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- Эдгар Райс Берроуз
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Tarzan, adoptee of the monkeys
I
had
this
story
from
one
who
had
no
business
to
tell
it
to
me
,
or
to
any
other
.
I
may
credit
the
seductive
influence
of
an
old
vintage
upon
the
narrator
for
the
beginning
of
it
,
and
my
own
skeptical
incredulity
during
the
days
that
followed
for
the
balance
of
the
strange
tale
.
When
my
convivial
host
discovered
that
he
had
told
me
so
much
,
and
that
I
was
prone
to
doubtfulness
,
his
foolish
pride
assumed
the
task
the
old
vintage
had
commenced
,
and
so
he
unearthed
written
evidence
in
the
form
of
musty
manuscript
,
and
dry
official
records
of
the
British
Colonial
Office
to
support
many
of
the
salient
features
of
his
remarkable
narrative
.
I
do
not
say
the
story
is
true
,
for
I
did
not
witness
the
happenings
which
it
portrays
,
but
the
fact
that
in
the
telling
of
it
to
you
I
have
taken
fictitious
names
for
the
principal
characters
quite
sufficiently
evidences
the
sincerity
of
my
own
belief
that
it
MAY
be
true
.
The
yellow
,
mildewed
pages
of
the
diary
of
a
man
long
dead
,
and
the
records
of
the
Colonial
Office
dovetail
perfectly
with
the
narrative
of
my
convivial
host
,
and
so
I
give
you
the
story
as
I
painstakingly
pieced
it
out
from
these
several
various
agencies
.
If
you
do
not
find
it
credible
you
will
at
least
be
as
one
with
me
in
acknowledging
that
it
is
unique
,
remarkable
,
and
interesting
.
From
the
records
of
the
Colonial
Office
and
from
the
dead
man
's
diary
we
learn
that
a
certain
young
English
nobleman
,
whom
we
shall
call
John
Clayton
,
Lord
Greystoke
,
was
commissioned
to
make
a
peculiarly
delicate
investigation
of
conditions
in
a
British
West
Coast
African
Colony
from
whose
simple
native
inhabitants
another
European
power
was
known
to
be
recruiting
soldiers
for
its
native
army
,
which
it
used
solely
for
the
forcible
collection
of
rubber
and
ivory
from
the
savage
tribes
along
the
Congo
and
the
Aruwimi
.
The
natives
of
the
British
Colony
complained
that
many
of
their
young
men
were
enticed
away
through
the
medium
of
fair
and
glowing
promises
,
but
that
few
if
any
ever
returned
to
their
families
.
The
Englishmen
in
Africa
went
even
further
,
saying
that
these
poor
blacks
were
held
in
virtual
slavery
,
since
after
their
terms
of
enlistment
expired
their
ignorance
was
imposed
upon
by
their
white
officers
,
and
they
were
told
that
they
had
yet
several
years
to
serve
.
And
so
the
Colonial
Office
appointed
John
Clayton
to
a
new
post
in
British
West
Africa
,
but
his
confidential
instructions
centered
on
a
thorough
investigation
of
the
unfair
treatment
of
black
British
subjects
by
the
officers
of
a
friendly
European
power
.
Why
he
was
sent
,
is
,
however
,
of
little
moment
to
this
story
,
for
he
never
made
an
investigation
,
nor
,
in
fact
,
did
he
ever
reach
his
destination
.
Clayton
was
the
type
of
Englishman
that
one
likes
best
to
associate
with
the
noblest
monuments
of
historic
achievement
upon
a
thousand
victorious
battlefields
--
a
strong
,
virile
man
--
mentally
,
morally
,
and
physically
.
In
stature
he
was
above
the
average
height
;
his
eyes
were
gray
,
his
features
regular
and
strong
;
his
carriage
that
of
perfect
,
robust
health
influenced
by
his
years
of
army
training
.
