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- Джордж Макдональд
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- Страна Северного Ветра
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The country of the North Wind
I
have
been
asked
to
tell
you
about
the
back
of
the
north
wind
.
An
old
Greek
writer
mentions
a
people
who
lived
there
,
and
were
so
comfortable
that
they
could
not
bear
it
any
longer
,
and
drowned
themselves
.
My
story
is
not
the
same
as
his
.
I
do
not
think
Herodotus
had
got
the
right
account
of
the
place
.
I
am
going
to
tell
you
how
it
fared
with
a
boy
who
went
there
.
He
lived
in
a
low
room
over
a
coach
-
house
;
and
that
was
not
by
any
means
at
the
back
of
the
north
wind
,
as
his
mother
very
well
knew
.
For
one
side
of
the
room
was
built
only
of
boards
,
and
the
boards
were
so
old
that
you
might
run
a
penknife
through
into
the
north
wind
.
And
then
let
them
settle
between
them
which
was
the
sharper
!
I
know
that
when
you
pulled
it
out
again
the
wind
would
be
after
it
like
a
cat
after
a
mouse
,
and
you
would
know
soon
enough
you
were
not
at
the
back
of
the
north
wind
.
Still
,
this
room
was
not
very
cold
,
except
when
the
north
wind
blew
stronger
than
usual
:
the
room
I
have
to
do
with
now
was
always
cold
,
except
in
summer
,
when
the
sun
took
the
matter
into
his
own
hands
.
Indeed
,
I
am
not
sure
whether
I
ought
to
call
it
a
room
at
all
;
for
it
was
just
a
loft
where
they
kept
hay
and
straw
and
oats
for
the
horses
.
And
when
little
Diamond
—
but
stop
:
I
must
tell
you
that
his
father
,
who
was
a
coachman
,
had
named
him
after
a
favourite
horse
,
and
his
mother
had
had
no
objection
:
—
when
little
Diamond
,
then
,
lay
there
in
bed
,
he
could
hear
the
horses
under
him
munching
away
in
the
dark
,
or
moving
sleepily
in
their
dreams
.
For
Diamond
’
s
father
had
built
him
a
bed
in
the
loft
with
boards
all
round
it
,
because
they
had
so
little
room
in
their
own
end
over
the
coach
-
house
;
and
Diamond
’
s
father
put
old
Diamond
in
the
stall
under
the
bed
,
because
he
was
a
quiet
horse
,
and
did
not
go
to
sleep
standing
,
but
lay
down
like
a
reasonable
creature
.
But
,
although
he
was
a
surprisingly
reasonable
creature
,
yet
,
when
young
Diamond
woke
in
the
middle
of
the
night
,
and
felt
the
bed
shaking
in
the
blasts
of
the
north
wind
,
he
could
not
help
wondering
whether
,
if
the
wind
should
blow
the
house
down
,
and
he
were
to
fall
through
into
the
manger
,
old
Diamond
mightn
’
t
eat
him
up
before
he
knew
him
in
his
night
-
gown
.
And
although
old
Diamond
was
very
quiet
all
night
long
,
yet
when
he
woke
he
got
up
like
an
earthquake
,
and
then
young
Diamond
knew
what
o
’
clock
it
was
,
or
at
least
what
was
to
be
done
next
,
which
was
—
to
go
to
sleep
again
as
fast
as
he
could
.
There
was
hay
at
his
feet
and
hay
at
his
head
,
piled
up
in
great
trusses
to
the
very
roof
.
Indeed
it
was
sometimes
only
through
a
little
lane
with
several
turnings
,
which
looked
as
if
it
had
been
sawn
out
for
him
,
that
he
could
reach
his
bed
at
all
.
For
the
stock
of
hay
was
,
of
course
,
always
in
a
state
either
of
slow
ebb
or
of
sudden
flow
.
Sometimes
the
whole
space
of
the
loft
,
with
the
little
panes
in
the
roof
for
the
stars
to
look
in
,
would
lie
open
before
his
open
eyes
as
he
lay
in
bed
;
sometimes
a
yellow
wall
of
sweet
-
smelling
fibres
closed
up
his
view
at
the
distance
of
half
a
yard
.
Sometimes
,
when
his
mother
had
undressed
him
in
her
room
,
and
told
him
to
trot
to
bed
by
himself
,
he
would
creep
into
the
heart
of
the
hay
,
and
lie
there
thinking
how
cold
it
was
outside
in
the
wind
,
and
how
warm
it
was
inside
there
in
his
bed
,
and
how
he
could
go
to
it
when
he
pleased
,
only
he
wouldn
’
t
just
yet
;
he
would
get
a
little
colder
first
.
And
ever
as
he
grew
colder
,
his
bed
would
grow
warmer
,
till
at
last
he
would
scramble
out
of
the
hay
,
shoot
like
an
arrow
into
his
bed
,
cover
himself
up
,
and
snuggle
down
,
thinking
what
a
happy
boy
he
was
.
He
had
not
the
least
idea
that
the
wind
got
in
at
a
chink
in
the
wall
,
and
blew
about
him
all
night
.
For
the
back
of
his
bed
was
only
of
boards
an
inch
thick
,
and
on
the
other
side
of
them
was
the
north
wind
.
Now
,
as
I
have
already
said
,
these
boards
were
soft
and
crumbly
.
To
be
sure
,
they
were
tarred
on
the
outside
,
yet
in
many
places
they
were
more
like
tinder
than
timber
.
Hence
it
happened
that
the
soft
part
having
worn
away
from
about
it
,
little
Diamond
found
one
night
,
after
he
lay
down
,
that
a
knot
had
come
out
of
one
of
them
,
and
that
the
wind
was
blowing
in
upon
him
in
a
cold
and
rather
imperious
fashion
.
Now
he
had
no
fancy
for
leaving
things
wrong
that
might
be
set
right
;
so
he
jumped
out
of
bed
again
,
got
a
little
strike
of
hay
,
twisted
it
up
,
folded
it
in
the
middle
,
and
,
having
thus
made
it
into
a
cork
,
stuck
it
into
the
hole
in
the
wall
.
But
the
wind
began
to
blow
loud
and
angrily
,
and
,
as
Diamond
was
falling
asleep
,
out
blew
his
cork
and
hit
him
on
the
nose
,
just
hard
enough
to
wake
him
up
quite
,
and
let
him
hear
the
wind
whistling
shrill
in
the
hole
.
He
searched
for
his
hay
-
cork
,
found
it
,
stuck
it
in
harder
,
and
was
just
dropping
off
once
more
,
when
,
pop
!
with
an
angry
whistle
behind
it
,
the
cork
struck
him
again
,
this
time
on
the
cheek
.
Up
he
rose
once
more
,
made
a
fresh
stopple
of
hay
,
and
corked
the
hole
severely
.
But
he
was
hardly
down
again
before
—
pop
!
it
came
on
his
forehead
.
He
gave
it
up
,
drew
the
clothes
above
his
head
,
and
was
soon
fast
asleep
.
Although
the
next
day
was
very
stormy
,
Diamond
forgot
all
about
the
hole
,
for
he
was
busy
making
a
cave
by
the
side
of
his
mother
’
s
fire
with
a
broken
chair
,
a
three
-
legged
stool
,
and
a
blanket
,
and
then
sitting
in
it
.
His
mother
,
however
,
discovered
it
,
and
pasted
a
bit
of
brown
paper
over
it
,
so
that
,
when
Diamond
had
snuggled
down
the
next
night
,
he
had
no
occasion
to
think
of
it
.
