Читать книгу A Bag Of Moonshine - Alan Garner, Alan Garner - Страница 8

Once upon a time there was a grey goat, and she had three kids. She went to the forest to fetch wood for the stove, and when she came back the kids had gone. They were not in the house. They were not in the Held. So the grey goat set out to find them.

She met a gull on a rock, and she said:

“Here am I,

a grey goat.

Lost are my kind kids.

Back and to I go.

Dark is the night

till I find them.”

But the gull said:

“By earth that is under,

by air that is over,

I have not seen your kids.”

The grey goat went on, until she met a crow at a gate, and she said:

“Here am I,

a grey goat.

Lost are my kind kids.

Back and to I go.

Dark is the night

till I find them.”

But the crow said:

“By earth that is under,

by air that is over,

I have not seen your kids.”

So the grey goat went on, until she came to the house of a fox; and she stood on the roof. The fox looked out of the window, and said:

“It grows dim here.

My pot will not boil.

My cake will not bake.

My child will not go to the well.

Who is on top?”

And the grey goat said:

“Here am I,

a grey goat.

Lost are my kind kids.

Back and to I go.

Dark is the night

till I find them.”

But the fox said:

“By thorn and by fire,

by earth that is under,

by star and by storm,

I have not seen your kids.”

The grey goat said, “Even so, let me in.” So the fox let her in. And the grey goat looked all around, and said:

“No food on the shelf.

No meal in the pot.

Yet here’s a fat fox,

not a lean one.”

And the fox said again:

“By thorn and by fire,

by earth that is under,

by star and by storm,

I have not seen your kids.

Never. Never.

I have not seen your kids.”

But the grey goat looked all around, and said:

“No food on the shelf—”

And a voice called out, “Mother!”

And the grey goat said:

“No meal in the pot—”

And a voice called out, “Mother! Mother!”

And the grey goat said:

“Yet here’s a fat fox,

not a lean one!”

And a voice called out, “Mother! Mother! Mother!”

Then the grey goat took an axe, and killed the fox; and inside the fox were the three kids; and they threw the fox on to the midden and all went home together.

Now it would be fine indeed if there were more; but there is not.