-
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
caught by a swarm of gridniks. Accordingly, I rested in the shadow of a giant
fern.
A scrabbling noise above me barely gave me time to stiffen my helical tentacle
for a spring, when I recognized its source as the blap koreon. Peering from
the lowest fan-leaf, he called softly: "The nzred shafalon has come from the
dwelling of the human who was to give us many and mighty weapons, yet still I
see him fleeing from empty bellies like the veriest morsel of a Plookh."
"And soon you will see him mocking all the beasts of prey from the safety of a
dome where he and his kind live in thoughtful comfort," I replied with some
impor-tance. "I am to aid the human Shlestertrap of Hollywood California
U.S.A. Earth in the making of a stereo for our race."
The blap loosed his hold on the immense leaf and dropped to the ground beside
me. "A stereo? Is it small or large? How many great spotted snakes can it
Page 14
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
destroy? Will we be able to make them ourselves?"
"We will be able to make them ourselves in time, but they will destroy no
great spotted snakes for us. A stereo, my impatient wayfarer upon branches, is
a cultural necessity without which, it seems, a race must wander forever in
ignoble and fearful darkness. With stereos as models, we may progress
irresistibly to that high control of our environment in which humanity exults
on Earth. But enough of this munching the husk our sex-chiefs must conduct
Beauty Contests to select characters for the first Plookh stereo. Where is the
blap blapp?"
"I saw him last leaping from bough to bough in the fifth widest forest with a
lizard-bird just a talon's length behind him. If he has not yet ascertained
the justification of the Hope, any tkan should be able to guide you to his
present lair. Meanwhile, I think I know where the flin flinn has most recently
dug."
He scampered to a mass of rocks and scratched at the ground near the outermost
one. The heavy body of an old flin shortly appeared at the mouth of the hole
he made. I rolled over and told the flin flinn of Shlestertrap's requirements.
The doddering burrower examined his broken claws nervously. "The chiefs of the
other sexes will probably want to convene above ground. I know how important
this stereo is to our race, but I am old and not at all agile and this is the
Season of Wind-Driven Rains and the great spotted snakes are ravenous enough
below the surface "
"And it will shortly be the Season of Early Floods," I interrupted him, "when
only tkann will have time for conversation. Our civilizing must begin as soon
as possible."
"What have you to fear, old one?" the blap jeered. "A snake would find you
tough and almost without flavor!"
Flin flinn edged back into his hole. "But not until he had experimented in a
re-grettably final fashion upon my person," he pointed out gloomily. "I will
communi-cate with the new mlenb mlenbb their moist burrows connect with ours
again. Where might we meet do you think, O coordinator who gathers human
wisdom?"
"In the sheltered spot at the base of the sixth highest mountain," I
suggested. "It will be fairly safe during the next great wind. And consider,
in the meantime, which is the living flin most fitted to represent our race in
this our first stereo. Tell the mlenb mlenbb to do likewise."
After the sound of his claws had diminished in the under distance, the blap
and I moved back to the giant fern. It is written in the Book of Ones: A bush
nearby is worth two in the by and by.
"The only other sex-chief whose whereabouts I griggo," the tree-dweller
observed, "is the new nzred nzredd. He is in the marsh organizing the
coordination of the next cycle."
"The nzred tinoslep that was?"
"Yes, and little did he relish his honors! Plentiful rose his complaints to
High Hope. Vainly he insisted he was still in the very prime of
coordination that he had a good many novel arrangements yet within him. But
all know of the pathetic hybrids pro-duced in the last tinoslep cycle. You
have heard, I suppose "
And he told me the latest septuple entendre that had been making the rounds.
I was not amused. "Beware, scratcher of bark, of ridicule at the expense of
him whom your coordinator obeys! Another blap may fill your place in the
chain, while you gaze morosely at unhatched eggs. The nzred tinoslep, that
was, organized mighty cycles in his time and now uses accumulated wisdom in
the service of all the Plookhh, unlike the blap blapp and the flin flinn who
have the responsibility of a lone sex."
Record this speech well, my nzreddi. Thus it is necessary to constantly
impress upon the weaker, more garrulous sexes the respect due to coordination;
else families will dissolve and each sex will operate in ungenetic
independence. The nzred must ever be a Plookh apart yes, yes, even in these
shattering times of transition should he maintain his aloofness jealously.
Page 15
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] - zanotowane.pl
- doc.pisz.pl
- pdf.pisz.pl
- matkadziecka.xlx.pl