-
Главная
-
- Книги
-
- Авторы
-
- Нил Гейман
-
- Американские боги
-
- Стр. 108/641
Для того чтобы воспользоваться озвучкой предложений, необходимо
Войти или зарегистрироваться
Озвучка предложений доступна при наличии PRO-доступа
Купить PRO-доступ
1721
The
important
thing
to
understand
about
American
history
,
wrote
Mr
.
Ibis
,
in
his
leather
-
bound
journal
,
is
that
it
is
fictional
,
a
charcoal
-
sketched
simplicity
for
the
children
,
or
the
easily
bored
.
For
the
most
part
it
is
uninspected
,
unimagined
,
unthought
,
a
representation
of
the
thing
,
and
not
the
thing
itself
.
It
is
a
fine
fiction
,
he
continued
,
pausing
for
a
moment
to
dip
his
pen
in
the
inkwell
and
collect
his
thoughts
,
that
America
was
founded
by
pilgrims
,
seeking
the
freedom
to
believe
as
they
wished
,
that
they
came
to
the
Americas
,
spread
and
bred
and
filled
the
empty
land
.
In
truth
,
the
American
colonies
were
as
much
a
dumping
ground
as
an
escape
,
a
forgetting
place
.
In
the
days
where
you
could
be
hanged
in
London
from
Tyburn
’
s
triple
-
crowned
tree
for
the
theft
of
twelve
pennies
,
the
Americas
became
a
symbol
of
clemency
,
of
a
second
chance
.
But
the
conditions
of
transportation
were
such
that
,
for
some
,
it
was
easier
to
take
the
leap
from
the
leafless
and
dance
on
nothing
until
the
dancing
was
done
.
Transportation
,
it
was
called
:
for
five
years
,
for
ten
years
,
for
life
.
That
was
the
sentence
.
You
were
sold
to
a
captain
,
and
would
ride
in
his
ship
,
crowded
tight
as
a
slaver
’
s
,
to
the
colonies
or
to
the
West
Indies
;
off
the
boat
the
captain
would
sell
you
on
as
an
indentured
servant
to
one
who
would
take
the
cost
of
your
skin
out
in
your
labor
until
the
years
of
your
indenture
were
done
.
But
at
least
you
were
not
waiting
to
hang
in
an
English
prison
(
for
in
those
days
prisons
were
places
where
you
stayed
until
you
were
freed
,
transported
,
or
hanged
:
you
were
not
sentenced
there
for
a
term
)
,
and
you
were
free
to
make
the
best
of
your
new
world
.
You
were
also
free
to
bribe
a
sea
captain
to
return
you
to
England
before
the
terms
of
your
transportation
were
over
and
done
.
People
did
.
And
if
the
authorities
caught
you
returning
from
transportation
-
if
an
old
enemy
,
or
an
old
friend
with
a
score
to
settle
,
saw
you
and
peached
on
you
-
then
you
were
hanged
without
a
blink
.
I
am
reminded
,
he
continued
,
after
a
short
pause
,
during
which
he
refilled
the
inkwell
on
his
desk
from
the
bottle
of
umber
ink
from
the
closet
and
dipped
his
pen
once
more
,
of
the
life
of
Essie
Tregowan
,
who
came
from
a
chilly
little
cliff
-
top
village
in
Cornwall
,
in
the
southwest
of
England
,
where
her
family
had
lived
from
time
out
of
mind
.
Her
father
was
a
fisherman
,
and
it
was
rumored
that
he
was
one
of
the
wreckers
-
those
who
would
hang
their
lamps
high
on
the
dangerous
cliffs
when
the
storm
winds
raged
,
luring
ships
onto
the
rocks
,
for
the
goods
on
shipboard
.
Essie
’
s
mother
was
in
service
as
a
cook
at
the
squire
’
s
house
,
and
at
the
age
of
twelve
Essie
began
to
work
there
,
in
the
scullery
.
She
was
a
thin
little
thing
,
with
wide
brown
eyes
and
dark
brown
hair
;
and
she
was
not
a
hard
worker
but
was
forever
slipping
off
and
away
to
listen
to
stories
and
tales
,
if
there
was
anyone
who
would
tell
them
:
tales
of
the
piskies
and
the
spriggans
,
of
the
black
dogs
of
the
moors
and
the
seal
-
women
of
the
Channel
.
And
,
though
the
squire
laughed
at
such
things
,
the
kitchen
-
folk
always
put
out
a
china
saucer
of
the
creamiest
milk
at
night
,
put
it
outside
the
kitchen
door
,
for
the
piskies
.
Several
years
passed
,
and
Essie
was
no
longer
a
thin
little
thing
:
now
she
curved
and
billowed
like
the
swell
of
the
green
sea
,
and
her
brown
eyes
laughed
,
and
her
chestnut
hair
tossed
and
curled
.
Essie
’
s
eyes
lighted
on
Bartholomew
,
the
squire
’
s
eighteen
-
year
-
old
son
,
home
from
Rugby
,
and
she
went
at
night
to
the
standing
stone
on
the
edge
of
the
woodland
,
and
she
put
some
bread
that
Bartholomew
had
been
eating
but
had
left
unfinished
on
the
stone
,
wrapped
in
a
cut
strand
of
her
own
hair
.
And
on
the
very
next
day
Bartholomew
came
and
talked
to
her
,
and
looked
on
her
approvingly
with
his
own
eyes
,
the
dangerous
blue
of
a
sky
when
a
storm
is
coming
,
while
she
was
cleaning
out
the
grate
in
his
bedroom
.
He
had
such
dangerous
eyes
,
said
Essie
Tregowan
.
Soon
enough
Bartholomew
went
up
to
Oxford
,
and
,
when
Essie
’
s
condition
became
apparent
,
she
was
dismissed
.
But
the
babe
was
stillborn
,
and
as
a
favor
to
Essie
’
s
mother
,
who
was
a
very
fine
cook
,
the
squire
’
s
wife
prevailed
upon
her
husband
to
return
the
former
maiden
to
her
former
position
in
the
scullery
.
But
Essie
’
s
love
for
Bartholomew
had
turned
to
hatred
for
his
family
,
and
within
the
year
she
took
for
her
new
beau
a
man
from
a
neighboring
village
,
with
a
bad
reputation
,
who
went
by
the
name
of
Josiah
Horner
.
And
one
night
,
when
the
family
slept
,
Essie
arose
in
the
night
and
unbolted
the
side
door
,
to
let
her
lover
in
.
He
rifled
the
house
while
the
family
slept
on
.
