Читать книгу Painted Oxen - Thomas Lloyd Qualls - Страница 14

The red haired woman leads a young ox along the top of the high fortress wall in front of you. Like the other oxen on the wall, including the one you are leading, her ox is an illusion. The beast itself is real enough. As are the colors of paint on its sides, the rope she uses to lead it, and the wall itself. Still, these things are not what they seem.

Your prosperous village is under siege from an ambitious rival. It is a desirable conquest because of its rich soil, abundant water, and thriving trade. By painting the oxen and parading them atop the fortress walls like this, the villagers show defiance to their attackers. The painted oxen say without speaking, You will not starve us out.

As the battle wages on, though, the village’s abundance has begun to wane. With rations becoming exhausted and the numbers of oxen dwindling, the woman with red hair appears at the base of the wall and gestures you down. With a pail of water and a cloth, and without explanation, she begins scrubbing the paint off the sides of your ox. Then she pats it dry and starts to paint a new design on it, using different pigments.

You continue to walk the remaining oxen along the high walls as before. But to hide their dwindling numbers, after each one is displayed, you and the other villagers quickly wash it, paint it with different colors, and parade it again. This has become a full time endeavor, as important as fighting the actual battle.

Eventually, the illusion works, and the attacking army retreats in defeat, suffering starvation and unsustainable losses of its own. Things are often not what they seem. And then, sometimes they are. The trick is to learn what is real.