Читать книгу Cockadoodle-Doo, Mr Sultana! - Michael Morpurgo, Michael Morpurgo - Страница 5

n a far-off Eastern land, a long, long time ago, there once lived a great and mighty Sultan. He was, without doubt, the richest, laziest, greediest and Sultan there had ever been.

He was so rich his palace was built of nothing but shining marble and glowing gold, so rich that even the buttons on his silken clothes were made of diamonds.

He was so he had to have a special servant to brush his teeth for him, and another one to dress him.

He did nothing for himself, except eat. He was so that every meal – breakfast, lunch and dinner – he’d gobble down a nice plump peacock just to himself, and a great bowl of sweetmeats, too.

And then he’d wash it all down with a jug of honeyed camel’s milk.

It was because he was so very and so very greedy that he was so very, very

He had to sleep in a bed enough for five grown men, and his pantaloons were the most capacious pantaloons ever made for anyone anywhere.

But believe it or not there was something the Sultan cared about even more than his food – his He loved his treasure above anything else in the whole world.

Before he went to sleep every night, he would always open his treasure chest and count out his jewels – emeralds, rubies, diamonds, pearls, sapphires, hundreds and hundreds of them – just to be quite sure they were all still there. Only then could he go to bed happy and sleep soundly.

But outside the walls of his palace, the Sultan’s people lived like slaves, poor, wretched and hungry. They had to work every hour God gave them. And why?

To keep the Sultan rich in jewels. Everything they harvested – their corn, their grapes, their figs, their dates, their pomegranates – ALL had to be given to the Sultan. He allowed them just enough food to keep body and soul together – no more.