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Книга довольно хорошо написана в виде рассказов старого человека молодому парню, основанных на событиях его реальной жизни, охватывающей период с нача...
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Dracula
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door which they call by a name meaning «word-bearer»
came and listened, and then looked at me, most of them pity-
ingly. I could hear a lot of words often repeated, queer words, for
there were many nationalities in the crowd; so I quietly got my
polyglot dictionary from my bag and looked them out. I must say
they were not cheering to me, for amongst them were" Ordog»
Satan, "pokol" hell, "stregoica «witch, "vrolokj» and» vlko-
slak» both of which mean__the same thing, one being, Slovak
and the other Servian for something that is either were-wolf or
vampire. (Mem., I must ask the Count about these superstitions>
6 Dracula
When we started, the crowd round the inn door, which had
by this time swelled to a considerable size, all made the sign of
the cross and pointed two fingers towards me. With some diffi-
culty I got a fellow-passenger to tell me what they meant; he
would not answer at first, but on learning that I was English,
he explained that it was a charm or guard against the evil eye.
This was not very plel^nt for me, just starting for an unknown
place to meet an unknown man; but every one seemed so kind-
hearted, and so sorrowful, and so sympathetic that I could not
but be touched. I shall never forget the last glimpse which I
had of the inn-yard and its crowd of picturesque figures, all cross-
ing themselves, as they stood round the wide archway, with its
background of rich foliage of oleander and orange trees in green
tubs clustered in the centre of the yard. Then our driver, whose
wide linen drawers covered the whole front of the box-seat
«gotza» they call them cracked his big whip over his four
small horses, which ran abreast, and we set off on our journey.
I soon lost sight and recollection of ghostly fears in the beauty
of the scene as we drove along, although had I known the lan-
guage, or rather languages, which my fellow-passengers were
speaking, I might not have been able to throw them off so easily.
Before us lay a green sloping land full of forests and woods, with
here and there steep hills, crowned with clumps of trees or with
farmhouses, the blank gable end to the road. There was every-
where a bewildering mass of fruit blossom apple, plum, pear,
cherry; and as we drove by I could see the green grass under the
trees spangled with the fallen petals. In and out amongst these
green hills of what they call here the «Mittel Land» ran the
road, losing itself as it swept round the grassy curve, or was shut
out by the straggling ends of pine woods, which here and there
ran down the hillsides like tongues of flame. The road was
rugged, but still we seemed to fly over it with a feverish haste.
I could not understand then what the haste meant, but the
driver was evidently bent on losing no time in reaching Borgo
Prund. I was told that this road is in summertime excellent,
but that it had not yet been put in order after the winter snows.
In this respect it is different from the general run of roads in
the Carpathians, for it is an old tradition that they are not to
be kept in too good order. Of old the Hospadars would not re-
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Книга довольно хорошо написана в виде рассказов старого человека молодому парню, основанных на событиях его реальной жизни, охватывающей период с нача...
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