The Sleeper and the Spindle (Neil Gaiman) читать бесплатно онлайн полную версию книги (ч. 38)

She passed the spindle to the old woman beside her. The old woman hefted it, thoughtfully. She began to unwrap the yarn from the spindle with arthritic fingers. “This was my life,” she said. “This thread was my life . . .”

“It was your life. You gave it to me,” said the sleeper, irritably. “And it has gone on much too long.”

The tip of the spindle was still sharp after so many decades.

The old woman, who had once been a princess, held the yarn tightly in her hand, and she thrust the point of the spindle into the golden-haired girl’s breast.