Мультиязыковой проект Ильи Франка
www.frank lang.ru
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So he ran in, filled with wonder and great gladness. But when he saw her who was
waiting there, he laughed scornfully and said, 'Why, where is my mother? For I see none here but
this vile beggar-woman.'
51
And the woman answered him, 'I am thy mother.'
52
'Thou art mad to say so,' cried the Star-Child angrily. 'I am no son of thine, for thou art a
beggar, and ugly, and in rags. Therefore get thee hence, and let me see thy foul face no more.'
53
'Nay, but thou art indeed my little son, whom I bare in the forest,' she cried, and she fell
on her knees, and held out her arms to him. 'The robbers stole thee from me, and left thee to die,'
she murmured, 'but I recognised thee when I saw thee, and the signs also have I recognised, the
cloak of golden tissue and the amber chain. Therefore I pray thee come with me, for over the
whole world have I wandered in search of thee. Come with me, my son, for I have need of thy
love.'
54
But the Star-Child stirred
not from his place, but shut the doors of his heart against her,
nor was there any sound heard save the sound of the woman weeping for pain.
55
And at last he spoke to her, and his voice was hard and bitter. 'If in very truth thou art my
mother,' he said, 'it had been better hadst thou stayed away, and not come here to bring me to
shame, seeing that I thought I was the child of some Star, and not a beggar's child, as thou tellest
me that I am. Therefore get thee hence, and let me see thee no more.'
56
'Alas! my son,' she cried, 'wilt thou not kiss me before I go? For I have suffered much to
find thee.'
57
'Nay,' said the Star-Child, 'but thou art too foul to look at, and rather would I kiss the
adder or the toad than thee.'
58
So
the woman rose up, and went away into the forest weeping bitterly, and when the
Star-Child saw that she had gone, he was glad, and ran back to his playmates that he migh t play
with them.
59
But when they beheld him coming, they mocked him and said, 'Why, thou art as foul as
the toad, and as loathsome as the adder. Get thee hence, for we will not suffer thee
to play with
us,' and they drave him out of the garden.
60
And the Star-Child frowned and said to himself, 'What is this that they say to me? I will
go to the well of water and look into it, and it shall tell me of my beauty.'
61
So he went to the well of water and looked into it, and lo! his face was as the face of a
toad, and his body was sealed like an adder. And he flung himself down on the grass and wept,
and said to himself, 'Surely this has come upon me by reason of my sin. For I have denied my
mother, and driven her away, and been proud, and cruel to her. Wherefore I will go and seek her
through the whole world, nor will I rest till I have found her.'