"Фредерик Браун. Night of the Jabberwock (англ) " - читать интересную книгу автора

magna cum laude, but the rest of it was amazing. Lewis Carroll Through the
Looking-Glass was a monograph of a dozen. pages; it had been printed
eighteen years ago and only a hundred copies had been run off. If one still
existed anywhere outside of my own library, I was greatly surprised. And Red
Queen and White Queen was a magazine article that had appeared at least
twelve years ago in a magazine that had been obscure then and had long since
been discontinued and forgotten.
"Yes," I said. "But how you know of them, I can't imagine, Mr."
"Smith," he said gravely. Then he chuckled. "And the first name is
Yehudi."
"No!" I said.
"Yes. You see, Doctor Stoeger, I was named forty years ago, when the
name Yehudi, although uncommon, had not yet acquired the comic connotation
which it has today. My parents did not guess that the name would become a
joke and that it would be particularly ridiculous when combined with Smith.
Had they guessed the difficulty I now have in convincing people that I'm not
kidding them when I tell them my name" He laughed ruefully. "I always carry
cards."
He handed me one. It read:

Yehudi Smith

There was no address, no other information. Just the same, I wanted to
keep that card, so I stuck it in my pocket instead of handing it back.
He said, "People are named Yehudi, you know. There's Yehudi Menuhin,
the violinist. And there's"
"Stop, please," I interrupted. "You're making it plausible. I liked it
better the other way."
He smiled. "Then I haven't misjudged you, Doctor. Have you ever heard
of the Vorpal Blades?"
"Plural? No. Of course, in Jabberwocky:

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack.

But Good God! Why are we talking about vorpal blades through a
doorway? Come on in. I've got a bottle, and I hope and presume that it would
be ridiculous to ask a man who talks about vorpal blades whether or not he
drinks."
I stepped back and he came in. "Sit anywhere," I told him. "I'll get
another glass. Want either a mix or a chaser?"
He shook his head, and I went out into the kitchen and got another
glass. I came in, filled it and handed it to him. He'd already made himself
comfortable in the overstuffed chair.
I sat back down on the sofa and lifted my glass toward him. I said, "No
doubt about a toast for this one. To Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, known, when
in Wonderland, as Lewis Carroll."
He said, quietly, "Are you sure, Doctor?"
"Sure of what?"
"Of your phraseology in that toast. I'd word it: To Lewis Carroll, who