Читать книгу Elinor. The Deserted Valley. Book 1 - Mikhail Shelkov - Страница 29

Unhappy, the girls walked through the glades of Swa-Ioledea. And everything that was occurring wasn’t pleasing to their eyes at all. The Taurs were gone, and life returned to its original course. Gawk, secretly looking at the guests, had long hid in their trees.

At the fir where Fao lived, her great-great-grandfather, on whom she so unceremoniously landed in the morning, played Hurra with his friend of about the same age.

The older the Vedich, the more he loves playing Hurra. If you don’t like playing Hurra, prepare to spend your old age alone. All day long, the players clatter their bones and rearrange the figures on the field. Year after year, circle after circle, the inhabitants of the forest Dockol-Mo sharpen their skills in the game. Once Fao said that she considered playing Hurra a waste of time. Oh, how she was punished! Since then, she simply hated this traditional entertainment.

The old people were all still sitting, looking thoughtfully at the hexagonal board. Slowly they moved the figures with trembling fingers.

Fao looked around to see a burly Vedich woman, a bear sow, pounding berries in a mortar. Next to her, in the canopy of oak there was another one, younger and much slimmer, a doe, embroidering patterns on her shirt. Two husbands weaved a large hammock and prepared a floor for a new suspension bridge between the trees.

And then Fao’s eyes filled with tears, as she realized she would see this same picture her whole life.

Yes, the forest of Dockol-Mo was incredibly beautiful. Yes, she had hairy friends in Bear Woodlot, but nothing, nothing changed in the town of Swa-Ioledea, only if a new embassy from the Taurs or a travel explorer from the Valley wandered in!

How I’m bored of all this! To live in freedom – only the imaginary one. To live as the elders order – those elders who break sacred oaths, who put prejudices above reason! Listen to fairytales about the six-fingered, although no six-fingered was ever seen. Watch how old people play Hurra and pretend to enjoy this spectacle! Get a wig for curiosity! Get boxed on the ear instead of answering questions! That’s how it is – the Dockol-Mo forest!

“Listen,” Fao looked at Ina. Her tears disappeared instantly, and her voice became confident. “Did you ask Docko about the way to the Valley in earnest?”

The friends’ eyes met. The eyes of Ina flashed with the same spark again. And again, the girls understood each other.