Laura Schlitz - The Night Fairy

Здесь есть возможность читать онлайн «Laura Schlitz - The Night Fairy» весь текст электронной книги совершенно бесплатно (целиком полную версию без сокращений). В некоторых случаях можно слушать аудио, скачать через торрент в формате fb2 и присутствует краткое содержание. Год выпуска: 2010, ISBN: 2010, Издательство: Candlewick Press, Жанр: Старинная литература, на английском языке. Описание произведения, (предисловие) а так же отзывы посетителей доступны на портале библиотеки ЛибКат.

The Night Fairy: краткое содержание, описание и аннотация

Предлагаем к чтению аннотацию, описание, краткое содержание или предисловие (зависит от того, что написал сам автор книги «The Night Fairy»). Если вы не нашли необходимую информацию о книге — напишите в комментариях, мы постараемся отыскать её.

The Night Fairy — читать онлайн бесплатно полную книгу (весь текст) целиком

Ниже представлен текст книги, разбитый по страницам. Система сохранения места последней прочитанной страницы, позволяет с удобством читать онлайн бесплатно книгу «The Night Fairy», без необходимости каждый раз заново искать на чём Вы остановились. Поставьте закладку, и сможете в любой момент перейти на страницу, на которой закончили чтение.

Тёмная тема
Сбросить

Интервал:

Закладка:

Сделать

Flory shook her head. She reached behind her, feeling up and down the ruffle of wings on her spine. The scabs had fallen away; she had known that. She couldn’t tell if the wings felt longer or not. She craned her neck, trying to see over her shoulder.

“Oh, my dear,” the bat said softly. “Didn’t you know? Your wings will grow back as your magic grows stronger. They’ve already begun. I don’t see very well — but I can hear the cells growing, if I listen carefully. Can’t you?”

“No,” answered Flory. “I can’t hear that well. And I can’t see behind me.”

“They’re growing,” the bat told her. He gave a little shriek, and his huge ears rippled. “I can hear the echo. You can make mistakes with your eyes, but ears never lie. At least, my ears don’t.”

Flory wanted to dance and weep for joy. “Then — I’ll have wings again!” She saw herself flying through the garden on her own wings, dipping through the spray of the fountain, soaring over the snapdragons. “I’ll be able to fly!”

“Yes,” agreed the bat. “And in the meantime”— he sounded suddenly shy —“if you want someone to fly you around, well, there’s me. I’d be happy to carry you. Of course, I’m not as beautiful as a hummingbird — most creatures think bats are rather ugly — but I’d like to help, because, you see, I am so very sorry.”

Flory thought about what the bat was saying. She looked at him, with his long, clever fingers and the soft fur around his face. He wasn’t glittering and magical like the hummingbird, but Flory liked his face. It was a gentle face, and she felt that she could trust him.

“I don’t think you’re ugly,” she told him. “What’s your name?”

His name was Peregrine which means traveler Flory told him her name meant - фото 33

картинка 34His name was Peregrine, which means “traveler.” Flory told him her name meant “flower,” and all at once they were friends.

They passed the rest of the night together, guarding the hummingbird. Together they freed the bird from the spider’s silk. Flory used the flat edge of her dagger to drag the cords off the feathers, and Peregrine used the thumbnails on the edges of his wings. When the threads clung together, Peregrine bit through them with his sharp teeth.

“After we finish taking off the web, I could take you for a ride,” Peregrine hinted, but Flory refused.

“I have to keep watch over the hummingbird,” she explained. “I promised.” She hadn’t really promised, but she felt as if she had. Peregrine looked so crestfallen that she added quickly, “But I’d like to go tomorrow night.”

“I could take you back home,” Peregrine said. “We could go north, where the woods are, and find other night fairies.”

Flory’s eyes lit up. She had almost forgotten what it was like to live among other fairies. Then she thought of her little cedar house, and the hummingbird’s eggs hatching and Skuggle.

“I’d like to go back sometime,” she told Peregrine. “But I don’t think that’s my home anymore. I think my home is here.” And because the bat, with his huge leathery ears, was a good listener, she told him all about becoming a day fairy and the home she had made for herself.

“Do you think you’ll go on being a day fairy?”

Flory shook her head. “No. But I won’t live only at night, either. I like night best, but daytime is good, too. I like the way the flowers look when they’re awake. I like the colors and the birds. . . . Not all the birds are safe, but I like to watch them.” She lowered her voice. “And I like Skuggle. He’s a squirrel, but I like him anyway.”

She looked at Peregrine to see if he was surprised, but his beady black eyes were shut and he was yawning. The sky was turning gray. It was time for him to go back to his hollow in the oak tree.

“Perry,” she said softly. “Wake up. It’s time to roost.”

The bat gave himself a little shake. “I’m sorry. I must have dozed off.”

“It’s time for you to go home,” Flory said firmly. “It’s nearly dawn. Aren’t you sleepy?”

Peregrine yawned again. “Not that sleepy,” he said bravely.

“Yes, you are,” Flory told him. “You’re a bat. So go home. I’ll stay with the hummingbird. It won’t be long before she wakes up — and I’m not frightened. Now that I’m not afraid of you, I’m not afraid of anything.” She put out her hand and gave him a little shove. “Go on.”

Peregrine flapped his wings and swerved toward the sky. Flory watched him disappear into the oak leaves.

The grass was wet with dew. In a little while, the sun would rise. Flory’s eyelids felt crusty, and she rubbed her eyes with her fists. When she caught herself nodding, she got to her feet and circled the hummingbird, her hand on the hilt of her dagger.

The hummingbird stirred. The branches were rustling now, and the birds were beginning their early-morning chorus. From time to time, the hummingbird shifted. She was coming out of her torpor.

Flory went to the bird’s head so that they could see eye to eye. “Hummingbird, I’m here,” she crooned. “Are you awake yet? I put a spell on your eggs. They’re still warm — I’m almost sure of it. ”

As if in answer, the hummingbird rose into the air. She flew straight to the water tube without looking back. Flory watched as she drank. “Birds,” she said bitterly. She thought of all she had done for the hummingbird’s sake, and she wanted to shout over the unfairness of it all.

But she was too weary to shout, and she had a long walk ahead of her. She trudged back toward the cherry tree, head drooping. Then she heard the whirr of wings.

The hummingbird perched on a clover stalk in front of her. “Come!” said the bird.

“Come where?” asked Flory.

“To the nest,” answered the hummingbird, as if Flory had asked a stupid question. She flicked her wings impatiently. “Hurry up and climb on my back. I want to see my little ones.”

“But you said —”

“I said I wouldn’t be your slave and carry you wherever you wanted,” the hummingbird answered sharply. “This is different. Come along — you’ve earned it. Climb on my back.”

Flory didn’t need to be asked again. She shoved her dagger in her sash and scrambled up the shining feathers. The hummingbird was surprisingly slippery. Flory folded her legs tightly around the bird’s neck. She wished there were something to hold on to.

The green grass fell away. At close range, the whirr of the wings was like the racket of a waterfall. The flight was glorious but nerve-wracking; the bird dodged and veered so sharply that Flory shrieked. But Flory liked it. She had no doubt about that.

All too soon they reached the nest Whats this asked the hummingbird Her - фото 35

All too soon they reached the nest. “What’s this?” asked the hummingbird. Her beak bobbed down and pinched Flory’s quilt.

“It’s mine —” Flory began. “I thought it would keep — Oh!”

Under the quilt were two tiny birds. They had shiny black skin and no feathers; they were wrinkled and skinny, and their tiny beaks were like needles. They were very ugly. Flory loved them at first sight.

The hummingbird plunged her beak into one open mouth. Her stomach jerked in and out as she forced the sugar water she had drunk into the baby bird. Then she turned to the second nestling and fed him. Flory sat on the edge of the nest and watched. She felt a little shy.

“They’re —” She stopped. No one could call the baby hummingbirds beautiful. “I like them,” she said.

Читать дальше
Тёмная тема
Сбросить

Интервал:

Закладка:

Сделать

Похожие книги на «The Night Fairy»

Представляем Вашему вниманию похожие книги на «The Night Fairy» списком для выбора. Мы отобрали схожую по названию и смыслу литературу в надежде предоставить читателям больше вариантов отыскать новые, интересные, ещё непрочитанные произведения.


Отзывы о книге «The Night Fairy»

Обсуждение, отзывы о книге «The Night Fairy» и просто собственные мнения читателей. Оставьте ваши комментарии, напишите, что Вы думаете о произведении, его смысле или главных героях. Укажите что конкретно понравилось, а что нет, и почему Вы так считаете.

x