In Green's Jungles Read Online Free PDF

roast, if it's a special one. Sometimes my mother will come help her if she's feeling good."
    Decina was the cook. But by that time we were almost at his door, and I really must sleep.

2
    STORIES BEFORE DINNER
    I t is about the middle of the afternoon, I should judge, and I have had an unexpected visitor here at my barrel. I tried to make her as comfortable as I could; she did not complain, and in fact left me a little medallion she says is pure gold. I can still smell her perfume.
    But I should not rush ahead of events like this.
    I remember the Calde's Palace in Old Viron very vividly, and so I found Inclito's house less impressive than many people must. To set down the truth here (as I must be careful to do in every instance whatsoever) it was less impressive than my own palace in Gaon as well, a palace and a manner of living that I am doing my utmost to forget. The core of the house is the ruin of a building of the Vanished People, and is of stone. The remainder is of brick, of which Inclito is extremely proud. Outside, both stone and brick have been covered with stucco and whitewashed; inside one sees the ancient gray stones and the new red bricks. To give the house its due, all the rooms I saw are large and possess a multitude of big windows; the outer walls are curved, for the most part; the interior walls are generally straight. I got the impression that many had been exterior walls in their time, and that new and bigger rooms had been added as the whim seized the owner, or as funds became available.
    Despite hair as white as mine, his mother looked younger than I expected, although she is clearly unwell. None of her son's heavy, coarse features can have come from her. Her face is still smooth, and I would call it almond-shaped if it were not for her hollow cheeks; her nose and mouth are small and delicate, the cheekbones delicate too, high and well defined. It is dominated by her large, dark eyes, which might almost be still-living organs in the face of a corpse.
    Her granddaughter, Mora, is clearly her father's daughter, too large and too heavy-limbed and thick-waisted to be called attractive. To be fair, she carries herself well, and seems quiet and intelligent. About fifteen.
    Her friend Fava is about half her size, looks blond next to Mora, and is quite pretty. Fava is-or at least appears to be-several years younger. At first I thought her nervous and self-effacing.
    Inclito's mother welcomed me graciously, apologized for not rising, warned me that we had an hour or so to wait before dinner, and offered me a glass of wine, which I accepted gratefully, and which her son provided.
    "Our own, from my own vines. What do you think?"
    I tasted it and pronounced it excellent; and in all honesty it was by no means bad.
    The daughter's friend Fava ventured, "You're a dervis? That's what Mora's father told us."
    "Then it must be true," I assured her. "But first of all I'm a stranger here, and unfamiliar with many of your local terms."
    The daughter, Mora, offered, "A wandering holy man."
    "Wandering, certainly. And a man. Hardly holy."
    "But you can tell us thrilling tales of far-off places," Inclito's mother suggested.
    "I could tell your granddaughter and her young friend about the Whorl, which is the only distant place I've ever been to that is genuinely worth knowing about, madam; but you and your son will already have done that, and much better than I ever could."
    Mora asked, "Where were you before you came here?" at which her father gave her a severe look.
    "In a little village a day's travel south of your town, where a woodcutter and his wife took me in."
    "This isn't a law court," Inclito rumbled.
    His mother smiled. "No more questions, we promise. I shall offer a remark, however, if I may. It is not intended to be offensive."
    I assured her that I was remarkably difficult to offend before dinner.
    "Well, if my Inclito, my famous one, had not told me about you first, I would have thought that you were a male