Читать книгу Кельтские сумерки. Уровень 1 / The Celtic Twilight - Уильям Батлер Йейтс - Страница 19

In the Enchanted Woods, there are small animals like martens, badgers, and foxes. But there are also bigger and stronger creatures that can’t be caught with traps[147]. They are magical creatures that bring both hope and fear. Some can fly, while others move through the thickets[148] near the Gates of Death. Someone I know says that his father was once in the woods of Inchy, where the children from Gort[149] used to steal fishing rods[150]. He was sitting by a wall with his dog when he heard something running from Owbawn Weir. He couldn’t see anything, but the sound of its feet on the ground was like the sound of the feet of a deer. The dog got scared and scratched at the wall, but the man could only hear the sound of hooves. Another time, the man’s father told him that he was in a boat on the lake with a few men from Gort. One of them had a spear[151] for catching eels, and when he put it into the water, it hit something. The man fainted, and they had to carry him out of the boat to land. When he woke up, he said that what he struck was definitely not a fish! A friend of mine thought that these scary creatures, which are often found in lakes, were placed there long ago by clever enchanters[152] to guard the gates of wisdom. He believes that if we sent our spirits into the water, we would become one with the strange and powerful energies, and maybe even conquer[153] the world.

1902.