
cheating! It is the refuge of a small mind!"

"Yes ! Yes !" agreed Mister Gibberling, putting out his
beard by emptying his wine-cup over it. "You are right! I have
always felt mine to be quite small!"

"I want you to know that over the past several thousand
years we dragons have taken great pains to stay out of the way
of humans," said Belkis. "We have even taken to assuming other
forms such as that of the little lizard Bell, which you saw a
bit earlier. We do not want people to know that we are still
about or they will be forever pestering us. Take any foolish