Если ты не любишь эльфов, Странник, ты просто не умеешь их готовить.
Если ты не любишь эльфов, Странник, ты просто не умеешь их готовить.
Согласно бытовавшим на рубеже XIX-XX веков байкам американских лесорубов, страшное горное животное с огромной рыбьей головой, с маленькими глазками и ртом, заходящим назад за линию ушей:
In the mountains of Colorado, where in summer the woods are becoming infested with tourists, much uneasiness has been caused by the presence of the slide-rock bolter. This frightful animal lives only in the steepest mountain country where the slopes are greater than 45 degrees. It has an immense head, with small eyes, and a mouth somewhat on the order of a sculpin, running back beyond its ears. The tail consist of a divided flipper, with enormous grab-hooks, which it fastens over the crest of the mountain or ridge, often remaining there motionless for days at a time, watching the gulch for tourists or any other hapless creature that may enter it. At the right moment, after sighting a tourist, it will lift its tail, thus loosening its hold on the mountain, and with its small eyes riveted on the poor unfortunate, and drooling thin skid grease from the corners of its mouth, which greatly accelerates its speed, the bolter comes down like a toboggan, scooping in its victim as it goes, its own impetus carrying it up the next slope, where it again slaps its tail over the ridge and waits. Whole parties of tourists are reported to have been gulped at one scoop by taking parties far back into the hills. The animals is a menace not only to tourist but to the woods as well. Many a draw through spruce-covered slopes has been laid low, the trees being knocked out by the roots or mowed off as by a scythe where the bolter has crashed down through from the peaks above.
A forest ranger, whose district includes the rough county between Ophir Peaks and the Lizzard Head, conceived the bold idea of decoying a slide-rock bolter to its own destruction. A dummy tourist was rigged up with plaid Norfolk jacket, knee breeches, and a guide book to Colorado. It was then filled full of giant powder and fulminate caps and posted in a conspicuous place, where, sure enough, the next day it attracted the attention of a bolter which had been hanging for days on the slope of Lizzard Head. The resulting explosion flattened half the buildings in Rico, which were never rebuilt, and the surrounding hills fattened flocks of buzzards the rest of the summer.
"Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods" by William Cox (452: p.21)
В горах Колорадо, где леса летом кишат туристами, наибольшие беспокойства вызывает делювиальный болтер. Это страшное животное обитает только на самых крутых склонах с углом наклона не менее 45 градусов. У него огромная голова с маленькими глазками и рот, заходящий назад за линию ушей, примерно как у керчаковых*. Хвост состоит из раздвоенного плавника с огромными крючьями, которыми болтер закрепляется над гребнем горы или хребта; часто он остается там недвижимым в течение нескольких дней, наблюдая за ущельем, куда могут войти туристы или другие незадачливые создания. В нужный момент, заметив туриста, болтер поднимает хвост, выпускает тонкий слой смазки из углов рта, что значительно увеличивает скорость скольжения, и спускается с горы наподобие саней, уставившись маленькими глазками на бедного несчастного; он утаскивает жертву с собой и под воздействием собственного импульса взбирается на соседний склон, где опять перекидывает хвост через гребень и ждет. Рассказывают о целых отрядах туристов, схваченных и унесенных далеко в холмы одним махом. Болтеры — угроза не только туристам, но и самому лесу. В настоящее время на покрытых елями склонах много просек, там, где с вершины обрушился болтер, деревья вырваны с корнями или подкошены.
Один лесной объездчик, чей район занимает территорию приблизительно между пиками Офира и Головой Ящерицы, затеял устроить приманку для осыпного болтера и изничтожить его. Он изготовил чучело туриста в клетчатом норфолкском пиджаке, в бриджах и с путеводителем по Колорадо. Чучело доверху наполнили динамитом и гремучей ртутью и установили на видном месте, где, как и следовало ожидать, на следующий день оно привлекло внимание болтера, целыми днями висящего на склоне Головы Ящерицы. Последовавший в результате взрыв сровнял с землей половину города Рико, и он так больше и не восстановился, а в окружающих холмах весь остаток лета стаями кормились канюки.
Уильям Коск "Жуткие создания промысловых лесов". Перевод Антона Ботева (*)
According to the tales of first american lumberjacks, the Slide-rock Bolter is a frightful animal with an immense fish head within small eyes, and a mouth, running back beyond its ears:
In the mountains of Colorado, where in summer the woods are becoming infested with tourists, much uneasiness has been caused by the presence of the slide-rock bolter. This frightful animal lives only in the steepest mountain country where the slopes are greater than 45 degrees. It has an immense head, with small eyes, and a mouth somewhat on the order of a sculpin, running back beyond its ears. The tail consist of a divided flipper, with enormous grab-hooks, which it fastens over the crest of the mountain or ridge, often remaining there motionless for days at a time, watching the gulch for tourists or any other hapless creature that may enter it. At the right moment, after sighting a tourist, it will lift its tail, thus loosening its hold on the mountain, and with its small eyes riveted on the poor unfortunate, and drooling thin skid grease from the corners of its mouth, which greatly accelerates its speed, the bolter comes down like a toboggan, scooping in its victim as it goes, its own impetus carrying it up the next slope, where it again slaps its tail over the ridge and waits. Whole parties of tourists are reported to have been gulped at one scoop by taking parties far back into the hills. The animals is a menace not only to tourist but to the woods as well. Many a draw through spruce-covered slopes has been laid low, the trees being knocked out by the roots or mowed off as by a scythe where the bolter has crashed down through from the peaks above.
A forest ranger, whose district includes the rough county between Ophir Peaks and the Lizzard Head, conceived the bold idea of decoying a slide-rock bolter to its own destruction. A dummy tourist was rigged up with plaid Norfolk jacket, knee breeches, and a guide book to Colorado. It was then filled full of giant powder and fulminate caps and posted in a conspicuous place, where, sure enough, the next day it attracted the attention of a bolter which had been hanging for days on the slope of Lizzard Head. The resulting explosion flattened half the buildings in Rico, which were never rebuilt, and the surrounding hills fattened flocks of buzzards the rest of the summer.
"Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods" by William Cox (452: p.21)
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