| На самом же деле рыбак говорил так, ибо не знал, да и знать не хотел, какие земли лежат к Северу. |
| Neither did he care. He had a very practical mind. | У него был практический ум. |
| One day there came from the South a stranger who was unlike any man that Shasta had seen before. | Однажды с Юга прибыл незнакомец, совсем иной, чем те, кого видел Шаста до сих пор. |
| He rode upon a strong dappled horse with flowing mane and tail and his stirrups and bridle were inlaid with silver. | Он сидел на прекрасном коне, и седло его сверкало серебром. |
| The spike of a helmet projected from the middle of his silken turban and he wore a shirt of chain mail. | Сверкали и кольчуга, и острие шлема, торчащее над тюрбаном. |
| By his side hung a curving scimitar, a round shield studded with bosses of brass hung at his back, and his right hand grasped a lance. | На боку его висел ятаган, спину прикрывал медный щит, в руке было копье. |
| His face was dark, but this did not surprise Shasta because all the people of Calormen are like that; what did surprise him was the man's beard which was dyed crimson, and curled and gleaming with scented oil. | Незнакомец был темен лицом, но Шаста привык к темнолицым, удивило его иное: борода, выкрашенная в алый цвет, вилась кольцами и лоснилась от благовоний. |
| But Arsheesh knew by the gold on the stranger's bare arm that he was a Tarkaan or great lord, and he bowed kneeling before him till his beard touched the earth and made signs to Shasta to kneel also. | Аршиш понял, что это - тархан, то есть вельможа, и склонился до земли, незаметно показывая Шасте, чтобы и тот преклонил колени. |
| The stranger demanded hospitality for the night which of course the fisherman dared not refuse. | Незнакомец попросил ночлега на одну ночь, и Аршиш не посмел отказать ему. |
| All the best they had was set before the Tarkaan for supper (and he didn't think much of it) and Shasta, as always happened when the fisherman had company, was given a hunk of bread and turned out of the cottage. | Все лучшее, что было в доме, хозяин поставил перед ним, а мальчику (так всегда бывало, когда приходили гости) дал кусок хлеба и выгнал во двор. |
| On these occasions he usually slept with the donkey in its little thatched stable. But it was much too early to go to sleep yet, and Shasta, who had never learned that it is wrong to listen behind doors, sat down with his ear to a crack in the wooden wall of the cottage to hear what the grown-ups were talking about. And this is what he heard. | В таких случаях Шаста спал с ослом, в стойле; но было еще рано и, поскольку никто никогда не говорил ему, что нельзя подслушивать, он сел у самой стены. |
| "And now, O my host," said the Tarkaan, | - О, хозяин! - промолвил тархан. |
| "I have a mind to buy that boy of yours." | - Мне угодно купить у тебя этого мальчика. |
| "O my master," replied the fisherman (and Shasta knew by the wheedling tone the greedy look that was probably coming into his face as he said it), "what price could induce your servant, poor though he is, to sell into slavery his only child and his own flesh? | - О, господин мой! - отвечал рыбак, и Шаста угадал по его голосу, что глазки у него блеснули.- Как продам я, твой верный раб, своего собственного сына? |
| Has not one of the poets said, 'Natural affection is stronger than soup and offspring more precious than carbuncles?"' | Разве не сказал поэт: |
| "It is even so," replied the guest dryly. | "Сильна, как смерть, отцовская любовь, а сыновья дороже, чем алмазы?" |
| "But another poet has likewise said, | - Возможно, - сухо выговорил тархан, - но другой поэт говорил: |
| "He who attempts to deceive the judicious is already baring his own back for the scourge." | "Кто хочет гостя обмануть - подлее, чем гиена". |
| Do not load your aged mouth with falsehoods. | Не оскверняй ложью свои уста. |
| This boy is manifestly no son of yours, for your cheek is as dark as mine but the boy is fair and white like the accursed but beautiful barbarians who inhabit the remote North." | Он тебе не сын, ибо ты темен лицом, а он светел и бел, как проклятые, но прекрасные нечестивцы с Севера. |
