| "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. |
| "How well it was said," answered the fisherman, "that Swords can be kept off with shields but the Eye of Wisdom pierces through every defence! | - Давно сказал кто-то, - отвечал рыбак, - что око мудрости острее копья! |
| Know then, O my formidable guest, that because of my extreme poverty I have never married and have no child. | Знай же, о мой высокородный гость, что я, по бедности своей, никогда не был женат. |
| But in that same year in which the Tisroc (may he live for ever) began his august and beneficent reign, on a night when the moon was at her full, it pleased the gods to deprive me of my sleep. | Но в год, когда Тисрок (да живет он вечно) начал свое великое и благословенное царствование, в ночь полнолуния, боги лишили меня сна. |
| Therefore I arose from my bed in this hovel and went forth to the beach to refresh myself with looking upon the water and the moon and breathing the cool air. | Я встал с постели и вышел поглядеть на луну. |
| And presently I heard a noise as of oars coming to me across the water and then, as it were, a weak cry. | Вдруг послышался плеск воды, словно кто-то греб веслами, и слабый крик. |
| And shortly after, the tide brought to the land a little boat in which there was nothing but a man lean with extreme hunger and thirst who seemed to have died but a few moments before (for he was still warm), and an empty water-skin, and a child, still living. | Немного позже прилив прибил к берегу маленькую лодку, в которой лежал иссушенный голодом человек. Должно быть, он только что умер, ибо он еще не остыл, а рядом с ним был пустой сосуд и живой младенец. |
| "Doubtless," said I, "these unfortunates have escaped from the wreck of a great ship, but by the admirable designs of the gods, the elder has starved himself to keep the child alive and has perished in sight of land." Accordingly, remembering how the gods never fail to reward those who befriend the destitute, and being moved by compassion (for your servant is a man of tender heart) -" | Вспомнив о том, что боги не оставляют без награды доброе дело, я прослезился, ибо раб твой мягкосердечен, и... |
