标题: 《The Fountains of Paradise》作者： - Clarke_ Arthur C_【EPUB】 [打印本页] 作者: zaq 时间: 2013-11-22 14:30 标题: 《The Fountains of Paradise》作者： - Clarke_ Arthur C_【EPUB】 The Fountains of Paradise The Fountains of Paradise The Fountains of Paradise The Fountains of Paradise I - THE PALACE The Fountains of Paradise 1. Kalidasa The crown grew heavier with each passing year. When the Venerable Bodhidharma Mahanayake Thero had - so reluctantly! - first placed it upon his head, Prince Kalidasa was surprised by its lightness. Now, twenty years later, King Kalidasa gladly relinquished the jewel-encrusted band of gold, whenever court etiquette allowed. There was little of that here, upon the windswept summit of the rock fortress; few envoys or petitioners sought audience on its forbidding heights. Many of those who made the journey to Yakkagala turned back at the final ascent, through the very jaws of the crouching lion, that seemed always about to spring from the face of the rock. An old king could never sit upon this heaven-aspiring throne. One day, Kalidasa might be too feeble to reach his own palace. But he doubted if that day would ever come; his many enemies would spare him the humiliations of age. These enemies were gathering now. He glanced towards the north, as if he could already see the armies of his half-brother, returning to claim the blood-stained throne of Taprobane. But that threat was still far off, across monsoon-riven seas; although Kalidasa put more trust in his spies than his astrologers, it was comforting to know that they agreed on this. Malgara had waited almost twenty years, making his plans and gathering the support of foreign kings. A still more patient and subtle enemy lay much nearer at hand, forever watching from the southern sky. The perfect cone of Sri Kanda, the Sacred