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

"Yes. Yes, sir, great Belkis, sir," said Mister
Gibberling, clutching his maps close to him, as if for
protection.

"Then I will leave you now," said Belkis, "and I expect
you to make good maps from now on. And remember this," he
added, "I want you to forget about dragons."

"Yes, I promise," said Mister Gibberling. "I will forget
all about dragons."

"See that you do," said Belkis, "or I will hear of it and
I will return. You would not like that."

"No, no I wouldn't!"

"Then good-bye." And Belkis spread his great wings and
rose into the sky. No one in the kingdom ever saw him again.

After that, though, the king came to listen to William
more than he did to his other advisers, and soon William became
his first adviser and his old first adviser became his new
fourth adviser.

And Mister Gibberling went on to draw beautiful maps,
showing all of the things he had seen other kingdoms and rivers
and lakes and other mountains, valleys and plateaus and
deserts, ports and pastures, farms and granaries. His maps were
quite good, and after a time people were no longer afraid of
dragons and they began to go over the mountains and to trade
with people in other kingdoms, and to learn of them, and to
have other people come to visit them.

After a time, the king came to realize that his kingdom
was not so large as he had once thought it to be, and he
encouraged commerce, to make his kingdom prosper and grow.

One day, though, while he was studying one of the new
maps, the king said, "My, but there are so many seas in the
world!"

"Yes, sire," said William. "That appears to be true."

"I wonder what lies beyond them?" asked the king.

"Perhaps they go on forever and ever," said William, "or
perhaps there are other lands beyond them."

The king nodded. "I believe I will ask the Royal