Hogfather (Terry David John Pratchett) читать бесплатно онлайн полную версию книги

41

There is a folksong about the hunting of the wren:

Oh where are you going, says Milder to Maulder

Oh we may not tell you, says Festle to Fose

We’re off to the woods, says John the red nose

And what will you do there…

We’ll hunt the cutty wren…

In Ireland until quite recently, the hunting of the wren on St. Stephen’s day — Dec. 26th — was a very real tradition. People did kill a wren and hang it on a branch of a holly tree, taking it from house to house rather like children trick-or-treating on Hallowe’en.