Охота на Снарка. Пища для ума

Льюис Кэрролл

Эксклюзивная классика (АСТ)

Перед Льюисом Кэрроллом всегда преклонялись как перед автором дилогии «Алиса в Стране чудес» и «Алиса в Зазеркалье», в то время как все остальные его произведения оказались почти забыты. А ведь среди них – не только трогательные сказки для детей, но и немало блестящих произведений для взрослых!

Сборник «возвращает» читателю «взрослого Кэрролла» – автора непререкаемого шедевра британского поэтического юмора «Охота на Снарка» и изящных рассказов, остроумно пародирующих модные при жизни Кэрролла произведения в стиле романтизма, сентиментально-поучительные опусы «для юношества и «страшные» мистические истории. Также в него вошли статьи и эссе разных лет, в которых Кэрролл выступает как одаренный и пылкий публицист.

В формате PDF A4 сохранен издательский макет книги.

Льюис Кэрролл

Охота на Снарка. Пища для ума

© ООО «Издательство АСТ», 2020

The Hunting of the Snark

An Agony in Eight Fits

Fit the First

The Landing

“Just the place for a Snark!” the Bellman cried,

As he landed his crew with care;

Supporting each man on the top of the tide

By a finger entwined in his hair.

“Just the place for a Snark! I have said it twice:

That alone should encourage the crew.

Just the place for a Snark! I have said it thrice:

What I tell you three times is true.”

The crew was complete: it included a Boots —

A maker of Bonnets and Hoods —

A Barrister, brought to arrange their disputes —

And a Broker, to value their goods.

A Billiard-marker, whose skill was immense,

Might perhaps have won more than his share —

But a Banker, engaged at enormous expense,

Had the whole of their cash in his care.

There was also a Beaver, that paced on the deck,

Or would sit making lace in the bow:

And had often (the Bellman said) saved them from wreck,

Though none of the sailors knew how.

There was one who was famed for the number of things

He forgot when he entered the ship:

His umbrella, his watch, all his jewels and rings,

And the clothes he had bought for the trip.

He had forty-two boxes, all carefully packed,

With his name painted clearly on each:

But, since he omitted to mention the fact,

They were all left behind on the beach.

The loss of his clothes hardly mattered, because

He had seven coats on when he came,

With three pair of boots – but the worst of it was,

He had wholly forgotten his name.

He would answer to “Hi!” or to any loud cry,

Such as “Fry me!” or “Fritter my wig!”

To “What-you-may-call-um!” or “What-was-his-name!”

But especially “Thing-um-a-jig!”

While, for those who preferred a more forcible word,

He had different names from these:

His intimate friends called him “Candle-ends,”

And his enemies “Toasted-cheese.”

“His form is ungainly – his intellect small —”

(So the Bellman would often remark)

“But his courage is perfect! And that, after all,

Is the thing that one needs with a Snark.”

He would joke with hy?nas, returning their stare

With an impudent wag of the head:

And he once went a walk, paw-in-paw, with a bear,

“Just to keep up its spirits,” he said.

He came as a Baker: but owned, when too late —

And it drove the poor Bellman half-mad —

He could only bake Bridecake – for which, I may state,

No materials were to be had.

The last of the crew needs especial remark,

Though he looked an incredible dunce:

He had just one idea – but, that one being “Snark,”

The good Bellman engaged him at once.

He came as a Butcher: but gravely declared,

When the ship had been sailing a week,

He could only kill Beavers. The Bellman looked scared,

And was almost too frightened to speak:

But at length he explained, in a tremulous tone,

There was only one Beaver on board;

And that was a tame one he had of his own,

Whose death would be deeply deplored.

The Beaver, who happened to hear the remark,

Protested, with tears in its eyes,

That not even the rapture of hunting the Snark

Could atone for that dismal surprise!

It stro