Диссертация (958832), страница 85
Текст из файла (страница 85)
– Ещё до наступления темноты нашепутешествие закончится!»Деяния Майкла Скотта нередко заставляли свидетелей раскрывать рот от удивления. Намногих он произвёл впечатление своими волшебными умениями, и хотя некоторые смотрели нанего с завистью, большинство относилось к нему с подозрением или даже страхом. Кто знает,может, он практиковал чёрную магию или даже заключил сделку с Дьяволом? Говорят, чтоСкотт никому не рассказывал об источнике своей силы. И даже в глубокой старости, лёжа насмертном одре, он не дал ответа на вопрос о ней.
Присутствующие боялись, что волшебникумирает, потому что Дьявол наконец призвал к себе душу, уже давно принадлежащую ему.Выслушав их опасения, Скотт сказал: «Когда я умру, вырежьте из моего тела сердце иположите его на шест под открытым небом. Если с неба спустится ворон и унесёт моё сердце всвоих когтях – знайте, что душа моя обречена на муки в Аду. Если же сердце унесёт голубь –значит, я отправился на Небеса».Вскоре после этих слов Майкл Скотт испустил свой последний вздох. Когда телоостыло, сердце волшебника вырезали, положили на жердь и стали ждать. Несколько мгновений463спустя вдали показался ворон.
Он приближался к жерди, и среди присутствующих послышалсявздох ужаса, но в последнюю минуту птица развернулась и скрылась среди деревьев. Кактолько ворон исчез из виду, появился голубь. Без промедления он спустился вниз, снял сердце сшеста и унёс его в клюве.Michael Scott and the Serpent (Hamil. 70-76)A Scottish legendMichael Scott was a man of great learning who lived in Scotland in the thirteenth century.
Hewas believed by many to be a great wizard, who performed a great number of astonishing feats withhis magical powers, and there are several legends told about his life and the wonders that heperformed. Michael Scott had a number of magical helpers whom he could order to carry out greattasks for him. According to some people, these helpers were imps, sent by the Devil to torment himwith their endless requests for work to keep them busy.
Other people believed the helpers to be fairyfolk in his employ. Whenever the helpers finished a task that Michael Scott had set them, they wouldreturn for more work to do, and so great buildings were erected, rivers were bridged, causeways werebuilt across stormy stretches of water, and so on.The tale of how Michael tired of these helpers continually pestering him for work is familiar tomany people, and of how he finally set an impossible and unending task to keep them occupied – thatof constructing ropes of sand to build a rope ladder to the moon. Every time the task got underway, thetide came in and washed away all their work and so they were condemned to carry on with theirfruitless labours for all eternity.
But how did Michael Scott come about his magical powers?Scott was born in the Scottish borders, but he travelled far and wide during the course of hislife. His love of travel began when he was quite young, exploring the highways and byways ofScotland. The legend tells us that on one occasion, he set off from his home with two of his friends totravel northwards.
Shunning the high road, they tramped across the wild countryside. They wereclimbing a hill, wondering if the view from the top might help them decide which way to go next,when they suddenly caught sight of a great white serpent. It writhed and zig-zagged up the hillside towhere the three men stood, and soon they could hear the angry hiss from its forked tongue, and see itswide jaws opening, ready for attack. Scott’s companions turned and fled, but Scott stood his groundand when the serpent was within feet of him, it reared up its head, preparing to devour him. Scottraised his walking staff and struck the serpent once, and then again, using all the strength he couldsummon.The force of the blows was so great that the serpent’s body was severed in two places.
WhenScott stood back, he saw the serpent lying dead in three pieces on the ground before him. Cautiously,his companions crept back to see what had happened and were stunned to see the evidence of Scott’scourage and strength. But neither of them was willing to linger a moment longer, and so, havingcongratulated Scott and thanked him heartily for saving their lives, they urged him to hurry on. It wasgetting late and they needed to find somewhere to spend the night.The three men found congenial lodgings with an old woman who lived in a cottage a few milesfurther on. As they all sat down to supper, Scott’s companions told their hostess about the greatadventure of the day.
To their surprise, she did not congratulate them as heartily as they had expected.“Did you leave the serpent lying where it was killed?” she wanted to know.“Why, yes,” said Scott. “We saw no need to move it and we had no wish to touch it again.”“You must go back to where you found it, and you must hurry!” the woman said. “It is noordinary beast. Folk around here thought it had been killed once before. It attacked a man who used tolive in these parts, but he was too quick for it and cut it in two with his sword. It lay there withoutmoving for some hours, but then all of a sudden its two parts began to move together. When the twoparts were joined up but still bleeding, the beast slid into the stream, and the water must have healed it,for the bleeding stopped and it became whole again without a scar to show for it! Believe me, it wasnot long before that creature was strong enough to take out a terrible revenge on the poor man who hadleft it for dead!”464“But we are moving on in the morning,” protested Scott, “and we will have no need to return tothis place again.
Why should I be afraid of the serpent’s revenge?”“Because it will find you, wherever you are,” said the old woman. “There is only one way tosave yourself. You must go back, as quickly as you can, and remove the middle part of the serpent’sbody. Without it, the beast will not be able to make itself whole again.”Scott hesitated, for he had no wish to go back out into the darkness. He was already tired fromthe day’s exertions, and he was terrified in case he might be too late. But he knew that he must gowhile he had the chance, and so he left his companions warming themselves by the old woman’s fireand set out on the lonely trek with all speed.
Luck was with him, for he found the spot without anydifficulty and to his great relief he saw that the three pieces of the serpent’s body had not yet moved.He snatched the middle segment up into his arms and stumbled away, all the time peering anxiouslyahead for the comforting sight of the lights of the cottage in the distance.The old woman was waiting at the door to greet him.“You have got it!” she cried, with obvious delight.
She took the middle part of the serpent’sbody from him and carried it over to the fire, where she placed it in a big pot standing over the flames.Her eyes glistened with excitement as she stood over the pot, listening as the serpent’s flesh began tosizzle.“Why are you cooking it?” asked Scott.“It is the only thing to do to destroy it,” declared the woman. “Besides, it will make anourishing dish for my supper tomorrow.”The night drew on and Scott’s two companions declared that they would go to bed.
The oldwoman showed them into another room, then returned to the kitchen, where Scott was resting hisaching limbs in a chair beside the fire.“Are you not ready for sleep yet?” she asked him.“Not yet,” said Scott. “My legs are painful, and I feel quite unwell. The heat from the fire iscomforting. May I stay here? I might be able to fall asleep in this chair, but a cold bed will do me nogood.”“Very well,” said the woman. “If you are here, then I can go to bed and leave you to mind thepot.” She nodded towards the fire, where the serpent’s flesh was still cooking.
Once again, Scott wasaware that the woman, although outwardly calm, could hardly contain her excitement. He was sure thatthere was something she was not telling him about the unusual dish that she was cooking.“What should I do when the meat is cooked?” he asked.“Just make sure that it does not burn,” said the old woman. “Otherwise leave it well alone. Ishall come back when it is cooked and do what needs to be done, so you need not touch it.”The old woman went to bed.
Scott dozed fitfully in the chair, while the pot containing theserpent meat bubbled gently on the fire beside him. Some time later, he could smell that the meat wascooked. Not a sound came from the old woman’s bedroom, and although Scott knew that she wouldhave wished him to wake her, he rose from his chair quietly and lifted the lid off the pot.
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