Мистика, метафизика, музыка, математика, аскеза - пути, которые выбирают в
надежде вырваться из пут удела человеческого. Если вы всё-таки решили
отправиться в дорогу, американскую литературную сказку можно считать
путеводителем, предпочтя её народной английской: первая возникла как
противоядие от деловитости, ответственно оберегающее от глубин ужаса, которыми
нет-нет, да оборачиваются иллюзии. Вторая - необходимое противоядие от ужаса,
проверенный путеводитель по всем его глубинам.
(...)
One night when the third period of waiting for the boar and the deer to
venture abroad still had a hundred moons to run, King Clode told a tale to his
sons, over his tankards, while Jorn strummed softly on his lyre and Quondo sat
in a dark corner of the banquet hall, under a great shield, nursing his scars
and bruises.
“There is always the enchanted forest to hunt,” Prince Thag had growled at
supper time, testing the string of a long bow.
“There is always the enchanted forest to shun,” King Clode had roared, and
he went on to tell of how he had once dared to chase a fleet deer in the magic
woods with his own father and two brothers, and how they had brought the deer
to bay against the sheer wall of Centaurs Mountain, and how as they made ready
to launch their arrows, the deer had been transformed into a tall, dark young
princess, who had been changed into a deer years before by a wicked old woman
jealous of the young girl’s beauty.
“There we were,” went on King Clode, “your grandfather, King Bode, and his
three sons - your Uncle Cloon , your Uncle Garf and myself - feeling like sheep
in our chagrin and dismay, or like a mastiff that goes growling boldly into
wolf’s den and comes upon s pink-eyed female rabbit. One of those grinning
woods wizards came along presently and conjured up a white palfrey for the
Princess - out of thin air, as I remember it - and we rode off to the castle.
“We gave the Princess food and wine and pillow for her head, and on the
following day we set off in full panoply and jingling trappings to carry her to
her father, a king whose lands lay far to the north. We jingled through apple
blossoms, as we started out, for it was May, and we jingled through snowflakes
when we neared her ancestral castle. Her father and mother were overjoyed to
see their daughter again and her father King set a series of passable tables in
honor of the occasion, although to my taste the wines of the North smack a bit
of buckle polish, or lance oil, it may be - this was many years ago.”
“Why have you never told - “ said Thag.
“-this tale before?” said Gallow.
“You were too young,” said Clode, “for such a tale as might offend the
growing heart… Where was I?”
“This was many years ago,” Thag prompted.
“Ah, yes,” said Clode. “Well, your grandfather and your uncles and I were
eager to set off for home and the chase. The Princess’ father was a fellow of
small fancies, with an indoor turn of mind, given to dawdling over the chess
board even in the keenest hunting weather, drinking a warmish wassail full of
aloes or something.
“We were not to get off as soon or as easy as we thought. There was the
infernal custom of the country whereby a rescued princess exercises the
privilege of claiming one of her rescuers as her husband. She was a pretty
enough gray-eyed minx but she was fond of the harp and the spinnet, with no
stomach for the chase, and a way of fluttering up behind a man before he knew
it, moving like a cat on velvet.”
(...)
-----
boar [bɔ:] n
1. хряк, боров, кабан
2. зоол.кабан, вепрь (Sus
scrofa)
3. хряковина (мясо хряка)
deer [dıə] n (pl без измен.)
1. зоол.олень (Cervidae)
red deer - благородный олень (Cervus
elaphus)
a herd of deer - стадо оленей
2. охот.красный зверь
small deer - а) мелкие животные; б)
мелюзга, мелкая сошка
3. красно-коричневый цвет
tankard ['tæŋkəd] n
высокая пивная кружка (особ. с
крышкой)
den
1.
[den] n
1. логово, берлога, нора
a fox's den - лисья нора
a lion's den - логово льва
2. клетка для диких зверей (в
зоологическом саду)
3. 1) убежище, укрытие
2) притон
robber den - воровской притон
den of vice - вертеп
gambling den - (подпольный) игорный дом
4. каморка
5. разг.уютная небольшая
комната, рабочий кабинет
6. «дом» (в играх)
7. шотл.лощина
2.
[den] v
1) жить или зимовать в берлоге
2) скрываться, прятаться в берлоге
palfrey ['pɔ:lfrı]
nист., поэт.
верховая лошадь (преим.
дамская)
warmish ['wɔ:mıʃ] a
тепловатый; чуть тёплый
wassail
1.
['wɒseıl] nпреим.арх.
1. заздравный тост, здравица
2. 1) пирушка, попойка
2) празднование святок; встреча Нового
года
3. пиво или вино с пряностями и
сахаром
2.
['wɒseıl] vпреим.арх.
1. пировать, бражничать
2. пить за чьё-л. здоровье; провозглашать
здравицу
3. ходить по домам с пением рождественских
песен
minx [mıŋks] n
1. 1) дерзкая девчонка
2) шутл.озорница
2. кокетка
3. уст.распутница
harp
1. [hɑ:p] n
1. арфа
to play /to string/ the harp - играть на
арфе
2. (Harp) астр.Лира (созвездие)
3. шотл.решето; сито
4. пренебр.ирландец
5. = harper 2
2. [hɑ:p] aспец.
веерный, веерообразный
3. [hɑ:p] v
1. 1) играть на арфе
2) уст.рассказывать (что-л.)
под аккомпанемент, звуки арфы
2. (on, upon) твердить, бубнить одно и то
же
to harp on one's successes [troubles] - без
конца говорить о своих успехах [бедах]
to harp on /upon/ the same string /note/ - ≅тянутьоднуитужепесню
3. редк.высказывать
предположение
spinnet = spinet [spı'net,'spınıt] n
спинет (музыкальный инструмент, род
клавикордов)
-----
James Grover Thurber (1894 - 1961). “The White Deer”, 1945
