"Terry Pratchett. A Hat Full Of Sky " - читать интересную книгу автора

come here because they have been so good.
This is a quite incorrect and fanciful notion because, as we know, the
truth is exactly the other way round.
There is not a great deal of mourning when a Feegle dies, and its only
because his brothers are sad that hes not spent more time with them before
going back to the land of the living, which they also call The Last World.

Habits and Habitat
For choice, the clans of the Nac Mac Feegle live in the burial mounds
of ancient kings, where they hollow out a cosy cavern amongst the gold.
Generally there will be one or two thorn or elder trees growing on it - the
Feegles particularly like old, hollow elder trees, which become chimneys for
their fires. And there will, of course, be a rabbit hole. It will look just
like a rabbit hole. There will be rabbit droppings around it, and maybe even
a few bits of rabbit fur if the Feegles are feeling particularly creative.
Down below, the world of the Feegle is a bit like a beehive, but with a
lot less honey and a lot more sting.
The reason for this is that females are very rare among the Feegle.
And, perhaps because of this, Feegle women give birth to lots of babies,
very often and very quickly. Theyre about the size of peas when born but
grow extremely fast if theyre fed well (Feegles like to live near humans so
that they can steal milk from cows and sheep for this purpose).
The queen of the clan is called the Kelda, who as she gets older
becomes the mother of most of it. Her husband is known as The Big Man. When
a girl child is born - and it doesnt often happen - she stays with her
mother to learn the hiddlins, which are the secrets of keldaring. When she
is old enough to be married, she must leave the clan, taking a few of her
brothers with her as a bodyguard on her long journey.
Often shell travel to a clan which has no kelda. Very, very rarely, if
there is no clan without a kelda, shell meet with Feegles from several clans
and form a completely new clan, with a new name and a mound of its own. She
will also choose her husband. And from then on, while her word is absolute
law among her clan and must be obeyed, shell seldom go more than a little
distance from the mound. She is both its queen and its prisoner.
But once, for a few days, there was a kelda who was a human girl . . .


A Feegle Glossary, adjusted for those of a delicate disposition

Bigjobs:human beings
Blethers:rubbish, nonsense
Carlirr:old woman
Cludgie:the privy
Crivens!:a general exclamation that can mean anything from My goodness!
to Ive just lost my temper and there is going to be trouble.
Dree:your/my/his/her weird facing the fate that is in store for
you/me/him/her
Geas:a very important obligation, backed up by tradition and magic. Not
a bird.
Eldritch:weird, strange. Sometimes means oblong, too. for some reason.